Shooting RAW versus JPG with the K-3

**JimJohnson** · 11-26-2016, 08:32 AM

I was recently photographing the installation of a new clergy at our church. I shoot RAW+ storing RAW on one of the SD cards and JPG on the other SD chip. The JPG images allow me to quickly triage my images prior to importing the RAW images to Lightroom.

Aside from easier post-processing with RAW, today I found a couple more reasons to shoot RAW. I used Windows 10's photo viewer and Snipping Tool to grab a piece of the JPG straight out of the camera (1st image - max quality, bright setting) and the same RAW image (2nd image -PP applied).

Auto white balance on the JPG was pretty close to my PP'ed RAW. To me it is pretty obvious the RAW image retains more detail, but not so much that it might matter to a JPG only shooter.

However, the surprise is that the K-3 may occasionally slightly crop its JPG images. If you look at the right side of the images, you will see the RAW image includes a vertical woodwork detail missing from the JPG. This isn't consistent, but that it happens at all is a surprise.I opened the JPG in a variety of viewers just to make sure.

Attached Images

**BigMackCam** · 11-26-2016, 08:40 AM - **1 Like**

That crop is most likely due to in-camera lens corrections - hence it will change according to the lens and, if it's a zoom, the focal length used

**JimJohnson** · 11-26-2016, 08:49 AM

I think you are correct. I was using the 18-135 with distortion correction on... however, I did shoot several frames at at least approximately the same focal length. And I do turn on Lightroom's lens correction with the profile loaded for the 18-135. Now I am going to have to dig deeper into this (as soon as I get time).

Thanks ??? for the reply @BigMackCam

**BigMackCam** · 11-26-2016, 10:01 AM

One thing to bear in mind is that the in-camera lens correction profile and the Lightroom profile for that lens will be different, so that could explain why cropping in straight out of camera JPEGs differs from the RAWs in Lightroom with corrections applied (which one is better, I don't know).

C_Jones · 11-26-2016, 10:50 AM

I have shot Raw+. I did find it was useful to have the raw file per its characteristics, but now that I know how to use settings to provide the image I want using JPEG with no post processing, I find it space and time saving to shoot JPEG by itself in certain situations.

11-26-2016, 08:32 AM	#1
JimJohnson Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Summer:Lake Superior - Michigan Winter:Texas Hill Country Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,772	Shooting RAW versus JPG with the K-3 I was recently photographing the installation of a new clergy at our church. I shoot RAW+ storing RAW on one of the SD cards and JPG on the other SD chip. The JPG images allow me to quickly triage my images prior to importing the RAW images to Lightroom. Aside from easier post-processing with RAW, today I found a couple more reasons to shoot RAW. I used Windows 10's photo viewer and Snipping Tool to grab a piece of the JPG straight out of the camera (1st image - max quality, bright setting) and the same RAW image (2nd image -PP applied). Auto white balance on the JPG was pretty close to my PP'ed RAW. To me it is pretty obvious the RAW image retains more detail, but not so much that it might matter to a JPG only shooter. However, the surprise is that the K-3 may occasionally slightly crop its JPG images. If you look at the right side of the images, you will see the RAW image includes a vertical woodwork detail missing from the JPG. This isn't consistent, but that it happens at all is a surprise.I opened the JPG in a variety of viewers just to make sure. Attached Images

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11-26-2016, 08:40 AM - 1 Like	#2
BigMackCam Digitiser of Film Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,674	That crop is most likely due to in-camera lens corrections - hence it will change according to the lens and, if it's a zoom, the focal length used

11-26-2016, 08:49 AM	#3
JimJohnson Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Summer:Lake Superior - Michigan Winter:Texas Hill Country Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,772 Original Poster	I think you are correct. I was using the 18-135 with distortion correction on... however, I did shoot several frames at at least approximately the same focal length. And I do turn on Lightroom's lens correction with the profile loaded for the 18-135. Now I am going to have to dig deeper into this (as soon as I get time). Thanks ??? for the reply @BigMackCam

11-26-2016, 10:01 AM	#4
BigMackCam Digitiser of Film Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,674	One thing to bear in mind is that the in-camera lens correction profile and the Lightroom profile for that lens will be different, so that could explain why cropping in straight out of camera JPEGs differs from the RAWs in Lightroom with corrections applied (which one is better, I don't know).

11-26-2016, 10:50 AM	#5
C_Jones Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: NY Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,088	I have shot Raw+. I did find it was useful to have the raw file per its characteristics, but now that I know how to use settings to provide the image I want using JPEG with no post processing, I find it space and time saving to shoot JPEG by itself in certain situations.