where there’s smoke there’s forum fire
Now that I decided to shot everything in RAW, I have a few questions:
DO you use Auto WB, set it, or it does not matter will change it later. I use Auto
12 or 14 bit RAW, I use 12 bit, because my D300 can only take 8frames/sec in that setting
Outside NX, how do you Batch convert, I have so far used ACDSee Pro 3, seems to look OK, and the program flows fast for sorting pics and gives me a app 9MB Jpeg file at best quality
Thanks
Pete
I use auto and correct in post.
Still using Bridge/ACR for batch conversions.
Some particular lenses (like 20/2.8 & 10.5/2.8) seem to benefit from in-camera jpeg conversion - automatic CA correction - only if one of the WB presets available works. Still too lazy to do it in ACR unless I have to... Should probably get NX2...
If you shoot Raw Zero white balance settings apply so it does not matter what the setting is. In actuality, no settings (Sharpening, color, noise reduction, etc) are applied to a Raw image so settings don't matter. (Someone may know of a couple but what I understand nothing is applied.)
When I shoot Raw, I shoot 14 bit for better graduations. When shooting RAW you can not get the 8fps - even with the battery grip. That can only be achieved with jpg.
Personally I shoot all jpgs and sometimes Raw + Jpg since I want to shoot more and spend less time on a computer. I find that if you take a few moments to set up prior to shooting you can save hours on the back side. Of course there are exceptions depending on what you are shooting. Largest time saver I found, ExpoDisc "neutral" filter from ExpoImaging. Using that to set the custom WB while shooting JPGs I find that I rarely need to do much color correction other than a slight warming. I do not like the "warming" filter from them though - with my D300 it tends to be way too warm for my taste.
I use Lightroom and it works great on "batch" type items. Unlike many other programs, I can make the changes to the first photo in a series then copy those settings to the rest of the photos (while viewing them.) Works great for my work flow. With Lightroom you always convert all files when you "export" them for viewing. Hard to explain but it takes care of everything for you.
Nikon software has Picture Controls built in so it does auto CA.
For batch conversion you could try View NX, it is free and often gives better results.
All camera settings are applied during the conversion and not directly to raw NEF so you can change them in post production, and in batch as well.
most of the times Auto WB, post processing in aperture - it's like two click solution to correct WB in many files.
TaoTeJared, welcome. I use lightroom, too, but use raw for the same reason you use jpg—to save myself time (with the sync settings button there). I think long exposure noise reduction is applied to raw files. I also think Pete's right that you can get 8 fps in 12-bit raw on the D300.
Pete, don't worry at all about white balance when shooting raw. Like TTJ said, there is no white balance applied except in the metadata, which the raw converter will read to get it in the right ballpark. I leave my WB on auto except sometimes to shoot video, which so far is not in raw format. ;-)
I have a feeling, that getting a high frame rate in RAW is related to the size of your buffer and also related to the write speed of your flash card.
If you are shooting fine large jpeg at 8 frames a second, you will have approximately 40Mb of information/sec to write to your card.
If you are shooting RAW, you will have double that or more.
Newer cards will write upwards of 60 Mb/sec so in Jpeg, there is not really a problem, not really even with a slower card, because the buffer comes into play.
The problem happens, when the card cannot write fast enough and the buffer backs up to overflowing. This is generally the case when shooting in RAW.
This is my simplistic understanding of this issue, and I think the answer is to spring for a really "flash" flash card.
I often use AutoWB (I'm lazy) BUT I realised some time ago that choosing specific WB manually is better.
If you tweak too much the WB in post, you sometimes loose dynamic range and/or tonal values. I agree that shooting RAW allows me to change the general WB afterwards but if the shots are important, I'd choose carefully the WB and shoot in RAW.
Last time I got weird results, I shot interiors with tungsten WB and in ViewNX (or CaptureNX or Lightroom) I decided to change the WB to shadeWB, and I saw some red tonal values missing (like a clipping... ?!)... I haven't found any documentation about this issue on the web.
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