If you’re thinking of taking photos with your mobile phone but are unsure whether it’s optimal to maximize the potential of RAW photos or choose another format, it’s recommended to clarify the outcome of your choice and determine what’s best. Surprisingly, both options can be equally good or bad depending on your needs and preferences.
RAW format essentially saves photos without any processing or compression, capturing images at a very detailed level without compromising quality. While this may lead you towards using RAW, it’s not always necessary to use it in every case.
Currently, there are many mobile phones that make it easy to enable and directly capture RAW format with the mobile camera. Do you want to know why you should or should not take photos in RAW? We’ll tell you!
Here are the advantages of each format to explain what benefits you can expect depending on the decision you make, to help you determine what’s best for you.
The biggest advantages of taking RAW photos are:
- Photos are not compressed, resulting in improved quality
- All data is retained
- They have a wider range of colors
- Almost all aspects of the photo can be edited after capturing to create high-quality images
- They are easy to configure and edit.
It is also suitable to take photos without using RAW in the following cases:
- Does not occupy too much space on your mobile phone
- You can take more photos in the same session
- No need to edit them, they can be used right away
- They can be shared more quickly
- They are usually more compatible with formats such as JPG or PNG.
And the main disadvantages of each option are as follows: The main disadvantages of taking RAW photos are:
- Need to edit the photos later to achieve high-quality results
- They take up a lot of space and may use up the mobile phone’s memory
- Not all mobile phones have this capability
- Processing and editing of the photos takes time
- They may cause compatibility issues.
It’s important to note that you may have to compromise on something with each option, whether you choose to take photos in RAW or not.
There are also disadvantages to taking photos other than RAW:
- May miss the opportunity to capture the highest quality image
- If some parameters are not perfect, it cannot be fully corrected like in RAW
- May lose a temporary capture or be unable to repeat it due to it not working out
Which one is better? It is recommended to choose either format as needed. If you want to create reproducible images, save memories, capture events, or take very high-quality photos, RAW format is definitely worth considering.
However, if you simply want to take photos to share on social media, show what you’re doing to others, and don’t require excellent quality, other formats such as very good photos in JPG can save space on your mobile phone. Do not choose RAW if your mobile phone’s memory is running low. In most cases, it’s worth using non-RAW formats. This is the best option if you’re looking for high-quality images.
