D70 owner shoots raw!

DavidUK · 07-12-2005, 18:41

I'm considering having a go shooting raw.

I've had Rawshooter Essentials now for a while but never used it, always shot JPG until now.

A friend at work had a go with it and says it's very good.

I'm looking for any comments or pointers? I understand there is more post-processing to perform with RAW, but from what I've read it seems to be the way forward for us digital photographers!

DavidUK · 07-12-2005, 18:45

..in retrospect think this might be in the wrong forum, the train of thought started out differently and ended up on RAW !

Joe T · 07-12-2005, 18:52

RSE is great. TBH if an image basically looks ok, I dont tend to do much to it in RSE. I will use the noise reduction if I have shot at ISO 400 or above, as it works well for small amounts of noise.

I will also adjust the white balance sometimes.

I wouldnt do any sharpening at this stage.

I would convert to TIFF, and then open this in PS. I only save to JPEG for the web. All other files are kept as TIFFs, so that no image data is lost as jpegs are re-compressed each time you save them.

8 bit TIFFs are usually adequate. They come out at around ~17mb. 16 bit TIFFs are ~35mb, but your options in PS are limited unless you change the mode back to 8bit, which to me seems to defeat the object!

Just my opinion and experiences.

Hope this helps

DavidUK · 07-12-2005, 18:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe T

RSE is great. TBH if an image basically looks ok, I dont tend to do much to it in RSE. I will use the noise reduction if I have shot at ISO 400 or above, as it works well for small amounts of noise.

I will also adjust the white balance sometimes.

I wouldnt do any sharpening at this stage.

I would convert to TIFF, and then open this in PS. I only save to JPEG for the web. All other files are kept as TIFFs, so that no image data is lost as jpegs are re-compressed each time you save them.

8 bit TIFFs are usually adequate. They come out at around ~17mb. 16 bit TIFFs are ~35mb, but your options in PS are limited unless you change the mode back to 8bit, which to me seems to defeat the object!

Just my opinion and experiences.

Hope this helps

..Thanks Joe, appreciate it.

I just took a test picture in the house and loaded it up in RSE, expected to see something awful but it looked ok.. the estimate white balance function worked quite well too.

I'm just getting a bit downhearted with the D70, it seems to underexpose everything resulting in dark images.. thought RAW might give me more flexibility.

Joe T · 07-12-2005, 18:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidUK

..Thanks Joe, appreciate it.

I just took a test picture in the house and loaded it up in RSE, expected to see something awful but it looked ok.. the estimate white balance function worked quite well too.

I'm just getting a bit downhearted with the D70, it seems to underexpose everything resulting in dark images.. thought RAW might give me more flexibility.

Yeah it should.

Also dont worry if your raw images look soft, as there will be no in camera sharpening. I would do this in PS, probably using USM. It should (always) be done as the last step.

**stepheno** · 07-12-2005, 19:02

David - it's not too long since I thought RAW was a foreign language. I started with CS2, then RSE and was so taken by it I bought RSP. As Joe says an image often doesn't need much doing. Unless it's a long shoot (holidays etc) I usually take RAW and Jpeg.

I've also read on numerous occsions that the D70 underexposes. So it's either RAW or adjust exposure compensation in the camera. Good luck... you won't go back.

regards

RobertP · 07-12-2005, 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidUK

I'm just getting a bit downhearted with the D70, it seems to underexpose everything resulting in dark images.. thought RAW might give me more flexibility.

Did you see my post in your 'upgrade' thread?

DavidUK · 07-12-2005, 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe T

Yeah it should.

Also dont worry if your raw images look soft, as there will be no in camera sharpening. I would do this in PS, probably using USM. It should (always) be done as the last step.

..forgive my PS ignorance, but 'usm'?

I'm just starting out with PS really, have used levels (by dragging the pointers in to meet the histogram) and tinkered with colour profiles but that's about it.

IanC_UK · 07-12-2005, 19:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidUK

..forgive my PS ignorance, but 'usm'?

Unsharp Mask is under the sharpen filters on PS

DavidUK · 07-12-2005, 19:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanC_UK

Unsharp Mask is under the sharpen filters on PS

..so is that just a case of applying the filter to the image in PS?

DavidUK · 07-12-2005, 19:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by stepheno

David - it's not too long since I thought RAW was a foreign language. I started with CS2, then RSE and was so taken by it I bought RSP. As Joe says an image often doesn't need much doing. Unless it's a long shoot (holidays etc) I usually take RAW and Jpeg.

I've also read on numerous occsions that the D70 underexposes. So it's either RAW or adjust exposure compensation in the camera. Good luck... you won't go back.

regards

..well I considered buying CS2 last week, the 9 months credit from warehouse express looked tempting, but nine months or not its still the best part of £500! I'm on a 'borrowed' copy of PS7 from work at the moment!

I was toying with RSP as there was an offer on it, typically I now get interested when it's up to full price.

DavidUK · 07-12-2005, 19:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertP

Did you see my post in your 'upgrade' thread?

..I'm not sure..don't think so, will take a look now.

Joe T · 07-12-2005, 19:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidUK

..so is that just a case of applying the filter to the image in PS?

Yeah, but you need to select how much USM is applied. Anything from 1% to 100%. You can preview the sharpening, so you can see the effect. Around 20-30% works on a lot of images, but some need more/less.

Joe T · 07-12-2005, 19:11

All RSP needs is a clone tool, and then I can use it instead of PS.

IanC_UK · 07-12-2005, 19:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidUK

..well I considered buying CS2 last week, the 9 months credit from warehouse express looked tempting, but nine months or not its still the best part of £500! I'm on a 'borrowed' copy of PS7 from work at the moment!

Could always buy the upgrade version for 149 quid ?

DavidUK · 07-12-2005, 19:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertP

Did you see my post in your 'upgrade' thread?

..hadn't checked that thread for a while! that information looks great, will go check it out now