JPG vs RAW - Tests - Day 2

Today I want to show you how I can improve yesterday JPG by applying some sharpening within Lightroom. I used some of the techniques outlines in this article (which I still have to read in depth, though. Therefore the sharpening could improve further). The main point is to hold down the Alt (options for mac) key while dragging the sliders.

I used these settings in the Details - Sharpening subpanel(remember that the image size the D70 outputs is 3000x2000 pixels):

• Amount: 68
• Radius: 06
• Detail: 40
• Masking: 5

Here are 100% crops of the RAW file (without sharpening applied) and of the JPG file with the above sharpening.

RAW without sharpening

JPG with sharpening

As you can see, now the level of detail is pretty much identical. The color and contrast difference persists, but if I can manage to correct for it without losing quality, or if I prefer the JPG look, I could make a Lightroom preset to apply on import to all my JPGs and therefore abandon RAW shooting.

Monday, though, I will show you some other test on underexposed image, which may change your ming once more.

JPG vs RAW - Tests - Day 1

Following the previous post about Ken Rockwell's article, "I avoid shooting Raw", I decided to make some tests with my Nikon D70. I wanted to check for myself his claims on the equivalence between the two formats.

I took some photos from my home windows with my sharpest lens, a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX Macro. The in-camera settings were as follow (the ones I usually use for my Raw shooting workflow):

• Sharpening: none
• Tone compensation: normal
• Color mode: II (AdobeRGB)
• Saturation: normal

Probably these are not the optimum settings for JPG shooting, but as a first test I wanted to compare my usual settings on JPG output.

The first result I will show you today is the scene from my window shot with these parameters:

• ISO: 200
• Aperture: f/11
• Speed: 1/20
• White Balance: cloudy
• Exposure: center-average, manual
• Exposure compensation: none
• Tripod

I imported the two images in Adobe Lightroom 1.3 and re-exported without any further adjustments as JPG at 75 quality setting. This means that to the JPG no sharpening is applied at all and definitely it looks much softer, and also more contrasted. I must investigate on what kind of sharpening Lightroom applies to the RAW files during import. I do not apply any develop present at import time.
Ok, here are the whole images and 100% crops.

Full RAW image

Full JPG image

RAW 100% crop in the center of the image

JPG 100% crop in the center of the image

You can also note that the Blackbird moved between these two shots.
I have tried to apply some sharpening to the JPG in Lightroom and I can get it as sharp as the RAW, but the different contrast persists. I'll show these result with some about adjusting the exposure to the same image but shot at -2 stop underexposed, in the coming posts.

RAW vs JPEG (let's be pragmatic!)

Today I read (thank to Annalisa), this pragmatic article in favour of JPEG shooting, by Ken Rockwell.

I must admit I was, and still are, deeply touched by the Ken's arguments. I always assumed that the quality of the RAW files produced by a DSLR were undoubtedly superior to the JPGs. Now I must reconsider my beliefs, because they were just so: beliefs without pragmatic proof.

How often are we befuddled by technical articles that advertise absolute truths. Fortunately, reality is much subtler than it is often written about, and much quality assessment must be made individually and subjectively. Why follow tedious RAW routines, when for my practical needs, I can't distinguish between a RAW and a JPG file when I look at them in the monitor or, better, printed?

Ken argues that with proper care during shooting, a JPG is as good as a RAW, without the burden of file size and the necessity of a converter. The RAW workflow is definitely slower than the JPG and he also tackles the issue of archiving. Who can guarantee that tomorrow's raw converters will still support yesterday raw files?

Naturally, to adopt a pure JPG workflow, one must put more care during shooting, choosing the right camera parameters before pressing the shutter, and not afterwards in front of the PC. This habit, I think, will also lead me to put more care of how I shoot my subjects, taking more conscious decisions, being more aware of my interpretation of the scene.

The most important thing I have learned by reading Ken's article is that I must check for myself: I must make some tests to learn what I can get with my own tools, RAW and JPG, and take a more deliberate choice, instead of following a technical belief.

Ultimately, if Ken is right, JPGs will save me a lot of post-processing time, archival space and complaints about my sluggish PC, while at the same time, forcing me to dedicate more attention when I shoot.