How important is RAW to your shooting?

[rbscebu]

I mainly shoot in RAW+JPEG. Memory capacity has never been a problem for me. With my Finepix HS20EXR, the only downside with RAW+JPEG is the time between shots. It can take from about 5sec to 8sec between shots, depending on the resolution I choose.

If I need to take shots in quick succession, I shoot in JPEG only. It takes a few seconds using the menu to change over but so far that has not been a problem.

The HS20EXR also allows me to override the RAW+JPEG setting to JPEG only with just the push of a button but that must be done for every single or bracket of JPEG shots I want to take.

The RAW editing software provided with the HS20EXR is rather agricultural, to put it politely. I am very happy using Rawtherapee and GIMP (both free) for all my post processing.

 

[Legion]

I mainly shoot in RAW+JPEG. Memory capacity has never been a problem for me. With my Finepix HS20EXR, the only downside with RAW+JPEG is the time between shots. It can take from about 5sec to 8sec between shots, depending on the resolution I choose.

If I need to take shots in quick succession, I shoot in JPEG only. It takes a few seconds using the menu to change over but so far that has not been a problem.

The HS20EXR also allows me to override the RAW+JPEG setting to JPEG only with just the push of a button but that must be done for every single or bracket of JPEG shots I want to take.

The RAW editing software provided with the HS20EXR is rather agricultural, to put it politely. I am very happy using Rawtherapee and GIMP (both free) for all my post processing.

5 to 8 seconds??

You might be able to fix (or improve) that by changing to faster memory cards.

 

[Saxonbowman]

I mainly shoot in RAW+JPEG. Memory capacity has never been a problem for me. With my Finepix HS20EXR, the only downside with RAW+JPEG is the time between shots. It can take from about 5sec to 8sec between shots, depending on the resolution I choose.

If I need to take shots in quick succession, I shoot in JPEG only. It takes a few seconds using the menu to change over but so far that has not been a problem.

The HS20EXR also allows me to override the RAW+JPEG setting to JPEG only with just the push of a button but that must be done for every single or bracket of JPEG shots I want to take.

The RAW editing software provided with the HS20EXR is rather agricultural, to put it politely. I am very happy using Rawtherapee and GIMP (both free) for all my post processing.

I often shoot RAW + JPEG too. It's funny that the camera's internal firmware often creates a better JPG than external software can.

 

[rbscebu]

I often shoot RAW + JPEG too. It's funny that the camera's internal firmware often creates a better JPG than external software can.

I agree but that depends on the JPEG software used to create the compressed image. All JPEG engines are not the same.

JPEG is a lossey compression format. Once formatted to JPEG, the lost data is lost forever and cannot be retrieved from the JPEG file.

PNG is a lossless compression format while TIFF can be lossless or lossey, depending on the engine and/or how it is set up.

For post processing, I first work with my RAW file in Rawtherapee then, if needed, I will export it as PNG file and open it in GIMP for any further work. The original RAW file is retained. If quality is of no great concern, like only required for browser viewing, I will export in JPEG from either GIMP or Rawtherapee. For other uses, it will be exported in TIFF or PNG format.

 

[rbscebu]

5 to 8 seconds??

You might be able to fix (or improve) that by changing to faster memory cards.

Ok, I probably exaggerated a bit, but it does take a few seconds which is not good when you may need to take multiple shots in very quick succession.

 

[Phoenixkh]

The last few years have seen some pretty incredible advancements in the camera's internal .jpg software conversion software. I still shoot just raw... old habit I guess... but a few seconds in lightroom and I have a very nice .jpg that pops a bit more than my own camera, i.e., a Canon 1DX 2.... It also depends on what a person shoots, perhaps.

 

[Saxonbowman]

I agree but that depends on the JPEG software used to create the compressed image. All JPEG engines are not the same.

JPEG is a lossey compression format. Once formatted to JPEG, the lost data is lost forever and cannot be retrieved from the JPEG file.

PNG is a lossless compression format while TIFF can be lossless or lossey, depending on the engine and/or how it is set up.

For post processing, I first work with my RAW file in Rawtherapee then, if needed, I will export it as PNG file and open it in GIMP for any further work. The original RAW file is retained. If quality is of no great concern, like only required for browser viewing, I will export in JPEG from either GIMP or Rawtherapee. For other uses, it will be exported in TIFF or PNG format.

That’s pretty much my workflow. For a lot of uses, like family photos, the JPEGs out of the camera are just fine.

At least with my aging Fuji camera the internal firmware does a good job and seems to provide better colors, but you have to get the exposure just right. You are right though. There is no headroom in those JPG files.

 

[rbscebu]

....
At least with my aging Fuji camera ....

That had me check how old my Fuji HS20EXR is now. It's 11 years old but still going strong and doesn't miss a beat.

I expect that there are now much better bridge cameras available for a similar price to what the HS20 cost me. My HS20 still does everything that I want and I love being able to use AA batteries to power it.

 

[theJJ]

Ok, I probably exaggerated a bit, but it does take a few seconds which is not good when you may need to take multiple shots in very quick succession.

I was initially frustrated by this with my Sony, but in the menu there's the option to disable preview. Once off, I could shoot rapid succession, RAW+JPEG. Maybe there's a similar option in your Fuji?