The advantage of shooting RAW files.

 

The three photos above all came from a single image file.  I was shooting with my D7200 and Nikon 200 mm f/4 macro lens and SB900 flash and took the shot with the flash accidentally turned off.  This caused the image to be massively underexposed, somewhere in the 5 stop range.  This is why photo # 1. above is so dark.

I use flash in macro photography to allow fast shutter speeds and small apertures at low ISO values.  In this particular photo, the shutter speed was 1/250th of a second, the ISO 400, and the aperture was at f/32.  I shoot on manual exposure mode so I can control these values.  Since the flash was turned off the manual settings produced a massively underexposed image.  

I shoot all my images in RAW file format.  It has a number of advantages; I have written blogs on the subject before (click here) and won't be going into the many reasons.  I did want to use this image to illustrate one of the greatest assets of RAW files though.  It has to do with dynamic range.

Dynamic range can be thought of as a sensor's capacity to accurately capture various intensities of light.  It is represented by a number with no units, the value being the number of stops between where total black begins to where highlights start to be blown out.  It can be used to determine the recording capability of any media that can produce an image.  This goes for film as well as digital sensors, regardless of the type (cameras, scanners, etc.).

JPEGs have a dynamic range of about 8.  This essentially means there are 8 stops between black and white.  If you look carefully at the center photo (image #2.) you will notice that both very dark and light areas have little detail.  The blacks are completely black and the whites are completely blown out.  Now, compare that shot to the final one of the trio (image #3.) which was adjusted as a RAW image in the Raw Converter program.  The dark areas have much more detail in them as do the light areas.  Different cameras have different dynamic ranges, but suffice it to say a decent sensor will have a DR of around 12.  Modern sensors may go as high as 16.  Colour film approaches 13 or 14.

This does not mean that a RAW image will always produce a better image than a JPEG, but it does mean that a RAW file can pull more information out of the shadows and highlights in harsh lighting conditions.  Add to that fact the benefits regarding white balance, bit depth, absence of artifacts, and so on and you have a very good reason to shoot only in RAW mode.  JPEGs certainly have their place and are not about to go anywhere anytime soon, but they do not match a RAW file's ability to capture an image.

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com

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