Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW Copyright © 2003 to 2009 Kenji Tachibana

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW Positive Personal Experience: My new camera has an optical zoom that reaches over 500mm. The general shutter speed guide for a 500mm telephoto is 1/500 th sec for hand held shooting. Although, in the Pacific Northwest, I would be lucky to get 1/125 th sec shutter speed on an average day. Except for direct sunlight lit subjects, 1/500 th sec shutter speed is far beyond my correct exposure shutter speeds range.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW Found Shot: IS a must… I ordered tea for lunch at a neighborhood Tai restaurant. When it came, I was surprised at the elegant presentation. It inspired me to try to capture it even though the available light level was extremely dim.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW Hand held: Available light facts The f/4 aperture was chosen for deep dof. The ‘.6’ shutter speed is way into the ‘tripod required’ realm. I had no tripod so with the IS turned on. I was tempted to turn up the ISO to 200 but I held 100 for quality. The 6.3mm wide angle choice was based on maximizing dof. The ‘-.33’ biased was used to was used to hold the shutter speed at ‘.6’.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. This hand held shot could not be this sharp without the use of the image stabilizer when using a ridiculously slow shutter speed.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Conclusion: The use of the IS allowed me to capture a sharp image to use for this IS demonstration show example. Besides using the IS, I braced both my elbows on the table top. And that was combined with both the Breathing and Shutter-button-squeeze techniques. Even then, the other six ‘sharpness-bracket’ shots were all motion-blur soft. This image was fully processed and retouched for ‘presentation’.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Care for some tea for your eyes as well as your tongue.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW S hutter speeds: Review Shutter speed below sec are not recommended for handheld shooting. The marginal hand-held shooting speeds are colorized in orange. Shutter speed below 1/125th sec are not recommended for handheld shooting. The marginal hand-held shooting speeds are colorized in orange. Safer handheld shooting speeds are colorized in green. Shutter speeds higher than 1/000 th or higher are safe for shooting even when the subject is in motion. But close up shots of moving objects like bees may require even higher speeds. 4 sec2 sec1 sec½¼1/81/151/301/601/1251/2501/5001/1000 1/2000

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW RAW: JPEG story The usual compact digital camera original image is JPEG compressed and processed image file. The processing is done in the camera via firmware. Hardware mind be involved for increased processing speed. When the JPEG setting is cranked up to the highest image quality, a JPEG image is capable of producing very high image quality. And that image quality is more than enough for snap shooters.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW RAW: RAW story The RAW image file format is both the unprocessed and uncompressed. This allows the image maker to download the RAW electronic data from the camera. This is preferred by many photographers. That is because the image has not been compressed nor processed. Compression always means loss of image quality. Image makers often like to process their own image for maximum image quality.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW RAW: Availability Ever since the camera makers focus on pushing the DSLR camera, compact digitals with RAW capability has been hard to find. I used to be a proud owner of Nikon’s prosumer Coolpix series of digitals which all had the RAW capability. Although the last move up left me with a prosumer digital without the RAW capability. I abandoned the Nikon brand at that point and started looking into other brands…

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW RAW: History Nikon and Canon both use to have compact digital classified as ‘prosumer’. And those digitals were capable of outputting RAW image files. Unfortunately, in an marketing attempt to push their more profitable low end DSLR cameras, both camera makers eliminated the RAW capability from their prosumer compact digitals. That marketing ploy worked well for the camera makers. But, it was a big disappointment to me and many other quality and budget conscious image makers.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW RAW: After years of absence, it’s back My latest compact digital is capable of outputting RAW image files. It’s also a superzoom capable of an unbelievable18:1 zoom lens factor. The capper and the thing that makes the 500mm telephoto hand hold able is the image stabilization. Earlier in this demonstration, you saw how well the IS works. The following image examples will show you the practical difference between JPEG and RAW images.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. JPEG: Processed Without a reference point this shot should look good to you.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. RAW: Processed Without a reference point, this image should also look good. Use the arrow Up/down keys to compare the previous JPEG with this RAW image.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW I mage Quality: Judgment call Yes, doing photography is all about making very personal judgment calls. There is easy to use judgment-call meter that you can buy. It’s all about knowing what you want to say and how that needs to look, which require lots of practice and long experience.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW A nother Comparison: B&W example It may not have been that easy to tell the image quality difference in the previous still life example. So, here is another image comparison using a person as the subject and in B&W. You’ll see the JPEG image first, which should look reasonably good to you. The RAW image slide will follow, which should look distinctly better. The best way to describe the improvement is to say that the RAW image is smoother and more life-like. The limitations of the medium isn’t getting in the way of seeing the subject.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Grab Shot: JPEG Tight head shot was cropped into by 25% to get this extreme close up.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Grab Shot: RAW Compare using the keyboard Up/Down arrow keys. Judge for yourself, which is smoother, sharper, and finer detail.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW Another Comparison: Fresh from yesterday I noticed a striking maple leaf on the ground as I was walking to my car. ‘Shoot me’ it yelled out silently. I picked it up thinking that my blue car would make an excellent contrasting color background. I actually shot it using my windshield which was reflecting the blue sky.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Found Shot: JPEG processed

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Found Shot: RAW processed

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW Incremental Differences: Were you able to notice the difference. If you did, you might want to end up with a RAW capable digital. If not, don’t waste your money or time trying to work with a RAW image.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Image Stabilization and RAW RAW: Not for the novice Working with RAW image files is NOT recommended for Art 114 students. Working with RAW files will require you to be very good doing basic Lab Work. Working with the RAW file may be a year or two off for you…

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I RAW In The Meantime: Most RAW capable cameras have an image file format choice to shoot both RAW and JPEG at the same time. My camera is set up that way. When I shoot RAW, the processing is noticeably slower but I choose to live with that delay because I’m interested in getting the highest image quality possible from my compact digital camera. For most class demo images, the JPEG image is more than adequate. I use the RAW ‘negative’ when I create my own slideshow files.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I x End