Why RAW? [Warning: pedantic language musings ahead]

[dcclark]

Warning: Long, pointless, pedantic ramblings ahead.
You have been warned.

Alrighty, first, I am distinctly not asking "why should I shoot using RAW format?" -- because I know the usual answers and arguments already. But that is neither here nor there.

As an additional warning, I am a mathematician, which means that I've been in school for FAR too long. I've noticed that people with as much continuous education as me tend to develop certain... quirks. Not just the quirk of living in abject poverty for 10 years straight as you attempt to earn a largely useless advanced degree (although that IS a bit odd, now that you mention it...), but rather language quirks. I used to have a housemate who was absolutely rabid about the proper use of "jealousy" compared to "envy". I myself am a bit annoyed at the misuse of "less" when "fewer" is correct. So that may explain why I even thought of the following question:

Why in the world does everybody keep calling this format "RAW" -- as opposed to simply "raw"?

When we type "RAW," it looks like an acronym -- like it stands for "Really Awesome White-balance" or "Range Automatically Widens" or "Random Aardvark Wrinkling". But "RAW" format is not an acronym, at least not in any place that I've ever seen -- it simply means that the camera has taken the raw (unprocessed) data off of its sensor, dumped it into a file, and said "you asked for it, now you get to spend 4 hours trying to tweak it".

Not to mention, it actually is more difficult to type RAW than just raw. I detest shift keys. They're always sitting there on either side of the useful keys, mocking them.

I suspect that this is in the same category as calling Apple's computers "MACs" instead of "Macs" -- there is no acronym there (yes, I know the old legend about "Mouse Activated Computer" -- a contingency plan in case the trademark "Macintosh" didn't go through), but for some reason people keep wanting it to mean something. Perhaps it's because we use so many acronyms in daily life, and even more in photography -- JPEG (which, amusingly, has become lowercased -- jpeg -- even thought it technically shouldn't), WB, AF, etc.

Anyhow, the floor is now open for discussion. If we are going to keep typing "RAW", then how about we at least have a good meaning for the acronym? I propose the Aardvark one up above, anyone else is welcome to assist.

[sybren]

For me, it's to distinguish between the raw file coming off a camera (RAW) and a generic raw image file (raw) containing nothing but image data (such as a Microsoft BMP file with the BMP header stripped off).

A RAW file does contain a lot more information than just the raw image data - it also contains all sorts of metadata. That's why I can't really call it "raw" per se, as for me "raw" means "image data, nothing else, good luck figuring out the format".

[dcclark]

Hm, interesting point. Although, essentially every file contains metadata nowadays. Not to mention that "RAW" format varies massively among manufacturers and sensors -- it's not like BMP, where (even if you don't have the header), at least the format will remain the same. I think that perhaps that's ascribing a little bit too much structure to the "format".

(On the other hand, I do like the idea of "Here's a file full of data -- good luck figuring out the format!" -- there's some sort of survival-of-the-fittest going on there. Only the most fit image-processing suites shall survive!)

[Jim Bryant]

Let's put this in simple terms. If you know anything about the exposure latitudes in color transparency (slide) film vs. negative film, then this will be simple to grasp. There's only about 1/4-1/2 exposure latitude when shooting color slides, outside of that the slide is either washed out (over exposure) or dark (underexposed). Jpeg compresses like bands of color into a single color band to save space. The RAW, basically a color negative (in terms of exposure latitude) gives you thousands of bands of colors, and you if you screw up the exposure, it's more forgiving.

As for raw vs RAW....who knows, but you brought up an interesting subject.

[dcclark]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

Let's put this in simple terms. If you know anything about the exposure latitudes in color transparency (slide) film vs. negative film, then this will be simple to grasp. There's only about 1/4-1/2 exposure latitude when shooting color slides, outside of that the slide is either washed out (over exposure) or dark (underexposed). Jpeg compresses like bands of color into a single color band to save space. The RAW, basically a color negative (in terms of exposure latitude) gives you thousands of bands of colors, and you if you screw up the exposure, it's more forgiving.

Thus spake I:

Originally Posted by dcclark

Alrighty, first, I am distinctly not asking "why should I shoot using RAW format?" -- because I know the usual answers and arguments already. But that is neither here nor there.

However:

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

As for raw vs RAW....who knows, but you brought up an interesting subject.

Yup. Oh well.

[big jc]

RAW= Routing and Assignment of Wavelengths or Really Absolutely Worthless. Personally I use JPEGs and wouldn't have it any other way.

[fletch]

I think RAW has stick because it is so familiar to capitailse when refering to image file types JPEG, GIF, DNG and TIFF to name but a few. Even the raw/RAW files have acronyms as their names ORF=Olympus Raw File, CR2 = Canon Raw 2, NEF= Nikon something, something. Therefore I see RAW as a catch all term for the different propritary acronyms and raw as meaning uncooked.

RAW: "I shoot in RAW vs I shoot in JPEG" (Instead of saying "I shoot in ORF" or "I shoot in CR2")
raw: "That ORF file is raw data from the camera."

As for what RAW could stand for I like Really Awesome White-Balance

[OsmosisStudios]

It makes it easier to spot. Its simply a matter of scemantics.

Fletch: NEF = Nikon Electronic File/Format.

[dcclark]

Originally Posted by big jc

RAW= Routing and Assignment of Wavelengths or Really Absolutely Worthless. Personally I use JPEGs and wouldn't have it any other way.

Agreed mightily. Good call.

I can see its semantic use, but we have no problem just throwing around lowercase elsewhere, such as "I always shoot in jpeg, it's easier and smaller".

I did mention that this would be a pedantic (and totally useless) thread. :P

[fletch]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Fletch: NEF = Nikon Electronic File/Format.

Thanks - Another bit of useless information added to the arsenal!

For more reference ".RAW" is actually a know filename extension although I haven't got a clue what for.