Times Photographer advocates shooting raw

[Bryan]

Times photographer James Glossop writes in today's paper (paywall)  about the time he was covering Alex Salmond in 2011. He had been fiddling with his camera settings, and had inadvertently left it set on B&W.  His resulting photos were useless to the paper, and he continues to be reminded of the incident years later by fellow pros.

 

He says "the lesson I learnt?  Always shoot RAW"

[IanDavidson]

15 hours ago, PAL Media said:

Raw on one card, jpg on the other for me

Same for me.  
 

The camera settings issue will happen to the vast majority of photographers at one time or another.  I always use manual and have, on more than one occasion, not reset aperture etc.  I know it’s all there in the viewfinder but when you have to react quickly to a changing situation; I been known to point and spray on instinct.... 

[Cal]

I've got to agree. For the best of both worlds, I do raw + jpeg. It makes it nice and easy for quickly previewing photos on the computer before I export them into LR, and it also gives me the opportunity should it arise to work directly with the JPEG should the image need to be pushed out very quickly. 99% of the time though it's raw, even if it's just to run it through LR and input metadata before putting it straight out again to JPEG.

[Phil Robinson]

I shoot RAW on both cards. I find processing a RAW image takes about 5 seconds longer than a JPEG

[meanderingemu]

19 minutes ago, Phil Robinson said:

I shoot RAW on both cards. I find processing a RAW image takes about 5 seconds longer than a JPEG

you must have a fast laptop.   

[Michael Ventura]

5 hours ago, Cal said:

I've got to agree. For the best of both worlds, I do raw + jpeg. It makes it nice and easy for quickly previewing photos on the computer before I export them into LR, and it also gives me the opportunity should it arise to work directly with the JPEG should the image need to be pushed out very quickly. 99% of the time though it's raw, even if it's just to run it through LR and input metadata before putting it straight out again to JPEG.

My workflow is pretty much the same!

[Chuck Nacke]

With DSLR's I only shoot RAW 14bit, except when I am taking a photo of a car part I am replacing and need to show 

what I am ordering.  I learned decades ago to always leave my camera's setup to run out the door.  I keep my WB

on auto, manual shutter speed set to 250, f stop on all attached lenses set to 5.6 and ISO set to 100 and camera's all

set to A.  I also keep my AF set to Single-Servo.  In the film days it was pretty much the same.  I think that last time

I shot JPEG on a DSLR was with a NIKON D100.  Always extra fully charged batteries.

 

Chuck

[Marianne]

I shoot small jpegs along with my RAW files on my Sony A7rII so I can check the back of my camera if I need to. I'd simply shoot only RAW but if I do, or if I shoot RAW + full sized jpegs, the camera takes too long to process images. I'm thinking of upgrading to an A7rIII or A7rIV for the improvements to processing speed and battery life but for now, this setup works fine. I got the A7rii when the riii came out because the price came down considerably. I sold most of my Nikon glass or I'd probably check out their mirrorless offerings, but it seems that for mirrorless, Sony really leads the pack. 

 

Most of us make mistakes in our setting sometimes, forget that the last time, we switched them from what we normally use, whatever, and having a RAW file that can be rescued is one way of idiot-proofing. 

 

With the Sony I take along at least 3 batteries. I have 4 and a charger with a USB cord I can use in my car that charges 2 batteries. Battery life is poor. I knew that going in and bought extra batteries on day 1. 

[vpics]

I used to shoot RAW + JPEG on my old 1DS, but ended up getting too many processing errors. I'm only shooting RAW files now.

I tend to select the images in Photoshop Bridge and process them in Photoshop ACR. The latest update also seems to allow you to set up your own standard settings.

 

[Steve Hyde]

Much as everyone else I use two cards, one saving RAW files and the other jpg’s. I process anything for Alamy etc using RAW files through PS. The jpgs are good for wireless transfers to the iPad for family snaps etc or a quick upload to Instagram or Facebook. I also like the fact that, using the jpgs, I can use the custom settings on the XT2 to swap between different film simulation setups. 
 

I’ve also found this free PS action is really good for sharpening and resizing for social media sites. It’s free from MCP actions. I put nearly everything I process for web use through this

 

https://mcpactions.com/product/high-def-sharpening/