In my 8 month review of the Nikon Z9 for Bird Photography, I mentioned that because Pre-Release Capture only records jpg images, I found this a limitation that significantly reduced my use of this feature.

For almost all my photography I only shoot RAW images as this records the most available data to use for processing the final image. A lot is made of “getting it right in camera” and this is completely true but only so much can be done in camera. For me this means getting an optimal exposure (exposed to the right – much easier with a live view histogram in a mirrorless body), sharply focussed and composed loosely enough to give some compositional options while accommodating subject movement with action. This is analogous to properly exposing film in the old days. That film then needs to be processed for output in the digital darkroom, ideally ending in a hard copy print you can hold and frame for display.

It is in this second part that the limitation of JPG capture frustrate me. A big part of my image processing involves selective tonal/contrast/saturation/sharpening adjustment to optimise the subject against the background/surroundings. To this end I shoot a flat profile in camera as it gives me the best starting point but images can look a bit sad to start with. I find a flat profile also best for JPG as I think it is better to add adjustments to a flat image rather than try and recover details in a too contrasty/saturated/sharpened image.

I guess a lot of my frustration at processing JPG images comes from a habit of having total control over a RAW file and qualities such as White Balance are locked into the JPG instead of being completely editable as in a RAW. Fine tuning qualities such as white balance with differential settings between background and subject can make a big difference to the feel of a final image. The first image in this post is an out of camera JPG edited through Lightroom and Photoshop and is an acceptable image. To achieve this needed quite a bit of contrast and saturation added to the bird and this pops it from the flat background. This next image of another bird in essentially the same, rather less than ideal, lighting conditions shows what is achievable with a RAW file.

This image from a RAW file shows far nicer colour and contrast due to the fact that 14 bit pixels without baked in adjustments are far more malleable than an 8 bit image already locked into a colour space. I am sure that the JPG image could be processed better than I have done but coming from a background of relatively gentle processing of RAW files punishing pixels with heavy handed sliders feels uncomfortable!

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 VR S + Nikon Z 1.4x teleconverter