RAW + jpg

I've just started playing around with my Canon 40D, my first RAW-capable camera. I intend to use Aperture for my processing, etc. (I just got a Mac as well). Is there any reason to shoot RAW+jpg or am I just as well off shooting RAW only, keeping the processing and cataloguing in the Aperture Library and only using jpg's for exporting, emailing, etc.?

Thanks!

Personally, I don't see any reason to shoot both jpg and raw... especially if your using aperture on a laptop that is going to travel with you.

I occasionally shoot jpg and raw if luggage restrictions require me to leave my macbook pro at home and am using my micro pc to deal with data backups, but that happens very rarely.

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks for asking the question. I've been wondering the same thing. I have been shooting my new 40D with RAW + JPEG and I have just come to the conclusion I'm just wasteing memory on the card. I'm using CS3 and Bridge but I think it's the same answer. Am I missing something?

Steve

Shooting RAW+JPG is a waste. It just takes up more room on the card and slows down your writes. I gave up on it long ago. If you want the JPGs, you can generate them all after the fact with one button in CS3's Image Processor. The only reason I can think of to shoot both in the camera is if you have a portable viewer that can't display RAW images.

I think there's still a place for JPEG, though not RAW+JPEG, and that is family / social pics where one is certain that no adjustments are planned, so the pics are ready right out of the camera.

I believe RAW+JPG is for those shooting a lot of images under time pressure where they need the benefits of instant JPG. RAW+JPG lets them meet deadlines and still have RAW images in the event they get something that merits additional processing. Underwater isn't like that.

I have been using Aperture for a year and a half now. First with my 20D's, now added a 40D.

I don't shoot both RAW and JPEG. I shoot RAW only.

I do have Aperture set to build full size previews. The previews are nice because you can look through your photos in Preview mode and it is very fast. I chose full size (which is not the default BTW), so that I can still use preview mode to check for sharpness when doing the first cull of my shots. Although it does take time to build the previews, once you start working with them things are very quick. When you want to make adjustments, you can switch out of preview mode and make the adjustments. Aperture will immediately build an updated preview in the background.

I just snooped in my Aperture library for an example. The 40D RAW file is 13.2 MB. The JPEG Preview is 1.1 MB. The JPEG thumbnail is 16 KB. So, the full size preview does add about 1 MB to the file storage. Basically, the preview is the JPEG part of the RAW + JPEG, it is just generated by Aperture instead of by the camera.

Another reason for previews is if you want to share your photos with other iApps. It is also faster for slideshows.

I use RAW+Jpeg for underwater commercial work. I can give the Jpeg's to a client on a disk, and they can pick the shots they want developed and get back to me. That can happen AT the shoot - it's very "quick and dirty." I shoot RAW + small Jpeg in that case.

Cheers

James

Thanks for the great replies! While I can see the use in certain situations, they confirm what I was thinking...