Hi All
pardon but I have a couple of questions as most 'experts' recommend RAW to JPEG.
I am not skilled and I would not trust myself to become better at converting formats than the experts that ie Panasonic employee ... so what is the likelyhood of getting better images from RAW compared to JPEG?
This question is more complicated than it seems. The first thing to understand is that all cameras capture the light in an unprocessed (raw) state. The raw data are typically in 12-bit or more - that is, there are at least 4096 gradations of colour and tone.
For viewing the output is typically JPG, which is 8-bit - 256 gradations. If you shoot "JPG" what you are doing is letting the camera (or that employee) decide which data to use and which to throw away. And, as you see, a
lot is thrown away. The main reason for shooting raw is to hang on to all the raw data as long as possible.
You are right, up to a point, to think that an experienced person can do the basic conversion better than a beginner. But with appropriate software that becomes irrelevant - if you use the software provided with your camera it does the raw-to-JPG development exactly the same way as the maker's employee.
Obviously, all that does is get us to square one: exactly the same processes have been carried out, it's just that they've happened in different places. At this point, therefore, you are no more likely to get better photos from raw than from JPG.
However, you have one advantage over that employee - you were there and saw the scene; and you know how you want your photos to look. If the employee's one-size-fits-all development happens to give you exactly what you want that's the end of the story. But if you want to make any adjustments of any kind you have a lot more scope to make them from raw than from JPG.
RAW will also add a step during image import - Can this be automated?
It depends on the software you use but it should be possible.
what is the likelihood of better end result?
That depends on your skill level. As I've said, there's no initial difference. It's important to know that whatever you do to a raw file you can never destroy the original data (unless you delete the file, which you shouldn't do). So if you make a mess you just go back to the start and try again.
is a convert for dummies available?
There should be a user guide, user manual or help facility with your software.
