Image Quality!

Davo7

Davo7

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142
Name
David
Edit My Images
No
Hi guys,

I'm new here and a complete novice as far as photography goes! I picked up myself a Nikon D3100 entry level DSLR with the kit lens whilst on holiday last week.

I might sound like a complete **** here but the first stumbling block i have come across is what image quality should i be shooting with? jpeg or raw? So far i have been messing around taking pictures of my 6 month old daughter!

Could anyone here help with which to use when? jpeg or raw?

Help as always is greatly appreciated!
:thumbs:
 
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/raw-vs-jpeg

That may help...

In a nutshell:
Raw is the data as it comes from the sensor (No post processing applied by the camera). It can look dull and flat but gives flexibility to do A LOT of things in Post-processing

Jpeg is the quick and easy solution if you don't want to bother a lot with PP. The JPEG engines in modern cameras are well-set to produce nice results :)
 
iced_jacob said:
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/raw-vs-jpeg

That may help...

In a nutshell:
Raw is the data as it comes from the sensor (No post processing applied by the camera). It can look dull and flat but gives flexibility to do A LOT of things in Post-processing

Jpeg is the quick and easy solution if you don't want to bother a lot with PP. The JPEG engines in modern cameras are well-set to produce nice results :)
Click to expand...


Thanks for that jacob, il read the link. Sorry for being so dumb! :):)
 
More out of curiousity than anything, does the D3100 have the option to shoot in both simultaneously?

EDIT: Just answered my own question.

"Simultaneous recording of compressed RAW and JPEG fine image possible"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nikon-D3100-18-55vr-Kit/dp/tech-data/B00403MA4M/ref=de_a_smtd

Might be worth using? I've taken to using that option on my camera recently; still get a JPEG to look at, but also get the RAW to fiddle around with. Only downside is it takes up more room, think I get about 110 from a 4GB memory card.
 
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Yeah it does give you that option.

Im totally new to all this but very keen to learn! Thanks again for all help!
 
The only thing for me about a jpeg is that it is a RAW file processed by the camera's onboard computer. Whatever detail that may have been on the RAW file but has been lost in the conversion to jpeg is lost and cannot be retrieved. Bit of a b****r if you've lost some shadow or highlight detail.

I know quite a few pro's use it, but I think that's mainly in news gathering or sport, where the images are required quickly and can be sent very easily owing to their small size.

I used to use jpeg, but only shoot in raw these days and I'm glad I have, it's forced me to get some experience with photoshop.
 
All images start out as Raw, which is what all cameras record. You can't actually view a Raw file, it's just a pile of ones and zeros.

And 99.9% of all images eventually end up as JPEGs, whether that's on the LCD on the back of the camera (that's a tiny JPEG tagged to the Raw file, whether you've set Raw or not) or on screen, or a print or whatever. A JPEG compresses the data so the files are much smaller and more manageable, and that is also the time when it is adjsuted for contrast and colour and sharpness, noise etc etc.

You can either apply those adjustments in-camera with the various pre-sets, or in post processing where you can do much more, if you want or need to.

If you're confident that all the settings and adjustments are as you want them, then outputting straight to JPEG will give perfect results. But if you need to go back and do something a bit more or different, then you can do that to a JPEG but there is less scope for more substantial changes as anything that has been dumped by the JPEG process is obviously lost, so there's more potential when working from the Raw.

Choosing Raw or JPEG used to be quite a big decision because Raw gobbles up space on the memory card (files are roughly four times the size of a high quality JPEG) but with big memory cards being so cheap these days, the obvious option is to just shoot both.

That's what I do, but I also take care with everything before shooting, and nine times out of ten I just use the JPEG, because it's just what I want without any further messing about. But I've always got the Raw just in case, or when I know I'll need to do something that isn't available in-camera, or I've goofed up. Or maybe because it's an important shoot and I want to make absolutely certain that quality is as good as it possible can be.
 
^^^

String and Hoppys posts are really the answer. Good thing about digital is that once you have the camera experimenting dosen't really cost.

Try the Jpeg/RAW setting - it's the way I go as well
 
FWIW I shoot raw+jpeg , jpeg is my bench mark, when I can PP every image to look better than the jpeg I will shoot raw only
 
paulminus273 said:
FWIW I shoot raw+jpeg , jpeg is my bench mark, when I can PP every image to look better than the jpeg I will shoot raw only
Click to expand...

About says it all . . . another vote for RAW/JPG, my camera is set this way . . . :thumbs:

However, I will throw a spanner in the works, before I felt confident to use RAW, I shot only JPG, but used 'Levels and Curves' tool, as explained here:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/0...ital-photos-with-the-levels-and-curves-tools/

Helped me through a rocky patch of being confident, knowing what 'I wanted' out of my image, and how to set my camera menu. As said, digital is great to experiment with at no cost . . .

CJS
 
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Davo7 said:
Thanks for your help guys.

Set so i get both :cool:
Click to expand...

The raw images will require processing through a raw converter the jpegs will not.

My preferred converter for Nikon files is CaptureNX2, but that will set you back around £140.

Photoshop elements will do the job, but you will not have the ability to adjust specific camera settings as you can with CaptureNX2.

Failing that ViewNX that came free on the disc with the camera has a basic raw converter that will do the job.
 
I shoot jpeg + RAW, only because its easier for me to see a jpeg before i decide if its even worth opening the RAW file :lol:
 
Hi David

If you're a "complete novice" my suggestion would be to shoot JPG for now and leave RAW for later.

The time spent processing RAW files would be better spent taking lots of photographs and getting to grips with the fundamentals such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO etc.

Once you're happy that you're getting the results you desire - shoot both JPG & RAW.

Just my opinion.
 
dinners said:
Hi David

If you're a "complete novice" my suggestion would be to shoot JPG for now and leave RAW for later.

The time spent processing RAW files would be better spent taking lots of photographs and getting to grips with the fundamentals such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO etc.

Once you're happy that you're getting the results you desire - shoot both JPG & RAW.

Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

I agree with Dinners here except for shooting RAW + Jpeg. I can crop and edit an image to my own tastes in no time at all. It's not really worth having the Jpeg image as well as RAW IMHO. It's just a space waster.
 
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Doog said:
I agree with Dinners here except for shooting RAW + Jpeg. I can crop and edit an image to my own tastes in no time at all. It's not really worth having the Jpeg image as well as RAW IMHO. It's just a space waster.
Click to expand...

Well I actually found the RAW+JPEG to work well for me. When I am out and about with friends and take many pictures, but I am busy to edit those during the next week or so I just give them the JPEGs and they stop bothering me :D

and whenever I have time I process the RAWs to myself ;)
 
dinners said:
Hi David

If you're a "complete novice" my suggestion would be to shoot JPG for now and leave RAW for later.

The time spent processing RAW files would be better spent taking lots of photographs and getting to grips with the fundamentals such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO etc.

Once you're happy that you're getting the results you desire - shoot both JPG & RAW.

Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with that. No sense in spoiling your enjoyment of photography in the early days. "shop" can wait till later :)
 
Thanks for all your help guys amazing to have so many usefull replies!
 
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