[robski]

RAW is not the panacea for all your images problems. Its main benefits over Jpeg are up to 2 stops exposure correction and better colour balance correction. If the Highlights or Shadows are clipped (blown) in the RAW file then you are stuffed anyway. Many make the claim that the RAW file has more detail than say the Fine Jpeg version. I am not convince that this is the case with all cameras. If you scan back through the threads you will find a long thread on the topic. The thread was more of an investigation than people giving their second hand opinions. From what I recall there was a marked difference between Jpeg and RAW image quality on Don Hoey's Nikon. Whereas I found very small differences on my Canon. Further investigation also showed that some of the RAW formats did use a lossy compression.

Like Duncan I was not convinced of the merits of RAW in the early days. Often the original Jpeg version was miles better than my RAW processing. If I used the software supplied with the camera it did not look much different from the Jpeg version. If I used Photoshops RAW Converter the results were poor in my opinion. So after this experience I tended to reserve RAW processing for the tricky shots.

Recently I have started to used Light Room for my RAW Conversion and I now feel back in control of the image processing. I shoot both RAW and Jpeg if I have enough room on my memory cards for the day. If the Jpeg looks good then I will use that. For heavier processing I then use the RAW file.

If your PC is powerful enough and you have plenty of storage on the harddisk and memory card I suggest that you shoot both RAW and Jpeg. I think much depends on if you find a RAW converter that gives you the control you want. If you make a bad job of the RAW you still have the Jpeg which maybe good enough.

Some folk tend to shoot Jpeg only if they are shooting at high frame rates. Say 6 to 10 frames a second for action photography. It will take less RAW images to fill the cameras image buffer than Jpeg images. Thereby limiting the number of shots in the burst. e.g 6 RAW shots compared to 15 Jpeg. This is where fast memory cards are required so that the image buffer can be written to the card quickly to be ready for another burst of images. With the advances in technology the image buffer sizes have increased along with memory card write speeds.