So here is my thought...back in 1998 I was intruduced to my first digital camera a Olympus C2020Z 2.1mp. It was not a bad camera for its era. Then I moved to the Olympus E10 4.1mp in early 2001 which was fairly cutting edge for its time. It had the ability to save in a uncompressed TIFF file which gave you a 12MB file. I rarely used this option except the few occasions I really, really wanted a "perfect" picture.
I did not realize at the time that the 4.1mp jpg I took back then is to a certain extent frozen to its era as far as photoshop opportunities since when it is initially converted certain characterics are locked in forever, on the other hand the TIFF 12MP picture I can open up with the most recent Photoshop and really manulipate the raw picture to a much greater extent than the 4.1mp JPG. The reason for this is because the TIFF like the NEF files nowdays capture every bit of data, color and detail the camera's sensor can pick up.
So what I'm left with now 9 years later is a ton of 4.1mp good pictures shot between 2001-2007, when I could of had a ton of uncompressed TIFF that could be made into great pictures.
So moving forward I find myself using NEF a lot as I can always make a NEF into a JPG to share with friends, but can't turn a JPG back into the raw formats. So 10-50 years from now the 15MB NEF files might be able to be manulipated into pictures with special effects or clarity we can't even fathom at this point in the digital age.
So in the interest of what I can do now, but more so in the future I am trying to save as much as I can to NEF files...
Does this make me smart? A dork? somewhere inbetween? What do you all use and why?
I did not realize at the time that the 4.1mp jpg I took back then is to a certain extent frozen to its era as far as photoshop opportunities since when it is initially converted certain characterics are locked in forever, on the other hand the TIFF 12MP picture I can open up with the most recent Photoshop and really manulipate the raw picture to a much greater extent than the 4.1mp JPG. The reason for this is because the TIFF like the NEF files nowdays capture every bit of data, color and detail the camera's sensor can pick up.
So what I'm left with now 9 years later is a ton of 4.1mp good pictures shot between 2001-2007, when I could of had a ton of uncompressed TIFF that could be made into great pictures.
So moving forward I find myself using NEF a lot as I can always make a NEF into a JPG to share with friends, but can't turn a JPG back into the raw formats. So 10-50 years from now the 15MB NEF files might be able to be manulipated into pictures with special effects or clarity we can't even fathom at this point in the digital age.
So in the interest of what I can do now, but more so in the future I am trying to save as much as I can to NEF files...
Does this make me smart? A dork? somewhere inbetween? What do you all use and why?