I always encourage folk to shoot in RAW because this captures all the available data in the image . However, one of the comments I often hear is that RAW takes up too much space on the memory card…and that’s why a lot of folk still shoot in Jpeg. So let’s take a look at what this means in practice:
Certainly, RAW files do take up much more space than Jpegs for obvious reasons (more data is captured) but should we really be that concerned about ‘available space’ on our data cards?
I regularly shoot in RAW and I’ve rarely filled a card yet and I often shoot in high-speed mode ripping off 30fps. Admittedly I use minimum 128GB cards which will hold an average of 4000+ RAW images and If I’m going to shoot more then it’s just a matter of popping in another card.
If you’re shooting Jpeg only and you use a 128GB card then you’ll have enough space for 18,000+ images! Are you really going to rip-off that many images in one session? I doubt it. So why wouldn’t you shoot in RAW? You get all the data and all the flexibility to fully process in post-production. So let’s take a look at a rough guide of the numbers involved:
RAW vs JPEG Photos on different capacity memory cards
(Numbers may vary depending on the make and model of your camera)
Given that a RAW file takes approx. 30MB of space….then:
- 32GB Memory Card = 1,092 photos
- 64GB Memory Card = 2,184 photos
- 128GB Memory Card = 4,368 photos
- 256GB Memory Card = 8,732 photos
Given that JPEG files take approx. 7MB of space…then:
- 32GB Memory Card = 4,700 photos
- 64GB Memory Card = 9400 photos
- 128GB Memory Card = 18,800 photos
- 256GB Memory Card = 37,600 photos
I think you’ll agree that given these numbers there’s no reason why you’d want to shoot in anything but RAW. You may say that you don’t have any software to process your photographs and that’s why you shoot in Jpeg. But, given that nearly all cameras come bundled with processing software included in the price and that free image processing software is readily available on the internet then, it seems to me, that if you’re a ‘photography enthusiast‘ there is little reason for you to shoot in Jpeg.
If you do still shoot in Jpeg then why not try shooting in RAW…you’ll probably never go back!
NB. If you’re wondering what Jpeg stands for it’s J(oint) P(hotographic) E(xperts) G(roup)
RAW doesn’t stand for anything; it just means the unprocessed (raw) form of the data that was captured.
Happy snappin’ folks
Meter The Light 