JPEG vs. RAW

[John Palamaro]

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Being a new Leica owner I'm likely going to take some heat on this topic, among others I post. But, I'm thin-skinned so will respond accordingly. Coming from the Nikon and mirrorless Sony ranks this is my first Leica. Thrilled to death with it but it is indeed an expensive bauble for what IMO is not much more than a great point and shoot camera. By the way, not meant to stir the pot but IMO that's what it is; but, exactly what I wanted and always wanted a Leica. Ok, not the point of the thread.

My best friend asserts, and I loosely quote, "Everyone knows that Leica's algorithm for JPEG compression uhhh, he used the 'S' word but I'll substitute, 'inferior'. Taunted by that I shot a bunch saving in JPG and PNG and viewing them in Photoelements (ok, ok, will eventually get Photoshop) and noticed nothing significant other than THE JPG FILES SEEMED ABOUT ONE F-STOP DARKER than the PNG files? I guess that's not bad, of course better than 1-f stop lighter but was surprised. I then attempted taking a 'similar' shot with a Sony A7ii (24 megapixel btw) and comparing all three. The Sony's JPG was about the same 'light' as the Leica's PNG. 

 

This seems like one of those dumb threads that goes nowhere and nothing much comes from it. But, of course the workaround is pp the png file and save as a JPG file, but wonder about the comment about Leica compression and whether this is just one of those bored to death threads? LOL

[digitalfx]

Ive read your post several times and still not sure what you are asking...but why are you not using the raw image? and where are you getting a png out of the camera?

 

Even Sony and Nikon mirrorless cameras shoot RAW. If you want the best image shoot raw, if you don't care use the jpeg. There is noting wrong with Leica's jpeg, other than its not raw.

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[jaapv]

PNG? That is a new one to me - not a format of choice.

[barjohn]

He probably meant DNG. 

[CheshireCat]

You don't need to PP the DNG files.

Just import the DNG into Lightroom and then - if you really need JPG - export the images from Lightroom as JPG.

Quality will be much better than in-camera JPG.

[John Palamaro]

Obvious a typo, I of course meant DNG!

[jaapv]

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Anyway, if one uses Lightroom, there is no workflow reason not to use DNG. It will only increase the flexibility of the files and give better quality.

In PS it will add the extra ACR window, but as that already allows many editing and correction options (in fact, most basic ones) that is no objection.