Using RAW

speedyink · 06-16-2008, 08:46 PM

So I bought my new camera which has RAW support (one of the reasons I chose it), but now that I can take them, I'm not sure how to use them to they're full potential. Adobe lightroom seems to be able to do just as much with a JPEG as it can with a RAW, when I was under the impression that you could do so much more with RAW images in this program. Is there other programs which can tweak RAW images better? Also, which HDR stitching program does RAW the best? The program I use doesn't take my RAW files.

ukulele_ninja · 06-16-2008, 08:52 PM

What kind of camera did you get? My canon came with a fairly powerful converter program, but I opt to open them right from photoshop using the import utility. You may chack out raw shooter essentials as well which I use at work and is pretty good. For hdr, again, photoshop is your best route.

speedyink · 06-16-2008, 11:53 PM

Panasonic Lumix FZ-18. It came with a program (silkypix), but I don't like it all that much. I much prefer lightroom. I'll have to play with the pictures in photoshop more and see what I come up with.

[-0MEGA-] · 06-17-2008, 12:00 AM

Photoshop has it's own RAW editor which is pretty nifty, you can adjust white balance, color contrast, perform noise reduction, etc. Lots of which can not be done on a JPEG, but it does take a lot of getting used to.

tidyboy21 · 06-18-2008, 09:48 AM

Try to think of a RAW file as a digital negative, something that has not been processed. You can make a lot of adjustments to a RAW file with very little to no quality loss. If you try to do the same with a JPEG you are going to end up with very poor image quality. I use Phaseone Capture One Pro, I find it a lot faster than Lightroom. You can download a trial here.

speedyink · 06-18-2008, 11:32 PM

Thanks for the info

06-16-2008, 08:46 PM	#1 (permalink)
speedyink Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Vancouver Isl, BC Age: 22 Posts: 3,031	Using RAW So I bought my new camera which has RAW support (one of the reasons I chose it), but now that I can take them, I'm not sure how to use them to they're full potential. Adobe lightroom seems to be able to do just as much with a JPEG as it can with a RAW, when I was under the impression that you could do so much more with RAW images in this program. Is there other programs which can tweak RAW images better? Also, which HDR stitching program does RAW the best? The program I use doesn't take my RAW files. __________________ Acer AM5100/Acer 6920G/Asus EEE 900HA AMD Phenom X4 9500 2.2GHZ/C2D T8300 @ 2.4ghz/Atom 1.6ghz 8GB DDR2 RAM/4GB DDR2 Ram/2GB DDR2 1TB HDD/320GB HDD/250 GB 512mb GeForce 8800GTS/512mb Geforce 9500M GS/Intel GMA 950 32" Viewsonic 1360x768/16" 1920x1080/8.9" 1024x600 Win 7 Ultimate all round My Deviantart

06-16-2008, 08:52 PM	#2 (permalink)
ukulele_ninja VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Ohio Age: 23 Posts: 4,197	What kind of camera did you get? My canon came with a fairly powerful converter program, but I opt to open them right from photoshop using the import utility. You may chack out raw shooter essentials as well which I use at work and is pretty good. For hdr, again, photoshop is your best route. __________________ http://raptr.com/badge/7183de702f2e4...bbc43e0/fs.png

06-16-2008, 11:53 PM	#3 (permalink)
speedyink Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Vancouver Isl, BC Age: 22 Posts: 3,031	Panasonic Lumix FZ-18. It came with a program (silkypix), but I don't like it all that much. I much prefer lightroom. I'll have to play with the pictures in photoshop more and see what I come up with. __________________ Acer AM5100/Acer 6920G/Asus EEE 900HA AMD Phenom X4 9500 2.2GHZ/C2D T8300 @ 2.4ghz/Atom 1.6ghz 8GB DDR2 RAM/4GB DDR2 Ram/2GB DDR2 1TB HDD/320GB HDD/250 GB 512mb GeForce 8800GTS/512mb Geforce 9500M GS/Intel GMA 950 32" Viewsonic 1360x768/16" 1920x1080/8.9" 1024x600 Win 7 Ultimate all round My Deviantart

06-17-2008, 12:00 AM	#4 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] VIP Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Goffstown, NH Age: 21 Posts: 28,943	Photoshop has it's own RAW editor which is pretty nifty, you can adjust white balance, color contrast, perform noise reduction, etc. Lots of which can not be done on a JPEG, but it does take a lot of getting used to. __________________ Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.1GHz Asus Rampage Formula X48 ATI 4870 X2 2GB GDDR5 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 960 300GB Raptor // 2x 750GB Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 22605 www.photosbygeoff.com

06-18-2008, 09:48 AM	#5 (permalink)
tidyboy21 Gold Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 312	Try to think of a RAW file as a digital negative, something that has not been processed. You can make a lot of adjustments to a RAW file with very little to no quality loss. If you try to do the same with a JPEG you are going to end up with very poor image quality. I use Phaseone Capture One Pro, I find it a lot faster than Lightroom. You can download a trial here. __________________ ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA X48 (0407) C2D E8500 @ 4.12GHz T.R.U.E. Black/ 2x Blackfire4 Kameleon's 8GB OCZ BLADE SERIES 2 x HD3870's DDR4 Crossfire (875/1250) / TT Duorbs Thermaltake Toughpower W0132 1000w 4 x WD 250GB HDs 2 x LG Flatron 24" Monitors 3D Mark06 20338 (Vista) www.cornwall-landscape-photography.co.uk

06-18-2008, 11:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
speedyink Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Vancouver Isl, BC Age: 22 Posts: 3,031	Thanks for the info __________________ Acer AM5100/Acer 6920G/Asus EEE 900HA AMD Phenom X4 9500 2.2GHZ/C2D T8300 @ 2.4ghz/Atom 1.6ghz 8GB DDR2 RAM/4GB DDR2 Ram/2GB DDR2 1TB HDD/320GB HDD/250 GB 512mb GeForce 8800GTS/512mb Geforce 9500M GS/Intel GMA 950 32" Viewsonic 1360x768/16" 1920x1080/8.9" 1024x600 Win 7 Ultimate all round My Deviantart

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