Photographers are faced with an important decision...to shoot in RAW vs. JPEG. RAW files can be compared to something that is raw or "uncooked." The camera does not manipulate the file in ANY way before saving it on the memory card. This raw digital negative can be edited to your heart's desire, until it is ready to be printed! Absolutely NO LOSS of quality occurs during the editing process. The ONLY drawback to this option is the massive file size of RAW files! These files are much much larger than JPEGs. The actual number of images you can take with your camera will depend on the camera you own (specifically its megapixels) and the size of your memory card. So if you plan to shoot in RAW, get a larger memory card or better yet, buy a few of them...and think about additional computer storage for your computer as well.
On the other hand, if shooting JPEG files, each image is being processed before it is saved on your memory card. Certain edits will take place within the camera, such as variations of contrast, sharpness, color saturation and these edit can NOT be UNDONE! The JPEG straight out of camera shot will look better than RAW straight out of camera due to this editing done within the camera...it is already slightly processed. This does not mean that the JPEG image file can not be edited any further, but any color or exposure settings applied when the image was captured...can not be changed. Any time a JPEG is edited and saved it loses quality because it is being compressed...something once again that can not be undone! Every compression will result in a loss of image quality , overall pixels and the maximum print size decreases, which is something you don't want...especially when running a photography business. The only benifit to shooting in JPEG will be the amount of pictures you can fit on ONE memory card...something I am willing to give up to get the RAW file editing power. :)
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