If you have a DSLR you should ALWAYS use RAW. - Robert Scoble

RAW 4 LIFE - Akiva

I agree with Michael.... generally, the one exception to Robert's opinion is the person who doesn't want to be bothered with the extra step of processing the RAW image before they can share it with others. My wife is often like that. When she's taking "snapshots" she doesn't want to process them, she just wants to email them to her friends and family (or, plug the CF card into the printer and directly print it). - Kenneth LeFebvre

Kenneth: I shoot in both JPEG and RAW (my Canon 5D does that) for just that reason. That way I can get stuff up on Flickr very quickly without doing any processing (almost none of my photos have been processed, but that'll start changing since I'm starting to care about my photography as an art form rather than just a way to capture what I'm seeing. - Robert Scoble

Just lets not start yet another debate. 100% RAW is obvious. - TranceMist

IGiven all the playdates & kids activites we do, I'm with your wife on that fron Ken but like Robert my 10 D does that too so the non kids stuff is always raw now. - Mrsth

Where's the BMP love? Huh? Anyone? Hmm. - Nathaniel Payne

If you are shoooting raw, what are you doing post processing with? - Todd Jordan

Yeah, she usually shoots JPG+RAW, too... but mostly her RAW is just wasted space for snapshots. On the other hand, when she's in "photographer" mode, she's all over the RAW... and she's really a very good photographer: http://www.photosbywendee.com/ (just didn't want to imply that she doesn't appreciate the value of RAW). :) - Kenneth LeFebvre

Todd: I organize with Lightroom and process with ACR. And I, personally, always shoot in RAW... don't even waste the space on JPEG (it usually ends up in PSD, anyway, before I get to Flickr... I usually crop and fiddle with my levels at a minimum). - Kenneth LeFebvre

Todd - yes, but in Aperture it's no different than JPEG, except you can do more. - TranceMist

ACR? and why do you need PSD again? (admits ignorance of some of the big name tools.) - Todd Jordan

PSD stores original, change history, etc... big bloated, but complete file - Philip Evans from twhirl

ah... ACR is "Adobe Camera RAW" which is essentially the wizard that processes RAW and converts it into the PSD that Photoshop uses. - Kenneth LeFebvre

More conversation just on Raw post processing here - http://friendfeed.com/e... - Todd Jordan

Artistic photos - RAW, because I like spending time with each one. Snapshots - JPG + RAW for both convenience and a lossless archival copy. - Tom Harrison

Good point about the lossless archive - Todd Jordan

PNG is lossless too. I use that format sometimes when I scan in receipts and stuff. - Morton Fox

everything raw for a while, just changed strategy, shoot raw when I think I'm taking "Photographs" and need to use the extra data, shoot jpg when shooting snapshots at parties and or events - Bryan Thatcher from twhirl

I pretty much only shoot RAW. I prefer to make adjustments myself instead of leaving it to the camera. - jerry

Pretty much RAW is where it's at --- pros have no excuse to use JPG - Shey

I'd recommend that anyone interested in this reads this - www.f07.fh-koeln.de/.../md/content/personen/fischer_gregor/publikationen/submissioncompressionraw2print.pdf. The short version: JPEG has advantages over Raw in perceptual image quality because of its reduction of sensor noise. If your camera is giving significantly poorer quality in JPEG than Raw, it's because the quality of its JPEG compression isn't good enough, not because Raw is intrinsically superior. - Ian Betteridge

Secong point: Not all Raw is created equal. The NEF format used in Nikon's old D-70, for example, was effectively lossy (see http://www.majid.info/mylos... for the tech details). So check what "Raw" means in your camera, too. - Ian Betteridge

And finally... it's "Raw" not "RAW". It isn't an acronym, so all caps isn't correct. And technically, of course, there is no such thing as "Raw format". Apart from attempts at creating "digital negative" formats like Adobe's DNG, every camera maker has their own format - and quite often the formats vary according to model, too. - Ian Betteridge

And really, really finally... none of this means "don't bother with Raw". Having the Raw files is a good idea if you want to do exacting post-processing, because mostly you're working with a larger colour space. So shoot JPG + Raw - but be aware that Raw has limitations, and it's not the panacea for all photography issues. - Ian Betteridge

The original article Robert linked to is one of the better explanations of RAW vs JPG that I've seen (caps used to annoy Ian). Good job Michael Mistretta. - John Arnold

LOL John, you evil thing :) - Ian Betteridge

What I love about RAW is that I can often bring back highlights or shadows that would have otherwise been lost with in-camera JPEG conversion. - TranceMist

I do raw + large fine jpg - means that i can put them onto the appletv easier and get the flexability of raw for final edits. - Mark Allanson