Downsides and Solutions
Now, there are always pros and cons to every option, and RAW does have a few disadvantages. We’ll chat about those - and some practical fixes.
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Need To Be Processed
A common argument against RAW is that files need processing, so it must take longer than JPEG. If you never touch your JPEGs, maybe - but most photographers do at least some editing anyway.
White balance, highlight recovery and shadow recovery are faster and cleaner with RAW. You can also export multiple JPEG sizes in one go, or even shoot RAW+JPEG if you like. In practice, RAW can be just as quick - if not quicker - once you’ve got a workflow.
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Takes Up More Space
RAW files are bigger - often 2 to 3 times the size of JPEGs. Storage, however, is inexpensive these days.
- Example costs: a 3TB drive around £129
- 8MB JPEGs - roughly 375,000 images on the drive - about £0.000344 per image
- 30MB RAWs - roughly 100,000 images - about £0.00129 per image
Spread your backups across drives - don’t put all your photographic eggs in one basket. Memory cards continue to drop in price too. The larger size is the trade-off for higher quality - and it’s usually worth it.
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Slows The Camera Down
RAW fills the camera buffer faster. Your frames per second are the same, but you may wait longer while the buffer writes to the card.
If fast bursts are critical, consider faster memory cards or a body with a larger buffer - and prune unnecessary continuous shooting where possible.
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In A Proprietary Format
Many RAW formats are proprietary (e.g., .CR2, .NEF). Long term, software support can change.
A practical fix is DNG (Digital Negative) - an open format developed by Adobe. You can convert RAWs to DNG in Lightroom or similar tools. It’s an extra step, but helps future-proof your archive. Some cameras already shoot DNG natively.
Wrap It Up
Hopefully this look at RAW and its benefits has cleared things up a bit. Suggestions that RAW takes too long or is too much work don’t really hold water anymore. It’s quick to process, flexible, and gives you the best quality from the images you’ve put so much time, effort and love into.
