RAW Compressed vs Uncompressed sony a7iii

[@afferist]

finally! I spent 2 hours on the Internet searching and reading, only at the end I found this video - where everything is clearly visible! thanks

[@VagabondOriginal]

Man, every time I see a setting and think, "hmm I should look into that..." I see that you've covered it! You're saving me so much time researching and experimenting. Thanks again for the awesome content, and all the work you're putting into this channel.

[@mikesphotography]

Haha, Awesome! I’m glad my tutorials are coming in handy!! 😁👍 Lots more to come, including testing the new features in the firmware update...hopefully next week! 😁👍

[@YourDriver]

SAME!

[@stephenwoodburn2970]

Great video, Mike. I had done some research on this subject when I first got my A7iii, and decided that I would shoot compressed. Nobody described the difference quite as well as you did here. Of course, after watching all of your other tutorials, I always have perfect exposure. Okay, maybe that last statement was a stretch. Keep these great tutorials coming. Cheers!

[@mikesphotography]

Haha!! I’d expect nothing less!! 😆😁👍 Yep, I’d suggest using compressed for most things, and then uncompressed when shooting in really low light conditions, astrophotography and maybe low key photography... As always, thanks for watching dude, much appreciated! 😁👍

[@TheMicroGhost]

Pls make a video on the new timelapse function on the A7iii! Especially how to use the option to track the exposure automatically!

[@mikesphotography]

I’ll see what I can do! I’m going to do a load of testing next week when I get home so I should have a video out on it next week...👍

[@TheMicroGhost]

Mike Smith thank you very much :)

[@PatrickGuerrisi]

@@TheMicroGhost did you do it yet?

[@mikesphotography]

I did it as soon as it came out...here it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIvWi32ZZbF7aZY You can also check out a list of all my videos so far in alphabetical order with genres if you like...it seems to make it easier to find videos than on here. www.boxheadmike.com/youtubelinks/ I hope that helps. 👍

[@phynesse2000]

try hitting 'c' after selecting 2 images you want to compare in Lightroom...

[@mikesphotography]

So many shortcuts in all the adobe programs!! Thanks for the info!

[@kevogoeswild-wildlifenatur7411]

Thanks, something new to me as well

[@amybella]

Comparison between the two: 4:52 The blue sky is different, right darker blue, and left is lighter blue. Also the tall buildings the one on on the left is little brighter by abit compared to the right one.

[@patrickl3140]

Except for astrophoto, I'm shooting in compressed mode. I've enough dynamics and as you mentionned, no difference when normal exposure. Thanks for the test !

[@mikesphotography]

Good to hear Patrick! The beauty of this setting is that you can change it for different needs in your photography. 😁👍

[@uwriteme]

Nice observation. It is not only when the entire picture is underexposed, but also when you work with the dynamic range. Sometimes I need to highlight the shadows and with CRAW I will have this effect.

[@mikesphotography]

Most definitely. If I had a shot where I’m going to be pulling detail out of the shadows, I’ll definitely shoot in uncompressed raw. Thanks for watching. 👍

[@ABAJZA75]

So helpful! Even 2 years later.. thank you!

[@mikesphotography]

That's great to hear! Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@grantdecker1190]

Awesome explanation! I shoot in uncompressed Raw for the Dynamic Range. If I was 100% confident in getting the proper exposure every time I would probably shoot compressed. I made a mistake yesterday and I adjusted my white balance incorrectly and had a V1 flash with a 1/2 CCO gel. The preview image actually looked really good, but when I opened my raw file it very very dark. I adjusted the exposure around +2 and the image came back great.

[@mikesphotography]

It is a great thing to have in the raw files isn't it...I mess up every now and then as well and it's great to now you can pull it back so much. Thanks for watching. 😁👍

[@biscuitsalive]

By way. Worth checking out the diff with Adobe colour vs standard SRGB. If working in Lightroom then Adobe is better etc.

[@mikesphotography]

Nice one dude, I'll definitely check that out. I hope sunny Kernow is treating you well!! 😁👍

[@ethanfink7962]

This answered all of my questions! Thanks a ton, Mike. I just purchased the Nikon D500 and I've had my nose stuck in the manual for the last two days, but even the manuals don't have all the answers. I can always rely on informative KZbinrs to give me the answers I am searching for.

[@mikesphotography]

That's great ethan, it's great to get into the manual and know your camera front to back... After you've done that, the best bet is to watch some things on here and then go out and do them...or at the moment, stay in and do them. 😁👍

[@ethanfink7962]

@@mikesphotography I have been using the natural light from the skylights in my bedroom to photograph my rather aesthetic cat... It's going rather smoothly! Can't wait to take portraits of people after all of this is and said and done! Stay safe and healthy, Mike. 👍

[@shadzscape]

8:16 - The Answer I was Looking for. Thank you 😊👍🎉

[@mikesphotography]

Great to hear I could help. 😁 Thanks for watching. 👍

[@LXDV]

This was so interesting. I always thought that a RAW file is a RAW file and that the compressed version was just the camera using an algorithm to write the file in a more efficient way. A bit like a ZIP file. So there shouldn't be any loss of data or quality but files would take longer to read and write. It would be so interesting to see what the camera manufacturers have to say in this point.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks Alex, They re pretty close, it's just the compressed one couldn't be pushed around as much as the uncompressed at the extremes...but I was surprised as to how much the compressed file could handle normal levels of editing. It would be interesting to see this done again with the new lossless compressed included...from the A1 and I think maybe the A7riv as well...🤔 Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@RoadRallyLife]

From my recent experience you will lose 2-3 stops of DR (dynamic range) in both shadows and highlights. It makes a big difference if you rely on DR.

[@mikesphotography]

Yes, it all depends on the DR of your composition really. If it is super high, then you'll run into problems.

[@juanmaasecas]

What you're seeing there is that Sony bakes in the vignetting correction in the compressed raw but not in the uncompressed raw. Try the same experiment with a manual without any electronic communication with the camera, or with the lens almost detached. The only real effects in the compressed raw are in very high contrast areas, where you can see some small artefacts. But still it's very interesting that shooting uncompressed makes gives you the chance to fully disable the lens correction afterwards.

[@mikesphotography]

Interesting! I thought the pattern might be something to do with lens correction. 👍

[@CraigBoehman]

I didn't think we'd see much of a difference between the two in properly exposed situations. But as photographers know, there are situations when it's necessary to intentionally underexpose shots for bracketing or to otherwise to pull off a desired effect. This video covers this brilliantly, demonstrating where one could run into issues while using compressed RAW. The other situation (a big one!) where photographers are going to want to use uncompressed RAW is for low light situations, maybe for street photography but definitely for the myriad of paid work nestled under the umbrella of event photography. Maybe one could get away with compressed RAW for some low light work if using great glass, which naturally results in a lower noise profile. My point is, why take the risk of intentionally sabotaging one's work only because in a majority of cases it's not possible to tell the difference between the two formats? Second point is, Sony owners paid a lot of money for their camera kits and why wouldn't we want to take advantage of the quality boost in settings? It's almost exactly the same as buying an A7M3 and only shooting in JPEG - you're only making use of a fraction of the camera's capabilities. Third point I'd like to make is that as someone who likes to edit images with the eye of a retoucher, there is much greater freedom and more likelihood to edit and spare an image which may not have been acceptable to a client or even to myself otherwise, speaking from a standpoint of someone preferring the freedom to add noise or texture to an image versus the coin toss of the compressed RAW setting. In other words, I want as much control over the noise profile at pixel level as possible. My decision to shoot uncompressed RAW right from the get-go was an easy one to make. I know I'll always get the best possible image from any given situation. It's one less thing to think about while shooting. And if one manages sd cards and file management properly, the extra space (while considerable) taken up by uncompressed files isn't an issue - it's an advantage.

[@mikesphotography]

Some good points their Craig and you’re right, if you manage your data properly and have the right sd cards, there’s no reason not to shoot in raw uncompressed. Since making this video, I’ve started shooting more of my images in raw uncompressed. 👍

[@CraigBoehman]

@@mikesphotography It's always an interesting conversation because it ultimately brings up the whole issue about whether people even notice or care about image quality - once images get compressed via jpeg conversion and then furthermore on the platform on which they're shared (as you mentioned). I'm always discussing this with friends. We're so used to seeing such poor quality on the Internet that our expectations on whole have been downgraded. But I still see it as an editing issue for photographers - in order to up the quality norms we should be working on the best RAW formats available. Whether this changes public perception in the long term I think, is a secondary concern to working photographers trying to cut through the haze. Thanks for making a great video, Mike~

[@pndamonium1241]

I have learned a lot of my Sony A73 and Photography in general thanks to your videos. I really appreciate the content you are sharing.

[@mikesphotography]

That’s great to hear my tutorials are helping Carlos! If you have any ideas for ones I haven’t done yet, please do let me know. Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@Thexderify]

Great video. Rather than just saying "Shoot uncompressed because it's the best", you showed why this isn't necessary. Have wondered how much the compressed files took a quality hit.

[@mikesphotography]

Haha! That rhyme also works with compressed!! 😆 Thanks so much Mark. I’ve been wanting to do this one for a while so it was good to finally get around to testing it properly. 👍

[@Oregonbackyardhomestead]

Zonks!!! Need to push it 5 stops to see a difference? I cant think of a situation where I would have shot that far off. Maybe blindfolded, but then there would be some composition errors as well. Great video, answered my questions, going to start saving some space.

[@mikesphotography]

Haha! Yeah, it was definitely a test at the extremes!! The only way it would help would be with an image that has a huge dynamic range. It potentially could save some extra detail in the shadows. 👍

[@sganzerla]

Mike, the difference on the underexposed compressed x uncompressed files looks exactly what was the problem with Sigma lenses being used with 5D MK IV if I remember well. It looks like a pattern for lens distortion correction (peripheral illumination). Take a second look at it, I have downloaded your files and in ACR it was likely that it was the case. I'm doing lots of real state photo and uncompressed option may be worth a look here, thanks!

[@mikesphotography]

That would definitely explain the pattern. With real estate, I’d definitely go with uncompressed raw files as the dynamic range is normally huge when there are windows in the shot. 👍

[@RicardoHardoy]

Thanks Mike, another great review. Is it the same with Sony A9ii?

[@mikesphotography]

Hi Ricardo, I think it is ... although the A9ii might have lossless raw on them as well which I haven't tested yet... I know the A7iv and the A7riv have that option.

[@irajnaghash]

When a photo has digitized the part that hs less information is compress and sampled therefore not very information is lost, but when the picture is forming to analogue more noise is added. Therefore compressed photo has a little more noise. Please refer to analogue to digital sampling.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks for the information Iraj. 👍

[@movenmvrl1795]

Excellent video, I am noticing the same behavior with my R4

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much Daci! 😁👍

[@vincentmarcolla316]

This is very useful Mike, I was actually asking myself this question no later than yesterday.

[@mikesphotography]

That’s excellent, I hope I’ve helped answer your questions on the subject.

[@dannyheroic]

great video, borrowing a friends a7c for a celebration and this helped

[@mikesphotography]

Great to hear it helped. The a7c is a great little camera. I film all of my latest videos with it. 😁👍

[@dominick3579]

From my own investigation, I've determined that that red circular noise pattern is due to the shadow details being compressed from the lens vignetting. Does that make sense? If you look in your viewfinder in the dark, you can take a picture at different apertures and see that polygonal pattern disappear

[@mikesphotography]

I think you’re right there! It definitely has a lens pattern to it. It’s great that I had to push it down all the way to 5 stops below to see this. 👍

[@demiguel]

@@mikesphotography Just turn off all the lens correction in the menus. It should not affect to the raw image but inexplicably It does.

[@IndiafanFromGermany]

Thanks for the explanations Mike! I have an A7S III, but I expect Your conclusion would be valid for that as well, right?

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, I hope it has helped! Yes definitely...the compressed and uncompressed RAW files will give a similar result in the A7siii. Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@denisj13]

Exactly what I wanted to look for. Cleared my doubt about A9 shooting 20fps compressed raw. Guess it doesn’t really matter as long as I don’t shoot anything extremely underexposed. Thanks for the clear explanation 👍

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much Denis, I'm glad I could help. And you're right, as long as you get good exposure it doesn't really matter. 👍

[@stephanforseilles]

Compression is not always a bad thing. There are totally harmless (lossless) forms of compression but it doesn't compress much, depending on the original file. If you make a ZIP archive of files for example, you will (hopefully :) ) get exactly the same files after decompressing, bit-to-bit. But even with lossy compression, you can chose how aggressively you compress (same as, when you save JPEG, you can chose quality vs. file size). A 2-to-1 for photos is not very aggressive, that's how they are so close from one another.

[@mikesphotography]

Good point Stephan! You’re totally right, the word compression scares a lot of photographers but it’s not always a bad thing. Thanks for watching. 👍

[@FootprintPhoto]

I have the Sony A1 and did some checks this morning on file sizes of compressed, compressed lossless and compressed. I expected there to be a huge file size for uncompressed, half that for compressed and I had no idea what to expect from compressed lossless. Strangely, over 2 tests the file sizes were almost identical across the board at 55mb. Am I doing something wrong?

[@mikesphotography]

I know the jpegs are adaptive, so the more detail there is, the bigger the file size. I haven't had a chance to use the A1 yet, but that's interesting...Maybe run the test again with as much detail as possible in the frame...🤔 Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@FootprintPhoto]

@@mikesphotography Hi Mike, just retried the exercise under different conditions, a flat overcast day and the results are more like I would expect - Uncompressed 111mb, Compressed lossless 72.4mb, compressed 60.6mb. Shame the compressed lossless doesnt give you the 30fps that the compressed does - best wishes Nick

[@mikesphotography]

That sounds more like it. You're right, it would be so much better if we got a higher burst rate than what it offers. Thanks for letting me know.

[@KSE370]

Great Mike, it was really helpful. Can you please make a video about the difference between S-log3/Sgamut3 and S-log3/Sgamut3.cine of the Sony A7M3?

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks Daniel! I’ll see what I can do. 👍

[@johnkars6789]

Great explanation. I was shooting a ton of business portraits the other day and went compressed and can’t tell the difference.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks John, yep, as long as you get a good exposure, it won't make any real difference. 😁👍

[@johnkars6789]

Mike Smith Love your no-nonsense style, attention to detail and clarity. And the guitar in the background!😁

[@mikesphotography]

Haha!! Thanks so much John...I would play it but then I'd get a copyright strike as I only know a few cool rock song covers! 😆 Thanks for watching. 😁👍

[@apahualpa173]

Cheers, Mike, great video. One thing is on my mind. As a7iii is ISO-invariant, it makes sense to shoot with low ISO (640) and lift exposure in post. So I'm wondering whether the round red problem as seen on 6:15 would persist if the shot was underexposed only because low ISO and lifted post versus shot with equally higher ISO at first place. Shutter and aperture being the same in both cases. Basically meaning whether the compression is done before or after the ISO effect, right? Do you have information on this one?

[@mikesphotography]

That's a good question and would be interesting to test out. I haven't done that test yet but might have to the next time I go shooting. Thanks for watching and thanks for your thoughts 😁👍

[@apahualpa173]

@@mikesphotography Right! I'm heading out next week for the last moonless night skies of the season here in northern Finland, and I'll test it out, will let you know!

[@crysania]

This was a great rundown of the two! I've been trying to decide on getting the a7iv because you can't shoot 10fps uncompressed, but this makes me feel a bit better about the possibility of upgrading.

[@Youtube_Stole_My_Handle_Too]

This is the most arrogant crap I have seen in a long time. Raw is for greater freedom in post. Storage doesn't cost money to speak of - even if you need to store 4000 pics of raw. All you need is two sets of cards and an external SSD to empty them into while shooting. Even the most expensive cards won't set you back more than $500 which is nothing if you actually shoot 4000 pics on a single shoot-out. Professional photographers can't shoot anything but raw today. Btw, 4000 RAWs on a Sony @7Riv is 0.6 TB.

[@crysania]

@@KZbin_Stole_My_Handle_Too I'm a little confused..did you respond to the wrong person?

[@Youtube_Stole_My_Handle_Too]

@@crysania I responded to the author of the video. You were chosen as a carrier because you for some strange reason was chosen as the top comment - well at least at my side.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks for your feedback going home...I'll be sure to try to lower my undertones of arrogance in the future. I hope you have a nice day. 😁👍

[@mikesphotography]

@crysania4 sorry for the troll comment landing on yours. Obviously going home was so very angry, they couldn't work out how to post their own comment and instead just clicked on the first area they saw to write their thoughts ... 🙄 ... and this will probably anger them even more ... 🤔

[@YourDriver]

You are amazing, I've spent the last few hours binge watching your videos because each one leads to another one that interests me! I wish I had found you sooner!

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much! Great to hear they are all helping!! At least you've found me now...😁👍

[@dariordz688]

I just bought an a7iii and find out about the huge size of the uncompressed files yesterday, so your video came on top on my search about this topic. At least until I get my hands in new hard drives and bigger SD cards... I will stick to uncompressed! Thank you so much for this video!

[@mikesphotography]

No worries Dario. The files are pretty big aren’t they...although compared to the new 60mp a7riv images, they’re relatively small. Definitely worth keeping to compressed files until you can get some extra hard drives and sd cards! It’s all about juggling hard drives and hard drive space these days!! Thanks for watching 👍

[@WoobAu]

Nice Mike... That pattern that appeared in the heavily underexposed compressed cityscape shot was... odd. Almost felt like sensor overheat or something? Any chance you tested to see if there was any benefit to uncompressed when pulling shadows out in a high dynamic image? I did notice today that a shot I took at a wedding last night of the bride running through an archway of guests at the end of the night, when I pushed the shot a bit far (Trying to use Topaz Gigapixel to recover a bit of detail) that I got a lot of banding in the dark foreground. I'd be curious to see if it was any better uncompressed!

[@mikesphotography]

Yeah it does look a little like that doesn’t it. The compressed and uncompressed shots were done within a few minutes of each other. I haven’t tested a high dynamic range image with it yet...would be a good one to do. It does seem like the uncompressed files can be pushed around quite a bit more than the compressed files.

[@brickbrow]

What I took away from this (as a novice photographer) is that for family/friend photos I'm going to shoot uncompressed so if I messed anything up I have more recovery room in post-process, and if it is anything else I'm going to shoot compressed because the difference is almost transparent. Thank you!!!

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much Sydney! Thats a good way to look at it. Collect as much data for the important ones and then save space for the ones you know you can get a good exposure with...or the ones where you have time to set the camera up properly. Thanks for watching. 😁👍

[@coxchandler1]

Thank you so much for making this! Very helpful information with a practical application

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, great to hear it has helped Chandler! Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@luciegagnon1238]

Excellent informative video! Very well presented! Thank you!

[@mikesphotography]

Great to hear! Thanks for watching Lucie! 😁👍

[@devanclarke-sheward3861]

Nice testing protocol. One question, whats is the difference in file size? compressed are how big in comparison to the uncompressed? thanks

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, I hope it helped. The uncompressed Giles are 49.5Mb and the compressed files are 25.6Mb. With the a7riii they’re double these sizes. 👍

[@rymdskrotet]

Im having a hard time to expose correctly with my a7 III. Not sure whats going on. Using the histogram, burt Im not sure if it gives correct info. I also need to know how to measure correctly. It seems like I have to underexpose my photos to be able to retreive the shadows in post. I also find highlights blown even if i have exposered down. DRO off. Also...the greens are VERY green. Shooting in raw, uncompressed at the moment.

[@FBall-im8ui]

This has been very helpful, I wasn't sure what the difference was and I too prefer to have smaller files because of storage thanks

[@mikesphotography]

I’m glad it has helped! The bigger files do take up a lot more space don’t they...I chop and change between the two depending on what I’m shooting, but it’s great that we have the option. Thanks for watching! 👍

[@Flytoohi]

Great explanation! Thank you.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks very much! Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@raider32]

'Compressed' always sounds like a bad word in imaging, but it looks like the quality to file size isn't reduced that badly. I've got an A7III but still use Lightroom 6 so the RAW/ARW files don't work, I have to convert them all to DNG, This process actually reduces the Uncompressed files by about 30%, 47MB to 31MB (inc full size JPG preview), hopefully retaining all the image quality. I'm actually liking the DNG format now (for the features and reduced file size), I'm thinking of converting all my older images to DNG.

[@mikesphotography]

You’re right Ian, it just sounds bad. Good to know about the dng route! Thanks for the info...that is definitely a way to go with older versions of lightroom. Which dng converter are you using?

[@raider32]

@@mikesphotography I just use the free Adobe DNG Converter. I wasn't thrilled about having to use it at first, but the reduced file size and being able to re-write an edited JPG into it from Lightroom has got me thinking its the way forward.

[@mikesphotography]

Interesting. I always use the most recent version of lightroom so it hasn’t been a route I considered taking. I might have to make a video on it as quite a few people in this community keep asking about using older versions of lightroom with the Sony raw files. Thanks for the info Ian. 😁👍

[@kimhansen6384]

Reducing the file size by 30%, and retaining all information ?? This is why we all buy expensive lenses and camera bodies with high resolution, just to ruin the files even before they get used!!!!

[@raider32]

​@@kimhansen6384 Who said anything about ruining the files? they are just file 'containers', All of my A7III ARW's are a fixed size of 47MB (with a very small difference for the JPG Preview), DNG's vary because they only hold actual data. Converting only takes the actual RAW data and re-packs it into a DNG container, so if there is only 30MB of RAW data it will be a 30MB DNG. The reason I had to convert to DNG in the first place is to use the images in my software. "I buy expensive lenses and camera bodies" and I feel I shouldn't have to then pay a monthly subscription to open my images, Adobe won't release simple camera updates for older versions of Lightroom, but they are in their 'free' DNG Converters.

[@leecason9468]

Generally you won't notice a detail difference (except some users talking about the star eating in compressed (ie noise reduction takes some stars out)) but I notice a difference when doing intense color edits. I do a lot of blade runner night shots, and surreal color style portraits uncompressed makes the editing go a little bit easier as they have just that much more data to work with. But from a sharpness point, meh.

[@leecason9468]

Oh yeah and btw when i do those blade runner edits, i under expose so that might play into it in addition to how much i tweak the colors. I need to underexpose so the lights don't get too blown out and i can still make them look a certain way using the split toning tabs.

[@mikesphotography]

Sounds pretty cool...do you share any of your work/have any links to your work? Would be great to see. It really does only show in the shadows so using uncompressed would be perfect for your genre of photography. 👍

[@BruceAngus]

I'd be curious to see the difference between jpeg and raw on the Sony. I'm having trouble telling a huge difference in the dynamic range visually in Lightroom. I shot a vacation recently in jpeg and raw and it doesn't feel like there is a huge difference in the shadow or highlight detail as compared to what I remember of my old Nikon

[@mikesphotography]

The jpegs are getting better as time goes by. Nowadays I think the difference comes when you start doing some heavy editing with the images. THat's when the RAW file will be a little better...but the gap has definitely narrowed over the past 10 years. Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@GrantSR]

Are you talking about lossless or lossy compression? While it may be well established that Sony cameras don't offer a lossless compression mode for RAW files, you still need to make that clear.

[@Tarkinx]

Thanks Mike ! This is very informative! So I understand that for interior photography using HDR, it’s better to shoot uncompressed raw to get the best amount of details in the underexposed shots ?

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, I'm glad I could help. Most definitely, with uncompressed raw, you will get so much more detail in the shadows giving you more to work with when blending the images. Thanks for watching.

[@stevedowning4824]

Was really waiting for a compressed / uncompressed video 😃 Thanks a lot Mike! Can't wait to check it out. Do you use sRGB or Adobe RGB on your a7iii?

[@mikesphotography]

Awesome Steve! I was surprised by the results!! 😁👍 I use srgb...haven’t really played around with these colour settings.

[@GioFar]

sRGB and Adobe RGB affects only jpg files, if you shoot raw it doesn't matter, they will keep always the entire raw data.

[@doplinger1]

I noticed that banding one time on some of my astro shots, but it was because I was in AdobeRGB mode; once I switched, the banding/discoloration went away. As photographers, it's really hard for us NOT to get absolutely everything possible out of our images. Did you notice any difference in trying to recover info from over or underexposed shots in a compressed vs uncompressed?

[@mikesphotography]

That’s interesting. I’m going to do a video sometime in the future on the difference between sRGB and AdobeRGB. There was definitely more degradation in the heavily underexposed shots than the over exposed shots. 😁👍

[@davidnaylor83]

Converting to lossless DNG is a much better alternative IMO than Sony's lossy compression. You basically get the same file size even though the DNG is lossless. If you really want to save space, try DNG with lossy compression.

[@mikesphotography]

Hi David, thanks for the info! A few people have mentioned this so I’m going to look into it. Im guessing you batch convert your Sony raw files to dng files?

[@donncha1]

I use lossy dng for my street photography and it helps a lot to save space. Batch converting is the way to go. Anything with a sky or landscape is generally shot in compressed but I'll consider uncompressed for astro now. David, when you converted uncompressed to lossless dng did it save space? AFAIR the dng files were slightly bigger than compressed .arw files. Compressed .arw were definitely bigger when converted to lossless dng.

[@mikesphotography]

Donncha, that’s interesting. And would be good to see the file differences you asked about. Thanks for the info 👍

[@zolganboss]

Good information, thank you

[@mikesphotography]

That's great to hear! Thanks for watching. 👍

[@Christian-tf6ol]

Many thanks! this is insightful 💯

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, thanks for watching Christian 😁👍

[@GuilleSKS]

Thank you very much for the video, really useful

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks very much!! 😁👍

[@minawong2394]

Thanx for doing this. Answered my question in full. Cheers! :)

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, I'm glad I could help Mina! Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@LiquidTurbo]

Would there be a benefit to shoot uncompressed for scenes with a very high dynamic range difference even if you expose correctly? Like say high noon, harsh shadows, etc or would you still think compressed would suffice?

[@mikesphotography]

Good question. You'd probably get more detail in the shadows so it might benefit those really harsh conditions. 👍

[@henrikw377]

Excellent video, thank you for taking the time to create this very good comparison!

[@murigius1]

Really appreciate all the work you put into these videos!

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much Ed!! 😁👍

[@Fat-totoro-cat]

Did you have in camera lens profiles enabled? That can cause these effects.

[@mikesphotography]

Hi Timothy, these were raw files. Profiles and creative styles don’t have an impact on raw files, just jpegs.

[@martin2do]

I love your videos. You've got a nice diction and that makes your content clear and easy to follow. Greetings from Copenhagen!

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much Martin! I really enjoy making them and have lots more planned! 😁👍

[@Momaln]

Do you have an idea why I cant use RAW format in video settings? Ive seen it so many times but mine is greyed out, apparently because im shooting on manual exposure... but still

[@mikesphotography]

Hi Moritz, This camera can't shoot RAW video. That function is for stills only. I think you have to get a Black Magic Camera or a Red to get RAW video... This camera only shoots in H.264 mp4 or mov compressed video files, which is basically a video jpeg.

[@ViktorKotschy]

Great comparison! Thank you Mike!

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks Viktor! This was an interesting one to do!! 😁👍

[@micr75i]

I think if you set the camera to Compressed Raw and Drive mode to any Burst setting (lo,hi,hi+) the camera switches to a 12 bit sensor readout down from 14 bits. Can you confirm or deny this? I read it somewhere but I can no longer find a good link about it

[@mikesphotography]

Hi Michele, I’ve heard this as well...I’ll see if I can find out more about it...I think it would be a good subject for a future video. 👍

[@attorianzo1]

@@mikesphotography Hi, I really think this have to be taken into account!

[@romdul]

Dear Mike, do you have a video telling the difference between Extra-Fine and Fine in Sony A7III?

[@mikesphotography]

Hey Phos, unfortunately I don't. I shoot in RAW and this setting you're talking about in the A7iii is for jpegs only. It just gives you a little bit more detail in your jpegs when you set it to Extra-fine. Thanks for watching! 👍

[@paulm8157]

Excellent comparison, Mike! After LR import, how are you distinguishing compressed from uncompressed - what metadata? The pixel x pixel dimensions were the same, as were the file name extensions. In-camera RAW icon is helpful, but then what, aside from file size? Thanks.

[@mikesphotography]

Great question Paul...unfortunately no metadata will distinguish between the two. I had to note down which was which when shooting and then manually label them with the colours along the negative strip. It would be much easier if they added a bit of metadata to the files for us to know.

[@paulm8157]

@@mikesphotography Thanks for clarification. Miss the Monday newsletters.

[@mikesphotography]

Ah man, I’ve been so rubbish with the newsletters ... I’m back home now for a long while so gonna get on that and make sure I keep publishing them every week! Firmware 3.0 video will also be out sometime tomorrow (Saturday)! 😁👍

[@jean-phil]

hm I look at file size, CTRL-J in Ligthroom and select Megapixel, using A7Riv, I know that 60mb is compressed and 120mb is not ...

[@chrisperrywv]

How the heck to you triage 5k shots! Took my a7iii to my sons soccer practice the other day and ended up with about 250 shots. Got overwhelmed and pretty much decided to make it a slide show as apposed to finding the Golden’s and developing them!

[@mikesphotography]

Haha! Yep 5000 photos takes a while to get through!! I use the star rating in Lightroom and blast through them quickly...after a couple of passes eliminating the bad ones and duplicates, you can narrow it down really quickly. 😁👍

[@musiqlychalenged]

Thanks for the info!

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, thanks for watching 😁👍

[@timhenkels8506]

Great video, was a bit distracted by the ticking sound in the background a clock maybe?

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks for the feedback Tim. I think it might have been the beat in the music playing at a low level. We’ve got a load of building work opposite us so I have to put a music track underneath to muffle our the banging and clattering from this building site. 👍

[@ianloe5098]

Great comparison Mike!! Thanks so much for what you do!

[@mikesphotography]

No worries Ian, and thank you for watching!! 😁👍

[@youuuuuuuuuuutube]

Perfect, thanks a lot! I just checked the underexposed files, so that's the only area where it's worth shooting uncompressed. I guess I can assign an "Fn" shortcut to switch between compressed and uncompressed, and use it when underexposed. (Would be great if the camera could decide to do that itself :p)

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, I’m glad I could help! I’d say any situation where you might be underexposing the shot or wanting to really bring up the shadows would be worth shooting in uncompressed raw. Thanks for watching! 😁👍

[@karlotto8727]

Thank you so much for doing this test. I suspect that the compressed files as described by Sony are 12bit files, where under exposing by 4 stop creates actually an 8 bit file resulting in color distortions when editing to HDR in the low lights. I can't see any difference in resolution, which matter to bird photography, can you?

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, I'm glad I could help! I think you're probably right, that and there being less detail because of the lower amounts of light hitting the sensor. Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@tebs2]

That's amazing Mike, very interesting content! I made some tests too using astrophotography and I got the same results as you, I couldn't tell the difference between the compressed and uncompressed files.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much Otávio! It was pretty interesting. I have had a few astroshots which I purposefully underexposed as the foreground was so bright...it definitely helped on these to be in uncompressed, but if you get a good exposure it really doesn’t matter. As always, thanks for watching dude. 😁👍

[@JeanV1986]

Very useful, thanks!

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much Jean! 😁👍

[@dailychillvibe6012]

Hi @Mike. What can you say in the portrait photography perspective in terms of image quality and detail ?!

[@mikesphotography]

As long as you get good exposure, there's not much difference between the two.

[@dailychillvibe6012]

Mike Smith thank you

[@paulglass9932]

Another excellent informative tutorial Mike, many thanks👍

[@mikesphotography]

No worries Paul, I hope it helped. 😁👍

[@gordw6402]

Thank you for this video...l love low-key, so you would agree that l should stay with uncompressed, then?

[@mikesphotography]

Yeah, definitely! Uncompressed would be great for low key shooting. 👍

[@DreamInColorYoutube]

Great explanation.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks Nate. 😁👍

[@JensHolstSchumacher]

The difference is in your head. The compressed raw is a lossless compression algorithm. Similar to putting the uncompressed raw in a zip file but with a algorithm optimized for raw images where zip is general purpose. All Sony documentation clearly state that the compression is in fact lossless. So you could compression and decompress the image a million times over and not loose a single bit of the original uncompressed data from the sensor. Losless compression is a completely different cup of tee compared to lossy compression like jpeg where data that the algorithm thinks you can't see is actually discarded.

[@mikesphotography]

So if it is in my head, why do I get very different looking images when I heavily under expose the shot in each setting?

[@biscuitsalive]

Useful stuff. Thanks.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks dude, it was an interesting test to do with quite surprising results. 👍

[@pammikewilliams3026]

Thanks for this information,

[@mikesphotography]

No worries! I hope it has helped!! 😁👍

[@belopol]

Thanks a lot, Mike!

[@mikesphotography]

No worries Dimitry, I hope it helped!

[@hamedoloops7489]

Thanks for the information very helpful Keep it up mike 👍🏻

[@mikesphotography]

No worries Hamedo, I hope it has helped. Thanks for watching! 😁👍

[@gracefullyetchedphotograph1828]

Does compressing effect your upload/download time?

[@mikesphotography]

It will half the download time as the files are half the size. Thanks for watching. 👍

[@danielverner]

Not sure if it was mentioned here, but i fear that these uncompressed file might also need extra horsepower when using editing such as lightroom or any other...

[@mikesphotography]

Good point Daniel. They definitely do need a little more horsepower under the hood for editing. 👍

[@inthevortexphotography5520]

Great video as usual. One thing: at 8:24 in to the video I see the word "tell" in the center of the screen. Let me check if it's because of captions.

[@mikesphotography]

Haha! That’s me correcting my dodgy English during editing...if I had time I would have reshot that as I didn’t like the way I worded the sentence, but I was rushing to get it finished ... I put that word in to see if anyone would notice!! 😆

[@rmclark339]

I thought you were sending a subliminal message to tell the world about your videos. Have I been wasting my time? :)

[@mikesphotography]

Haha!! Damn it, you got me!! 😆👍

[@angelguzman8737]

I shoot compresssed raw on my A7rV saves you a lot of space, about 1000 pics in a 64gb card

[@mikesphotography]

It definitely gives you more room for images doesn't it!!

[@aralkhulaifi4952]

Thanks for the great work 👍🏼

[@mikesphotography]

No worries, I hope it has helped. Thank you for watching. 😁👍

[@codywright9741]

Does either one look better when trying to post to social media like instagram?

[@mikesphotography]

Nope, they look almost identical... It only really shows up when you edit them heavily.

[@Noealz]

I think it's just coming down to alot of nitpicking =p

[@mikesphotography]

Most definitely...although it’s really noticeable if you’re trying to recover a really really underexposed shot. 😁👍

[@1209jayt]

Nice video Mike! Just wanna make sure, so Lightroom finally able to open the raw file for Sony a7iii?

[@jeffxd5029]

ive heard compressed raw could make the star disappeared. does a6400 do this or is it fix?

[@mikesphotography]

I have shot the stars with the A6500, the a6400 and the a6600 as well as the a7 series of cameras and they sorted that problem out a long time ago. This was the star eating firmware update in the A7rii and since then, they fixed it ...

[@ErethilClaw]

Thanks Mike.

[@mikesphotography]

Thanks so much for watching! 😁👍

[@sandb1867]

Would be interesting to try this at a high ISO since Sony cameras are purportedly ISO invariant.

[@mikesphotography]

That is true, although from this test it would suggest to get the full potential from the invariance of the sensor, uncompressed would be the way to go...🤔

[@lunapictures7989]

Few months ago I've made similar test using Sony A7ii and on lower iso there was a difference but on high iso the difference was smaller and after iso 6400 I couldn't see difference at all. But that was with 5-6 stops underexpose so maybe with less stops there will still be a difference. So I'm also curious if with mark 3 the difference will stay with high iso

[@mikesphotography]

It would definitely be worth trying that...maybe I’ll do a follow up video to this in the future! Thanks for watching. 👍

[@simonworger]

I shot uncompressed last night doing astrophotography on a tracking mount only to find DSS won't stack uncompressed Sony files 🤦🏼‍♂️ going to try again tonight using compressed just to confirm it is DSS and uncompressed files 🙏

[@mikesphotography]

Hi Simon, What you could do is edit them slightly in your software of choice and output them as jpegs...and then process them. I have to do this when shooting for starry landscape stacker. 👍

[@simonworger]

@@mikesphotography I found out if I convert them to dng DSS will stack them ok. Next time I think I'll just use uncompressed.

[@anlu3926]

Chào bạn.Tôi đã thử ảnh raw không nén và raw nén và sự khác biệt của nó là khi bạn kéo màu xanh đỏ màu xanh lục về 0 thì ảnh raw không nén cho ra không màu sắc. Còn ảnh raw được nén thì còn xót lại màu

[@otoburkaplan]

subscribed... thank u for that bro...

[@mikesphotography]

Awesome!! And thank you for subscribing!! 😁👍

[@catjive2]

something ive never seen anyone say about the A73. if you do memory recall, the focus modes can change between turning the camera between portrait and landscape. super annoying. you can be on focus mode wide and then turn your a73 vertical and it wont stay on wide.

[@mikesphotography]

Sorry for the extremely late reply ... for some reason your message slipped through the net. That will be the option in tab 1 labeled "Switch V/H AF area". If you turn this off before saving your memory recall settings it will stop doing that. It is basically designed for portrait photographers, when they switch between the two orientations they will inevitably put the face in different places ... so you can place the focus area in those positions for the different orientations and it will remember them when you tip your camera to either the vertical or horizontal position. Thanks for watching 😁👍

[@thambamaran]

ARW not opening In lightroom so I'm taking in jpeg format only, can u plz help to solve this problem

[@mikesphotography]

Hi Maran, Which version of lightroom are you using? Normally with the older versions, you have to use a dng converter...once you’ve changed your arw files into dng files, they should work.

[@thambamaran]

@@mikesphotography In which version ARW file will open ?, I'll wht version wht I'm using now and let you know..,thanks a lot for your reply ....

[@thambamaran]

How to convert the ARW to DNG can u explain.... Sry for the trouble plz

[@mikesphotography]

You need the latest version to open the arw files. I haven’t don’t a video on it yet but if you search how to convert arw to dng, you should find some tutorials. 👍

[@thambamaran]

@@mikesphotography thanks a lot thank you very much