Lightroom Develop mode, or the software that
came with your camera. The advantage to using
the RAW file is that all the information that the
sensor captured is recorded in the file. That gives
you the largest amount of image data and allows
for more latitude when post-processing. The fol-
lowing file extensions represent the different
types of RAW files:
■ NEF, NRW – Nikon
■ ARW, SRF, SR2 – Sony
■ CRW, CR2 – Canon
■ PTX, PEF – Pentax
■ RAW, RW1 – Panasonic
One of the main problems is that, because each
manufacturer has its own proprietary (and often
undocumented) RAW format, it makes it very
difficult to use the RAW file. Many times you
have to wait for the software companies to
reverse engineer the RAW format before it can
be used with anything other than the software
supplied with the camera. For example, if you
purchase a new camera that has a slightly new
implementation of the RAW file, then you will
have to wait until Adobe updates the Camera
Raw software to use the RAW files from the new
camera in Photoshop or Lightroom. If you have
an Apple computer, you will also have to wait
until Apple updates the RAW profiles before the
previews of that file will be available. One solu-
tion is to convert the RAW image files to the
Adobe DNG file type.
Some cameras even allow your images to be
edited right in the camera, converting the RAW
file to a JPEG and thus allowing you to easily get
a JPEG image from the RAW image as needed.type are that it is practically a universal file for-
mat and can be viewed, printed, and shared just
about anywhere, and also that it doesn’t take up
as much space as an uncompressed file of the
same image. So if you want an image to be
e-mailed, or used on the Internet or printed, and
you don’t want to have to edit the image on a
computer, then you will want to use a JPEG file.
When you use the JPEG file type to save the
images you take, the camera applies all the in-
camera settings directly to the file. This includes
the white balance, which makes it a little more
difficult to adjust later. The different adjustments
for your camera will be detailed in your camera
manual, so check there for what is available.
There is a downside to using the JPEG file type
beyond it just being more difficult to adjust the
color, and this is that the JPEG file from your
camera has already been compressed. If you open
and edit it in editing software, and then save the
file as a JPEG again, the file starts to lose quality,
and each successive time the file is edited and
saved, the quality is degraded. If you are going to
shoot using JPEG, I recommend that you use the
highest quality and size available in your camera
so that when editing, there is as much informa-
tion available as possible.
RAW
The RAW file type differs between camera manu-
facturers and can even differ between different
camera models. The RAW file type is very much
like a digital negative, and like a negative, it can’t
really be used until it has been developed or ren-
dered in computer talk. This development is
done using computer software such as the Adobe
Camera Raw module in Photoshop and Elements,