only jpeg for me

[garymicheal]

my camera is set to shoot in raw and small jpeg however ive found that i never work on the raw files only the jpegs and the raw files are taking up space so iam thinking of setting my camera to shoot only large jpeg my question is are they any settings i need to know about for jpeg on my 50d many thanks in advance

 

[garymicheal]

i have software Microsoft digital image which i find easier to use than photo shop cs4 which i have also and the cannon software which came with camera but like i said i tend to only use the Microsoft set up

 

[a1ex2001]

my camera is set to shoot in raw and small jpeg however ive found that i never work on the raw files only the jpegs and the raw files are taking up space so iam thinking of setting my camera to shoot only large jpeg my question is are they any settings i need to know about for jpeg on my 50d many thanks in advance

Only thing I would recomend is tweaking the in camera jpeg settings so the output is more to you liking, I shoot RAW and Large JPEG and 99% of the time I don't touch the RAW as I've tuned the jpeg settings enough that alot of photo's don't need any PP and those that do just get a gentle tweak. I like to have the RAW files just incase I want to edit something a bit more for a big print or something but most of the time life is too short to sit infront of a PC processing hundreds of RAW's

 

[Nod]

I've always shot JPEG rather than raw. I try to do as little as possible in PP and do it all in one hit to avoid the save/open cycles that are the main culprit in artefact introduction. The cameras are set to the largest and highest possible quality JPEG settings and images are always copied across from card to computer to avoid an extra open/save cycle.

IF a PP session needs to be interrupted and the image saved, I save it as a PS native file or as a TIFF, neither of which should cause a drop in quality.

 

[seriousrikk]

Best thing to do is have a fettle with the pciture styles and see which of them produce an output from the camera you are happy with. You can tweak individual styles if needs be.
You also have setting such as Auto Lighting Optimiser which can in some cases improve the JPEG - have a read up on it and give it a go.

 

[magicaxeman]

To me.....

Jpeg = picking my prints up from boots minus the negatives, the processing is done for me and there's no back up should I want further copies or be unhappy with the results.

Raw - I have the negatives so always have the original unaltered image, the prints are custom processed to my exact specifications.


I have a few 8x10's on the wall in front of me.. I can tell the difference between jpeg and raw processed at just over 1mtr, thats one of the reasons I use raw, I get a better finished shot.

 

[dod]

my camera is set to shoot in raw and small jpeg however ive found that i never work on the raw files only the jpegs and the raw files are taking up space so iam thinking of setting my camera to shoot only large jpeg my question is are they any settings i need to know about for jpeg on my 50d many thanks in advance

Getting back to the original point, I set mine up with minimal sharpening but give a small boost to contrast. Everything else is "neutral".

That lets me carry out any minimal processing as required.

 

[BarryG]

I use the following for jpegs;

Saturation +2
contrast +1
Sharpness +2
Brightness +0
Hue +1

 

[redhed17]

everyone has jumped in saying not to do that which is quite simply misguided advice.

So is that 100% 'everyone' then?

I don't think I said not to do it, I said know the pros and cons of each method of capture and make an informed choice. Or shoot both.

I use the following for jpegs;

Saturation +2
contrast +1
Sharpness +2
Brightness +0
Hue +1

I think without saying which camera you use, these settings are of little use imho.

Different cameras have settings preset by the manufacturer to what they think makes the picture look best, but I've read reviews were the reviewer has said they thought the settings were wrong, but whereas a Pentax may need the sharpening (amongst other settings) turned up for example, a Canon may need it sharpening (amongst other settings) turned down. Such settings may help to see if there is an improvement, but only for the same camera, as even models from the same manufacturer may benefit from different settings.

And of course you may think that all these settings are irrelevant if you are just shooting RAW, but all these settings affect what the Histogram is showing you, because the Histogram, and indeed the image the camera shows on the LCD are what the Jpeg would look like with all the Saturation, Contrast, Sharpness, Brightness, Hue and any other settings a Picture Control or Picture Style may have. I've set my picture style to Neutral rather than Standard or Vivid. Some cameras have more options like Portrait, Landscape etc which are fine if you want to get the optimum Jpeg out of the camera, the more customisation the better. But they may give a false representation for the Histogram.

I heard a story that the reason you can't see a RAW file on the LCD is because the image would look dull and flat, and no one would buy a camera if they thought that was what they were going to get. Not everyone understands what RAW is and the shopkeeper would not have time to explain to those that don't. We buy with our eyes most of the time anyway, if it looks nice on the LCD most people are quite close to buying.

 

[magicaxeman]

If you wish to use Jpeg then its worth going to the canon site and downloading some of the different picture styles for your camera and trying them out.

As said before I dont shoot Jpeg, except when shooting timelapse as my camera doesn't have the facility for different sized raw files.

 

[BarryG]

Apologies, those are the optimum settings for a D90.

Which is of course 97.3% my opinion.

 

[a1ex2001]

I use the following for jpegs;

Saturation +2
contrast +1
Sharpness +2
Brightness +0
Hue +1

Pretty similar to mine, I bumped the saturation and sharpness slightly as I was forever bumping both in PP and then over time I've played with various other settings and settled for something pretty close to that for the majority of pics.

 

[petersmart]

Frankly I treat my JPEGs as a RAW file and I process them in exactly the same way.

Open in DPP - convert to 16 bit TIFF files - put them through Neat Image (since I usually shoot at 1600 ISO) - use Photo Plus X2 for editing - finally convert back to JPEGs when finished.

My camera settings?

Sharpness - 0
Contrast - -4
Saturation - -1
Colour tone - 0

Those are settings for a bright day.

I also use and experiment with creating my own picture styles.

For bright days I use a style which compresses the mid tones.

If you think that that must result in poor pics take a look at my Flickr.

All the recent pics on there were taken on JPEGs (Large) and processed as above - including the HDR pics at Muckross House:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20926615@N05/sets/72157624765849404/

They were taken at 200 ISO.

.

 

[garymicheal]

just trying to stop all the confusion ! my query was about settings for my camera to shoot just jpeg because as already stated ive never worked on a raw file to-date so I thought I was asking if there's any setting I should know about to set up just for jpeg (although i accept i probably should try and learn how to process my raw files ) but again as ive already stated raw vs jpeg that's another story hope i that's cleared that

 

[petersmart]

just trying to stop all the confusion ! my query was about settings for my camera to shoot just jpeg because as already stated ive never worked on a raw file to-date so I thought I was asking if there's any setting I should know about to set up just for jpeg (although i accept i probably should try and learn how to process my raw files ) but again as ive already stated raw vs jpeg that's another story hope i that's cleared that

The best bet is to use the camera defaults and see how you get on.

As a start I'd use the "Neutral" picture style and if it's a bright sunny day you could turn down the contrast in the sub settings.

You should also use the histogram to see if the exposure is optimal and also turn on the "blinkies" to prevent burnt out highlights.

I don't have a 50D so you'd have to consult the manual for details on how to do this.


.

 

[trencheel303]

My camera settings?

Sharpness - 0
Contrast - -4
Saturation - -1
Colour tone - 0

Those are settings for a bright day.

Out of interest, why -4 contrast? I appreciate it can appear to increase the dynamic range, but doesn't the lack of contrast on the pics become a problem?

 

[dod]

I'm really sick of this.

This thread is NOT a jpeg versus RAW debate. It's about what settings someone who wants to use jpeg should have on their camera. If I cleaned the thread there might be about 5 replies out of about 118.

 

[dazzajl]

Apologies Dod.
Guess I got a bit tired of seeing folks rounded on for asking a perfectly good question.

 

[Richard King]

I'm really sick of this.

This thread is NOT a jpeg versus RAW debate. It's about what settings someone who wants to use jpeg should have on their camera. If I cleaned the thread there might be about 5 replies out of about 118.

You set it to shoot JPEG
Each camera is different, so discussing what saturation/contrast/sharpening setting is a bit pointless, unless we are saying

on a D2x with a 105mm lens at F8 I use...

 

[dod]

Apologies Dod.
Guess I got a bit tired of seeing folks rounded on for asking a perfectly good question.

I know Daz, me too. I was wrong about the number of replies, although a number of the ones I've left could probably have gone as well.

 

[trencheel303]

Well, after much umming and arring, I've set my camera on JPEG only this evening.

I found that when I was using raw, after coming back from a shooting sesh, I was leaving photos on the memory card for days or weeks before I got round to processing them, as I just couldn't be bothered doing it with the raws. DPP has no real workflow either so it did take a long time (and my computer is slow).

I wanted to put the fun back into my shooting and so I have decided to go all JPEG.

Things I considered:

-My white balance will now have to be absolutely correct - no more changing the colour temp on the PC! (don't worry about this too much, even on my dinosaur of a camera, auto white balance is VERY accurate in 99% of situations)
-sharpness levels were set and tested - it will be better to sharpen in camera than sharpen in post - the less edits on a JPEG the better.
-colour matrix (I don't know if newer DSLRs have this?) has been tested and set also.
-dialled in a custom selectable colour temperature for if I want to warm the images up a little in sunlight - under natural light my camera has a tendency to give a greeny blue tint to photos, and the lens I use is also a very "cold" lens. The 50D has "picture styles" where parameters like these can be set and stored.
-Getting the exposure correct is a MUST, as there will be little to no headroom for recovering blown highlights, etc.

On the other hand, enjoy a more responsive camera and more shots on the memory card. I suppose shooting JPEG is a bit like shooting film - you've not got much room for error.

If the OP is even here anymore, hopefully this will be useful information.

 

[fracster]

Pssst..............I shoot jpeg only at times, sometimes I shoot RAW, sometimes I don`t shoot and just sit and watch. Don`t understand what all the drama is about, use what you want and what suits.

 

[petersmart]

Well, after much umming and arring, I've set my camera on JPEG only this evening.

I found that when I was using raw, after coming back from a shooting sesh, I was leaving photos on the memory card for days or weeks before I got round to processing them, as I just couldn't be bothered doing it with the raws. DPP has no real workflow either so it did take a long time (and my computer is slow).

I wanted to put the fun back into my shooting and so I have decided to go all JPEG.

Things I considered:

-My white balance will now have to be absolutely correct - no more changing the colour temp on the PC! (don't worry about this too much, even on my dinosaur of a camera, auto white balance is VERY accurate in 99% of situations)
-sharpness levels were set and tested - it will be better to sharpen in camera than sharpen in post - the less edits on a JPEG the better.
-colour matrix (I don't know if newer DSLRs have this?) has been tested and set also.
-dialled in a custom selectable colour temperature for if I want to warm the images up a little in sunlight - under natural light my camera has a tendency to give a greeny blue tint to photos, and the lens I use is also a very "cold" lens. The 50D has "picture styles" where parameters like these can be set and stored.
-Getting the exposure correct is a MUST, as there will be little to no headroom for recovering blown highlights, etc.

On the other hand, enjoy a more responsive camera and more shots on the memory card. I suppose shooting JPEG is a bit like shooting film - you've not got much room for error.

If the OP is even here anymore, hopefully this will be useful information.

Just a few points:

1. In DPP you CAN still alter the WB on JPEGs - just call up the tool palette and use the dropper tool.

2. NEVER edit the source pics - I always convert my JPEGs to 16 bit TIFF files then edit them - if you have used DPP to edit anything simply select the "no to all" save option when you quit the program.

3. Once the JPEGs have been converted to TIFFs you can edit them in any way you want - adjust sharpness, brightness, contrast, colour balance et al.

4. In DPP you can use the batch option to resize all the pics if like me, you want to have smaller JPEGs as a quick view I resize mine to about 1000 on the long size then when I view them I press f11 to get a full screen view.

And welcome to the "Dark Side"

.

 

[awp]

Just a few points:

1. In DPP you CAN still alter the WB on JPEGs - just call up the tool palette and use the dropper tool.

2. NEVER edit the source pics - I always convert my JPEGs to 16 bit TIFF files then edit them - if you have used DPP to edit anything simply select the "no to all" save option when you quit the program.

3. Once the JPEGs have been converted to TIFFs you can edit them in any way you want - adjust sharpness, brightness, contrast, colour balance et al.

4. In DPP you can use the batch option to resize all the pics if like me, you want to have smaller JPEGs as a quick view I resize mine to about 1000 on the long size then when I view them I press f11 to get a full screen view.

And welcome to the "Dark Side"

.

Peter - I give up - you just don't understand what a RAW file is - and what it could do for your photography - your loss.

 

[petersmart]

Peter - I give up - you just don't understand what a RAW file is - and what it could do for your photography - your loss.

I was responding to Trencheel and just giving him a few hints on using JPEGs.

I have no further comment to make on the JPEG v RAW debate and will not respond to any further comments on that subject.

.

 

[dod]

closed