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Why am I sooting RAW + jpeg for all of these years?

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Trevor Carpenter said:
Marty4650 said:
Everyone has different needs, and makes decisions based on their individual circumstances, but let me share why I shoot raw+jpeg.
  1. Raw files are really useful for rescuing a bad exposure
  2. Raw lets you correct white balance settings
  3. If you have the skill, a raw file can sometimes produce a better result
  4. Storing files you may or may not need is pretty cheap today
  5. Editing skills improve over time, so I can revisit a ten year old shot and improve it.
In my own case, I really don't see any downside in storing files that I may or may not need. If I wanted faster frame rates, then perhaps it might make sense to shoot jpeg only, but that isn't my situation.

I should add that I am 74 years old. If I was 81 like you, then I might feel differently. But I still would want the ability to correct for white balance and exposure values.

Shooting raw files certainly isn't necessary, but I do find having them is sometimes useful. And it comes at almost no cost. I look at some photos I took 15 or 20 years ago and wish I had the raw files, so I could try editing them again. This is especially true when the subject was important, or the exposure or white balance was wrong.

If you visit the Retouching Forum, you will see how much better those folks can improve photos when they have raw files to work with rather than just jpegs. Of course, those people really know how to edit photos, and we don't all have the time, the skill, or inclination for that.
Click to expand...
Good summary but why shoot jpeg at all?
Click to expand...
Over the last 7 or 8 years I have been presenting images at my camera club (5-10 per week). Not once has anyone ever asked me whether I shot these in JPEG or raw, and they have been a mix of both. I suspect that whether the final image is displayed on a large screen, as at my club, or on a small screen, like an iPad, or even in print no one really cares how the image was processed. So, for me it's just personal preference as to whether I start with the JPEG or raw file, and I shoot both.

Now, as we see more and more in-camera computational processing that results in JPEG output, I submit that the use of JPEG images will become more accepted as equal, and even preferred in more use cases, by many photographers.
 
Michael Firstlight said:
Just a throwback thought...

There was a time when people preferred to just drop-off their film at a PhotoMat kiosk while others chose to develop and print themselves. Really no different today between JPEG vs RAW - with JPEG you get what someone else thought was right, ergo, PhotoMat - albeit a much improved one.

:-)
Click to expand...
But with PhotoMat you got your negatives. Did you throw your negatives away? If you still have them, you can scan them or if you have access to a darkroom make your own prints from them.
 
D Cox said:
That slider really should be labelled "Mid Tones".

Don
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Or maybe "highlight tones" as the exposure slider has a heavier bias to highlight tones, while the brightness has no bias and affects all tones equally. Adjusting the Exposure slider will affect highlights more in brightening or darkening an image.
 
Marty4650 said:
I don't even know why this is controversial. The only thing you accomplish by shooting in "raw only" is your camera can shoot at a faster rate because there is less to write to your memory card. And if you don't need a faster shooting rate, then why not shoot in raw+jpeg? Remember, I still have every frame I ever shot in both formats.
Click to expand...
I find a raw+JPEG workflow more complicated and error-prone as I need to remove JPEGs manually after import.

To those who shoot raw+JPEG, what is your workflow? Do you always keep raw+JPEG in the catalog, with two images for each scene? Do you merge them with raw, so they are hidden (LrC)?
 
Marty4650 said:
tbcass said:
Marty4650 said:
Trevor Carpenter said:
Good summary but why shoot jpeg at all?
Click to expand...
Because in my own case, the jpeg works fine 95% of the time. Editing raw files takes longer, and is more work, and since I only do it when necessary then it makes sense for me to record in both formats. Having the raw file is just insurance for me, in case I need to rescue an important photo that needs improvement.

If my camera could only record one format or the other, then jpeg would be my choice. But since it can record both, why not take advantage of this feature?
Click to expand...
What do you use as a RAW developer? If you use something like Lightroom I can understand.
Click to expand...
I'm still using Photoshop CS5. And I get the fact that if I just chose default settings while editing a raw file, then the result will pretty much be the same as a jpeg.
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I may sound like a broken record but I recommend batch processing with DXO PL6 because it gives better than OOC JPEGs with no effort. Once I bought PL5 I stopped shooting JPEG and now shoot RAW only. Previously I used Photoshop and Lightroom and was unwilling to put effort into learning them properly. Even an idiot like myself can get outstanding results with DXO.
 
SrMi said:
Marty4650 said:
I don't even know why this is controversial. The only thing you accomplish by shooting in "raw only" is your camera can shoot at a faster rate because there is less to write to your memory card. And if you don't need a faster shooting rate, then why not shoot in raw+jpeg? Remember, I still have every frame I ever shot in both formats.
Click to expand...
I find a raw+JPEG workflow more complicated and error-prone as I need to remove JPEGs manually after import.

To those who shoot raw+JPEG, what is your workflow? Do you always keep raw+JPEG in the catalog, with two images for each scene? Do you merge them with raw, so they are hidden (LrC)?
Click to expand...
I shoot OM/Olympus and use the OM Workspace as my first culling. The Jpegs and Raws are linked together so when I color code my "keepers" for further editing, both are tagged. I then export the selected image, JPEGS untouched and Raws converted to 16 bit tiffs, to my final file folder for import and processing in Lightroom. The original file that included all of the images is than trashed. If shooting birds in flight, I might start out with 700-800 raws and JPEGs and trash all but 20.

Both the JPEGS and raws are displayed side by side in LR. It is at this time I decide whether to go further with either the JPEG or raw version... or neither.
 
gary0319 said:
SrMi said:
Marty4650 said:
I don't even know why this is controversial. The only thing you accomplish by shooting in "raw only" is your camera can shoot at a faster rate because there is less to write to your memory card. And if you don't need a faster shooting rate, then why not shoot in raw+jpeg? Remember, I still have every frame I ever shot in both formats.
Click to expand...
I find a raw+JPEG workflow more complicated and error-prone as I need to remove JPEGs manually after import.

To those who shoot raw+JPEG, what is your workflow? Do you always keep raw+JPEG in the catalog, with two images for each scene? Do you merge them with raw, so they are hidden (LrC)?
Click to expand...
I shoot OM/Olympus and use the OM Workspace as my first culling. The Jpegs and Raws are linked together so when I color code my "keepers" for further editing, both are tagged. I then export the selected image, JPEGS untouched and Raws converted to 16 bit tiffs, to my final file folder for import and processing in Lightroom. The original file that included all of the images is than trashed. If shooting birds in flight, I might start out with 700-800 raws and JPEGs and trash all but 20.

Both the JPEGS and raws are displayed side by side in LR. It is at this time I decide whether to go further with either the JPEG or raw version... or neither.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the answer.

However, it bothers me to have two versions of the same image side by side.

I would recommend against throwing away raw files, even though your Lightroom may not support them. Several of my older, noisy raw files became very useful with the introduction of DxO's DeepPRIME, which requires raw files. So the technology moves forward, and the results you get from the raw file will improve. Also, TIFF files do not have the same post-processing abilities (e.g., highlight recovery).
 
Last edited:
SrMi said:
Marty4650 said:
I don't even know why this is controversial. The only thing you accomplish by shooting in "raw only" is your camera can shoot at a faster rate because there is less to write to your memory card. And if you don't need a faster shooting rate, then why not shoot in raw+jpeg? Remember, I still have every frame I ever shot in both formats.
Click to expand...
I find a raw+JPEG workflow more complicated and error-prone as I need to remove JPEGs manually after import.

To those who shoot raw+JPEG, what is your workflow? Do you always keep raw+JPEG in the catalog, with two images for each scene? Do you merge them with raw, so they are hidden (LrC)?
Click to expand...
No workflow for raw+jpeg at all here. I used the raw files and simply deleted all jpegs. For now I just stick to raws only; raw in first camera slot, and raw in second as a backup. When it’s so simple to use raws, then for me there’s no reason to use jpegs at all.
 
SrMi said:
gary0319 said:
SrMi said:
Marty4650 said:
I don't even know why this is controversial. The only thing you accomplish by shooting in "raw only" is your camera can shoot at a faster rate because there is less to write to your memory card. And if you don't need a faster shooting rate, then why not shoot in raw+jpeg? Remember, I still have every frame I ever shot in both formats.
Click to expand...
I find a raw+JPEG workflow more complicated and error-prone as I need to remove JPEGs manually after import.

To those who shoot raw+JPEG, what is your workflow? Do you always keep raw+JPEG in the catalog, with two images for each scene? Do you merge them with raw, so they are hidden (LrC)?
Click to expand...
I shoot OM/Olympus and use the OM Workspace as my first culling. The Jpegs and Raws are linked together so when I color code my "keepers" for further editing, both are tagged. I then export the selected image, JPEGS untouched and Raws converted to 16 bit tiffs, to my final file folder for import and processing in Lightroom. The original file that included all of the images is than trashed. If shooting birds in flight, I might start out with 700-800 raws and JPEGs and trash all but 20.

Both the JPEGS and raws are displayed side by side in LR. It is at this time I decide whether to go further with either the JPEG or raw version... or neither.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the answer.

However, it bothers me to have two versions of the same image side by side.

I would recommend against throwing away raw files, even though your Lightroom may not support them. Several of my older, noisy raw files became very useful with the introduction of DxO's DeepPRIME, which requires raw files. So the technology moves forward, and the results you get from the raw file will improve. Also, TIFF files do not have the same post-processing abilities (e.g., highlight recovery).
Click to expand...
I’m sure that others will have differing needs, but I have about 20 years worth of images on my external hard drive, both JPEG and Raws for the same image, and cannot remember a single time I ever wanted to revisit an image with the intention of reprocessing it.

Perhaps I’m missing something I should consider….what use did you find for those old noisy files that you reprocessed in DXO?
 
mujana said:
SrMi said:
Marty4650 said:
I don't even know why this is controversial. The only thing you accomplish by shooting in "raw only" is your camera can shoot at a faster rate because there is less to write to your memory card. And if you don't need a faster shooting rate, then why not shoot in raw+jpeg? Remember, I still have every frame I ever shot in both formats.
Click to expand...
I find a raw+JPEG workflow more complicated and error-prone as I need to remove JPEGs manually after import.

To those who shoot raw+JPEG, what is your workflow? Do you always keep raw+JPEG in the catalog, with two images for each scene? Do you merge them with raw, so they are hidden (LrC)?
Click to expand...
No workflow for raw+jpeg at all here. I used the raw files and simply deleted all jpegs. For now I just stick to raws only; raw in first camera slot, and raw in second as a backup. When it’s so simple to use raws, then for me there’s no reason to use jpegs at all.
Click to expand...
I’m assuming that your camera doesn’t facilitate any computational features that result in JPEG only images, right? If not, you are right, there would be no reason to be concerned about the JPEGS.
 
gary0319 said:
SrMi said:
gary0319 said:
SrMi said:
Marty4650 said:
I don't even know why this is controversial. The only thing you accomplish by shooting in "raw only" is your camera can shoot at a faster rate because there is less to write to your memory card. And if you don't need a faster shooting rate, then why not shoot in raw+jpeg? Remember, I still have every frame I ever shot in both formats.
Click to expand...
I find a raw+JPEG workflow more complicated and error-prone as I need to remove JPEGs manually after import.

To those who shoot raw+JPEG, what is your workflow? Do you always keep raw+JPEG in the catalog, with two images for each scene? Do you merge them with raw, so they are hidden (LrC)?
Click to expand...
I shoot OM/Olympus and use the OM Workspace as my first culling. The Jpegs and Raws are linked together so when I color code my "keepers" for further editing, both are tagged. I then export the selected image, JPEGS untouched and Raws converted to 16 bit tiffs, to my final file folder for import and processing in Lightroom. The original file that included all of the images is than trashed. If shooting birds in flight, I might start out with 700-800 raws and JPEGs and trash all but 20.

Both the JPEGS and raws are displayed side by side in LR. It is at this time I decide whether to go further with either the JPEG or raw version... or neither.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the answer.

However, it bothers me to have two versions of the same image side by side.

I would recommend against throwing away raw files, even though your Lightroom may not support them. Several of my older, noisy raw files became very useful with the introduction of DxO's DeepPRIME, which requires raw files. So the technology moves forward, and the results you get from the raw file will improve. Also, TIFF files do not have the same post-processing abilities (e.g., highlight recovery).
Click to expand...
I’m sure that others will have differing needs, but I have about 20 years worth of images on my external hard drive, both JPEG and Raws for the same image, and cannot remember a single time I ever wanted to revisit an image with the intention of reprocessing it.

Perhaps I’m missing something I should consider….what use did you find for those old noisy files that you reprocessed in DXO?
Click to expand...
DxO eliminated noise to such an extent that the image became usable.

I like to revisit my old shots as I have learned new things in the meantime, both in composition and post-processing, and the new AI tools help quite a bit with “dodge-and-burn.”
 
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