Raw setting for 50D

[joel rodriguez]

<p>I will be shutting a wedding in Puerto Rico on Sep 4 with my new Canon 50D as the main camera and a 30D backup. I shoot weddings in raw so I have a few questions. My 30D usually cranks out 8mb files with 8 mpix frame in raw mode. My new 50D cranks out 21mb files with its 15 mpix frame in raw mode. <br>

I was happy with the 30d files so I am thinking about downsizing to the SRaw1 mode in the 50D which gives me 12mb files. The files are still bigger than the 30d but more acceptable since I worry I might run out of compact flash cards. I currently have 46mb in my compact flash cards worth for little over 2000 shots at 21mb per file. <br>

Here is the question for any one using the 50D. Other than the obvious resolution degradation, have you noticed degraded quality using Raw vs. SRaw1? If you have used the SRaw1 before, was it good enough for wedding photography? <br>

Depending on what I find out, I might opt for shooting formals in Raw and the rest of the wedding in SRaw1.<br>

Thanks in advance for your help.</p>

[savagesax]

I use the 1Ds Mk 3 cameras, so with you knowing what I'm shooting with may help you determine what is best for you. I pretty much shoot in RAW, taking full advantage of the cameras highest resolution. I have plenty of memory cards to handle 2 or 3 weddings a weekend.

 

I don't shoot 2000 images per wedding, but if I did I'd still use the highest RAW setting. If you find yourself running low on your memory cards, bring a laptop with you just to be safe. You can load your images to your laptop, then format the cards. If you want to be really safe you can buy an external drive for your laptop and save the images to that drive as well.

 

You will most likely get a variety of answers here, some saying they shoot in sRAW or even in jpeg medium. As a pro I feel you should give your clients your very best.

[mark_t5]

<p>memory cards are cheap..a wedding moment is not.... go buy some more cards</p>

[mikael_karlsson]

<p>Why on earth would you not want to take full advantage of the quality your camera offers? Like Mark says, buy more memory cards!</p>

[sherijohnson]

<p>Definitely buy more memory cards, best solution!</p>

[KenPapai]

<p>Memory is Cheap! CF cards (8GB each) are cheap. <br>

Disk is cheap.</p>

<p>Maybe you need to think about adding more RAM to your work PC? Otherwise why do you have a 50D if you prefer lower res?</p>

[joel rodriguez]

<p>Thank you all for your responses. I shoot about a wedding a year and upgrading to the 50D cought me off guard regarding memory. The best deal I found was a 16gb Sandisk 30mb/s speed for $65, good for over 700 shots at highest Raw setting. I did not want to go cheaper on memory in order to avoid reliability issues. This wedding is a favor for a cousin so travel expenses are on me, thus trying to save money. For future gigs, I do agree with all of you, it makes sence to buy more memory. </p>

<p>Thanks,<br>

Joel</p>