Snap Happy
Senior Member
I hardly ever, if at all delete my RAW files, I save them all. I suppose since I started with film, it has been a practice to look at a shot first before clicking the shutter. As there is only so many shots on a roll you can take. So moving to digital, I have kept much the same habit.
Besides, if you delete your photos you just took, who knows what may happen in the future, that shot you thought was nothing, may be the last shot of whatever it was you were taking photos of. If you take the time to shoot it, it could be worth something to someone one day. Sure if the shot is way over or underexposed, was so blurry that you can not make out any shapes at all. I understand why you would delete it.
Looking back at my old neg's from the 1970's and 1980's I have now decided to print some of them, that I would not have considered before. Shots that long ago, if they were in digital, I may have deleted, and never printed. Time and tide change for everyman.
I know how easy it is with a digital camera, to just click away, not have to worry about changing film, it is so convenient. Just transfer the photos to a hard drive, format/delete the photos on the card, and start shooting again. Get a bigger memory card so you can shoot more. ON and on it goes......
Even Digital SLR's have a finite amount of shots you can take before the shutter mechanism goes, be it, 100,000 or 300,000 for example. After that, the camera will require a new shutter mechanism, and that is not cheap. If you had only spent a few hundred dollars, it may be cheaper to buy a new camera. If you had spent a few thousand, you may consider getting the shutter replaced as an option to consider. Just because you can shoot hundreds of photos on your digital camera, I still think it is worth considering a shot before pressing the shutter.
The RAW file is a digital NEG to me. Even if I do not want to keep it now, later it may be handy. Deleting now, or so soon after taking it, is something I just do not do. No insult is intended to anyone, just wishing to bring to other another point of view, for your consideration.
After all, if you take the time to photograph something, it is a capture of that point in time. Maybe not worth much now, but who knows what will happen in a decade or two?
I have some friends who worked overseas, taken photos and left them for years. Some event happened and they heard about it on the news, so that insignificant photo of that place all of a sudden became of huge interest. He got his negs out, did a print and took it to work to show his boss. It was an instant hit! He got paid big bucks for it. Now if it had been digital and he thought it was not worth keeping, he would have missed out.
Just something to consider.
Besides, if you delete your photos you just took, who knows what may happen in the future, that shot you thought was nothing, may be the last shot of whatever it was you were taking photos of. If you take the time to shoot it, it could be worth something to someone one day. Sure if the shot is way over or underexposed, was so blurry that you can not make out any shapes at all. I understand why you would delete it.
Looking back at my old neg's from the 1970's and 1980's I have now decided to print some of them, that I would not have considered before. Shots that long ago, if they were in digital, I may have deleted, and never printed. Time and tide change for everyman.
I know how easy it is with a digital camera, to just click away, not have to worry about changing film, it is so convenient. Just transfer the photos to a hard drive, format/delete the photos on the card, and start shooting again. Get a bigger memory card so you can shoot more. ON and on it goes......
Even Digital SLR's have a finite amount of shots you can take before the shutter mechanism goes, be it, 100,000 or 300,000 for example. After that, the camera will require a new shutter mechanism, and that is not cheap. If you had only spent a few hundred dollars, it may be cheaper to buy a new camera. If you had spent a few thousand, you may consider getting the shutter replaced as an option to consider. Just because you can shoot hundreds of photos on your digital camera, I still think it is worth considering a shot before pressing the shutter.
The RAW file is a digital NEG to me. Even if I do not want to keep it now, later it may be handy. Deleting now, or so soon after taking it, is something I just do not do. No insult is intended to anyone, just wishing to bring to other another point of view, for your consideration.
After all, if you take the time to photograph something, it is a capture of that point in time. Maybe not worth much now, but who knows what will happen in a decade or two?
I have some friends who worked overseas, taken photos and left them for years. Some event happened and they heard about it on the news, so that insignificant photo of that place all of a sudden became of huge interest. He got his negs out, did a print and took it to work to show his boss. It was an instant hit! He got paid big bucks for it. Now if it had been digital and he thought it was not worth keeping, he would have missed out.
Just something to consider.
