What is the digital camera ‘RAW’ format?
Some digital cameras have it and some don’t. Some folks say it’s the way to go, other folks are sure that it is not. It is not really one format, but many. Just what is the “RAW” digital file format, anyway?
A camera RAW image file contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of either a digital camera, image scanner, or motion picture film scanner, so ‘RAW’ is not exclusive to digital cameras, though this short discussion is. RAW files are so named because they are not yet processed and therefore are not ready to be printed or edited with a bitmap graphics editor.
RAW image files are sometimes called digital negatives, as they fulfill the same role as negatives in film photography: that is, the negative is not directly usable as an image, but has all of the information needed to create an image. Like a photographic negative, a RAW digital image may have a wider dynamic range or color gamut than the eventual final image format, and it preserves most of the information of the captured image. The purpose of RAW image formats is to save, with minimum loss of information, data obtained from the sensor, and the conditions surrounding the capturing of the image (the metadata).
Arguably, a RAW image is of a higher quality, as it is basically an unprocessed collection of the exact data collected by the camera, bypassing all of the preprocessing done in order to save an image as a JPG or a PNG, with the resultant loss of precision that always comes with compression. In addition, RAW conversion software generally allows the user to provide finer definitions for more parameters than do compressed formats.
On the other hand, the files produced by RAW format cameras are larger than other formats, usually by a factor of 2-6 to 1. There is also no real standard for RAW format files, with most formats being determined by camera manufacturers, who then provide conversion programs to convert the RAW files into RGB formats and a number of compressed formats.
Generally, RAW file formats are considered to be superior in quality to compressed formats, while they are also acknowledged to be more difficult and time-consuming to work with. Perhaps RAW is more appropriate for professional photographers, but amateurs gain the same advantages of using the format, so whether you use RAW is up to you. It never hurts to have another advantage.
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