Camera ladies: what does "RAW" mean?

Mrs.JDD

I have been doing lots of research this afternoon and I think I want an advanced point and shoot rather than a DSLR.  A lot of them say "RAW", but not all...is that something I should be looking for?

eclaires

It's a file type - you can shoot in RAW.

There are benefits to shooting in RAW, but then you have to convert it to a JPEG or other image file on your PC.  It's kind of complicated to explain, at least for me, because I am not all that smart about this stuff.

Mrs.JDD

Okay, that makes sense...some of the blogs and reviews I read the people said, "I prefer to shoot in RAW..." and I had no idea what that meant.  I guess it isn't a big deal for me because I will not be messing around with converting files.  Thanks, eclaires!

mommynow

I take all my photos in RAW.  I don't really know how to explain it either but the picture is "untouched".  You have to manually go in and change the exposure/fill light/vibrancy etc - which is why I like it.

CleoKitty

My dh is a photographer and he only shoots in raw mode. Basically, it means the file is not saved as an image file (like a jpg) and instead it's just a huge file of raw data. The advantages are that you can then open up the file in photoshop, completely change the exposure and other settings that you would normally do while actually taking the photo and make other changes before saving it as a jpg or other image file. It's really way over my head and is far more advanced than the average person needs to worry about. But, if you know what you're doing, there are certainly advantages to shooting in raw (check out my sig pics to see what kind of results you can get by shooting in raw and then adjusting in photoshop before converting it to a jpg.)

eclaires

There are definitely advantages to shooting in RAW, but if you don't want to have to edit your photos or think you won't use it, I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm hoping to start shooting in RAW occasionally, but I also just got a new laptop for the sole reason that I can't edit anything on my current POS laptop.  So it's definitely not a must have.

shopgirl78

Shooting in raw allows you to "develop" your own photo in photoshop. ?You can adjust saturation, contrast, temperature, exposure, brightness, sharpness, shadows, ?etc. ?It also allows you to add a burnt edges relatively easier....