As we have touched on before, the massive popularity of the Sony a6000 results in a huge number of different questions being asked each month about the camera body as both photographers and videographers try to ensure that they are getting the best image quality possible out of their camera. Although Sony have added a number of new additions to their Sony Alpha range, the a6000 still sees solid sales month in month out so we doubt that these questions will stop anytime soon.
Although we see a massive range of questions spread across pretty much everything that you are able to think of regarding the Sony a6000. That said though, one of the more common questions that we are seeing asked more and more is “Does the Sony a6000 shoot RAW?” so we have decided to dedicate this article to this question as well as a number of common variants of it that we see asked too.
Does The Sony A6000 Shoot Raw Format
Before we get into the article, yes, the Sony a6000 does shoot raw format and allow you to save it to your memory card as you would expect without any modification to the camera or firmware updates being required. You can select if you want to save your work in RAW or JPEG in your camera settings and the process should take you a couple of seconds to do.
There are multiple options available as you can save your work in RAW or in RAW + JPEG depending on what you are doing and what you will need for that particular photography or videography session. Depending on the situation, this also ensures that you are able to quickly and easily switch between the two as required too mid-session if your requirements change.
Why Do RAW Photographs Look Do Terrible Pre-edit With The Sony A6000
This is a very common question that we see asked when it comes to cameras using the RAW file type so we want to quickly touch on it. Unfortunately, this is pretty standard no matter if you are using the Sony a6000 or any other camera body as it is an issue with how all cameras work with the RAW file type when compared to a JPEG image.
The vast majority of modern cameras allows the JPEG file to be fully processed and rendered in your camera and the a6000 is no different. This allows you to preview the image with what appears to be a better image quality when compared to a RAW image that. That said though, this totally flips when you export both the RAW and JPEG files to your computer for post production editing.
The JPEG compression algorithm severely limits the level of post-production editing that you are able to achieve and is its main downside. On the flip side of this though, the RAW image retains a huge amount of information about the photograph allowing you to do a wide range of post-production editing on the file type without it looking awful with the end result blowing JPEG out the water.
With the price of memory cards drastically coming down over the last five years while the storage capacity available has drastically increased, many people will capture both RAW and JPEG together to get the best of both worlds. As we touched on above, this option is available to you in your Sony a6000 camera settings and takes seconds to turn on.
Should I Use RAW Or JPEG With Your Sony A6000
Next up, another very common thing that we see people ask is should they be using RAW format or JPEG with their Sony a6000 so we also want to quickly touch on this one. In all honesty, its going to depend on you, your goals, and what you are trying to get out of the file as both have advantages and disadvantages.
The main two things that we like to focus on is that if you are not planning on doing any post production editing, you can almost always go with JPEG and be done with it. This will save you a ton of space on your memory card and if you have your JPEG settings saved to high in your a6000 settings, the image quality is not bad either.
On the flip side of this though, as we explained above, if you are planning on doing post production work on your files then RAW is definitely the way to go. The additional data that the file type offers you allows you to use pretty much any post production editing technique and tweak it as required with the image looking good.
The downside of this is that the RAW file format is considerably larger than JPEG meaning that it does take up more space on your memory card. That said though, as we mentioned above, you can pick up a decent, high storage capacity memory card pretty cheap these days, and in our opinion, this lets even a beginner photographer on a tight budget use RAW without having to break the bank.
We also see a large number of people underestimate the importance of RAW in their own personal day to day photograph sessions that can lead to an excellent photo opportunity being ruined. Overexposure tends to be very common for any run and gun work with your a6000 and if you are saving your files as JPEG, it is very hard to fix them in post whereas RAW lets you fix it quickly while still offering excellent image quality.
