RAW vs JPEG - A Practical Look

Many people will tell you to shoot in RAW but do they ever really show you why it's important?

In ideal lighting conditions with perfect camera settings a JPEG may be sufficient, but what about those times where the lighting conditions are tricky or your camera settings can't be as easily controlled?

This short video is a practical look at why RAW files are superior to JPEGs. Even though you think a JPEG "may be good enough" it doesn't have the data in it that a RAW file does.

You can REALLY push a Raw file to the extreme and still retain data. A JPEG has to be shot in near perfect conditions or you lose a lot of important data, especially in shadow regions.

#JPEGvsRAW #RAWdata

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[IamUke]

Very interesting how the jpeg artifacts acted like some kind of clarity filter on the patterned rock. Great vide, thanks for sharing!

[grndezyns]

Thanks for the confirmation! I'll continue shooting in RAW.

[alohaleslie]

Thanks so much! I really never understood completely the why's of JPEG vs RAW, but your visuals and explanation are very convincing. I will continue to shoot RAW mostly when I'm shooting something which will demand some post processing. Perhaps not when I'm shooting family outings, the dog playing, or other informal kinds of shots, friends posing outside a restaurant, etc.. Thanks again.

[hugoheriz-smith]

This caught my eye when you put it up a couple days ago and I finally got around to watching it. Thank you for this! Really good examples.

[adrianvanleeuwen]

Bracketing the exposures for a landscape would probably help you maintain details if shooting jpeg. But I agree the Raw provides far more data in file with file sizes 3 or 4 times larger than jpeg, (depending on your jpeg setting), not to mention reclaiming highlights if overexposed a bit, and extending dynamic range from highlights to shadow.

[BrianKSmith-dssh]

I have shot RAW from day 1, and now 16 years later, my RAW files from a Canon 1DsMKII shine in Lightroom/PS with 4x the quality that I originally saw. It is amazing!

[jimwlouavl]

Excellent detailed comparison. Thanks. I do like you and shoot a jpeg plus raw for family photography. It’s nice to have pretty good images right after an event.

[actionphotopassion]

Awesome debunk Blake as usual.
Glad you joined the 42mpx Sony sensor users. Let's w8 to see what A7R5 sensor will put on the table... Yummy 😅
Nice landscape shot barn + storm 😎

[eugennaiman]

Personally I am shooting both. Storage space is not an issue nowadays and having the JPG is convenient; saves me going through the export process when I want to view those pictures on a TV or another device without RAW support.

[billhobsj]

hi Interesting its a bit like the debate one can have about say phone images v a decent camera with a larger sensor -when conditions are optimal things can work well with a phone or a cheap point n shoot camera however as soon as the going gets tough as it often does say with landcape work the whole thing can start to fall apart .So Ive always shot in RAW because its never certain when a fabulous opportunity might arise and having as much data as possible to work from seems a no brainer -one can go back to images that at the time may have looked rather meh and not worthy of RAW capture but years later looked at with fresh eyes and better editing software and skills may look rather good and having al that xtra data is welcome .Landcape work very often requires pushing things to the limits as youve demonstrated and even with RAW from a decent camera it takes good editing skills to keep the noise down one of the worst offenders is Dehaze used on skies as a grad filter .The other thing not mentioned is that a RAW file retains its integrity basically forever I dont even know what people do to ensure they have an indestructable original when shooting JPG ?? I never use Lightroom but possibly there all edits retain the original file as shot maybe you could comment thanks

[shlomoeshet]

Of course I shoot RAW. Loved the way you demonstrated its advantages (if not superiority!)

[brianbochicchio]

Nice breakdown of things as always Blake. I shoot RAW+JPG so I get the best of both. I don't always want or need the depth of a RAW. Sometimes, I am just doing snapshots that need a quick tweak. I think what I have learned via your channel and F.64 Elite has enabled me to confidently decide which to use when.

[rickb]

Yes, Jpeg has 8 bits of dynamic range (at best) so the building in the dark on the lightning shot will be very pixelated when brightened so much, so here, the Raw file is clearly a better option. But on the Mt Rushmore photo, the artifacts in the jpeg and the sharpening are controlled by the level of compression (quality) and sharpening options. What did you use for these when you created your jpegs?
I use only jpegs for PS since my CS6 does not support my camera, when I do the higher dynamic range shots, I use burst-bracketing and HDR, or I use Affinity Photo which does support my camera Raw files. Thanks for this informative video.

[AllCarsUnited]

Depending on the camera. The r3 i do raw only, the S3 I'll do both as sometimes some of the jpegs that come out of the camera are client ready (yes I know it's only 12mp)

[jpopenimage]

I shoot fuji ... this means film simulations ;). So my workflow is raw + jpg. I use the jpg if I only need minor adjustments... but raw if i need to recover lots of shadow detail but 80% of the time jpg are good enough for A4 prints and of course less "heavy" on my storage space.

[leniehulse]

Why is it that when I try to recover shadows from a raw file it turns the area green?

[Martin-nuym]

I do take jpeg + raw with my IR converted A7Rii camera for one reason - I have the camera set to Black and White profile and I like to have the jpeg for reference to what I was seeing at the time I took the picture. :)

[BubbleGendut]

Why aren’t you comparing RAW with JPEG out of camera. Doesn’t make sense to convert the RAW to JPEG

[JosephTMyers]

what format do you use then to make large prints of said images and frames? Usually after post processing you exporto to jpeg or TIFF so again its not like you just use RAW only--not sure this is capturing the full process so I agree with the other comment about fair comparisons. If you actually go through the process of taking the time to make sure you collect all the data in camera at time of exposure, a JPEG will pick up that data such as the barn/old house detail if you collect the necessary exposures at the time. I feel like you are only scratching the surface of what a JPEG and RAW can actually do. Forgot good, better, best, and retrain the mind to allow for what is absolutely possible and i'm not convinced in this video that JPEG won't capture it because you didn't shoot in jpeg and capture exposures to allow for ALL content to actually come through--when that happens, then let me know. And just so you know i'm not trolling or playing devils' advocate, i'm going out shooting this week with my A7RIV shooting both jpeg and raw with a variety of lenses.

[bobspencer]

Could you tell me if the yellow circle around the photoshop tools you were using is a photoshop or system function. Also how do you create it, your only the second person I have seen do this and it really makes following a tutorial much easier. Thank you Bob