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For more about software, see ssss1; the key point now is that the choice between shooting JPEG for convenience or RAW for ultimate quality and flexibility is a very important one.

It might seem obvious that you’ll shoot JPEG for an easy life, but it’s not that simple. If you shoot RAW, then getting camera settings right is important. If you shoot JPEG, then getting camera settings right is absolutely vital. And this doesn’t just apply to basic exposure settings. JPEG processing deals with a lot more than whether the image is too light or too dark. It also locks in values such as colour balance and colour saturation. Yes, you can alter these afterwards, but within much tighter limits.

Let’s take one quick example. Many cameras have a Portrait mode. This will set a fairly small aperture to limit depth of field and concentrate attention on the subject, and shooting RAW or JPEG will make no difference whatsoever to depth of field. However, Portrait mode also tells the camera to process the image in a certain way, keeping colours slightly muted, and not sharpening the image too much – all with the aim of being kind to skin tones. If you absent-mindedly leave the camera on Portrait mode when you switch to another subject (we’ve all done it!), these settings may be far less appropriate. In a JPEG file they’re already locked in but if you shoot RAW you can easily shift the colour balance, boost the colour saturation, and so on.