Digital camera file formats

With three different digital camera file formats, how do you choose when to shoot in which?

While your camera may only be able to shoot in JPG now, you might want to consider shooting in other file formats when you decide to upgrade your camera or take your hobby to a higher level. Terms like TIFF and RAW can get confusing sometimes, so let's unravel the mystery of these file formats.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
The most common among the three, JPEG is a file format that heavily compresses picture data for storage in memory media. This compression may cost you loss in image quality, but if you are looking to send or upload these files on the Web, this format is the way to go since most computers can read JPEG format files.

You may see different size options for JPEG in your camera. Canon uses "L", "M" and "S", which stands for Large, Medium and Small. Other manufacturers may use different terms for this, so check the camera's manual.

With the advent of digital camera technology (in terms of sensor size and image processing engine), the JPEG files generated after you take a picture are often good enough for normal photo print and Web. Some image-editing programs like Adobe Photoshop can even allow you to save your edited JPEG file in different compression formats.

However, one thing to note is that every time you open a JPEG file to apply changes and save it, it will take away information. So keep the original tucked away safely somewhere.

If you have a small-capacity memory card, you'll want to shoot in JPEG format as this will let you take more shots.