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03/27/2006 02:38:22 AM · #1 |
When shooting in RAW as compared to TIFF,
Besides the ability to tweak the WB, saturation and the such,
how much can you personally, notice the gain in terms of:
1. sharpness
2. DR
3. noise
4. detail
Thanks
UPDATED to avoid confusion. Thanks Ben for pointing that out.
Message edited by author 2006-03-27 03:27:01. |
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03/27/2006 03:18:49 AM · #2 |
Your question is kind of confusing...do you mean is there any loss when converting from RAW to TIFF? Or the advantage of exiting in RAW vs converting a JPEG to TIFF and editing that?
My main advantage from raw is minor adjustments to the WB and Exposure, as well as less noise when adding contrast.
-Ben
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03/27/2006 03:27:50 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by bfox2:
less noise when adding contrast. |
Thanks Ben.
I thought noise is sensor dependant? |
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03/27/2006 03:34:09 AM · #4 |
A lot of it is I think but, from what I understand, when you expose right and then bring the exposure down in post-processing you generally get less noise/more detail in your shadows and shooting in RAW vs JPEG will (I think) give you more information to work with.
Somebody with more knowledge might be able to expand/correct this as well. |
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03/27/2006 05:27:41 AM · #5 |
1 - (sharpness) A RAW image is generally less sharp then a TIFF. Each cell of the sensor (sensor pixel) is able to absorb a certain amount of light. In most sensors that have RAW capability (at least those I know of) each sensor pixel is capable of sensing the a 12-bit value worth of difference from no light to all light -- but it can not absorb more than one color at a time. This means the sensor absorbs only one color in each sensor pixel, so the different colors are staggered across the sensor. To create an image pixel (containing data for all three RGB values) the data from neighboring red, green and blue pixels are calculated together (interpolated). This can not be done without some assumptions being made about how to perform the interpolation. These assumptions affect the sharpness (and other aspects) of the final image. For instance, the WB setting controls how the R, G and B sensor pixels are interpolated by varying the amounts of each to approximate the color of the light. Sharpness is determined by local contrast between neighboring image pixels, so how the sensor pixel data is combined (which neighbors and what weighting of value) will markedly affect sharpness. The same is true for overall contrast, saturation and such.
2 -- (DR) There is generally more dynamic range to be gained from a RAW image than a processed one. I've heard claims anywhere from 1/3 stop to a bit over 1 full stop -- but I would imagine how much gain is available is very sensor dependent.
3 -- (noise) Sensor noise is going to be present in the RAW image, but it won't be exagerated as it can be in a file format (especially jpg). Noise is generally a small area of high-contrast in an otherwise low-contrast area. That contrast can be in either tone, color or both. handling sensor noise in the RAW conversion allows the interpolation to be modified to minimize these high-contrast point in low-contrast areas.
4 -- (detail) This is the opposite of the noise issue above. Detail is generally low-contrast within low-contrast areas or high-contrast within high-contrast areas. The goal is to maximize the distinction of the detail while minimizing the distinction of the noise. Once again, the controls of the RAW converter allow the interpolation to be fine-tuned to match the image.
This is all just my understanding of how it works, of course, but the above does sum up the advantages to RAW quite nicely; greater bit depth and fine-tuning control over the interpolation. Like anything else that gives much greater control, it takes a bit of work to be able to manage that increase in control well. And that is something I am still learning to do.
David
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03/27/2006 08:07:31 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by crayon:
When shooting in RAW as compared to TIFF,
Besides the ability to tweak the WB, saturation and the such,
how much can you personally, notice the gain in terms of:
1. sharpness
2. DR
3. noise
4. detail
Thanks
UPDATED to avoid confusion. Thanks Ben for pointing that out. |
All of that is really dependant on how your process each individual shot. If you're shooting RAW, and spending 5 minutes 'developing' each shot, then it's worth it -- if you're just running the RAW files through some batch, then you're wasting space. Camera engineers spent a long time developing methods that work inside of your camera to turn RAW data into jpeg's.
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