Originally posted by Bui - The custom image profile in the camera (sharpening, color, etc) I set for Bright/Landscape/Portrai mode, are they applied to Raw output or not? - The same question, but for in-camera correction e.g. distortion, CA ... are they applied to Raw output or JPG only?
They are applied only to jpeg. And also the preview thumbnail inside the raw file. Some of these corrections require CPU power and therefore take longer to process. Photos will be recorded faster if you disable distortion correction, for example. I think the only two that get applied to raw are slow shutter NR (if you take long exposures, has menu option. generally useful, but doubles the time and we don't always have so much time available) and highlight correction (it shoots at a lower ISO than is stated, then raises it digitally without clipping of highlights).
Originally posted by Bui - This is a more tricky question: I have tried shooting Raw for quite sometimes, however, the benefit is not so great, I haven't noticed a big difference between LR outputs of Raw or JPG (admittedly my PP skill is not that great). However, the time spent for processing has increased considerably, much higher than my liking.
True. Raw takes more time and more hard drive space. You can set up automatic PP and use presets and batch processing to speed things up. You need to add sharpening, NR, contrast, fix the WB, etc. You can get much better results from raw, much more room for correction. But it takes work and specialty programs. It gets confusing if you start with this before you have a firm grasp of the camera and photography basics. And each PP software is a bit different from the others. Some are really difficult to use, some are fairly simple (Lightroom is among the easier ones). Some offer features like cataloguing, sharing options, and others only do PP of individual photos
There is nothing wrong with starting out with jpeg.I think the forum has a recommended settings post for your camera. I would set the jpeg to film reversal (I like saturated colours), raise sharpening by one little line, customize the NR settings (keep it fairly low until ISO 3200, lowest setting at lowest ISO) and then use the most appropriate scene mode (some scene modes change the jpeg mode and sharpening. Some even have their own special customizable options). Learn from them. Then use more advanced modes like P and Av and Tv, experimenting, and getting results that are even better than scene modes. I think it is fine to use jpeg for your first 10000 photos, and then give raw another try.
KP is a great camera with lots of room for you to grow. You should enjoy it and all of photography. No need to do and force things that make you want to quit. There will be a natural evolution of your skills and wishes, give it time