RAW files

Luminous Landscape article

There are many different choices to consider when deciding which file format to shoot on the DSLR.  As I previously had no idea what the pros and cons were of each, this article provided some valuable information on which direction to go.

While JPEG files are smaller and more of them can fit on a memory card, it is clear that their format is not as high quality as shooting in raw format.  The final pre-edited format is a 12-bit image, as opposed to an 8-bit JPEG image.  It is far superior in quality and contains thousands of brightness levels (sometimes even thousands per every couple of f-stop levels) more than the 8-big JPEG image.

I don't mind investing in an additional memory card or two.  It is the higher quality photo that I am in search of, and it is clear that shooting in JPEG form will not provide that.  Every camera shoots in raw mode anyways; it is, in essence, a gimmick to convert the file into JPEG format directly on the camera and not after the raw image is edited.  It would serve me little purpose, although as a natural space-saver, it is a trap I could have easily fallen into.