First RAW conversion: WOW!

[Norm in Fujino]

I'll say it again: Wow! --don't get me wrong; I don't mean it about the artistic quality of the photo :o , just about what I've learned can be done with RAW today.

http://www2.gol.com/users/nhavens/resource/P4210875-01a.jpg

I downloaded RawShooter Essentials (RSE) this morning and did a few test shots at a little shrine about ten minutes' drive from my house. This was a very difficult shot; the dynamic range was heavy on both ends of the histogram, from the very dark areas under the eaves, to the bright edges of the roof and on into the sky. I underexposed by several stops until I got the brightest highlights just about under control, then opened up the shadows in RSE just enough to preserve the important detail.
IMHO, this is one great program. This was a quick attempt and there's more I could do with the shot, I realize; the color balance may not be perfect, and I probably could have left sharpening at the RSE default (0) rather than the "1" that I chose, but I am still VERY impressed. It's hard to show the results on screen, but when I printed it out, it popped almost like 3D.

Olympus E-300, 14-54mm lens (@14mm), f7.1, 1/80s, with tripod. ISO 100

[jeisner]

Once you've tried RAW you can never go back ;-)

[TheObiJuan]

I shot a very low light concert today. I shot it with RAW+JPEG and the RAW files saved many pics. It is just amazing, really.
I would do my best fix in RSE and PSCS with the RAW file and JPEG respectively, and the RAW would usually win hands down. For good looking pics RAW really has no advantage for me.

[Bluedog]

Very nicely done Norm, its all I've been shooting. Juan I don't quite understand this statement ... "For good looking pics RAW really has no advantage for me."

[farqwar]

that is a beautiful shot! :eek:

[gary_hendricks]

Thanks Norm for sharing that. I've been wanting to try out RAW for some time. Maybe now I will really do it :)

[Norm in Fujino]

Thanks Norm for sharing that. I've been wanting to try out RAW for some time. Maybe now I will really do it :)

I'm sure I won't use RAW for everything, but once I figure out a regular workflow, I'll probably do more and more. This morning I was shooting simultaneous RAW and Oly's super-high-quality (SHQ) JPEGs. When I saw the JPEG taken together with this RAW shot, it was so dark that normally I would've just thrown it out, since there's no way I could've corrected it sufficiently in PS or PSP. I wouldn't have believed so much of the shadow area could be saved with RAW this way.

[John_Reed]

I don't have RAW available with my Panasonic FZ15, but I generally bracket critical shots. I guess with RAW, I might've taken fewer than 3300 shots on my recent Galapagos expedition, but where would I have stored all the images? Do you RAW shooters tend to take far fewer images than us JPEGers? I say that wondering where I'd find the time to process a whole bunch of images after a big trip, say. That culling/sorting/processing time, I'm discovering, is the big bottleneck of digital photography.

I hope you're not offended. I took your otherwise beautiful shot and straightened out the uprights, so that the porch wouldn't look twisted:

[Norm in Fujino]

I don't have RAW available with my Panasonic FZ15, but I generally bracket critical shots. I guess with RAW, I might've taken fewer than 3300 shots on my recent Galapagos expedition, but where would I have stored all the images? Do you RAW shooters tend to take far fewer images than us JPEGers? I say that wondering where I'd find the time to process a whole bunch of images after a big trip, say. That culling/sorting/processing time, I'm discovering, is the big bottleneck of digital photography.

This is an issue that I'm also concerned with, --and one reason I was impressed with RSE; it has a queue function that lets you do the actual conversion work in the background, and also an easy way to apply settings to multiple shots in a series. Since I just got it this morning and read the minimum of instructions to get started, I obviously don't understand it very well, but there seems to be a logical process built into the program, including the "triage" or culling work. The instruction manual says that by using the prioritizing function, you can go through and triage/process several hundred photos in an hour. As for the size of photos, my SHQ JPEGs are 4.6-5.3Mb each, while my RAWs are all identical at 13.797Mb each, so bracketing three shots in JPEG wouldn't take any/much less space than a well-thought-out RAW shot. One still has to consider other forms of portable storage on such expeditions, though.

What really takes up the real estate is the TIFFs and/or other native PS format, etc., following conversion. If you want to run the converted shots through a second or third application (PS, Neatimage, etc.) without suffering any loss, you have to convert them to TIFF format rather than JPEG. One I did this morning was 48MB large, and with additional layers processing in PS or PSP they can grow to several hundred MB each. I can see I'm going to have to get some more memory for my computer. --or a new computer :eek:


I hope you're not offended. I took your otherwise beautiful shot and straightened out the uprights, so that the porch wouldn't look twisted:

You have the architect's eye. Thanks!
(Later note: I went back and corrected mine as well)

[Bluedog]

I find myself not having to bracket photos using RAW. Probably 40% of my .jpgs get trashed cause I forgot to set something up correctly.

[D70FAN]

I find myself not having to bracket photos using RAW. Probably 40% of my .jpgs get trashed cause I forgot to set something up correctly.

I think once you get used to the camera, and form a mental pre-shot checklist you will use JPEG with a little more confidence, and RAW mainly for critical shots (like Norms heavy shadows). One of the nice things about dSLR's is that you can change to and from RAW and JPEG quicky. I do this frequently, and it has actually become part of my pre-shot routine.

[Norm in Fujino]

I think once you get used to the camera, and form a mental pre-shot checklist you will use JPEG with a little more confidence, and RAW mainly for critical shots (like Norms heavy shadows). One of the nice things about dSLR's is that you can change to and from RAW and JPEG quicky. I do this frequently, and it has actually become part of my pre-shot routine.

Just like changing ISOs. Very handy capability.

[ReF]

RAW is amazing, and i shoot almost exclusively with it now. i used to have the same problem with workflow; trying to convert everything took some time, even with batch processing. but now i've learned to just process those pics that i really like or have potential. the rest stay as from-the-camera jpegs and RAW. i tried to do what George does but i kept forgetting to switch back to RAW for important shots or there wasn't enough time. now the camera stays on RAW unless i am just doing tests.

John Reed: "Do you RAW shooters tend to take far fewer images than us JPEGers?" my point and shoot didn't have RAW either, so i'm not sure if it's a RAW thing or a D-slr thing (maybe both) but i do find that i take much less shots now because i am more confident that my shots came out right.

Norm: lol. i filled up my hard drive already and now i'm looking at buying a new computer! the size really is a problem for those who shoot a lot. i now have a 256, 512, 1gb and a 32mb compact flash that that came with my point and shoot and if i want to be on the safe side, i have to bring something to offload my pictures onto if i'm away for more than a day! :eek:

[Rhys]

Personally, I prefer to stay with the highest quality jpeg. I don't want the extra messing around that I'd have to do with raw. Electronics are here to make life easier - not harder. If I wanted to mess about with post photo processing, I'd use film and have higher-quality images.

[sarcazmo]

Great article on raw here (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/rawtruth1.shtml)

I only shoot RAW. Being a complete photo newb, I don't quite understand bracketing, so RAW has really saved my butt. Plus, my D70 raw file sizes are small, 5-6mb.

[Norm in Fujino]

Great article on raw here (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/rawtruth1.shtml)

I agree--that was one of the first articles I read when trying to get a handle on the RAW concept.


I only shoot RAW. Being a complete photo newb, I don't quite understand bracketing, so RAW has really saved my butt. Plus, my D70 raw file sizes are small, 5-6mb.

Exposure bracketing is simple in concept; you take an exposure reading of the scene using whatever "general" or "center-weighted" mode the D70 offers, then take an exposure at that setting, plus one on either side (maybe 1-1.5 steps more and 1-1.5 steps less exposure) of that middle position. That gives you three exposures to choose from, with a range of 2-3 steps' difference in exposure. If you use a tripod, you can even digitally overlay the highlights from one onto the shadows of the other to make a combined image with the advantages of both.

[TheObiJuan]

Very nicely done Norm, its all I've been shooting. Juan I don't quite understand this statement ... "For good looking pics RAW really has no advantage for me."

If I nailed the shot by getting the correct WB, exposure, colors, sharpness, etc, then I keep the Jpeg from RAW+JPEG. Otherwise, RAW it is for me.

Is it just me or does RSE pixelate the images as you are looking at them even when below 100% magnification. I never noticed this before. I did notice that as I made a change the image would blur, then go back to normal, but yesterday I got really nasty and pixelated images at 25% and up magnification.. :confused:

[Bluedog]

RSE ... seems to be a continuing work in progress and I've had some excellent results with it, especially removing what little bit of Noise @ ISO 1600 shows up. I don't like how they took out the Color Temperature option where you could set an exact temp, ie: 2800. I shoot only in RAW and not with the .jpg combo, that seems a waste to me.

I've got 3 - 1GB, 1 -512MB and 1 - 256MB CF Cards for my XT so hopefully I'm covered as not having to stop and bracket photos, as I really don't see a need anymore.

[Norm in Fujino]

RSE ... seems to be a continuing work in progress and I've had some excellent results with it, especially removing what little bit of Noise @ ISO 1600 shows up. I don't like how they took out the Color Temperature option where you could set an exact temp, ie: 2800. I shoot only in RAW and not with the .jpg combo, that seems a waste to me.


What version do you have? Mine is 1.1.2 bld 14 and has the color temperature option in degrees. Is there a later build? FWIW, yesterday I was shooting with both JPEG and RAW for testing (comparison) purposes. For me it also doesn't make much sense to take both unless I'm testing; RSE displays them so fast and allows such quick editing/culling that there isn't much advantage to bringing JPEGs up on another program first.

[jeisner]

Is it just me or does RSE pixelate the images as you are looking at them even when below 100% magnification. I never noticed this before. I did notice that as I made a change the image would blur, then go back to normal, but yesterday I got really nasty and pixelated images at 25% and up magnification.. :confused:

Yeah I noticed that too, I am not a big fan of RSE as yet, I prefer Bibble or ACR, but RSE is a work in progress and it is free, so can't complain... I just don't use it, but as it improves that could change!

[TheObiJuan]

I remember upgrading recently after getting an email from pixmantec. This update screwed up the viewing and got rid of the wb temp selection.

[Bluedog]

Yea I liked the previous version a little better but haven't figured how to revert back yet.