I’m brand new to Aperture and Digital SLRs (had iPhoto and digital point and shoot cameras before). I’ve looked around but can’t seem to find an answer. I’m sure this is basic but I just came back from a trip (whale watching in Baja which is amazing by the way) and shot a ton of RAW + JPEG pictures. I also just bought Aperture 3. I’ve just imported the first batch of photos as ‘import RAW + JPEG (RAW as master)” but wanted to make sure that was the correct thing for what I wanted. I’m looking to (when I shot RAW + JPEG) to use the RAW image as my base file to edit but want to make sure the master file is untouched in that after many edits, I can always go back to the original. If that’s the case, why would one want to use the JPEG as master? Thanks.
David
Thanks. I have both the “In-Depth Getting Started with Aperture 3” ebook (about 1/3 way through) and am watching the video as well.
This is just a hobby for me but I like having the RAW file. Would you recommend just shooting RAW then? I can always generate a JPEG for export via e-mail.
I read your section on RAW vs JPEG. If I understand this correctly, setting the RAW as master simply makes the RAW the source file from which edits are made which would be slower than setting JPEG as master as you stated above. Since I have no workflow time issues, I should either shoot in RAW or set RAW as master? Thanks for making such a great ebook.
David
Dave,
That’s exactly right… the only sacrifice shooting and editing RAW is time and space (bigger files). However that’s far outweighed by the image quality advantages. And frankly, unless you’re on an older Mac or editing really high-rez files, you probably won’t see a noticeable difference.
And yes, you can always generate a JPEG for email. Or, just hit that little email button and let Aperture generate the JPEG and pop it in a new email for you… and you never have to export it manually (or throw the file away when you’re done with it).
@PhotoJoseph
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Dave,
You’re doing it right. And for what you’re doing, there’s probably no need to shoot RAW+JPEG (except that you instantly get two copies of your image when you push the shutter, so in the rare event of a data corruption on a single file, you’d have a backup—albeit a JPEG backup).
JPEG as master is a pretty specific use, for example photojournalists who need to get their images into and out of the computer as quickly as possible, with minimal to no editing required. If they DO need to edit dramatically, they can toggle to the RAW as master and edit from there.
I don’t usually promote my eBooks in the forums, but in this case I think you’ll benefit greatly from my eBook “In-Depth Getting Started with Aperture 3”. There’s lots of info to help get you started, including a section on RAW, JPEG, and when to choose which.
cheers,
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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Hi,
Thanks for this thread as I had the exact same question and you mostly answered it. However, I had one additional comment/question:
I shoot RAW+JPEG because when I import my photos I find that Aperture uses the camera generated JPEG as the preview image and thus avoids the whole ‘generating previews’ process that takes up CPU and time. If I shoot a lot of images this can take a while. Do I have that right? Aperture uses the imported JPEG image for previews? So when you implied that you could just generate a JPEG from the RAW when doing email, doesn’t Aperture already generated these JPEGs for its preview images? So what am I saving really by only shooting and importing RAW?
Thanks,
-Michael
Michael,
You’ve got it partially right.
The JPEG that’s embedded in the RAW file is only used temporarily by Aperture. Even if you have Preview JPEG generation turned off, Aperture does still generate a thumbnail, at 1024 wide. You can see just how big that thumbnail is by ensuring that preview generation is disabled (easy test: try to drag the photo to the Desktop. If it bounces back, there’s no preview. If it copies to the desktop, there is a Preview JPEG), then going into Quick Preview mode. Open a photo in the viewer, and tap the Z key to zoom to 100%. If you’re on a big screen, you’ll actually see the photo shrink on screen, because it’s showing the 1024 wide image at 100%. If you turn zoom off, it fills the screen, even though it has to scale up to do so.
Anyway, the embedded JPEG is only used as something to display on screen while importing, before the thumbnail is created. While this may seem frivolous at first glance, when you’re importing a ton of photos, access to this embedded JPEG means that you can view the photo on-screen nearly instantly. This is a big deal to anyone on a deadline (like photo journalists).
By allowing Aperture to generate the Preview file, you gain the ability to drag that out to the Finder or anywhere else. But it takes time and space to do that.
I wrote up a very descriptive post on what the difference is between all these files a while ago, here: A Comprehensive Look at Thumbnails, Previews, and More in Aperture 3.
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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