Newbie Question - Photo File Types

[JamesRamone]

Hello all,

My Sony A200 DSLR lets me choose the following quality of photo.

Standard
Fine
RAW and JPEG
RAW

Which one should I be using? I'm not really sure what the difference between RAW and JPEG is.

Any basic help would be appreciated.

[Lancashire Lad]

Hi James,

In a nutshell - If you aren't familiar with what RAW means, then you definitely shouldn't have your camera set to that. (maybe when you have more experience & the necessary additional software that you will require )

In either standard or fine setting, your camera will be creating JPEG files.

In RAW & JPEG setting, your camera will create a file of each photo taken in both RAW format, and in JPEG format. (But this will obviously use more memory on the card, as each photo is kept as two separate files).

To get the best quality outside of using RAW, you should have your camera set on Fine. The instruction manual should give you details of how many pixels will be recorded at each setting. (and fine will be the highest).

In all honesty, there is very little difference in quality between JPEG & RAW, but for the very experienced photographer, RAW offers slightly more possibilities for post camera image manipulation, and a greater chance of recovering usable images from badly exposed shots.

Regards,
Mike.

[Ollie]

There is also a thread here about RAW versus JPEG files it may help you understand the differences.
RAW v JPEG

[JamesRamone]

Thank you very much both. Seems abit detailed for me so far, I do know a little bit but not loads technically. I will use the Fine function for the time being.