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Shooting in RAW format in a SLR camera ↓. Why do photographers choose RAW format for photography? Raw image for what

As a result of shooting in Raw format, there are fewer images on the flash card, and more processing time has to be spent. So why then do almost all professional photographers choose to shoot in this format? Below you will find answers to 8 frequently asked questions about shooting in Raw by beginners.

1. What is Raw?

So, let's look at all the pros and cons. Basically, Raw is just a file format, and its digital alternative is JPEG. Possibility is a significant advantage of digital SLR cameras, as well as expensive compact cameras.

2. What are the main advantages of Raw over JPEG?

Raw file, as its name suggests (in translation from English - raw), stores data received from the camera's matrix in a raw, unprocessed form. This gives a lot of advantages in terms of quality and post-processing of the photo.

Many people think of Raw files as the digital equivalent of old-fashioned film negatives. This "modern negative" stores a large amount of information that is available in a "digital photo lab", i.e. in appropriate computer programs designed for editing.

A raw file gives you all the raw data that you can change later without losing image quality. You can adjust sharpness, contrast, white balance, and even exposure after you've shot your footage, and that's the beauty of Raw.

3. These settings should not be set directly during shooting?

Some old-timers might object, but in my opinion, the beauty of digital photography is precisely that it gives us the opportunity to control much more.

Thanks to the Raw format, you can adjust the color, contrast, brightness, shadows, and all this will not affect the quality in any way. Therefore, every good photographer should take full advantage of such opportunities.

With Raw, you can either save an almost hopeless shot or simply adjust the basic settings.

4. Are there any other advantages of the Raw format?

Yes. It captures more information. A JPEG is an 8-bit image with a value for each of the three primary colors (red, green, blue) from 00000000 to 11111111.

For those not familiar with the binary code system, this means that a JPEG contains 256 different values for each color channel.

Therefore, image pixels can display up to 16.7 million colors (256x256x256). However, a DSLR is capable of recognizing even more colors...

5. How much more?

DSLRs are typically 12-bit or 15-bit with brightness levels for each channel ranging from 4000 to 16000.

The result is 68.7 billion or 35.1 trillion different shades.

You may think that this amount of information is simply unnecessary, but it is thanks to such a colossal amount of data that you can make serious changes to the contrast, exposure, color balance settings during the editing process and at the same time avoid such unpleasant side effects as, for example, posterization.

Top processing programs are able to work in 16-bit editing mode, which allows you to save all data throughout the entire processing process.

Photo Science: How your camera's sensor processes color in JPEG and RAW formats.

In order to recognize color, each pixel on your camera's sensor is equipped with one of three color filters (red, green, or blue). Thus, one pixel can evaluate the brightness of only one of the primary colors. However, by comparing the values of neighboring pixels, it is possible to reveal the exact color of each of them.

When you photograph in JPEG, the process of color recognition through neighboring pixels occurs in the camera itself. When shooting in Raw, you can make the necessary changes on the computer after shooting.

Most cameras use the Bayer color model filter (shown in this picture). In this system, the number of green filters is twice as large as red and blue, this is due to the fact that the human eye is more sensitive to green.

6. Do all editors support Raw format?

Most programs partially support the Raw format. The programs that came with your camera can come in handy, and the latest versions of popular software such as Serif PhotoPlus, Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Corel PaintShop Pro fully support Raw files.

However, the Raw format is not standardized, each manufacturer uses its own information encoding system. Moreover, with each release of a new camera, some changes are made to this system. In this regard, photo editors must be constantly updated in order to work correctly with the Raw files of the latest cameras.

7. But why can't Raw be standardized?

Yes, this fact, of course, sometimes infuriates. Updated software becomes available only some time after the release of a new camera. And Adobe, sadly, does not provide updates for outdated versions of Photoshop (i.e. you have to completely update the program, although it would be much easier to just install a free plug-in in case you are not using the latest version of this world-leading software security).

Adobe tried to introduce its own standard for raw files, DNG (Digital Negative), but few manufacturers supported such an innovation.

8. Should you use Raw all the time?

Use Raw as often as possible. Although there are some drawbacks, Raw files take up much more space on the memory card and on the computer than JPEGs and take longer to write. Accordingly, during continuous shooting, the camera buffer fills up faster, and the camera starts to slow down. For some SLR cameras, the buffer fills up after 4-5 frames.

For this reason, sports photographers tend to shoot in JPEG format. This allows them to shoot at high frame rates so they don't miss out on the best shot.

All professional cameras - and more recently many amateur cameras - have the ability to save photos in RAW format. In fact, this is a common name, and depending on the manufacturer of the camera, photos may have the extension .NEF, .CR2, .ARW, and others. Many readers have probably encountered the problem of viewing RAW photos: they came home, copied the photo, but neither the standard image viewer, nor even ACDsee, can open it. Yes, and these photos "weigh" several times more than a regular jpeg. Why do you still need this RAW, and is it needed at all?

The RAW format is a "raw" camera format. What does it mean? Let's try to figure it out. During shooting, the light in some tricky way, and for us it doesn’t even matter which one, acts on the matrix, after which the light signal turns into a digitized electrical signal. In fact, zeros and ones are obtained in huge numbers. When recording in jpeg, the camera first processes the resulting image, and then compresses and saves the photo. And if you start correcting such a photo in a graphic editor, then the loss of quality will be very significant. Thus, when shooting in jpeg, exactly as much information is recorded as needed for use on conventional monitors and printers, that is, 8 bits / channel, and much more information is received from modern matrices, usually 12 bits / channel or even 14. That is, if if the automation made a mistake and the frame turned out to be dark or overexposed, the white balance was pumped up, or the in-camera noise reduction was overdone, then it is extremely difficult to get a normal photo from jpeg by processing in the editor.

Choosing a format in the camera menu

Thus, when using RAW, the exposure is easily and efficiently corrected. In addition, many image parameters that are set on the camera can be specified not before shooting, but after it. These are settings such as white balance, picture style, saturation, contrast, and sharpness.

An example of correcting white balance:

White balance before correction

Corrected white balance

In addition, in photos taken from RAW, the detail is much better than when using jpeg immediately when shooting. Such a paradox is associated with the use of coarser processing algorithms in the camera due to the race for speed. RAW also makes it easy to correct the optical imperfection of technology.

An example of distortion correction - object distortion due to lens design imperfections (Canon 18-55 3.5 / 4.5 lens at 18 mm, automatic correction in DPP 3.3.1.1):

distortion

Corrected distortion

An example of correcting chromatic aberration - color fringing that appears on contrasting objects at the edge of the frame:

Chromatic Aberration Correction

As you can see, in theory, everything is just fine: you can set the camera to save in RAW and generally forget about exposure and white balance, choose at least manual mode and shoot everything in a row on the same settings, because then everything can be corrected in minutes. But in practice, you have to sacrifice memory on a flash drive, and RAW files take up a lot of space on your hard drive. In addition, the possibilities for correcting the exposure in RAW, although there are more than when shooting in jpeg, are still not unlimited. Moreover, when using high ISO sensitivities, the extreme bits in RAW are very noisy. Therefore, when correcting exposure on a computer, the noise becomes much larger with the slightest corrections.

Although there are other problems. And the biggest of them is the conversion of a RAW file into a "normal" format that can be viewed without special programs on any computer. Or rather, even the problem is not in the conversion itself, but in the choice of a program that converts, for example, from RAW to jpeg.

There is an incredible variety of RAW converters, each of which has its own features and advantages. But with all this, converters tend to differ between in-camera jpeg and converted from RAW at all default settings, no matter which converter is used. And, paradoxically, this also applies to native converters. For example, photographs taken with a Canon EOS 40D under incandescent light and converted using Digital Photo Professional 3.3 for Canon have a reddish tint when compared to in-camera jpeg.

This, of course, is a trifle, but you must admit that it is unpleasant: if the camera manufacturer itself supplies software with the camera that does not fully match colors when converted with default settings (compared to in-camera jpeg), then what can we say about various third-party manufacturers!

It is also worth noting that there is no single RAW standard - each camera manufacturer offers its own "raw" format. Moreover, even for one manufacturer, with the release of new cameras, the “raw” format undergoes changes, and therefore new RAW files with old programs, alas, do not work. Although very old RAW formats may not be opened by new programs for conversion.

Now a few words about the conversion programs themselves.

Adobe Lightroom 1.3

A great conversion program for those who like to fiddle with every photo, there are a lot of sliders in the Develop tab that allow you to do whatever you want with the photo. A full-fledged photo editing program, after which it is worth opening photos in Photoshop, except perhaps for sharpening and removing pimples. This converter is the most versatile in the sense that it handles an incredible variety of RAW formats.

To process photos, you need to select File-> Import Photos from Disc, then select the necessary pictures and switch from the Library tab to the Develop tab. After processing the photos, select those that need to be converted, then File-> Export.

What is in the Develop tab cannot be described in words - EVERYTHING is there! Adobe Lightroom unleashes the power of RAW 100%. Although if all you need from RAW is just changing the exposure and white balance on a couple of hundred photos, it would be more logical to choose a simpler and less resource-intensive program.

Adobe Camera Raw

What can be said? This is a classic - ACR is known to everyone who has ever encountered RAW.

The program is installed by default along with Photoshop. ACR weighs only a couple of megabytes, for converters this is generally a ridiculous size. But, despite the small size, the program has everything you need to work with RAW.

Adobe Camera Raw

The first tab of Adobe Camera Raw 4.0 allows you to adjust white balance, exposure, brightness, contrast, and saturation. To select the white balance, you can use the standard settings, the color temperature scale, or set the white balance to the gray point. Also in the first tab, exposure, brightness, contrast, highlight recovery and shadow lightening are adjusted. When changing the exposure and other parameters related to the brightness and contrast of the image, you can use automatic settings, although they do not always work correctly.

In the second tab, Tone Curve, there is a simple curve that allows you to lighten or darken the shadows, half-shadows, light and lightest parts of the image.

The third tab, Sharpening, contains sharpening and noise reduction settings. There are four sliders: sharpness, detail, luminance and color reduction. In practice, only the suppression of color noise color reduction works well, but to increase the sharpness, it is better to use Photoshop.

The HSL/Grayscale and Split Toning tabs are designed to fine-tune individual hues in terms of hue, saturation, and brightness.

Using the Lens Corrections tab, you can correct optical defects - vignetting and chromatic aberration.

Adobe Camera Raw is a great program to get acquainted with all the possibilities of RAW, but due to the lack of batch processing with a large number of processed photos, it is not worth considering seriously.

Digital Photo Professional 3.3.1.1 for Canon

A program with a very simple and clear interface, not intended for any complex manipulations with photos, there is only the ability to correct shooting errors. Good color and contrast, great detail and sharpness. New versions of DPP perfectly correct optical defects (vignetting, chromatic aberration and distortion). The program is very picky and works fine even on a weak computer, and when you start batch conversion, you can safely continue to correct other photos. The advantages include the fact that DPP does not create huge swap files or libraries, and even after saving changes to the image, it is possible to return to the original image.

Digital Photo Professional

To process photos, you need to select the necessary files, then click Edit Image Window. On the right there will be a panel with an active RAW tab (if it is not there, press Ctrl + T). In this tab, you can change exposure, white balance, contrast, picture style, saturation, and sharpness. White balance can be selected from the scene balance settings, set to the temperature scale, or click on the gray or white dot of the image. After setting the white balance, you can use the circular palette to refine the color - an offset from the center of the palette increases the saturation of the image tone, the direction changes this tone. A histogram is also displayed in the RAW tab.

In the next tab, RGB, there is nothing interesting, except for not very convenient curves.

Of greatest interest is the NR / Lens tab, which contains noise reduction and optics correction. Noise reduction in DPP is far from ideal both in terms of quality and convenience - there is no preview of its action, and therefore it is necessary to wait for the entire photo to be processed. But the quality of the correction of vignetting, chromatic aberration and distortion is very, very good, and all you need to do is click the Tune button next to Lens Aberration Correction and put three checkmarks - as a rule, this is quite enough, and you can not even touch the sliders.

After Lens correction and white balance correction in one image, you can copy and apply these settings to other images.

Edit Image Window

Disadvantages of DPP

There are not enough sliders for highlighting shadows and restoring colors.
The average quality of noise reduction and the lack of a preview of its action - it is necessary to wait for the transformation of the entire image.
When using high ISO noise is very large and coarse.
You cannot rotate the crop frame.

Thus, DPP is ideal for mass processing of photographs, when it is only necessary to correct the exposure and white balance. In three words, the program can be described as follows: simple, fast, convenient.

Canon

This utility is even simpler than DPP. The settings are generally minimal, they all fit on a single small socket. There is batch processing, but if the photos are converted, then, unfortunately, it is impossible to correct others at this time. The only advantage of this utility, for which everything can be forgiven, is the color of the resulting photos - it is absolutely identical to the in-camera color from Canon.

Raw Image Task for ZoomBrowser EX

To convert from Raw Image Task, you need to launch ZoomBrowser EX, select the necessary RAW files, click the Edit button, then select Process RAW Images. After that, the Raw Image Task is launched - and you can start processing images. In addition to changing the exposure using the Digital Exposure Compensation slider, the rest of the adjustable settings are absolutely identical to those that are in the camera of this model. For the Canon 40D, these settings are white balance, Picture Style, sharpness, contrast, saturation, color tone, color space, and noise reduction (on/off). And that, alas, is all.

To start the conversion, you just need to click the Transfer button. Starts converting and saving images to the preselected folder. To select a folder before pressing the Transfer button, select File->Preferences, then in the Image Transfer Settings tab, specify the folder to save the photos.

Thus, the program is simple, one might even say primitive. If you are serious about photography or want something more from RAW, then you should choose something more functional.

DxO Optics Pro v5.0.3

The program attracts attention by the fact that the conversion takes into account the features of a particular lens. The idea is simple: every lens model has its own disadvantages. A person can eliminate these defects by processing each photo manually on a computer. But processing will take a lot of time. So why not write down for each specific lens and camera settings for correction, taking into account the aperture and focal length of the shooting?

And then I had a vague hope that it would finally be possible to forget about expensive optics for tens of thousands of rubles and use an ordinary inferior lens for a hundred dollars with the same success - after all, after processing, all optical defects will be eliminated.

DxO Optics Pro v5.0.3

After reading admiring reviews about the program, I downloaded the demo version. I tried to install it, but it didn't work. For some reason, the program needs Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. Well, okay, it was not in vain that I downloaded DxO Optics, I had to install the .NET Framework 3.5 as well.

The interface of the program turned out to be quite clear, although it takes some getting used to.

There are four large tabs at the top: Select for selecting images, Prepare for processing, Process for converting, and Review for viewing the results. In automatic mode, vignetting, chromatic aberration and lens distortion are corrected really remarkably. I was also pleased with the presence of a cool tool for eliminating perspective distortions, which are most pronounced when shooting architecture. If you take a picture of a large building a little from below, then in the end you will get not a rectangle, but some kind of irregular quadrangle, and even with curved sides. In DxO Optics, such distortions are corrected in an elementary way: you need to select a tool for correcting perspective and simply stretch the frame so that its corner points coincide with the corners of the house. And it's all! Now the building has the usual rectangular shape.

But that's probably where all the fun ended. The program turned out to be very slow, and the color and contrast in automatic mode were somehow not impressive. Although, in general, the idea is, of course, cool - to take into account when processing which lens, on which apertures and with which device the photo was taken.

Capture NX 1.3 for Nikon

This program can hardly be called a converter, since it has a number of tools inherent in full-fledged graphic editors, because Capture NX even has selection tools. It also pleases the presence of full-fledged curves, which are absolutely identical to the curves of Photoshop, and cropping photos is nice thanks to the convenient horizon alignment tool - you just need to draw a line that should be horizontal. In addition, Capture NX does an excellent job of eliminating chromatic aberration, and in automatic mode. A large number of various settings for RAW and the possibility of batch processing make this program one of the best for converting NEF files.

1. What is Raw?

2. What are the main advantages of Raw over JPEG?

3. These settings should not be set directly during shooting?

Some old-timers might object, but in my opinion, the beauty of digital photography is precisely that it gives us the opportunity to control much more.

With Raw, you can either save an almost hopeless shot or simply adjust the basic settings.

4. Are there any other advantages of the Raw format?

Yes. It captures more information. A JPEG is an 8-bit image with a value for each of the three primary colors (red, green, blue) from 00000000 to 11111111.

For those not familiar with the binary code system, this means that a JPEG contains 256 different values for each color channel.

Therefore, image pixels can display up to 16.7 million colors (256x256x256). However, a DSLR is capable of recognizing even more colors...

5. How much more?

DSLRs are typically 12-bit or 15-bit with brightness levels for each channel ranging from 4000 to 16000.

The result is 68.7 billion or 35.1 trillion different shades.

Top processing programs are able to work in 16-bit editing mode, which allows you to save all data throughout the entire processing process.

Photo Science: How your camera's sensor processes color in JPEG and RAW formats.

6. Do all editors support Raw format?

7. But why can't Raw be standardized?

Adobe tried to introduce its own standard for raw files, DNG (Digital Negative), but few manufacturers supported such an innovation.

8. Should you use Raw all the time?

For this reason, sports photographers tend to shoot in JPEG format. This allows them to shoot at high frame rates so they don't miss out on the best shot.

You may have heard that photos are best taken in RAW format. More and more information on this topic is now appearing on the Internet. But do you know how this format improves the quality of photos? And how will they differ from pictures taken in other formats? Let's find out!

First, what is RAW? RAW (which means "raw" in English) is a file format that captures all the image parameters recorded by the camera's matrix. When you take a photo in another format, such as JPEG, the image information is compressed and some of it is lost. The RAW format does not compress information, and after the necessary adjustments, you can get a high-quality image. This format eliminates image problems that are unrecoverable with JPEG images.

Many modern digital cameras take pictures in RAW format (including the so-called digital cameras). Read the user manual carefully, perhaps RAW images, with all their advantages, are available even to your small camera!

So, let's list the advantages of the RAW format.

1 High image quality

This is the most important advantage of RAW files. When shooting in RAW format, you get a record of all data from the sensor. If you shot an unusual scene of remarkable beauty, you want the quality of the photo to be the highest.

All modern digital cameras are technically capable of taking pictures in RAW format. Yes it's true.

But when you take a picture in JPEG format, the camera itself converts the shot in RAW format to JPEG.

At the same time, your camera is nowhere near as smart as your brain, nor is it as powerful as a computer.

When you take pictures in RAW format, you can process them however you want. It's up to you to decide how the frame should look and how to achieve the best result.

2 Many levels of brightness

The RAW format contains many levels of brightness (successive steps from white to black) in an image. The more brightness levels, the more smooth tone transitions are obtained in the picture.

The JPEG format records 256 levels of brightness, while RAW records from 4096 to 16384 levels! Technically, this is described by the term "bit". The JPEG format contains 8 bits of information per component (or 8 bits per 1 pixel for black and white grayscale images), while the RAW format contains 12 to 14 bits. This difference has a decisive influence on the quality of photographs.

A high degree of resolution produces a huge effect. The extra brightness steps allow you to make more adjustments (change color saturation, highlights, shadows, contrast, brightness, etc.) on an image without significantly reducing quality, because there are many levels to process!

When shooting in RAW format, it is easier to avoid the effect of isohelia. The effect of isohelion appears as banding - for example, you see a bright clear sky, and when printing pictures, the sky suddenly appears to be composed of colored bands. As a result, the picture looks bad.

3 Adjusting exposure extremes

Obviously, you want to get the best exposure when photographing, but sometimes the fast pace of events (especially at weddings!) doesn't leave time to do it right, and you set the exposure at a fast pace, or just don't have time to change it. The result is a scene that is either too bright or too dark. Such a photograph can be brought into good condition.

The RAW format captures a huge amount of information in a file, which allows you to correct image errors without a sharp decrease in quality. Such an adjustment can save the image from glare, harsh shadows and other defects.

4 Easily adjustable white balance

When you shoot in JPEG format, white balance configured automatically. You simply cannot choose another option. RAW data white balance is recorded in full, and a large amount of information makes it easy to change it and adjust it in the right direction.

Right white balance and colors are important for creating beautiful scenes and images, and shooting in RAW format makes adjustments quick and easy. And get the best result.

5 Getting better detail

When you shoot in RAW format, you can sharpen the image and remove noise in programs such as Lightroom, which are much more powerful than the program installed on your camera.

In addition, algorithms for creating sharpness and elimination noise are constantly being improved, so that in the future you can reopen the saved original source and use improved filters.

6 Ease of editing

When you make adjustments to a RAW file, the original data is preserved as it was before the adjustment process. All you do is create a set of descriptions (instructions) about the changes. In JPEG or TIFF formats, the state of the original source is not preserved in the saved version. Therefore, if a copy of the source frame is not created, you can forget about its original form forever.

When working with a RAW file, you will never have to worry about damaging the original image that you accidentally saved after an unsuccessful adjustment. You can always reset the settings and start editing the photo again.

JPEG files lose their original quality with each new adjustment and each new save. It really is. This is what is called "file format loss". So if you're making edits to a JPEG, you should always duplicate the original and keep the corrected version if you don't want to lose the quality of the file. Which, in the end, is very troublesome.

7 Getting quality prints on photo paper

Due to the subtle gradation of tones and colors, prints from RAW files will be of higher quality than images made in other formats.

While more and more people are storing their photographs in digital format, the importance of printed photographs should not be underestimated (perhaps due to their relative rarity today). On RAW paper, the image will look high quality, and unpleasant stripes will not be noticeable on it when changing from one color to another.

8 Selecting an output color model

The color space for creating, storing and printing can be different, and there is, ultimately, nothing complicated. When working with RAW files, you can choose any color model when you export a photo. The color model is chosen and adjusted depending on the situation.

There are different color models that are optimal for different situations. When you shoot in RAW format, you can export the image in several color models, which is very convenient.

9 Improving work efficiency

Lightroom or Aperture programs allow you to process not only single images. In these programs, you can process large batches of the same type of images, applying corrections and filters to the entire batch at once. Photoshop, for example, only allows you to process one image at a time. In order to process your photos in Lightroom or Aperture, you must shoot in RAW format.

10 Great Opportunities for Professionals

Professional photographers must provide their clients with the highest quality images. When a printed product is offered to a customer, unwanted isohelia and glare must be addressed. Correctly adjusted color balance and color model are also critical to image quality.

Shooting in RAW format allows you to control the quality, and also provides opportunities to fix problems in the pictures.

Some digital (non-SLR) cameras are also capable of taking RAW images, and now the benefits of RAW can be appreciated not only by professionals, but also by amateur photographers who want to improve the quality of their images (both for electronic and printed versions).

Disadvantages of the RAW format and ways to solve problems

Every program, format, and file has its pros and cons, and the RAW format is no exception. We will talk about the disadvantages of the RAW format and look at some ways to solve problems.

RAW files need to be processed

The most common argument against shooting in RAW is that since the files must be processed, we spend more time on the process of obtaining a photo than when using the JPEG format. And this may be true if you do not spend time on any processing of JPEG frames.

But since most photographers always (to a greater or lesser extent) process their images taken in JPEG format, their arguments about wasting time become unconvincing.

If, when processing a RAW file, you adjust the white balance, change the parameters of light and shadows, you can do it faster than if you were processing JPEG files.

RAW image format, you can easily export to JPEG, it can be converted specifically for web printing. Modern digital SLR cameras allow you to immediately, with one click of the camera shutter, get two frames at once - in RAW and JPEG formats.

The RAW format has more options and photos can be processed quickly if not faster than JPEG.

RAW files take up a lot of space

RAW files are uncompressed and take up two to three times more space than JPEG files. The issue of file size is of great importance, especially for those who photograph often and a lot. However, the cost of hard drives that can store multiple images has dropped significantly over the past few years.

Let's consider a 3 terabyte hard drive

A 3 terabyte disk costs about 10,000 rubles;
On such a disk, you can store 375,000 JPEG photos (calculation for large files of 8 MB. The cost of one stored image will be 2.7 kopecks;
A 3 TB drive can store 100,000 RAW images (each file is 30 MB). The cost of one stored frame will be 10 kopecks.

It is clear that a smaller number of frames can be stored on the disk. However, the number of shots accumulated when the disk is full is impressive! And always remember that it is dangerous to store all images exclusively on one disk. Don't put all your photographic eggs in one basket!

The same thing happens with memory cards as with cameras. Their prices are constantly dropping. Remember the times when a 2GB memory card cost more than 10 thousand rubles? Currently, you can buy a 4GB memory card for just 300 rubles. Such a pricing policy is hard to wrap your head around.

Yes, RAW files are larger and take up more space. But it is the information stored in them that ensures high quality images. Storing high quality images will cost you an additional 7.3 kopecks per image.

Slow writing to memory card

RAW files are large compared to JPEG files, and they quickly fill up the frame buffer when shooting. The camera will shoot as much as you need, will take as many frames per second as you need, in any format. But if this is a RAW format, the camera buffer can quickly fill up, and you will have to wait until the camera transfers information from the clipboard to the memory card. And this takes time.

When constantly shooting with a large number of frames in RAW format, it is better to purchase faster memory cards, or more expensive cameras with a larger buffer. .

RAW code specifics

RAW files are often registered in a special format, which means that camera manufacturers do not officially disclose themselves and their original data is subject to change. Companies such as Adobe must license software to decode RAW files or convert them back. So, for Canon cameras, the RAW format is written as .CR2, for Nikon cameras this format is written as .NEF.

The problem is that you can't be sure that in 5, 10 or 20 years you will be able to open a RAW file if you don't have the right software to decode it!

A new open source RAW format has been developed to overcome this hurdle. It was developed by Adobe programmers and is now known as DNG (Digital Negative). With a program like Lightroom, you can convert your own RAW files to the open source DNG format. This will take some time, but doing so ensures that your files will be read well into the future!

The Leica M9 shoots in DNG format, and innovations in this area appear all the time. So keep an eye out for camera makers to use this format in the future!

Choosing RAW!

I hope this article will change your mind about the RAW format and its benefits. The suggestion that working with RAW files takes too long (or contains too many processing steps) doesn't really stand up to scrutiny.

Once you get started, you will soon be doing the processing easily and quickly. As a result, you will get perfect quality pictures, which may have taken so much time and effort to create that they have already become a great value for you!

RAW or Jpeg - what's the difference and in which format is it better to shoot?

How to ensure high-quality color reproduction - this question worries, probably, any photographer. There are two ways to adjust color reproduction:

Shoot in JPEG format and use camera settings - white balance, saturation, brightness, image contrast
Shoot in RAW format (if the device allows this) and adjust the color reproduction when processing photos on a PC

Both of these methods have their pros and cons, I will try to briefly talk about them. But before we get started, let's first define what is the difference between JPEG and RAW formats.

JPEG format

The format got its name from the abbreviation Joint Photographic Experts Group - the organization that created this format. JPEG is by far the most popular photo storage format, so all cameras without exception can save images in this format, and all image and video playback devices (personal computers of all varieties, media, DVD, BlueRay players, digital photo frames and other devices ) can read this format and reproduce the image on the screen. Compatibility with a large number of playback devices is the main advantage of the JPEG format. In addition, JPEG files are moderate in size compared to other graphic formats - BMP, TIFF.

However, JPEG also has its drawbacks. When encoding a picture in JPEG format, data is compressed, as a result of which part of the data is lost. With a high degree of compression, the quality of the image suffers seriously, so-called artifacts are visible on it, that is, distortions caused by the loss of too much information during compression.

The picture, I think, does not need comments.

Of course, the camera has several levels of image quality, for example, standard (standard, normal), good (good), best (fine, superfine). In standard quality, photos are of moderate size (a lot of photos fit on a USB flash drive), but in some cases artifacts may be noticeable in the photos. The most susceptible to quality degradation are photos that are full of small details - in this case, compression can significantly degrade the detail of the image.

Photos taken in the best quality have a larger size in megabytes, fewer pictures are placed on a flash drive, but the detail on them is noticeably better. When asked what quality is better to shoot in JPEG format, I definitely recommend using the best quality. Flash drives and hard drives are not so expensive as to save on photo quality. Photos taken at "standard" quality may look good on a computer screen, but even with minor processing, you may be disappointed.

If we are talking about detailing when shooting in JPEG, we cannot fail to mention the photo resolution setting. If the device has a resolution of, for example, 12 megapixels, then its maximum image resolution is approximately 4000 * 3000 pixels (this is enough for printing 30 * 45 cm). However, in the image quality settings, the resolution of photos can be changed. Usually, installations are marked with letters:

S (English small - small)- the smallest resolution, which is barely enough to print 10 * 15 cm. As a rule, it corresponds to 2-3 megapixels.
M (English medium - medium)- medium resolution. Photo resolution can vary from 5 to 10 megapixels, which corresponds to a print format of 20*30 cm.
L (eng. large - large)- maximum resolution corresponding to the resolution of the matrix in megapixels. Modern devices have up to 36 megapixels, the print format is up to 90 * 60 cm.

The ability to print photos on huge canvases is a dubious advantage for the average amateur photographer. However, by saving photos in the highest possible resolution, we get additional opportunities to crop the image without visible loss in print quality. This is the decisive factor in favor of the L mode, in which photos are saved to a USB flash drive with maximum resolution.

So, in order to get the maximum resolution in combination with the best detail, in the photo quality settings, select the mode - maximum resolution (L) with minimum compression (best, superfine).

Sometimes pictograms are used instead of a verbal description of the compression ratio. Here is an example of a quality selection menu for a Canon DSLR. For now, look only at the left column:

We see that before the letters L, M, S there are pictograms with a smooth left edge and a stepped one. A pictogram with a smooth edge corresponds to less compression, with a stepped one - more. In the right column - different options for shooting in RAW format, which will be discussed below.

Setting the quality and compression ratio is only half the battle... Now you need to make a number of adjustments to ensure the best color reproduction. Color reproduction is configured in two stages:

Setting the white balance
Adjust image parameters - contrast, saturation, sharpness.

white balance

You probably noticed that different light sources have different color shades. A candle gives off yellow light, a setting sun gives off reddish light, and a fluorescent lamp gives off bluish light. Our eyes and brain are arranged in such a way that under almost any conditions a sheet of white paper will be perceived as white - even if it is lit on one side by a candle, on the other - by a fluorescent lamp. The brain "forces" itself to tell itself that the eyes see a white object, because it knows that the paper is white.

With the matrix of the camera, unfortunately, such a number will not work. The camera does not know what color the objects we are used to have, therefore, in unusual lighting conditions, significant color distortion can occur. The most typical example - when shooting without a flash in a room lit by incandescent lamps, photographs often go yellow.

To avoid such color distortion, it is in our power to "help" the camera decide which of the objects should be "considered" white. This is done using the white balance setting function.

The easiest way to set the white balance is to choose one of the preset programs. As a rule, the camera has several presets. They are usually the following:

Sunny
Mainly cloudy
Sunset Dawn
incandescent lamp
Fluorescent Lamp
Flash
Custom white balance

In the auto white balance mode, the camera itself tries to determine the type of light source and adjust the color accordingly. Most often, he succeeds, but you should not rely 100% on this function. She especially likes to make mistakes in mixed lighting, for example, an incandescent lamp is on in the room (yellowish tint), and daylight (bluish tint) comes from the window. In this case, no one will insure against the appearance of yellow or, conversely, blue faces in the photograph.

This photo shows the automatic white balance error in mixed lighting. To avoid such errors, in some cases it is required to resort to a forced white balance setting in accordance with the prevailing type of lighting. In this case, setting the white balance to "incandescent" would help. The landscape outside the window would have turned a little blue, but the yellowness in the foreground would have disappeared, making the color rendition closer to reality. There is, of course, a way out - each time to set the white balance in accordance with the source of the main light. We entered a room lit by incandescent lamps - set the white balance "incandescent lamp". Went outside - set, depending on the weather, "sunny" or "cloudy".

In cases with mixed lighting, when there is light from a window on one side and light from a lamp on the other, a flash often helps. If it has sufficient power, it is able to "crush" other light sources and illuminate the scene being shot with uniform light. In this case, the white balance must be set to either "flash" or "auto" (when the flash is on, the device will automatically determine it as the main type of light source). The best result is achieved when using an external flash, but for amateur "household" photography, in most cases, the built-in flash is enough.

Manual (custom) white balance

The preset white balance modes, although they cover most commonly used light sources, there are situations when none of the proposed modes is suitable. Take, for example, an incandescent lamp. Powerful lamps (75-100 W) give light closer to white, while weak lamps (25-40 W) have a yellowish light. A special case is energy-saving lamps, especially cheap ones, whose spectrum is such that even the human eye is sometimes unable to adequately assess the color picture.

Some devices have the ability to fine-tune the white balance relative to the preset one, however, in order to optimally adjust the color rendition for these lighting conditions, you need to take several shots with different settings and choose the setting with which the color rendition is as close to reality as possible. This takes a long time and is not always effective, because you have to focus on the picture displayed on the LCD screen, the color reproduction of which is not always ideal.

It is much easier to use the "manual white balance" function. To do this, you need to take a picture of some white object (or just a sheet of white paper), and then tell the camera this picture as a sample, according to which the white balance should be set. I see no reason to describe in detail how this is done - different devices have their own sequence of actions, so I recommend using the instructions, everything is described there step by step specifically for your device.

Most cameras can save one or more custom white balance settings. If you regularly need to photograph in specific lighting, it makes sense to save the white balance setting so that you do not have to suffer with photographing a white sheet later.

To illustrate the possibilities of manual white balance, I propose to compare the color reproduction in two photographs:

Automatic BB

Manual BB (the white jacket of the left character was used as a sample of white color)

The result is noticeable - in the first case, the photo went yellow, in the second, the color rendition is close to reality.

Setting the picture style

The "picture style" function is, probably, in all cameras. With its help, you can adjust the brightness, contrast, color saturation, picture clarity, as well as "force" the device to shoot in b/w, sepia mode.

As a rule, the device already has a set of preset picture styles - landscape, portrait, natural tones, accurate reproduction of tones, and so on, as well as several "empty" cells for user settings. Here is an example of the menu item "picture style selection on a Canon EOS 5D camera:

All presets are a combination of parameters:

sharpness
contrast
saturation
tone color

It is somewhat reminiscent of the TV picture adjustment function :) With contrast, saturation and tone color, I think everything is clear. Sharpness refers to the software "enhancement" of the contours of objects, due to which the picture will appear sharper. The key word is "appear". In fact, software sharpening does not increase the detail of the image. If the object in the photo is slightly initially blurred (out of focus, or the lens could not convey all its nuances), no software algorithm will be able to "invent" the missing details. In the hope of improving the quality of the photo, you should not unscrew the "regulator" of sharpness to the fullest.

As you can see, setting up your camera to shoot in JPEG format for the best results is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. This is precisely the main disadvantage of JPEG over another format - RAW - which will be discussed later ...

RAW format

What is the RAW format for and why is it better than the JPEG format?

The format got its name from the English word "raw", which means "raw, unprocessed". In principle, this is quite consistent with the essence of the matter. When using the RAW format, the signal taken from the matrix is written as a file to a USB flash drive (the file extension may differ for different cameras). At the same time, the camera does not do any processing, allowing the user to process information on a PC using a special program - a RAW converter. This gives a huge advantage - the photographer does not need to worry about white balance, brightness, contrast, saturation of the image - all this can be adjusted later on a good monitor. "Raw" data carries a large amount of redundant information, which, if necessary, will allow you to adjust all these image parameters as accurately and correctly as possible.

In the JPEG format, all "redundant" data is eliminated to provide the smallest file size, which seriously limits the processing possibilities. If the brightness and contrast can still be adjusted, then the wrong white balance is much more difficult to correct, especially if the error is large. In this case, you have to sacrifice the naturalness of the colors. Here is an example when a photo that went yellow was pulled out of JPEG and from RAW.

original version

Corrected version (JPEG)

Corrected version (RAW)

As can be seen from the examples above, when trying to correct the white balance in JPG, the picture acquired a somewhat unnatural hue, as if the photo was taken on a cheap negative film that was scanned on a consumer scanner. I note that in this case, I did not make much effort to bring the colors closer to real ones, but this required several operations in Adobe Photoshop. You can read more about editing white balance in JPEG in this article /article45.html. The point of the article is that fixing a minor white balance error in JPEG is possible, but it's not a trivial task. With a serious white balance error, it is unfortunately impossible to restore color reproduction without a visible loss of quality when working with the JPEG format.

Key features of RAW

Instead of describing the possibilities of RAW here, I will show an example of how one initially unsuccessful photo was saved. During a summer trip to St. Petersburg, my wife and I visited the Hermitage, of course, taking a camera with us. As in all museums, flash photography is prohibited in the Hermitage. Anticipating this situation, I took a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 fast lens. But the main trouble lay in the fact that in different halls there was different lighting - in some the daylight from the windows, in others - artificial lighting. If I were shooting in JPEG format, I would be tormented by setting the white balance. Looking ahead, I’ll say that the shooting was carried out in RAW and it was possible to simulate the situation, what would be the result with certain BB settings in JPEG. So let's start from the beginning:

Auto white balance:

A terrible mixture of yellowness with redness! Such photographs are often obtained when the room is lit by a large number of incandescent lamps of relatively low power, in which case the photograph is painted in a yellow tint. Well, let's try to set the white balance "Incandescent" ... Here's what happened:

A bit better. There was less yellowness, but an incomprehensible green appeared. The result is also unsatisfactory.

The option of manually setting the white balance is very time consuming, since you will have to carry out this procedure in almost every new hall. Fortunately, there is a RAW file that allows you to set the correct white balance on your computer with 1 mouse click.

For RAW processing, Digital Photo Professional was used, which came with the Canon EOS 5D camera (on the software disc). As for other devices, I am more than sure that something similar is given to them.

The program has a very simple interface, so it will not be difficult to understand it. In fact, it duplicates the camera settings regarding color reproduction, and also has a number of other functions.

To set the white balance, take the pipette (shown by the red arrow) and poke it into the place of the photo, which should look white or light gray. In this case, it was my jacket. What are the colors in the photo, you can see in the picture. The result obtained cannot be compared with what is obtained only with the standard camera settings.

The Digital Photo Professional program allows you to "backdate" the color settings of the picture, which are available through the camera's menu. Thus, you get the opportunity during shooting not to waste time setting the white balance, choosing a picture style. This is especially true for reportage shooting, where every second counts. The program allows you to do some things that are simply not available through the menu, such as adjusting noise reduction, adjusting sharpness, correcting chromatic aberrations and distortion (distortion of straight lines at the edges of the frame). The only condition under which all this works is that the photo was taken in RAW format. With JPEG, most features are not available.

I must say that the Digital Photo Professional program has relatively little functionality compared to the popular Adobe Photoshop Lightroom program, but you should take into account the fact that a licensed Adobe Photoshop Lightroom costs about $ 200, and updates to new versions of this program are paid (about $ 100). ). Digital Photo Professional comes to us completely free of charge and is just as free to upgrade to newer versions. However, there is a caveat - the program itself cannot be downloaded, it must be installed from a disk. From the Canon website, you can only download the update to the latest version.

I see no reason to write a Digital Photo Professional guide here for two reasons - firstly, it will be of interest only to owners of Canon devices, and secondly, such a guide already exists - http://www.ixbt.com/digimage/canon_dppix.shtml

Even if the JPEG version is set to the correct white balance, the RAW version of the photo will most likely be of better quality. The reason is simple. The performance of the computer processor is much greater than the performance of the camera and it is "too tough" for more complex image processing algorithms - improving detail, filtering noise, and other processing. Even if the processing takes some time, it is not scary for the computer - the user can wait. When photographing, every second is worth its weight in gold. As a result, the algorithms used by the camera to process the image taken from the matrix are clamped in a tight time frame so as not to reduce the speed characteristics of the camera. For example, those actions that a computer can do in 10 seconds, the device must perform in no more than 1 second. This inevitably affects the quality of processing, especially when the device does not have the most modern and fast processor. That is why the result of shooting in JPEG is almost always worse than a properly processed RAW.

There is one more technical aspect to mention. When shooting in JPEG, pixel color information is encoded in 24 bits, when shooting in RAW, from 30 to 42 bits. It's not hard to imagine how many more colors can be encoded in 42 bits instead of 24.

The main disadvantages of the RAW format?

RAW is not available on all cameras. Owners of DSLRs and "top" cameras can be calm, but those who have relatively inexpensive compact devices may be disappointed - they most likely do not support the RAW format.

RAW files cannot be opened on any device other than a PC with special software installed. Media players, digital photo frames, tablet computers will not display RAW photos. To do this, they need to be converted to JPEG format (on a PC, using RAW processing software).

The RAW processing program that comes with the camera on a disk has a rather meager set of features. More functional software is most often paid.

The file size is about 2 times larger than JPEG in the best quality. If you are going on a long trip in which you intend to take pictures in RAW, stock up on a larger flash drive.

What is the RAW+JPEG format?

In most devices, it is possible to select such a mode when photos are recorded on a flash drive in the form of 2 files - one RAW, the other JPEG. This is useful in cases where the main shooting is in JPEG format, but you need to play it safe so that in which case you can "pull" the wrong shot from RAW.

If the results in JPEG format satisfy the photographer (or customer), RAW files can be safely deleted. As you can see in the picture, for the JPEG option, you can choose different resolutions and quality. Keep in mind that when shooting in RAW + JPEG, the flash drive will run out faster than just in RAW.

What format to shoot?

If you're interested in getting the most out of your camera in terms of the best possible photo quality, I highly recommend shooting in RAW. All subsequent chapters of the tutorial will assume that the shooting is done in this format.

Questions for self-control

If your camera can shoot in RAW:

1. Install a RAW processing program on your computer (if not already installed). If you do not know where to get it - look on the disk that came with the camera.

2. Take some RAW+JPEG photos. If shooting indoors, try to do without a flash.

3. Download the shooting result to a PC and process the RAW files in the installed program. Set the correct white balance (according to the white area of the image), brightness, contrast, noise reduction level. Compare your results with the JPEG images.

If your camera does not support RAW

1. Check which image quality you have selected. Set the maximum resolution with minimum compression.

2. Experiment with image styles - change brightness, contrast, saturation, hue. Save your favorite settings as a user mode. How to do this - read the instructions for the camera.

3. Learn to set the white balance on a sheet of white paper.