Should I Shoot in RAW Format?

Posted: July 22nd, 2008 | Author: jle | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: format, image, RAW | No Comments »

Yes! As a “serious amateur”, you might find that you occasionally (?) misinterpret a scene – maybe the white balance is wrong, exposure is off, or you missed the distracting objects in the frame. If you shoot in RAW format, you maintain the greatest control with respect to your post-processing options. As opposed to JPG , where the camera makes some processing decisions for you and chooses to throw some of the image data out in favor of a smaller file size, RAW files contain all of the original image data. When working with RAW files in your image processing software, you will have the opportunity to correct the white balance, tweak the exposure, recover highlight and/or shadow detail, and crop/clone out distracting objects with little loss of image quality.

Yes, RAW files are big and quickly eat up SD/CF cards. However, memory cards are relatively inexpensive – particularly when compared with the prospect of lost opportunity to save a potentially great image.

Additional Resources:

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You Can’t Shoot If You Don’t Have Your Camera…

Posted: July 21st, 2008 | Author: jle | Filed under: Gear | Tags: canon, G9, Gear, point and shoot | No Comments »

Ever decide to leave the camera bag, DSLR, lenses, tripod, flash, and accessories at home rather than pack them for that quick trip to wherever? Did you regret that decision after recognizing a number of great images that you could have made if you had your gear along? If this has happened to you, you might consider investing in a quality point and shoot.

I will argue that a point and shoot camera holds a prime spot in your photo arsenal. Point and shoots are easy to pack and carry, so you never have to leave it behind. Moreover, some of the new point and shoot cameras are capable of producing professional quality images. For example, take the Canon G9. The G9 boasts an impressive set of specs including the following:

12.1 megapixel CCD
ISO range of 80-1600
6X optical zoom, 4X digital zoom
Macro focusing to 0.39 inches
Several shooting modes, including manual
RAW file format capability

For the serious amateur in particular, the RAW image format is a highly useful feature. RAW images from the G9 can be cropped, post-processed as necessary, and submitted to stock agencies just as the images from a DSLR.

You can find a great review of the Canon G9 at Digital Photography Review.

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