a little help...

[T.S128]

So after coming to this forum and just looking and reading about what all you guys said for a few years, and being a poor college student i finally got enough money to get a dSLR of my own (parents pitched in as a christmas/birthday present) anyway i've been playing around a lot with it and am having a blast. Right now mostly shooting birds at the feeders, but am going to try to shoot some of my brothers hockey games as well.

my question is, when should I be using the RAW setting for image quality. I like going in after and messing around with the pics, but it takes up so much memory. Do you always have it set on RAW when shooting birds?

Thanks for the help in advance, i'm sure i'll have many more questions

[Dbl]

Well there is a lot of information on the RAW vs JPEG debate. I won't go into the whole debate because this is the new year and I won't get dragged into arguments for or against! Its kind of like a buy a Lund or Alumacraft debate, there are no clear winners!

I am going to point you to THIS THREAD which really covers everything along with a very good discussion. Congratulations on the camera, and please do ask away if you need information. There are a number of experienced people who can help with most any issue. Hope to see some of your work soon.

[MN Shutterbug]

The only thing I'll suggest for a rookie is, shoot all jpeg for now. The most important thing for beginners is to learn the features of the camera and enjoy yourself. If you want to get more serious down the road, by all means experiment with RAW. Shooting jpeg is easier, faster and takes up much less space, and in most cases, if you shoot them right, will look great.

Enjoy.