RAW vs JPEG

Hello friends!

I just read the RAW vs. JPEG article…

Reading the manual of my Olympus C-5060 Wide Zoom:

RAW: 8MB

TIFF: 16MB

JPEG: 4MB (Best Quality)

When I shoot RAW the camera is busy for more than 10s after each shot. Sequence-shooting I can do 4 shots, but then the camera is busy for 40-50s - almost a minute!

Sequence-shooting 4 JPEGs occupies the camera for roughly 8s.

Now to the question: What takes time? Processing/storing one RAW file takes 5 to 6 times longer than one JPEG file, but file size is only double, and it is the JPEG file that is processed - not the RAW file.

Let's talk about what happens when you take the two different kind of shots:

RAW: the data comes off the sensor, through the A to D converter, moved into the buffer, and then MAYBE through some firmware processing - finally to be written to the card.

JPEG: the exact same thing happens, but the file spends a LOT more time going through the firmware software processing. It gets cut down to 8 bits, curves are applied, as is WB, sharpening, hue/saturation, etc. Then it also runs through the JPEG compression algorithm. Does the same amount of info have to move to the buffer? Yes, I think so, but much less info goes from there to the card.

Not having used or studied the 5060 the above is purely speculation on my part.

I too was surprised to hear that your JPEGs are taking 1/2 as long to write as the RAW files - it should be much faster.

Cheers

James