JPG or RAW ? The never ending debate 25 January 2019

Last week the question “Should I use JPG or Raw? “ was posed on a popular user forum, drawing 107 responses.

This question referred to the Sony RX10.4 specifically but could have been equally applicable to any digital camera offering Raw capture.

The number and content of the responses indicates that the JPG/Raw issue is far from settled in some people’s minds.

This seems curious to me because I think the question is easily answered, as follows:

Q: Do you intend to view your pictures straight out of camera with no post processing beyond minor adjustments available in Windows Photo Viewer or equivalent ?

Yes ?  Shoot JPG.

Q: Do you intend to routinely post process your photos in an image editor ?

Yes ?  Shoot Raw.

That’s all there is to it. Really. No need for 107 responses.

One argument which some users make in favour of JPG capture is the availability of special capture modes which work on JPG but not Raw.

Using the Sony RX10.4 as an example I investigated two of these modes, Anti-Motion-Blur (AMB) and HDR.

I photographed suitable scenes with RAW capture (single shot, exposure judged with help from the zebras)  and separately with JPG extra fine (they cannot be combined on the RX10.4) using AMB and HDR.

In summary I found that I could get a better final outcome from a single Raw capture than JPG with the special modes.  This was true even when I worked on the output JPGs in Adobe Camera Raw to improve their appearance.  And they did need work because the straight-out-of-camera (SOOC) images were not very appealing.

The point here is that if I shoot Raw I don’t need to bother with the special capture modes.

I selected a scene with very high subject brightness range.

Using the zebras I exposed at -2 EV steps for both the Raw and JPG captures.

For the JPG capture I set Auto HDR, Exposure Diff 6.0EV (the highest available).

Here are the results:

Comment:   The Raw file had enough highlight and shadow latitude to make a good result in adobe Camera Raw with a few adjustments to the sliders.

The SOOC composite HDR JPG required further work in Camera Raw and even after that had less highlight detail and  inaccurate rendition of colors and tonal relationships.

Result: The single Raw file gives a better result and does not require messing about with the Auto HDR feature.

The idea of the AMB feature is to allow the photographer to obtain a good result in low light when a straight JPG shot would not give a satisfactory result.

AMB is accessed via the Scene Mode setting on the Mode Dial. When set, the camera makes 4 shots in quick succession at a lower ISO setting than would be used for a single capture, then combines the 4 frames into a single JPG output image. The feature actually works surprisingly well even with a hand held camera, indicating yet again the advanced level of Sony’s camera technology.

For the test I photographed some car care bottles in my garage in very low light, hand held. The camera selected ISO 12800 for the Raw shot and ISO 8000 for the JPG AMB shot.

Here are the results:

Comment:  The SOOC composite JPG required further work in Camera Raw  to improve the colors, tonality and sharpness.

But in the end the Raw photo had better sharpness with no JPG artefacts.

Result: Shooting Raw is more straightforward and produces better results.