Why I shoot in RAW/DNG

[kallisti]

Was reviewing some old pics and looked at a set from early 2008. Was a trip to Hawaii. At the time I was an avid reader of Ken Rockwell's site. I followed his advice and shot in JPEG. Boosted the color saturation as well. For this trip I had a Nikon D300 and 18-200 lens.

All of the pics are over-saturated for my current tastes. What's more, several pics were ruined because they were shot as JPEGs and not as RAW.

At the time I trusted the white histogram on the LED display. I didn't realize that the white histogram on Nikons is *heavily* weighted to the green channel histogram. For many pics, this isn't an issue. It *doesn't* work when the subject is largely red, as in this example. A RAW image would have preserved some of the detail in the red channel, but because this was shot as JPEG the red channel is blown and there isn't any detail in the file to recover.

At the time I liked this composition, though in hindsight it is a reflection of me still having a lot to learn. Regardless, the shot is a complete miss both because the exposure meter on the D300 was fooled (exposing for the green channel) and because it was shot as a JPEG and not as RAW. Boosting the saturation at the time of capture didn't help either and made a bad situation much worse.

 

[Bear]

Was reviewing some old pics and looked at a set from early 2008. Was a trip to Hawaii. At the time I was an avid reader of Ken Rockwell's site. I followed his advice and shot in JPEG. Boosted the color saturation as well. For this trip I had a Nikon D300 and 18-200 lens.
...

I noticed you said "was" about Ken Rockwell. I've seen some of his advice and columns and stopped reading them after a handful due to all the inaccuracies and stupidities that were in them.

 

[nateo200]

I noticed you said "was" about Ken Rockwell. I've seen some of his advice and columns and stopped reading them after a handful due to all the inaccuracies and stupidities that were in them.

I feel like he contradicts himself allot...like his facts or opinions change all the time...but yeah


@OP, What focal length and f/stop did you shoot that at?

 

[swordio777]

I feel like he contradicts himself allot...like his facts or opinions change all the time...but yeah

Hahaha, it's funny because it's true. Every single review he does seems to be for "the best camera / lens / flash Nikon has EVER made!"

Like the OP, I used to shoot JPEG when travelling and now completely regret it because I have numerous shots that are too over or under-exposed to recover.

To anyone who does choose to shoot jpeg, my recommendation would be to create the flattest image possible (ie - don't boost saturation or contrast in the camera) so you have the best file to edit in post.

With that said, memory cards, hard drives and raw converters are all cheap enough these days that I would recommend everyone who shoots photos as more than "snapshots" to capture in raw. There's no reason not to.

Cheers

 

[kallisti]

I feel like he contradicts himself allot...like his facts or opinions change all the time...but yeah


@OP, What focal length and f/stop did you shoot that at?

75mm (on a crop sensor), f/5, 1/125th sec, ISO 200. *Really* wish I had shot the trip in RAW.

I sometimes still go to Ken's site when a family member is asking advice on a P&S to buy.

I learned some things about photography from his site when I was just starting out--and then had to unlearn some of it. Following bad advice can still provide a learning opportunity....

 

[Bending Pixels]

Ken Rockwell is the Chuck Norris of photography.

Ken Rockwell's camera has similar settings to ours, except his are: P[erfect] Av[Awesome Priority Tv[Totally Awesome Priority] M[ajestic]

Ken Rockwell doesn't color correct. He adjusts your world to match his.

Sure, Ken Rockwell deletes a bad photo or two. Other people call these Pulitzers.

Ken Rockwell doesn't adjust his DOF, he changes space-time.

Circle of confusion? You might be confused. Ken Rockwell never is.

Ken Rockwell doesn't wait for the light when he shoots a landscape - the light waits for him.

Ken Rockwell never flips his camera in portrait position, he flips the earth

Ken Rockwell ordered an L-lens from Nikon, and got one.

Ken Rockwell is the only person to have photographed Jesus; unfortunately he ran out of film and had to use a piece of cloth instead.

When Ken Rockwell brackets a shot, the three versions of the photo win first place in three different categories

Before Nikon or Canon releases a camera they go to Ken and they ask him to test them, the best cameras get a Nikon sticker and the less good get a Canon sticker

Once Ken tested a camera, he said I cant even put Canon on this one,thats how Pentax was born

Rockwellian policy isn't doublethink - Ken doesn't even need to think once

Ken Rockwell doesn't use flash ever since the Nagasaki incident.

Only Ken Rockwell can take pictures of Ken Rockwell; everyone else would just get their film overexposed by the light of his genius

Ken Rockwell wanted something to distract the lesser photographers, and lo, there were ducks.

Ken Rockwell is the only one who can take self-portraits of you

Ken Rockwell's nudes were fully clothed at the time of exposure

Ken Rockwell once designed a zoom lens. You know it as the Hubble SpaceTelescope.

When Ken unpacks his CF card, it already has masterpieces on it.

Rockwell portraits are so lifelike, they have to pay taxes

On Ken Rockwell's desktop, the Trash Icon is really a link to National Geographic Magazine

Ken Rockwell spells point-and-shoot "h-a-s-s-e-l-b-l-a-d"

When Ken Rockwell went digital, National Geographic nearly went out of business because he was no longer phyically discarding photos

For every 10 shots that Ken Rockwell takes, 11 are keepers.

Ken Rockwell's digital files consist of 0's, 1's AND 2's.

Ken Rockwell never focus, everything moves into his DoF

Ken Rockwell's shots are so perfect, Adobe redesigned photoshop for him: all it consists of is a close button.

The term tripod was coined after his silhouette

Ken Rockwell never produces awful work, only work too advanced for the viewer

A certain braind of hig-end cameras was named after people noticed the quality was a lot "like a" rockwell

Ken Rockwell isn't the Chuck Norris of photography; Chuck Norris is the Ken Rockwell of martial arts.

Ken Rockwell never starts, he continues

 

[Apple fanboy]

Ken Rockwell is the Chuck Norris of photography.

Ken Rockwell's camera has similar settings to ours, except his are: P[erfect] Av[Awesome Priority Tv[Totally Awesome Priority] M[ajestic]

Ken Rockwell doesn't color correct. He adjusts your world to match his.

Sure, Ken Rockwell deletes a bad photo or two. Other people call these Pulitzers.

Ken Rockwell doesn't adjust his DOF, he changes space-time.

Circle of confusion? You might be confused. Ken Rockwell never is.

Ken Rockwell doesn't wait for the light when he shoots a landscape - the light waits for him.

Ken Rockwell never flips his camera in portrait position, he flips the earth

Ken Rockwell ordered an L-lens from Nikon, and got one.

Ken Rockwell is the only person to have photographed Jesus; unfortunately he ran out of film and had to use a piece of cloth instead.

When Ken Rockwell brackets a shot, the three versions of the photo win first place in three different categories

Before Nikon or Canon releases a camera they go to Ken and they ask him to test them, the best cameras get a Nikon sticker and the less good get a Canon sticker

Once Ken tested a camera, he said I cant even put Canon on this one,thats how Pentax was born

Rockwellian policy isn't doublethink - Ken doesn't even need to think once

Ken Rockwell doesn't use flash ever since the Nagasaki incident.

Only Ken Rockwell can take pictures of Ken Rockwell; everyone else would just get their film overexposed by the light of his genius

Ken Rockwell wanted something to distract the lesser photographers, and lo, there were ducks.

Ken Rockwell is the only one who can take self-portraits of you

Ken Rockwell's nudes were fully clothed at the time of exposure

Ken Rockwell once designed a zoom lens. You know it as the Hubble SpaceTelescope.

When Ken unpacks his CF card, it already has masterpieces on it.

Rockwell portraits are so lifelike, they have to pay taxes

On Ken Rockwell's desktop, the Trash Icon is really a link to National Geographic Magazine

Ken Rockwell spells point-and-shoot "h-a-s-s-e-l-b-l-a-d"

When Ken Rockwell went digital, National Geographic nearly went out of business because he was no longer phyically discarding photos

For every 10 shots that Ken Rockwell takes, 11 are keepers.

Ken Rockwell's digital files consist of 0's, 1's AND 2's.

Ken Rockwell never focus, everything moves into his DoF

Ken Rockwell's shots are so perfect, Adobe redesigned photoshop for him: all it consists of is a close button.

The term tripod was coined after his silhouette

Ken Rockwell never produces awful work, only work too advanced for the viewer

A certain braind of hig-end cameras was named after people noticed the quality was a lot "like a" rockwell

Ken Rockwell isn't the Chuck Norris of photography; Chuck Norris is the Ken Rockwell of martial arts.

Ken Rockwell never starts, he continues

Tis the season to be jolly!