What is RAW in camera

With the transition to professional photographers to digital equipment in the world snapshots has changed a lot. Now you do not need to develop film, creating special conditions, plugging in the camera via USB cable to the computer and you can print. However, the real pros never shoot in a familiar and understandable for any computer in Jpeg format. In the process of shooting they save the footage in a different format — Raw, which has much more information and opportunity to correct.

Unlike Raw from Jpeg

In English raw means "raw", which is very close to the truth. Jpeg contains ready information, which automatically gives the software of the camera (it is enough to display the frame on a standard monitor). If the camera made a mistake and made the shot too dark or, on the contrary, overexposed, soap or noisy, by any means, this is not correct. Raw is also "forgives" wrong set and allows you to do the initial processing using much more sophisticated programs. That is why the weight of a Raw file is far higher than the same Jpeg frame.

The contents of the Raw file

1. Metadata: the shooting conditions, set the processing options, the identification information of the camera;
2. Preview, most often in Jpeg format.
3. Data from the matrix.

It weighs a file of 15 megabytes. Depending on the model Raw can have the following expansion: .nef .cr2, .arw.

The Capabilities Of Raw

1. Correct white balance;
2. Correction exposure;
3. Correction of distortion;
4. To remove the effect of chromatic aberration;
5. Saturation, sharpness and contrast.

However, to hope that postprocessing will improve all impossible. The frame should be clear initially, because no Shevelenko or defocusing of the program is not correct.

The program, working with Raw-format

Each manufacturer of SLR cameras produces its own software that allows you to convert Raw to Jpeg or save it in another format, such as Psd for further processing in Adobe Photoshop. By Jpeg file, no self-respecting professional will not work, because the quality of photos all the time will only get worse.

Many aspiring photographers prefer to use the free utility supplied by the camera. In Canon c Raw works Canon Utilities RAW Image Converter, Nikon Imaging and Nikon Capture NX, Sony - Sony RAW Driver.

With regard to universal software, the most popular is Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, it allows you to adjust the image itself, but also to prepare it for publication on the photo sharing site for sale, subject to all the necessary metadata. For those who prefer to work in Photoshop, you need to install Adobe Camera RAW, which "translates" the format appropriate to the language editor. However, the "Lythrum" and "Photoshop" is the only, but very significant disadvantage - the cost.