Bit of a discussion going on here so I was wondering what the general favour is with alpha DSLRs.

Not too sure if the options are identical on all current Alphas

A good relevant poll, thanks Brian! You might also request that respondents identify the camera they are using and, if RAW shooters, the software they use for conversion.

I shoot jpg xfine because I trust the camera's colors, and the colors that I can see in front of me right after I take the picture, more than my monitor. Also, the speed of my computer (which ain't really "slow") makes processing or just browsing through RAW files very very time-consuming. Finally, I'd rather spend my time on taking good pictures than making good pictures.

a700 + Adobe Photoshop 6.0

cRAW only. They contain a 1616×1080 jpeg.

Hmm missing option for 35mm here lol

No cRAW on the 350, so it's RAW + JPG. That gives me a quickie pic for when I don't have time for PP, and the RAWs to fix flaws w/o losing the quality.

Recently I shot a ton of extended family photos as everyone was together for my Uncles funeral. I still haven't PPD them, but was able to quickly burn a bunch of DVDs for everyone before they returned home all across the country.

Still using Sony's software for the RAW conversions. I'll re-test Bibble when 5.0 is finally out, but right now I'm leaning to DXO for a permanent solution.

Dusty

I'm very happy with ACR 5.2.

Also see viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2359

I've always shot in RAW+Jpeg. In my eyes, this gives me the best of both worlds, although I might look at things differently if I had a need for long bursts of images at several frames per second, or if storage space were not so cheap these days.

For the last two months I've been using an A700. Prior to that I was using a KM7D, and prior to that a Minolta A2. The 7D is now my backup camera, and the A2 is used in environments when the mirror/shutter noise of the other cameras might be unacceptably intrusive.

For the last 3 months I've been using Lightroom 2.3 as my RAW converter and primary editor - and am more enthusiastic about it every day, although there are some areas in which it still falls short. Prior to that, I did my RAW conversion in RawShooter and my editing in Picture Window Pro - which is still my editor of choice for some images.

Right now I am in the process of educating myself on the options available for noise reduction software, as I recently took a number of photos at high ISO during my grandson's christening that - when cropped to the subject - I find too noisy if printed larger than 4"x6" (10x15 cm). I can handle them acceptably with Picture Window, but I have not figured out how to do so without individual tweaking of each image, and Lightroom does not handle the noise reduction to my satisfaction on any of the images. Does anyone have personal experience with any noise reduction software that has a smooth and seamless workflow when used in conjunction with Lightroom?

With best wishes,
- Tom -

Hey, this is getting interesting. Despite the comments (which are appreciated BTW) the poll is showing more than half use RAW only.

Well, I just invested in a 500 GB hard drive from Seagate...so maybe I'll shoot RAW + JPG with all my new archival space.

Though I shoot only RAW, but I second Kevin on changing to RAW + JPEG.
Anyway 21 persons voting is not much. We should encourage all to participate.

It happened, I tried RAW + JPG, then I got tired of the JPGs piling up, so now I'm RAW only. I still miss the in camera application of DRO, but I can't part with the total control over a RAW file. White balance is the biggest part of it.

I prefer shooting in the RAW. Although around Waikiki you can see lots of skin I have been told several times that I might be showing too much. I have reluctantly started shooting in cRAW. Just a bit of covering transforms too much RAW into just the right amount of RAW. Yeah, I feel a bit less freedom and I can't enjoy that swinging feeling anymore while shooting, but the upside is that sitting after a long time in the sun is no longer painful. I guess cRAW is probably best.

I shoot in RAW because being new to DSLR's that's what every one tells me to do, to my untrained eye the raw images straight from my A200 seem pretty good with out adjustments and are certainly a revelation after a Fuji point and shoot.

I Use Picasa to quickly sort through my images, the adjustments in it give me an idea quickly what can be achieved if any image stands out, I bin the bad ones and some times import what I consider to be the good one's in to CS3 and it's RAW converter.

I have a 500gb Maxtor external hard drive and every thing gets backed up straight to it automatically using Comodo Backup, it also backs up anything I work on from images to documents if they get changed by me in any way, all automatic so no need to schedule anything.

Robert

You still have the RAW to work with, and there are times that the JPEG is fine as is. It's like Hanna Montana says "you get the best of both worlds..." (sorry, my kids are addicted to her. The 5 year old could win a contest singing that song!)

Dusty

how about 6x6?