Can someone please serve me some pie? Reading through the couple of recent threads on pixels and jpegs vs RAW spurred me on to do another test (I hate tests because it means work).
When I got a DSLR a few years ago I did a test where I shot some books on a shelf in both RAW and large fine jpeg and compared the results on the monitor, blown right up in Photoshop. This was with a Canon D60. The detail was more or less the same in both pics, and so I kept with jpeg as it was all a bit of a learning curve at the time and I'm for the path of least resistance when I can get away with it. I sold the D60 and got a 1Dmark II (1.3 crop from full frame) and have been happy with it. Of course, I didn't do any tests as I assumed the results would be the same. But, of course, they're not. Hence, I was fiddling (fondling?) my beloved Pentax SMC-A* 85mm f/1.4 (to confirm I'm on topic here) and there was a very contrasty subject right in front of me: buckets of paint and bits of wood, backlit, darkest shadows right through to bright highlights bouncing off the lids. I shot one jpeg frame and one RAW. Into Photoshop CS with both, the RAW staying in 16 bit. Here's a couple of screen shots: <http://www.cottysnaps.com/snaps/spare5.html> Guess which one is the RAW file :-) ISO 800, 1/30th sec handheld (c'mon I don't do tripod tests - there has to be an element of risk ;-) The jpeg is as good as I could get it. The white lids with hot sun on them were solid gone, but the shadow detail was full retrievable with the RAW. With the jpeg it took a lot of bodging and it stinks. But the level of detail in the RAW amazed me. That instantly sold me back onto RAW. Of course, there's no way my inkjet can cope with showing that detail, but that's another story. Some facts: jpeg file on card 5MB, RAW is 8 MB. I'm down from 300-odd jpegs per 2 GB card to 187 at 200 ISO. Time for some more cards :-( And time to pull Bruce's book off the shelf and have another go. Some pass me a desert fork.... -- Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=====| http://www.cottysnaps.com _____________________________ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
