RAW files are not quite ‘digital negatives’. They are actually more like the latent images on undeveloped film and need a ‘digital developer’. Choosing the best digital developer (RAW processing software) can make a big difference to your images.
Bayer sensor
Most camera sensors use a single layer of photosites (pixels). These are only sensitive to light, not color, so a mosaic of red, green and blue filters (the ‘bayer pattern’) is placed on top of the sensor’s photosites so that individually they capture red, green or blue light. When the camera processes the sensor data to produce an image, it ‘demosaics’ the red, green and blue data, using color information from surrounding photosites to ‘interpolate’ full color data for each pixel.
10 myths about RAW files – and why they’re wrong
Almost any photographic expert will tell you that you should shoot RAW files not JPEGs, and that RAW files are innately superior. The trouble with this kind of wisdom is that it’s repeated and passed on without question.
Is Adobe’s Super Resolution tool any good?
Super Resolution is a new feature in Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Adobe Camera Raw. It uses Adobe Sensei, the company’s in-house AI technology, to up-size images to twice their previous width and height.
RAW files explained
Many photographers prefer to work with RAW files – but what are they, how do you work with them, and why are they so much better than regular in-camera JPEGs?
Does the new Capture One 12.1 X-Trans processing make any difference?
It’s fine for Phase One to say the Capture One 12.1 X-Trans processing has been improved, but can you actually see the difference? (It was pretty good already.)