good tips on file types from G. Eric Matthews
Professor and chair of Physics
People are always asking what should I shoot JPG or RAW? maybe this link will help.
Here’s the first paragraph
JPG is optimized for photographs and similar continuous tone images that contain many, many colors. It can achieve astounding compression ratios even while maintaining very high image quality. GIF compression is unkind to such images. JPG works by analyzing images and discarding kinds of information that the eye is least likely to notice. It stores information as 24 bit color. Important: the degree of compression of JPG is adjustable. At moderate compression levels of photographic images, it is very difficult for the eye to discern any difference from the original, even at extreme magnification. Compression factors of more than 20 are often quite acceptable. Better graphics programs, such as Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop, allow you to view the image quality and file size as a function of compression level, so that you can conveniently choose the balance between quality and file size.
RAW is an image output option available on some digital cameras. Though lossless, it is a factor of three of four smaller than TIFF files of the same image. The disadvantage is that there is a different RAW format for each manufacturer, and so you may have to use the manufacturer’s software to view the images. (Some graphics applications can read some manufacturer’s RAW formats.)
September 24, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I use RawShooter essentials as software for reading RAW files. When shooting in raw many cameras store two seperate files for each photo, one jpg and one raw. I always shoot in raw because I have the jpg file to use for the most part but on occassion when I have to make corrections or changes to a file it is better to do so to a raw file and save the final changes as jpg or tiff. Jpg files also corrupt with each change and with each opening so for storage purposes I keep raw files of my most important photos.
RawShooter esstenials the raw file is never actually changed so you can always go back to the original shot.