Raw and backing up

[Starlite9711]

Those of you that shoot exclusively in RAW, do you convert to jpg before you back them up, or do you save the RAW file, or both?!? I have been shooting in RAW for months and now that I am trying to back up, I don't know what the best bet is, thanks for your input!!!

[nirecreations]

I save both. I save my original RAW files and the file I have adjusted and saved (your .jpeg, I save as .tiff files). That way if you ever need to go back you have the original file. Consider it your digital negative. You wouldn't have gotten rid of your film negative once you had a print. Same thing. HTH

[audrey77]

I save both- burn them on to DVD, and back up on an EHD.

[Bush Girl]

I save both too, although I convert the Raws to DNG (digital negatives).

[scrappurple]

Good question. I have been wondering the same thing.

[sam ellis]

I save both --- well erm... don't Listen to me.

[amygreg77]

Selena - or anyone else - What is a Digital Negative? Is it like RAW, but smaller?

[belle]

I save my raw and any edits in psd or tiff I never backup jpeg I can always get a jpeg from my edit psd and tiff , but always always save the first raw I back up to a external and I save each shoot to 2 dvds rewritable after 2 years I deleted the dvd if they are clients I use regular dvd for my backup since i don't reuse them


Belle

[sam ellis]

Originally Posted by amygreg77

Selena - or anyone else - What is a Digital Negative? Is it like RAW, but smaller?

People call it a digital negative, so it's like a negative. A prime file. But raw is bigger that jpeg.

[calligraphybycarol]

Actually, at the photography seminar I went to, they said the DNG or digital negative in Lightroom is not the same as the raw file. I am not sure if it's original with Adobe or not, but here is what it says on Adobe's site:

"Raw file formats are becoming extremely popular in digital photography workflows because they offer creative professionals greater creative control. However, cameras can use many different raw formats — the specifications for which are not publicly available — which means that not every raw file can be read by a variety of software applications. As a result, the use of these proprietary raw files as a long-term archival solution carries risk, and sharing these files across complex workflows is even more challenging.

The solution to this growing problem? The Digital Negative (DNG), a publicly available archival format for the raw files generated by digital cameras. By addressing the lack of an open standard for the raw files created by individual camera models, DNG helps ensure that photographers will be able to access their files in the future."

Basically it's a format that is supposed to be available in the future so that you will be able to access your image files no matter what software is available then.

[Denise Gormish]

People might be interested in this article written by my husband. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Electronic Imaging, member of the JPEG committee, and co-inventor on more than forty issued patents on image compression and processing. The article is a pro and con of RAW and JPEG.

http://www.scrapjazz.com/topics/Phot...raphy/1186.php

[AllynD]

Denise, thanks for posting the article! I have so much to learn and I appreciate it when someone can explain things like this. I will have a little bedtime reading this evening!

[KristaLund]

thanks for the info...i am just starting to shoot in RAW so this info is most helpful.