SONY A7IV RAW FILE COMPARISON // COMPRESSED VS LOSSLESS VS UNCOMPRESSED

In this video we look at the SONY A7IV RAW FILE COMPARISON // COMPRESSED VS LOSSLESS VS UNCOMPRESSED files to see which is best.

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[chrisSea]

Super helpful video. I like how you showed the comparisons side by side by side for various ISOs. This helped me visualize things. For most shoots I’m going to start shooting compressed to save myself some storage. Thank you.

[efroy]

Very good video, concise information, well explained. Just one question...does the Sony a7iv, 33 mpx, lower its megapixel resolution when shooting in lossless compressed RAW and compressed raw? I mean, is it no longer a 33 MPX camera? It seems that in RAW compressed without loss LARGE, it takes 20 MPX photos In MEDIUM lossless compressed Raw, photos of approximately 14 MPX And Raw compressed without loss CHICO, photos of approximately 8 MPX Is this true? We look forward to your kind and honest response.

[JosephelLeon]

Exellent, very useful video! Shooting compress from here on. Thanks.

[Helix_Bonopart]

Thanks! I’ve never shot burst in my life. On an A7r iii now and I’ll stick with compressed.

[meta]

Thanks for your testing, but I think there is a misconception that compression inherently requires irrecoverable loss of information.

From Sony - "A lossless compressed image is processed by post-processing software and the data is decompressed like a ZIP file. Decompression allows you to expand the compressed file back to its original size." This is, of course, the definition of "lossless".

So there are absolutely NO DIFFERENCES between lossless compressed and uncompressed (unless Sony is intentionally misleading its customers regarding lossless file compression ... which I highly doubt.)

[NeilSnapePhotography]

You just saved me a lot of testing time. I moved from Canon DSLR to a Sony A7RIIIa recently. I shoot models, and there I don't need much of the dynamic range of uncompressed. No way can I have a folder of 3000 images of a model in uncompressed 42Mpx images that will be used for an iPad. I've been shooting compressed, and often in APS-C crop to reduce file size. YUet I was curious to find out if I am missing anything! Thanks to you, No worries there.

[Kinadnuf]

Very valuable and helpful video seeing as yesterday I bought an a7iv. Just subbed too! 🇬🇧

[DavidStella]

I would trade getting a little bit of a buffer but still being able to shoot uncompressed RAWs at 10 fps when/if using a cf express type a card. Granted, like you said, most people wouldn’t need that, but it would be nice not having to make a decision of whether or not I’d need to switch from uncompressed to compressed when being out shooting.

[Withderekphoto]

Thanks for the comparisons, I was dead set at only using uncompressed until I daw this video. that being said I'll likely only switch to compressed when I need that 10 frames.

[TVe]

I have started up with lossless compressed. It gives me filesizes about 40 mb. When I start up with birds in the spring I will probably use compressed. It is a bit strange that both 60 mb and 40 mb should reduce the spreed to 6 pps. The camera should be able to shoot 8 pps in lossless compressed.

[cluna]

Thanks for thanking time out to share this very valuable info. very much appreciated.😁

[tomirwinphoto]

Found this useful as I often shoot combat sports and while 6 fps is acceptable when I want the best IQ with Uncompressed Lossless the 10 fps is a much needed benefit for sports.

[kram]

This video really helps. Very practical.

[mikey]

Good format, good testing.
Thanks very much Stefan.

[alansarpy]

My New Mac m1max can’t read the raw files from the A7iv :(

[FedericoValenzanoAlba]

thank you very much for this video. For weddings, do you think it is a good solution to shoot in lossless compressed RAW (whit new firmware it is RAW L) and then convert to lossless DNG with LR to save 30% more space?

[albedopoint]

I appreciate you taking the time to do these tests, but I’m not convinced that they’re the best sort of test to show how compression affects the image.

Firstly, lossless is lossless… once lossless is uncompressed, the image is identical to uncompressed. So if you’re seeing differences between these two it’s probably just due to the random nature of noise between these shots… real quality differences are impossible.

Lossy compression mostly degrades transition areas around bright/dark areas, or subtle shading in areas of changing contrast. This test chart is mainly color blocks… I’m just not sure it’s the type of picture where you’d see the worst effects.

[randomness]

So the lossless raw is just like a Canon R6 raw file? 🤭

[gautamkumar]

PLEASE HELP!!... I RECENTLY DID A WEDDING IN LOSSLESS COMPRESSION FORMAT. I AM NOT ABLE TO OPEN RAW FILES. BUT WHEN I SHOOT UNCOMPRESSED THEN THEY ARE TOTALLY WORKING. ONLY WHEN I SHOOT COMPRESSED THEN I AM NOT ABLE TO OPEN OR EDIT THEM. I HAVE LATEST VERSION OF LIGHTROOM CLASSIC.

[phantomboricua]

What are your settings for the sony a74? I have everything set to raw and am getting 600kb average with a sony 4/18-108 g lens