What do these image quality settings all mean/do?

[Spork829]

I just got a new Canon Rebel SL1 for getting into more serious photography, with maybe a bit of video in there as well. I'm decently fluent camera-wise, but one thing I don't know much about are these image quality settings. I obviously don't want M or S as those are lower resolutions. However what is the difference between the two L's at the top and the 'raw' settings at the bottom, and what should I use?

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Its just the resolution of the image. 

 

The 2 L's are low and high quality. 

 

Id personally suggest you always shoot raw, and then convert it to jpeg later if you don't want the big files.

 

The raw + jpeg shoots both a raw and jpeg at the same time. There are 2x the files count, 2 per picture.

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Its just the resolution of the image. 

 

The 2 L's are low and high quality. 

 

Id personally suggest you always shoot raw, and then convert it to jpeg later if you don't want the big files.

So what, more specifically, is the difference between the first and second L's, and between just raw and raw+L? They all list the same resolution (5184x3456).

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Spork829 said:

So what, more specifically, is the difference between the first and second L's, and between just raw and raw+L? They all list the same resolution (5184x3456).

The quality of the jpegs for the 2 L's.

 

The smooth L is a high quality and the blocky L is a low quality. The big L is a bigger file with less compression.

 

Raw + L just makes 2 files for every shot. One raw and one high quality jpeg.

[Spork829]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

The quality of the jpegs for the 2 L's.

 

The smooth L is a high quality and the blocky L is a low quality. The big L is a bigger file with less compression.

 

Raw + L just makes 2 files for every shot. One raw and one high quality jpeg.

Okay that makes more sense. So how much higher quality is raw than the higher quality L, if they are both the same res?

[zMeul]

2 minutes ago, Spork829 said:

Okay that makes more sense. So how much higher quality is raw than the higher quality L, if they are both the same res?

let's put this simple .. there's nothing higher than RAW

think as in raw meat - it means exactly that, uncooked

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Spork829 said:

Okay that makes more sense. So how much higher quality is raw than the higher quality L, if they are both the same res?

I don't know the exact amount, but jpegs has a quality settings that can easily go for about 12mb to .1mb. 

 

Id personally shoot all raw and then conger later to jpeg.

[.spider.]

RAW is directly the sensor data.

These files can't be open without a RAW converter which supports your camera.

 

The benefits of RAW are

- All post processing is done afterwards (like denoising and demosaicing)

- 14 bit resolution per pixel

- white balance can be set afterwards

[AkiraDaarkst]

3 hours ago, Spork829 said:

The L, M and (if I remember correctly Canon cameras) S are various compression levels of JPEG and resolutions.  RAW is basically a file that contains all the data that the camera's sensor sees without (or with the least amount of) image processing done inside the camera.

• RAW has no color space, so you are not restricted to AdobeRGB or sRGB
• RAW captures the full dynamic range capability of the camera sensor, while with JPEG the processing done inside the camera compresses the dynamic range
• RAW gives you the most latitude if you want to edit your photos later in a software like Photoshop or Lightroom while JPEG limits the freedom you have for post processing which means you need to make sure you get most of the things right in-camera first

If you are wondering why the camera provides various versions of JPEG if RAW is so capable:

1. RAW takes up a lot of storage space per image, so you can capture more images in your memory card with JPEG
2. Some people (e.g. photo journalists) may need to be able to speed up capturing and uploading their photos to wherever they need
3. Continuing from point 2, some people who work as photographers in remote regions with limited bandwidth access need to be able to transmit their photos back to their office so smaller files are faster to upload.

Warning: RAW photos do not look very flattering, compared to straight out of the camera JPEG.  That's because RAW gives you the freedom to decide how you want the photo to look after you've clicked the shutter button on the camera.

 

If you are in a rush or don't really have the time or desire to edit your photos after capture, shoot JPEG.  But if you want to determine how your photos turn out even after you've tried to get most things right in camera (mainly in terms of exposure settings) shoot RAW.  Or shoot RAW+JPEG so that you have both versions.  RAW files cannot be overwritten by software like Photoshop, any edits you do to a RAW file gets saved in a sidecar file with the extension XMP so the original RAW file is never altered in anyway and you can go back to start over with any editing.  In a software like Lightroom, you can work with virtual copies.

 

Whether you shoot JPEG or RAW or both is a decision you need to make.  For myself, I shoot RAW most of the time but there are moments when I switch over to just JPEG (and my cameras are also capable of capturing TIFF) or TIFF or both RAW+JPEG depending on what I am doing and what my needs are.

 

If you decide to shoot in RAW format, make sure you take full advantage of the capabilities it is offering you.

[AkiraDaarkst]

3 hours ago, Spork829 said:

 

Here is a very nice article that compares RAW vs. JPEG

https://photographylife.com/raw-vs-jpeg

[.spider.]

5 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

 

• RAW captures the full dynamic range capability of the camera sensor, while with JPEG the processing done inside the camera compresses the dynamic range

This is not necessarily true. 

[AbrahamoLincolni]

7 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

The L, M and (if I remember correctly Canon cameras) S are various compression levels of JPEG and resolutions.  RAW is basically a file that contains all the data that the camera's sensor sees without (or with the least amount of) image processing done inside the camera.

• RAW has no color space, so you are not restricted to AdobeRGB or sRGB
• RAW captures the full dynamic range capability of the camera sensor, while with JPEG the processing done inside the camera compresses the dynamic range
• RAW gives you the most latitude if you want to edit your photos later in a software like Photoshop or Lightroom while JPEG limits the freedom you have for post processing which means you need to make sure you get most of the things right in-camera first

If you are wondering why the camera provides various versions of JPEG if RAW is so capable:

1. RAW takes up a lot of storage space per image, so you can capture more images in your memory card with JPEG
2. Some people (e.g. photo journalists) may need to be able to speed up capturing and uploading their photos to wherever they need
3. Continuing from point 2, some people who work as photographers in remote regions with limited bandwidth access need to be able to transmit their photos back to their office so smaller files are faster to upload.

Warning: RAW photos do not look very flattering, compared to straight out of the camera JPEG.  That's because RAW gives you the freedom to decide how you want the photo to look after you've clicked the shutter button on the camera.

 

If you are in a rush or don't really have the time or desire to edit your photos after capture, shoot JPEG.  But if you want to determine how your photos turn out even after you've tried to get most things right in camera (mainly in terms of exposure settings) shoot RAW.  Or shoot RAW+JPEG so that you have both versions.  RAW files cannot be overwritten by software like Photoshop, any edits you do to a RAW file gets saved in a sidecar file with the extension XMP so the original RAW file is never altered in anyway and you can go back to start over with any editing.  In a software like Lightroom, you can work with virtual copies.

 

Whether you shoot JPEG or RAW or both is a decision you need to make.  For myself, I shoot RAW most of the time but there are moments when I switch over to just JPEG (and my cameras are also capable of capturing TIFF) or TIFF or both RAW+JPEG depending on what I am doing and what my needs are.

 

If you decide to shoot in RAW format, make sure you take full advantage of the capabilities it is offering you.

All of this.

[nickl]

18 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

The L, M and (if I remember correctly Canon cameras) S are various compression levels of JPEG and resolutions.  RAW is basically a file that contains all the data that the camera's sensor sees without (or with the least amount of) image processing done inside the camera.

L, M and S are different resolutions, while the curves to the left are the amount of compression.

[AkiraDaarkst]

On 12/8/2016 at 3:49 AM, nickl said:

L, M and S are different resolutions, while the curves to the left are the amount of compression.

I know that, I just didn't remember if Canon offered a "Small (S)" version.  On Nikon for JPEG

• Size: Large, Medium, Small
• Compression: Fine, Normal, Basic