Raw or JPEG? File Format Settings for Best Image Quality

You have a number of file format options when making photographs with your digital camera. Each of us has an end use in mind when we photograph: web galleries and blogs, prints, or shares. The following recommendations are for the best image quality overall. Keep in mind that resizing or resampling is an easy matter these days, so why not get the best captured file and then alter it to your specific end use later? In any case, here are my recommendations to get the best image quality your camera can deliver.

Here's the back of a Pentax camera showing the menu for choosing "Image Capture Settings." This is where you choose the file format and compression. When this item is highlighted push the OK button (or in some camera toggle the 4-way controller to the right) and all the options are shown. In this illustrations JPEG "Large" is chosen with the lowest compression ratio.

If you shoot in JPEG format:

1. Choose the largest file size you can get. If you have a choice of various pixel resolutions choose the largest. Cameras give you the ability to choose among a number of JPEG file size images To get the best results choose the largest size as this insures that you'll capture all the information the sensor is able to record. 2
2. Choose the lowest compression ratio. Compression is a way for the system to gather more images on a given capacity memory card, but it tosses away information when it writes to the card and replaces that information with mathematical formulas, not "raw" image data.
3. Don't "tweak" the image processor in the camera with contrast or sharpness settings. These are fine for special effects in the camera, but you can do better with the image information later in the digital darkroom.
4. Don't use digital zoom. This actually crops into the sensor rather than getting optical information through the lens. Even if you use the largest available resolution (Large) and lowest compression you'll lose information.

Here's the back of a Sony alpha camera. Here the size of the image (highlighted in red) and the Image Quality selector are separated. The size here is a large JPEG. Selecting the Quality item will then allow you to choose Raw only, or Raw+JPEG.

If you have a camera that allows you to choose between JPEG and Raw format, do the following:

1. Choose Raw. Raw files allow for the most processing freedom and deliver the best quality image. It’s higher in bit depth (more information) and is not compressed, thus is called “lossless.” The only drawback to Raw is that you have to open and view and change the image file in special software, usually bundled with the camera that has a Raw mode option or a third-party raw processing software, such as Adobe Camera Raw.
2. If you have a choice of pixel resolutions in Raw, choose the highest pixel count. In most cases Raw automatically chooses the highest resolution your camera can deliver, but some cameras now offer a “small Raw” (s-Raw). This is offered to help speed workflow for those who do not need very large files but still want higher bit depth and no compression. For most of us this does not apply, especially when making our own prints.

In ye old days memory cards were expensive and images per card were often limited, both by capacity and budget. These days that’s almost a non-issue, so my best advice is: Shoot RAW+JPEG. That way you have a small and portable JPEG and a file you can use for prints. The camera records both simultaneously and the image will show up in both formats in your browser.  

Although the image resolution or file size is key, that's just part of the equation. Of course, exposure and lens sharpness and how the camera's internal image processor converts the data from the sensor to digitized image information all have a very important role to play as well.

Digital Imaging Advances

Digital photography is advancing on many fronts these days, with each advance making some “old” tech obsolete and fostering new ease of creating very high quality images and prints. The progress in image data backup and storage, Raw file conversion and flexibility and long-lasting inkjet print output has been and continues to be impressive.

One of the challenges of being a digital photographer is image file management. It’s not only being able to track and find the images made, but being assured that those files will be around when sought later that has had photographers concerned. A digital image is a virtual thing, a collection of information that without computer, software and monitor is invisible and ephemeral. Recognizing the potential for losing images without a backup plan, digital photographers are at least becoming aware that they should not just back up images on their hard drive, but should make copies on whatever medium is available. In addition, as digital cameras routinely deliver at a minimum 1GB loads during download, and now up to 16 or 32GB, so the need for even greater memory capacity has become obvious.

Having just converted and tossed away a couple hundred dollars worth of 100MB Zip drives to DVD backup, I can attest to the fact that photographers today have to be kept aware of the shifts in mediums and backup technology. Indeed, those 100MB Zips seemed massive a few years back, but now even tiny flash memory on key chains offer substantially more storage. And what about backup on CD’s? Today they also seem quite slim on capacity, and DVD’s are an obvious move. But trumping even the 6+ GB DVD’s these days is the external hard drive, which in many manifestations is being sold at what seems like bargain-basement prices for massive amounts of storage capacity.

Indeed, photographers can get almost 1 TB storage for under $400, with a backup regiment that is as easy as drag and drop. No waiting for the CD or DVD to burn, or concern about disk warping or unreadability. And those backups can do double duty as system backups as well. And this new way of backing up has brought increased attention to the digital photography realm from companies like Western Digital (www.wdc.com). Many companies offer portable backup systems as well, wallet-size drives that are sure to become part of every digital photographer’s travel kit. Now, all one or all of them has to do is create a patch from their portable drives directly to digital cameras, especially DSLRs, so that photographers need not carry both backup and laptop on the road.

The other part of image management is software, and that’s where Raw file format comes into play. There’s little doubt that Raw yields the best image quality, and the most flexibility in image enhancement. Yet, some photographers are still more than a bit stymied by this format, and it seems shrouded in a veil of mystery for many. Why, they ask, do they have to convert Raw, and how do they go from Raw to a format like JPEG for emails or TIFF or .psd (Photoshop format) without a lot of gymnastics?

When Raw first came on the scene it was quite confusing, and for many remains so because of its proprietary nature, with each maker, and indeed often with each model from each maker, offering formats that are unreadable by generic software.

True, users can download updates of the Adobe Camera Raw (www.adobe.com/downloads/updates), or use Raw converters like those from Phase One (www.phaseone.com) and similar companies, but to some this is just too much trouble, and too confusing. And that’s a shame, because Raw is the future of digital photography, at least for those wanting the best quality from their digital cameras.

While a number of Raw converter software programs are currently vying for attention, two I have worked with recently make Raw just as easy to work with as any JPEG. Apple’s Aperture (www.apple.com/aperture), for Mac only now and in the future, and Adobe Lightroom, treat and read Raw files with ease and make image enhancement all part of an easy workflow that just might clear up any difficulty photographers have with Raw today. In my experience, Raw makes digital make sense, and makes the experience with digital both rewarding and delightful.

Nothing completes the circle of snapping the shutter like making a print. The recent PMA (Photo Marketing Association, an industry group www.pmai.org) report on printing shows that the kiosk and lab printing of digital images is still growing, and that many consumers have finally caught up with the strides the industry has made in quality and availability of the digital printing infrastructure. Equally important is the improvements in desktop printers for those photographers who enjoy making their prints in their home or studios. And one of the differentiating factors is the growing recognition of the archival quality of pigment inks and printers that deliver same.

While the knowledge of dye vs. pigment ink longevity has yet to permeate the consciousness of the majority of digital photographers, there is a growing number who understand the difference and apply it to their own work. Indeed, there are times when the cost of dye or thermal printers and the end use of the prints will determine that choice. Increasingly, however, “fine art” photographers and avid amateurs are choosing pigment ink printers for the work they want to sell, or simply want to last for many more years than the dye-ink print counterparts.

All these changes bode well for the future of photography and for its continued growth. It seems that as issues arise the industry responds with new and improved products, better solutions and innovations that answer the needs of the end users. While issues of too-rapid obsolescence, constant upgrades and unit incompatibility still dog digital photography—issues that come, I suppose, with being engaged in the computerized world—I see a constant change for the better, with image quality always on the rise. It’s ironic that film will be going away just as it seemed to reach its highest quality, at least in my working and testing experience with the new Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film. While digital still has “issues”, the pace of change is such that what we use and work with today will seem quite obsolete in a few short years. That’s both encouraging and frustrating as we all do our best to keep pace.