RAW: Keep or Delete?

Hi! Any RAW shooters here? After post processing your RAW files, do you
still keep it or throw it away from a said amount of time? (1 year or
so?) While I do have an external HDD which I throw in my RAW after
processing the images, should I delete those more than a year ago? I'm
afraid it'll consume a lot of space in the near future.





Edit: Why keep it when you won't update your shot again? (Or do you?).





Edit Edit: Additionally, are you going to keep the edited RAW setting, or the "as
shot" RAW settings? Cause I never save an edited RAW file after
converting it to JPEG.

I only keep the best ones. But always keep them in raw.


Any RAW shooters here? is a good question [:P] I don't think there are a lot of jpeg only shooters around here.


Raw consumes a little bit space on your HDD, but a HDD doesn't cost that much. I will buy a new one when my HDD is full. You've got to make a lot of great pictures to fill a 1TB HDD with photos. At least if you only keep the good ones.

From 2009 I saved 7000 photos on my HD and it consumes only 108GB. And I need to sort some dates out. So there will be more spave available later on. On this rate I could do about 9 years before completely filling my HD, theoretically.

I absolutely keep my RAW files. Throwing away a RAW file is like throwing away a negative.

Thanks. But here's a follow up question:





Why keep it when you won't update your shot again? (Or do you?).

If the shot is a keeper. I will keep the original RAW file. If it isn't something I feel I will ever get any use out of in the future, I get rid of the RAW files.


I

If the shot is a keeper. I will keep the original RAW file. If it isn't something I feel I will ever get any use out of in the future, I get rid of the RAW files.


I have

If the shot is a keeper. I will keep the original RAW file. If it isn't something I feel I will ever get any use out of in the future, I get rid of the RAW files.


I have gone

If the shot is a keeper. I will keep the original RAW file. If it isn't something I feel I will ever get any use out of in the future, I get rid of the RAW files.


I have gone back to shots from over a year ago and was totally glad that I had kept the RAW, because everyones skills and style of photo enhancement change over time.

I am not sure what happened there.... this isn't my computer, i suppose i made it angry?

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Originally Posted by Dave Johnston

I am not sure what happened there.... this isn't my computer, i suppose i made it angry?
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For a while I thought you're angry at me by multiple posting. LOL [:D]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dave Johnston

I am not sure what happened there.... this isn't my computer, i suppose i made it angry?

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Did you accidentally turn on "ContinuousPosting" mode? ;)


I turn on RAW mode when I notice it's off (my wife used to turn it off to save space, but I think she's learning that it's useful to have RAW files). I've only had the DSLR since December, so we're notpanickingabout disk space yet, but I can see that day will come. I agree with the rest of the group though, keep the RAWs for your good shots, and toss everything else. If you need to make an adjustment later, or if a printing service can do a better job with a 16-bit TIFF or can take RAW, or whatever reason, you'll have the file. A 1TB drive can be found for under $100, which can store somewhere around 50,000-60,000 15MP raw files. That won't fill up soon, and when it does, we'll have 100TB drives.

I keep them all. There could be a hidden secret in one of those files, and I sure want to be able to go back to them.


A well-known photographer was shooting for TIME, and by contract had to send his images to TIME. After their exclusivity expired, he had access to them again. When the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke, he knew there was something amazing in the collection, and after TIME couldn't find it one of his assistants was able to find it. Imagine if he hadn't kept all of the images...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by peety3

I keep them all. There could be a hidden secret in one of those files, and I sure want to be able to go back to them.


A well-known photographer was shooting for TIME, and by contract had to send his images to TIME. After their exclusivity expired, he had access to them again. When the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke, he knew there was something amazing in the collection, and after TIME couldn't find it one of his assistants was able to find it. Imagine if he hadn't kept all of the images...

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Similar thing happened to me on a smaller scale. I shot Port Canaveral for a local magazine, they just wanted the jpegs. A year later a company that was contracted by Disney Cruise line advertised for a photographer to shoot the Disney's terminal (they required the RAWs) so I went digging through the archives and still had the RAWs. So I replied and got paid again for the same shots since there were no exclusivities on the them.

I keep all my RAW files as shot, because as pointed out they are the "negatives". I keep processed images that I want but with the original RAW I can always go back and make changes if I see something I would like to do differently. As Sheiky pointed out relatively cheep backup storage holds years of images.


For my back ups I use three Seagate GO drives, it is most likely overkill, but I get 500GB with the dock and case for $100, cheapest insurance I purchase. I find these very portable and rotate one to my office for offsite storage.


Lastly, it is much easier to delete years from now than to un-delete. [;)]


Chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ralph

Hi! Any RAW shooters here?

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Lots of us. [:D]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ralph

After post processing your RAW files, do you
still keep it or throw it away from a said amount of time? (1 year or
so?)

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GAH! Throw away raw files!? I don't know the meaning of them horrible words.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ralph

should I delete those more than a year ago?

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Absolutely not. If it's not illegal to throw them away, then it should be. [:D]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ralph

I'm
afraid it'll consume a lot of space in the near future.

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You're kidding, right? 1.5 TB hard drives cost $110 now. If your raw files are 15 MB, that means you can store 100,000 photos on a single disk. That's less than one tenth of one cent for every raw file.


Now, if you were talking about video, I might understand. I can shoot one or two terabytes of video in a single day, so I have to have piles and piles of hard drives. But still photos? They're a drop in the bucket.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ralph

Why keep it when you won't update your shot again? (Or do you?).

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There are so many reasons, I'm not sure I have time to go into them all. Here's one example: the color range of the displays and printers of today are smaller than they will be in the future. For example, if you save your JPEG in sRGB today, then buy an AdobeRGB monitor in the future, you will miss out on a lot of the colors you could have seen from a new raw conversion.


More importantly, your raw processing skill and software will advance in the future, and you may want to redo some of the photos.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ralph

Additionally, are you going to keep the edited RAW setting, or the "as
shot" RAW settings?

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I keep the edited raw settings. The "as shot" settings will already be stored in the raw file.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ralph

Why keep it when you won't update your shot again?

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How can you be certain you'll _never_ update your shot again? At some point in your photography career you'll probably be asked to re-mangle prints you thought were 'final' - would you prefer to work with your cropped artifact laden 8 bit jpgs or your unadulterated RAWs? why limit your self when technology is improving daily and disks are inexpensive?


Maybe 10 years from now you'll run a new facial recognition program on your 'old' raw images/video only to find a shot of a now famous person canoodling with his mistress in the background of your misfocused lay-up shot @ a basketball game. How about improved noise reduction algorithms? Maybe an algorithm to correct slight OOF shots and crooked noses?


The potential is there and the cost is minimal to keep your raws around. I archive everything except gross OOF shots - call me a hoarder/pack-rat if you will, but It's neither expensive nor difficult to set up a robust long term archival system for your raw images.

I have a simple process that may help. After each shoot, I take each 4GB card (I use SanDisk Extreme IV 4GB cards) and burn the RAW files to DVD immediately. This way I have a specific archive of each shoot in its entirety. Then I load up the images in Lightroom, sift out the keepers from the also-rans, and export as 16-bit TIFFs the ones I will edit/retouch. These files get backed up to my photo archive drive using Time Machine. This keeps my Lightroom catalog file size down, yet keep the integrity of the shoot intact. Hope this helps....

I never delete the RAW file of any image that I might conceivably want to pp. I don't save edited RAW files - I always always always save as TIFF. I have gone back and re-worked images that I took five and sixyears ago on my Canon D60 because I wanted a different look. And I never know when I might want to use a different image other than the one I pp'd after the shoot.


I hope this helps.


Lauren

KEEP! (As someone above said, it's like throwing away the negatives)


I've found that as my techniques in editing enhance, I go back and redo old images. In fact, I JUST posted a whole bunch of HDR landscapes on Facebook I took almost two years ago with my XSi and kit lens. They looked like crap back then so never showed anyone and now they're sexy! If I hadn't kept them, I would have been S.O.L.! haha..


But I do agree that keeping EVERY file is a bit much. The way I do it, is... first of all I shoot all my LANDSCAPES in full RAW (50D and 7D are my cameras) and I usually bracket them. I have my C2 button bound to "RAW, +3/-3EV, High-Speed Cont, 2sec timer, Av Mode @ f/4 (which I usually change for each shot) ISO 100." However, If I'm just shooting simple snapshots that don't mean a lot I use Med JPEG and if I'm shooting stuff I really like and want to have look good, or anything for a client, I tend to use MedRAW. 18MP is just too much for most shots, especially head &amp; shoulders portraits of one or two people.... Then... import into Lightroom 2 and once the files are in the computer, I delete anything blurry or redundant (neither is usually very much though) and then the rest I rename for the project. THEN.... I get to work editing. Once a project is "done" I deliver the JPEGs in the resolution desired or necessary and when I get 4gb worth of data, I burn a DVD as a backup (of the Lightroom 2 catalog, so I have my edits!) Then.... periodically, I backup my entire Lightroom 2 catalog to a second external HD. I find that I don't like to fill up my HD with extra resolution I don't need, hence shooting in MedRAW, but otherwise KEEP KEEP KEEP is my philosophy!


- Jordan


www.freshphotohawaii.com

KEEP! (As someone above said, it's like throwing away the negatives)


I've found that as my techniques in editing enhance, I go back and redo old images. In fact, I JUST posted a whole bunch of HDR landscapes on Facebook I took almost two years ago with my XSi and kit lens. They looked like crap back then so never showed anyone and now they're sexy! If I hadn't kept them, I would have been S.O.L.! haha..


But I do agree that keeping EVERY file is a bit much. The way I do it, is... first of all I shoot all my LANDSCAPES in full RAW (50D and 7D are my cameras) and I usually bracket them. I have my C2 button bound to "RAW, +3/-3EV, High-Speed Cont, 2sec timer, Av Mode @ f/4 (which I usually change for each shot) ISO 100." However, If I'm just shooting simple snapshots that don't mean a lot I use Med JPEG and if I'm shooting stuff I really like and want to have look good, or anything for a client, I tend to use MedRAW. 18MP is just too much for most shots, especially head &amp; shoulders portraits of one or two people.... Then... import into Lightroom 2 and once the files are in the computer, I delete anything blurry or redundant (neither is usually very much though) and then the rest I rename for the project. THEN.... I get to work editing. Once a project is "done" I deliver the JPEGs in the resolution desired or necessary and when I get 4gb worth of data, I burn a DVD as a backup (of the Lightroom 2 catalog, so I have my edits!) Then.... periodically, I backup my entire Lightroom 2 catalog to a second external HD. I find that I don't like to fill up my HD with extra resolution I don't need, hence shooting in MedRAW, but otherwise KEEP KEEP KEEP is my philosophy!


- Jordan


www.freshphotohawaii.com

(I have a feeling this is going to post twice... are other people having problems with their first post not posting??)



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KEEP! (As someone above said, it's like throwing away the negatives)


I've found that as my techniques in editing enhance, I go back and redo old images. In fact, I JUST posted a whole bunch of HDR landscapes on Facebook I took almost two years ago with my XSi and kit lens. They looked like crap back then so never showed anyone and now they're sexy! If I hadn't kept them, I would have been S.O.L.! haha..


But I do agree that keeping EVERY file is a bit much. The way I do it, is... first of all I shoot all my LANDSCAPES in full RAW (50D and 7D are my cameras) and I usually bracket them. I have my C2 button bound to "RAW, +3/-3EV, High-Speed Cont, 2sec timer, Av Mode @ f/4 (which I usually change for each shot) ISO 100." However, If I'm just shooting simple snapshots that don't mean a lot I use Med JPEG and if I'm shooting stuff I really like and want to have look good, or anything for a client, I tend to use MedRAW. 18MP is just too much for most shots, especially head &amp; shoulders portraits of one or two people.... Then... import into Lightroom 2 and once the files are in the computer, I delete anything blurry or redundant (neither is usually very much though) and then the rest I rename for the project. THEN.... I get to work editing. Once a project is "done" I deliver the JPEGs in the resolution desired or necessary and when I get 4gb worth of data, I burn a DVD as a backup (of the Lightroom 2 catalog, so I have my edits!) Then.... periodically, I backup my entire Lightroom 2 catalog to a second external HD. I find that I don't like to fill up my HD with extra resolution I don't need, hence shooting in MedRAW, but otherwise KEEP KEEP KEEP is my philosophy!


- Jordan


www.freshphotohawaii.com
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