printing RAW

you 'always' find that in forums because ​you cannot print a raw file​.  The file must be

rendered into an actual image.

Is this the case when using the latest issue of Qimage.  It has been some length of time since I read details regarding the latest Qimage but seems that I remember Qimage can print from RAW files without having to create (and save the file) as the normal converted TIF or JPG file type.

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Vernon...

So can Lightroom!

Qimage Ultimate is a piece of software that prints very successfully from raw files. I do it several times a week without any problems.

If one does it I am sure there must be others.

RS

i use lightroom and im always able to print the RAW file. and i dont think its because an image was shot under the RAW+jpeg setting beause i dont use that setting.

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Bernardo
phototronica.com

Roy,

would you say that the RAW prints are better in detail and color?

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Bernardo
phototronica.com

But the fact is you are not printing the RAW file.  It isn't an image, it contains raw sensor data.

What gets printed, with Lightroom, QImage, or anything else, is absolutely a rendered image produced by demosaicing the raw data just exactly the same way that every other RAW converter does.  It may not save the resulting RGB image as a JPEG or a TIFF file (and instead might only save the instructions used to make such a file), but it did generate the data for such a file and that is what was sent to the printer.

It is, as such, virtually impossible to print the raw sensor data and get what you would call a useful picture.

great stuff. I always shoot RAW then edit that RAW file and save it as a high quality jpeg for print. reading some stuff online about RAW to Print had me wondering.

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Bernardo
phototronica.com

There is no point to saving a file as a jpeg for your own printing. Jpeg is a lossy compression format. If you have to save it, then do so as a 16 bit TIFF, but otherwise print without the intermediate file.

You might want a jpeg for uploading if you are outsourcing the printing.

Brian A

A RAW file cannot be printed becase it is not an image, it's just RAW data.  A RAW file must be convereted into an image either by display to screen or saved as an image file such as TIFF or JPG to be printed.  I never get good results printing from Lightroom so anything I print myself is from TIFF or JPG printed with PSE 5.

Hi Bernardo,

I am not sure how to answer. Better than what?

Sometimes I want realistic colour sometime not. Sometimes a sharp clear image with lots of detail. Sometime soft dreamy tones with muted detail.

If I want to QUICKLY print an image that only exists as a raw file(s) - I use Qimage, which does give some ability to file tune and adjust the image just as ACR does. My advantage is I do not have to save any additional rendered file before printing. In my case it is a simple as: Open file(s), select image(s) I want, one click to send them to predetermined size and print settings. Much simpler and quicker than cumbersome ACR.  Maximum one minute and the printer is whirring.

Invariably I print the file as displayed on the monitor, and in my opinion it is an excellent rendition of the image I have captured.

Of course quality is very subjective, and definitions vary. In my opinion the image quality in qimage exceeds what I see in ACR when the files are originally opened. Your mileage may vary.

If I am interested in a producing a quality or competition print though, my post processing is ACR, then Photoshop, and possibly Nik Vivaza.

Without fail  the final print operation is through Qimage, which in my opinion is far better and more versatile than the Photoshop print module.

Works for me, although I am sure somebody can hardly wait to tell me I am wrong/crazy or worse.

Not sure if this answers your question. Willing to have a second go if you are more specific

Regards

Roy Sletcher

I love these definitive all encompassing statements of fact without any corroborating data, and yes the devil is probably in the details.

Here are the facts. I print in an application called Image. I download the raw files and the resultant small format jpeg is displayed as a thumbnail. At no time is a large format tiff or jpeg saved to my disk as you claim to be necessary, and as stated in your second sentence.

I select this thumbnail to print a high resolution large format print from the raw file on my hard disk.

Are you telling me I am hallucinating on a daily basis. Or is it just possible there is more to this than your three sentences would suggest?

I think there is more to this than your comment suggests.

Roy Sletcher

Your program is using conversion settings to load your RAW file into an image format in RAM to print your RAW file.

Of course you can.

When I send a RAW file from ACR after adjustments to CS6 in 16-bit ProPhoto, or any other color space, it can definitely be printed without saving as TIFF or JPG - either through CS6's print module, or the fantastic Canon 16-bit print plugin for my iPF5100. Before printing you can edit to you heart's content in PS, open and edit it in Topaz plugins, return it to PS, and it remains in RW2 (Panasonic GH2 RAW) format.

Rather than print directly,which I've done several times, I generally save as a TIFF first for safety's sake.

Pete

OMG, can't anyone tell when they are mired in a pointless semantic discussion?  Everyone here is just splitting hairs.  The OP is asking (if not perfectly phrasing the question) whether a RAW converter can print an image generated by the converter from imported RAW data directly without first saving it as a TIFF or JPEG.  The answer to this is yes for many, if not most or even all converters.  I do it all the time in After Shot Pro, formerly Bibble.

No, the image that is printed is not directly from RAW data.  It is from CONVERTED RAW data with or with PP adjustments, but not necessarily converted RAW data that has been saved as a TIFF or JPEG file!  You could save the image as a TIFF or JPEG first and then open the saved file and print, but you don't have to.

I am confident that succinct explanation covers everyone's positions.  Am I right?

Sheesh! Folks, life is too short for this kind of foolishness.

Robert

Yes.

Although as an aside, it would possible to more directly ‘print’ from raw if the CMYK screening could be done directly from the raw data. But as the vast majority of printers discussed on this forum are RGB printers, their drivers need a rendered RGB image from which to create a CMYK dithering pattern.

Further asides: A jpeg has to be rendered too, although the process is simpler and could be seen as more of an unpacking. And, it is a bit pointless creating a jpeg or TIFF specifically for onsite printing unless it is in the printer’s native screening resolution, 360 ppi for Epson for example. If you have an app the 'prints' without you having to create a transitionary file, why waste time creating one?

Brian A

Yep! +1

i save to jpeg for when i do outsource for like books. but i do print the raw pictures using lightroom for my photographic prints. im just curious about a few things like ppls techniques, experiences, does a print look better printed from raw vs. jpeg or tiff, and if ppl really go through all these steps of converting to make photographic prints. from what ive read it seems i always come across articles saying that you must always convert before you print to either jpeg or tiff. i dont know why if you do your own prints and have programs like PS or lightroom where these can open and print raw files; because i print the raw files in lightroom ; and i call them raw because i havent converted them.

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Bernardo
phototronica.com

Bernardo, plesae read my semantic discussion further down the thread.  Your lingo is all scewed up.  Yes, you have converted them! You cannot even see RAW without conversion much less print it.  Once you "open" the RAW file, it is not RAW any more, it has been converted. If you are looking at it, it is converted, period. Before photo editors contained converters, you could not use them to look at RAW files, right?  Because the files weren't converted. True, if you don't do any editing, and just close the file, the .XMP never gets written, so you might think the file hasn't been converted.  But each time you open it in the converter it has.  As someone else said, the converter makes JPEGs to use as thumbnails.  So you are never really looking at RAW, which has no meaning.

That is not the same as saving it to another format.  Yes, just print the damn things from your converter if you want.  Lots of folks do. Just stop asking if you can print a RAW file.  The correct language is printing a converted RAW file.  And there are no steps to converting.  Opening the image in the converter IS converting, like automatic.

Regarding appearance, there is no looks better or worse rule.  The converter is a fine printing tool, but the image may not be perfect because it needs more work. Same as if it were a TIFF or JPEG. Saving and opening it as a TIFF or JPEG won't fix that.  You would still have to make the edits to improve it, and that can happen (for the most part) in either converter or full function editor.  Get it to look the way you want it, and it doesn't matter where  you print it from.

Robert