I’ve listened to many tech reviewers and photo editors saying that RAW images are better and have been intrigued by it. Also what are it’s merits and demerits?
In: Technology
Raw format is the unprocessed data captured from the image sensor. Many DSLRs and similar cameras can capture 10–14 bits of data per color channel, more than the 8 bits commonly seen. This allows more detail to be captured, more subtle edits can be made, and smoother changes in color. There is actually more data than can be shown on a standard monitor, and thus a lot of leeway when it comes to fine adjustments.
Raw format files have much larger filesize than JPEGs processed from them. They are often unique to a specific model of camera, and cannot be viewed on other devices without first installing the codec, or converting to a more common format (such as Adobe DNG).
JPEG format is widely available (the codec is already present on all devices), and can maintain perhaps 90% of the apparent image quality for around 10% of the filesize. However, it does this through a lot of approximation, sacrifices in color fidelity, and elimination of all excess data (8-bit color channels). Edits made to JPEGs easily reveal all of the shortcuts and shortcomings.
Professionals primarily shoot in raw format, and save the JPEG conversion step for last, since the quality loss is otherwise unacceptable.
Latest Answers