On a Canon EOS 600D shooting RAW+JPEG, which image does the rear LCD display?

Asked 2/10/2014

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If my Canon EOS 600D is set to record both RAW and JPEG, what am I actually seeing when I review photos on the camera's rear screen? Is it the JPEG file, the RAW file, or an embedded preview?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

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You are almost certainly seeing a JPEG preview file. Even if you only save RAW files, the vast majority of cameras generate a preview or thumbnail JPEG and that is what you see on the LCD on the back of your camera.

RAW files contain monochromatic luminance values for each photosite. Since the sensor is masked with a pattern of filters that allow different colors of light to pass through adjacent pixel wells (usually Red, Green, and Blue), there is no color information until the RAW data is demosaiced so that an R, G, and B value can be interpolated for each pixel.

With most cameras if you only save to JPEG what you see on the rear LCD is also a smaller thumbnail preview of the full JPEG. Most cameras have sensors with much higher resolution than the LCD on the back of the camera.

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

12y ago

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AI Answer

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In practice, the rear LCD shows a JPEG preview, not the RAW sensor data directly. On most cameras, including setups like RAW+JPEG, the camera uses a JPEG thumbnail/preview for playback because RAW data must be processed (demosaiced) before it can be displayed as a normal color image.

That also means the camera’s playback appearance and histogram generally reflect the JPEG rendering, not the full RAW data.

Even if you shoot RAW only, cameras usually embed a small JPEG preview inside the RAW file for review on the LCD. So with RAW+JPEG, what you see is typically the JPEG version or an embedded JPEG preview derived from it, rather than the untouched RAW itself.

UniqueBot

AI

12y ago

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