Whats better for DSS, JPEG or RAW?

[Astronut1982]

Hi all,

I was wondering if there is much difference between using JPEG or RAW for DSS? I don't have very much memory at all on my camera so I wanted to use JPEG so I could fit more pics on it but I was unsure whether it was a good idea to use it incase there is a dramatic loss in quality.

If anyone could tell me, it would be appreciated.

Jeff

[umadog]

For a number of reasons you can't adequately process astrophotos if they have been saved as JPEGs. The camera will pre-process the JPEG in funny ways which will lead to loss of information (in addition to any compression loses). With RAW you have the intensity information from each pixel on the chip, this gives many more processing options. Also, RAW is 16 bit whereas JPEG is 8 bit. So you're chucking out most of your dynamic range with JPEG.

If you're stacking, averaging, subtracting dark and bias frames, etc, then all this is done much better if you're in RAW mode. If you aren't doing any of that stuff right now then you can get by with JPEG (just).

[x6gas]

Shoot in RAW everytime. I asked the same question but the improvement when shooting in RAW over JPEG was dramatic...

[Psychobilly]

I agree with Umadog... the only astrography I do using jpegs is Startrails or time lapse sequences with shortish exposure.

Whilst the RAW files get handled as 16 bit most cameras will be outputting 10 or 12 bits data thats padded out to 16 bit ...

Peter...

[sabana]

Id say raw as you can mess around with the image more

[austen4]

I used to shot JPEG all the time. However, my brother does alot of photography and he show me why RAW is better. I have never gone back, its a real benefit shooting in RAW. I shoot in RAW+ just to have the ease of know what picture the RAW one is on the computer as it has the JPEG right next to it.

Austen

[Astronut1982]

Deep down I knew that was going to be the answer! I did think that would be the case, just wishful thinking on my part I guess.

Oh well, off to the shop for more memory then!

Jeff

[CJBooth]

As a keen photographer, I cannot recommend highly enough to shoot in RAW if possible. As the name infers, the RAW file contains all of the RAW data which was captured by the sensor to create the image. This makes manipulation and recovery of lost detail much easier.

I tended to only ever shoot RAW if I needed to ship off images quickly or shoot in very high speed, beyond the rate at which my camera could write to the memory card.

[Ant]

Without a doubt, RAW is better.

Ant