Raw
From The Glossary of Digital Photography
Also called RAW, raw format, and raw image format. An image-storage format that stores the unprocessed electrical signals from the sensor in a unique format. Raw is often thought of as a digital equivalent of a negative and is usually different for each camera and manufacturer. The advantage of the raw format is that many decisions, such as on white balance or color temperature, can be made by the photographer later during processing and processed in the computer rather than in the camera. The photographer can try a number of options until the image is exactly the way he or she likes it. Some of the disadvantages of the raw format are that it takes up more storage space on the digital memory card, the camera often works more slowly while photographing, and more post-production time is required at the computer. Some photographers always shoot in raw format, others choose difficult lighting situations to use raw. Because raw is a special, proprietary format, it requires special software to decode, usually provided by the camera manufacturer as well as third parties. The raw image is processed into the desired image and then save it to a standard format such as TIFF or JPEG. The raw formats each have their own name, such as NEF. Photoshop and other third party software programs have the ability to process many different types of raw images and offer another way to process the images. Each processing software method produces files with a different look. In some cases, the software provided by the camera manufacturer produces a better looking image, but at the price of not being as easy to use as one of the more versatile software programs such as Photoshop. There is one standard raw format developed by Adobe, called DNG (Digital Negative) that is offered to all camera manufacturers. DNG is still new, however, and no camera-maker has yet adopted DNG for its cameras. Some photographers are converting their proprietary raw formats to DNG because they feel that it is more likely to be used in the future, considering the current rapid development cycle of digital photography. Note that it is called a raw, not RAW, format because it is not an acronym. See DNG
