IS RAW BETTER? You may be surprised!

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My name is Simon d'Entremont and I'm a professional wildlife and nature photographer from Eastern Canada. In this video, we put our RAW files against JPEGs to see who wins. We also throw Compressed RAW into the fray to see what happens.

I use Topaz Labs software for noise reduction, sharpening and upscaling:

Music in intro: "Nicer", by Houses on the Hill. Find that, and other sound effects at Epidemic Sounds

My equipment:

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[simon_dentremont]

Do you shoot RAW or JPEG? I’d love to know, and why!

[portblock]

I use to shoot RAW exclusively, and realized I was spending the time to try to make it a decent image by color processing it in light room. A lot of the time, the jpg looked better. Then I would move the image into photoshop to do the actual retouching for the client. What I noticed is, my workflow was exhaustive and only boosted my ego not my paycheck. Then one day, I was the head photographer for Los Angeles Fashion Week (not bragging, explaining) and one of the guys on the riser near me was shooting straight to jpg and was getting paid. I asked why, he said the jpg is good enough and better than what his clients (designers, magazines) were expecting. - Right then I realized, I am doing far more work than is needed. --- few weeks after I practiced more on shooting straight to jpg, was fine, and moving into client work, no complaints.

So Today, I just do this:
* High end commercial work: I shoot RAW medium format in my studio
* Simple commercial work: JPG
* Model digitials, agency headshots, jpg
* Events: JPG

What I learned, anyone can tell my why they are superior, why my workflow is no good, but at the end of the day, I shoot for luxury brands, NBC television, and runway and have no complaints from clients and repeat work.

[yhbshix]

Really appreciate your videos not having any annoying music.

And great value.

[bk]

I'm a hobbyist and I used to shoot only RAW and edit in lightroom. Honestly, knowing that I'd have a bunch of work to do after shooting meant that I'd sometimes actually leave my DSLR behind when visiting some photogenic areas, and just take pictures with my phone because it was so much easier.

Then about a year ago, when we were expecting our first baby, I got the green light from my wife to purchase a new mirrorless camera to photograph him. During the process of researching a new camera I found Ken Rockwell's article about shooting JPEG, saying that RAW is for those who like to "twiddle" around on computers, while JPEG is for those who like to take photos (and get it right the first time, in camera). That really resonated with me and I reconsidered my position on shooting RAW.

Now I shoot RAW + Small JPEG Fine. This allows me to quickly export photos to my phone and share them, almost instantly after taking them. Once on my phone, I actually convert the JPEGs to HIEF images, which reduces the file-size by 8-10x with no noticeable changes to my eye. The "keeper" RAWs go to my NAS as a backup should I ever want to do anything extra with them. Occasionally I'll also edit RAWs in camera (like to Crop from a 45 MP Full-frame image to something more zoomed around a subject) before baking to JPEG and export. Overall, I find that focusing on JPEG first shooting has greatly increased both my usage and my enjoyment of using my camera.

[vanshikabhatnagar]

i left film school a year ago and i swear its videos like yours here on youtube that make me realise everything i need to know is here. thanks again, simon.

[garyross]

Perhaps another way of looking at it, is a baked cake (jpeg) vs. a cake recipe (RAW). Add too much sugar (balance) to the baked cake it's a struggle to make it taste good, but if the recipe has the wrong amount of sugar simply change the recipe and bake again. With RAW you can keep tweaking the recipe till it's as good as in can be. On the other hand, it's nicer to be given a cake and simply eat it :-)

[stefanschug]

I have shot RAW for years and have worked for over 20 years with Photoshop. There is so much more flexibility regarding adjustments like luminosity masking, frequency separation and many other improvements when you have the RAW file. Nowadays, if you work with 32 bit image versions, there is not even a comparison to what you can bring out in an image and if you use plug-ins like the Nik collection, the limitations of the JPEG files become very obvious. In my opinion JPEGs are wonderful shortcuts for snapshots right out of the camera or to bring the edited end product into the media. Great video as always!

[hgttlti]

Thank you, Simon for being not just a great photographer but also a great teacher. Your videos really changing my thoughts about many things in photography.

[Michael-fwef]

Simon, you are the greatest photography youtuber I have come across:

1) Your pictures are amazing - they match Mark Smith's level of talent
2) You teach me more info across 4 or 5 videos than I have learned in 6 years of trying to learn on my own
3) Your explanations are SO EASY to understand

Finding you on Youtube a month ago has already made my pictures 3 times as good as they were before I discovered your channel

Do you know how good you are? I hope so.

[ppBizU]

Hello Simon, I really admire quality of the content and correctness. As a programmer, that knows implementation details of JPEG/PNG - I wouldn't explain it better than you in more affordable language. You're doing a great job!

[thewoodys_surf_instrumental]

You have a gentle common sense way of sharing and shedding new light on things we probably already knew, but your way of explaining things is refreshing with no filler. Also, your wildlife photos capture animals personality like no other. If only the animals could see the way you captured their beauty in your wonderful calendar :)

[crweewrc]

You are the kind of creators on YouTube that I love. Spreading useful information which can also help us in our lives and are really helpful.
Thank you so much! ❤

[jamesbell]

I vote for RAW and JPEG, I review my JPEG for the best, picking the keepers then I save only the RAW keepers for additional processing. Works to speed up my workflow, remember take lots of photos and delete most.

[Gullie]

Its extraordinary how well you explain everything in your videos, so everyone can understand it, even someone who is just a beginner and still doesn't know much about photography and all the terms used.

[NebulaChavez]

I always shoot in JPEG and I also learned that I make sure my lighting and color are balanced at the source (my camera) . Thank you for making this great video

[nebula_M]

I had like a thousand question on this matter and you left me with a million answers. You are fantastic, thank you so much!

[texassasquatch]

Your channel is phenomenal. Thank you for teaching me so much.

[brucegraner]

I worked as a newspaper photographer for over 40 years and we always shot JPEGs when we went to digital about 1999. We did have a photographer on our staff who shot RAW but most of us on the staff felt out JPEGs looked better at the speeds we were having to work, sometimes two or three packages a day with one or two videos. Great video.

[photomaker]

I do mostly landscape photography. People are astonished that I choose to shoot in JPEG. I do it mainly to challenge myself. I kind of pretend I'm shooting film. I use grad filters, polarizers, the whole thing. I get some really interesting results. I find shooting in JPEG (similarly shooting with film) has taught me to slow down, focus on my surroundings, looking for eye catching compositions, and of course light. Thank you Simon for bringing very interesting topics to your channel!

[ryker]

"Shooting JPEGs only" is also great for beginning photographers - that way we have to think about what to capture "right now" instead of having that constant "I'll fix it in post" thought in the back of our heads - no way of cranking that exposure up or down, heavy cropping, massive denoising or excessive color grading, what matters is what camera "saw" at that summit/valley/street.