RAW or raw?

[Chris Noble]

This has probably been raised before in these forums, but surely, raw is not an abbreviation or acronym? I’ve always thought that while JPEG is an abbreviation of Joint Photographic Experts Group, raw simply means that the data from the camera has not yet been processed (or “cooked”) yet, and therefore, the word should not be capitalised? I think the boat has probably sailed on this question, but I shall continue to be pedantic and refer to raw files!

The word RAW needs to be all-capitalized because RAW files have MORE INFORMATION than jpeg files. This is something that photographers who save in RAW format should be PROUD of, and should shout LOUD and CLEAR to the world.

Interesting point. I'll accept RAW only for that reason.

Some of us go one step beyond, and save in both RAW and JPEG format.

Bad idea. The correct exposure for an in-camera JPEG (as close as possible to desired output tone range) is almost never the same as for a Raw file (which should be ETTR).

The one thing you can't correct in Post is the exposure.

 

[Victor Engel]

It can be used as a generic description of a file format, e.g., CR2, CR3, etc., or it can refer to a specific format that uses the .raw extension. There are several of the latter.

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en.wikipedia.org

 

[Redhenry]

…to all those who responded. I was genuinely unsure about RAW or raw and am completely happy to accept that RAW refers to a type of file and is widely accepted as such.

I was also interested in the argument about “proper” English being the language spoken in England. I can understand why this might be a popular view among the English but, in the opinion of many people more learned than I, there are now so many varieties of English, even here in England, that there is no longer a “correct” version. Indeed, it is often said that if one wishes to hear the best English grammar, the north-eastern United States is the place to go, or perhaps, a little closer to home for me, the English spoken in Edinburgh, often referred to as “Morningside English” after a district of that city. For those who don’t have much recent experience of English in England, the English of the south-east, sometimes referred to as “Estuary English” * (Thames estuary) has become the norm on TV and radio, especially in advertising and “BBC English” is no longer widespread, even on the BBC!
The point about the influence of French is another can of worms. I am happy to accept the modern American “program”, especially as, in my humble opinion, modern American spelling makes a lot of sense.

* Estuary English is characterised by the elision of many consonants, especially at the end of syllables, and the substitution of “w” for “l”, so that complaints about the poor state of road surfaces often include references to “po’hows” rather than potholes.

I really will shut up now.

RH

 

[dunnerdoitmon]

…to all those who responded. I was genuinely unsure about RAW or raw and am completely happy to accept that RAW refers to a type of file and is widely accepted as such.

I was also interested in the argument about “proper” English being the language spoken in England. I can understand why this might be a popular view among the English but, in the opinion of many people more learned than I, there are now so many varieties of English, even here in England, that there is no longer a “correct” version. Indeed, it is often said that if one wishes to hear the best English grammar, the north-eastern United States is the place to go, or perhaps, a little closer to home for me, the English spoken in Edinburgh, often referred to as “Morningside English” after a district of that city. For those who don’t have much recent experience of English in England, the English of the south-east, sometimes referred to as “Estuary English” * (Thames estuary) has become the norm on TV and radio, especially in advertising and “BBC English” is no longer widespread, even on the BBC!
The point about the influence of French is another can of worms. I am happy to accept the modern American “program”, especially as, in my humble opinion, modern American spelling makes a lot of sense.

* Estuary English is characterised by the elision of many consonants, especially at the end of syllables, and the substitution of “w” for “l”, so that complaints about the poor state of road surfaces often include references to “po’hows” rather than potholes.

I really will shut up now.

RH

Please continue! Your thread is by far the most interesting and well written one I've read on this website for yonks!

 

[Chris Noble]

The point about the influence of French is another can of worms.

You must be thinking of the Maori of New Zealand, who are quite fond of them. The French are more partial to snails.

 

[FrancoD]

You hit a raw nerve with your original question.

 

[Richard M Nikon]

As they say,

 

[Shooters on My Squad]

When you dive into the ISO standards and some other official documentation, they often refer to these camera files as "raw" in lowercase.

This lowercase usage aligns with the technical and formal nature of those standards, where they describe "raw" as a file format that contains unprocessed data from a digital camera. It's more about being precise and consistent with terminology in those contexts.

So, to break it down:

• RAW: Commonly used in the industry, marketing, and by photographers to emphasize the unprocessed, unfiltered nature of these files.
• raw: Used in technical documentation, standards like ISO, and formal contexts where consistency in terminology is key.

When you’re out there flexing your knowledge or talking to your crew, RAW is the way to go. But if you’re drafting something formal or technical, raw might be what the big bosses at ISO expect to see.

The world isn’t just black & white, it’s full of shades. Open your heart to see them.

 

[J A C S]

When you dive into the ISO standards and some other official documentation, they often refer to these camera files as "raw" in lowercase.

As an adjective, for example, a "raw image file," or as a noun?

This lowercase usage aligns with the technical and formal nature of those standards, where they describe "raw" as a file format that contains unprocessed data from a digital camera. It's more about being precise and consistent with terminology in those contexts.

So, to break it down:

• RAW: Commonly used in the industry, marketing, and by photographers to emphasize the unprocessed, unfiltered nature of these files.
• raw: Used in technical documentation, standards like ISO, and formal contexts where consistency in terminology is key.

Where else besides ISO?

When you’re out there flexing your knowledge or talking to your crew, RAW is the way to go. But if you’re drafting something formal or technical, raw might be what the big bosses at ISO expect to see.

The raw image format is known as RAW.

 

[Chris Noble]

When you’re out there flexing your knowledge or talking to your crew, RAW is the way to go. But if you’re drafting something formal or technical, raw might be what the big bosses at ISO expect to see.

The world isn’t just black & white, it’s full of shades. Open your heart to see them.

Good point!

I couldn't resist...

 

[Shooters on My Squad]

When you dive into the ISO standards and some other official documentation, they often refer to these camera files as "raw" in lowercase.

As an adjective, for example, a "raw image file," or as a noun?

This lowercase usage aligns with the technical and formal nature of those standards, where they describe "raw" as a file format that contains unprocessed data from a digital camera. It's more about being precise and consistent with terminology in those contexts.

So, to break it down:

• RAW: Commonly used in the industry, marketing, and by photographers to emphasize the unprocessed, unfiltered nature of these files.
• raw: Used in technical documentation, standards like ISO, and formal contexts where consistency in terminology is key.

Where else besides ISO?

When you’re out there flexing your knowledge or talking to your crew, RAW is the way to go. But if you’re drafting something formal or technical, raw might be what the big bosses at ISO expect to see.

The raw image format is known as RAW.

Common Lisp programmers must be reading this thread and thinking, "What a bunch of idiots."

 

[Richard Butler]

This has probably been raised before in these forums, but surely, raw is not an abbreviation or acronym? I’ve always thought that while JPEG is an abbreviation of Joint Photographic Experts Group, raw simply means that the data from the camera has not yet been processed (or “cooked”) yet, and therefore, the word should not be capitalised? I think the boat has probably sailed on this question, but I shall continue to be pedantic and refer to raw files!

For what it's worth, our house style is "Raw."

There's no reason for it to be all caps, but to make clear that we're talking about the file type and because the data contained isn't necessarily unprocessed, we treat it like a proper noun, rather than an adjective.

I'm not posting this to start a discussion of whether we should take this approach (and I know of at least a couple of locations on the site where it's hard-coded as all caps). But that's our house style and has been for at least 15 years.

Richard - DPReview.com

 

[Chris Noble]

Common Lisp programmers must be reading this thread and thinking, "What a bunch of idiots."

I'm a Lisp programmer, and none of my Lisp programmer friends think that way.

 

[FrancoD]

This has probably been raised before in these forums, but surely, raw is not an abbreviation or acronym? I’ve always thought that while JPEG is an abbreviation of Joint Photographic Experts Group, raw simply means that the data from the camera has not yet been processed (or “cooked”) yet, and therefore, the word should not be capitalised? I think the boat has probably sailed on this question, but I shall continue to be pedantic and refer to raw files!

For what it's worth, our house style is "Raw."

There's no reason for it to be all caps, but to make clear that we're talking about the filetype and because the data contained isn't necessarily unprocessed, we treat it like a proper noun, rather than an adjective.

I'm not posting this to start a discussion of whether we should take this approach (and I know of at least a couple of locations on the site where it's hard-coded as all caps). But that's our house style and has been for at least 15 years.

Richard - DPReview.com

I would think that the all caps version (RAW) is to make it even more obvious that it is a type of file like JPEG/TIFF/GIF/PNG/PDF.

 

[Guy Parsons]

I would think that the all caps version (RAW) is to make it even more obvious that it is a type of file like JPEG/TIFF/GIF/PNG/PDF.

They are all such common and well known terms that I rarely bother to capitalise any of them, so for me they are always (well, mostly always) raw, jpeg, tiff, gif, png, pdf files.

No technical reason for that apart from my innate laziness.

 

[GeoffRG]

This has probably been raised before in these forums, but surely, raw is not an abbreviation or acronym? I’ve always thought that while JPEG is an abbreviation of Joint Photographic Experts Group, raw simply means that the data from the camera has not yet been processed (or “cooked”) yet, and therefore, the word should not be capitalised? I think the boat has probably sailed on this question, but I shall continue to be pedantic and refer to raw files!

For what it's worth, our house style is "Raw."

There's no reason for it to be all caps, but to make clear that we're talking about the filetype and because the data contained isn't necessarily unprocessed, we treat it like a proper noun, rather than an adjective.

I'm not posting this to start a discussion of whether we should take this approach (and I know of at least a couple of locations on the site where it's hard-coded as all caps). But that's our house style and has been for at least 15 years.

Richard - DPReview.com

I would think that the all caps version (RAW) is to make it even more obvious that it is a type of file like JPEG/TIFF/GIF/PNG/PDF.

I will say it again RAW is not a file extension or file type.

 

[Shooters on My Squad]

Common Lisp programmers must be reading this thread and thinking, "What a bunch of idiots."

I'm a Lisp programmer, and none of my Lisp programmer friends think that way.

…at least you got the reference, didn’t you?

 

[Shooters on My Squad]

This has probably been raised before in these forums, but surely, raw is not an abbreviation or acronym? I’ve always thought that while JPEG is an abbreviation of Joint Photographic Experts Group, raw simply means that the data from the camera has not yet been processed (or “cooked”) yet, and therefore, the word should not be capitalised? I think the boat has probably sailed on this question, but I shall continue to be pedantic and refer to raw files!

For what it's worth, our house style is "Raw."

There's no reason for it to be all caps, but to make clear that we're talking about the filetype and because the data contained isn't necessarily unprocessed, we treat it like a proper noun, rather than an adjective.

I'm not posting this to start a discussion of whether we should take this approach (and I know of at least a couple of locations on the site where it's hard-coded as all caps). But that's our house style and has been for at least 15 years.

Richard - DPReview.com

I would think that the all caps version (RAW) is to make it even more obvious that it is a type of file like JPEG/TIFF/GIF/PNG/PDF.

I will say it again RAW is not a file extension or file type.

This isn’t true. RAW was used extensively for different file types (and is still in use today in some contexts):

• RAW: Image Alchemy HSI Temporary Raw Bitmap
• RAW: Nicolet Summit/DaStar Data File (Nicolet Instrument Technologies, Inc.)
  
• RAW: Nimbus 7 SAMS Data File
  
• RAW: Raw Data for CD-ROM Writing (Nero AG)
  
• RAW: RAW RGB 24-bit Graphic
  
• RAW: Raw Signed PCM Data
  
• RAW: RDosPlay RAW Audio Format
  
• RAW: RealAudio Sound
  
• RAW: Sentry 2020 Encryption File
  
• RAW: Spectrum Raw Memory Dump
  
• RAW: V41/eV41 Program Files
  
• RAW: VitaGraph File

Source: https://filext.com/list/r

 

[WiltshireMoonraker59]

Is it of any real importance?

 

[GeoffRG]

This has probably been raised before in these forums, but surely, raw is not an abbreviation or acronym? I’ve always thought that while JPEG is an abbreviation of Joint Photographic Experts Group, raw simply means that the data from the camera has not yet been processed (or “cooked”) yet, and therefore, the word should not be capitalised? I think the boat has probably sailed on this question, but I shall continue to be pedantic and refer to raw files!

For what it's worth, our house style is "Raw."

There's no reason for it to be all caps, but to make clear that we're talking about the filetype and because the data contained isn't necessarily unprocessed, we treat it like a proper noun, rather than an adjective.

I'm not posting this to start a discussion of whether we should take this approach (and I know of at least a couple of locations on the site where it's hard-coded as all caps). But that's our house style and has been for at least 15 years.

Richard - DPReview.com

I would think that the all caps version (RAW) is to make it even more obvious that it is a type of file like JPEG/TIFF/GIF/PNG/PDF.

I will say it again RAW is not a file extension or file type.

This isn’t true. RAW was used extensively for different file types (and is still in use today in some contexts):

• RAW: Image Alchemy HSI Temporary Raw Bitmap
• RAW: Nicolet Summit/DaStar Data File (Nicolet Instrument Technologies, Inc.)
• RAW: Nimbus 7 SAMS Data File
• RAW: Raw Data for CD-ROM Writing (Nero AG)
• RAW: RAW RGB 24-bit Graphic
• RAW: Raw Signed PCM Data
• RAW: RDosPlay RAW Audio Format
• RAW: RealAudio Sound
• RAW: Sentry 2020 Encryption File
• RAW: Spectrum Raw Memory Dump
• RAW: V41/eV41 Program Files
• RAW: VitaGraph File

Source: https://filext.com/list/r

Hardly in context though.