Very early in my transition to digital photography, I ditched jpg output in favor of RAW and for all the reasons you expect – better detail and more information since it’s not a compressed file type, and more elasticity when it comes to editing. Plus, I was never that enamored of jpg files from any camera I’ve had. Until now.
These are a few SOOC images with no editing unless noted and then it’s just cropping or crud removal. First is a scene in the Wisconsin river on the Ice Age Trail. I was sitting out on some rocks just enjoying the freaky weather and sunshine and noticed this scene which could make for a great sunset photo in the right seasons. So this is a sketch, basically, but not too bad. If I adjusted the contrast and sharpness in camera, I bet it would be even better.
Well, this next one is cropped with some distraction removal, but nothing else –
I have RAW files of that scene and the blues are definitely richer SOOC, but there is no reason why I couldn’t adjust for that in post. Yes, jpg files have less latitude for processing, but this wouldn’t be an issue. Neither would the adjustments I made for the RAW version of this little puddle with what I think is red algae – I basically just used some masking to darken the rock around the puddle. With smaller file sizes and no-heroics editing, these jpgs could be a good thing.
Cropped with a bit of rotation –
Cropped a bit –
Overall though, not bad. And with a little light editing, and by light I mean I hit Auto in Lr for this next one, we get something really useable. In camera I used the Leica Monochrome photo style which is new and only available on the G9 M2 (so far). Definitely fine for blog posts like this and other web displays.
Not bad huh? And for jewelry it’s a huge time saver. I have a Custom Mode set up in camera and some presets I made that I just apply and go. Well shouldn’t have gone so quickly with this one since there’s a little clean up I should have done. You get the idea though.
I hardly ever print and never very large so I wonder if utilizing jpg files could be in my future? I won’t shoot everything that way, but mundane stuff could be fine with smaller files since the RAW files are so much bigger. I’ve never shot other than in RAW, but heck, I bet that some of the jpgs out of my new camera are better than the RAW files from my first couple of Olympus DSLRs. And do I need RAW all the time, for everything including (gasp!) snapshots?! Maybe not.
But hey, you can’t be a real photographer unless you shoot in RAW right? LOL.
These are nice! The one of the water reflections was my favorite. I find the X100V jpgs to be good, and the Nikon Z as well. Still, I always use both just because I can!
Thanks…the reflection is pretty fun. Just in the backyard. I will have to think about the jpg thing more – could be a space saver, too, since the raw file size is so big with this new camera. But who knows. Good to have options.
I looked up the new camera you are using but didn’t check out the megapixels. I sometimes think that bigger could be better, but then I think why? So, it remains at about 24 in my own photo equipment.
Have you ever used the software called “Jpegmini”? I have it as part of my export sequence in LR and it reduces the size of a jpeg considerably without sacrificing quality of the image. When I post online, I also set the resolution to 72 dpi. Don’t know if this helps, but I do get the need to reduce space.
It’s a 25mpx camera – maybe the limit of what you can fit on a sensor this size. It’s enough and frankly the original G9’s 20 was enough, too. I’m not familiar with Jpegmini, but it sounds interesting. I will probably still shoot RAW most of the time, but it’s nice to know that I can be happy with jpgs from the new rig. For just fooling around snapshot type stuff from the woods and the yard it could be just fine.