RAW & JPG file

[Yoomie]

Hi Brian.  Yesterday I uploaded my images onto my computer from the SD card and found out half of them were in JPG and half of them were in RAW.  I always shoot in RAW.  I didn't change the RAW setting.  Taken pictures in the past with RAW and in different modes; and all the images stay in RAW format.  I have attached an image to explain what I'm talking about.  I am not sure where to even start how to troubleshoot this problem.  I hope this make sense and that you'll have a suggestion.  Thanks Donna.

[Damien Symonds]

I'm not Brian, but I will chime in and say that whenever I've seen this before, it's because you've taken some of your photos with the camera on full automatic mode.  Canon cameras tend to be jpeg-only on full auto.

Could that be the case here?

[Yoomie]

Hi Damien. Thanks for replying back. I did shoot in portrait mode for a little bit in the beginning but then changed it up to TV, AV, and manual for the rest of the session. The image I attached shows a group of jpg files then RAW files then back to jpg files, etc.  It doesn’t make sense to me why majority of the files would be in jpg if I was using TV, Av, and manual throughout the session.  In the past, I used portrait mode all the time and my files remained in RAW format. ? 

[Brian]

I know with my Nikon Cameras, I can set banks with different recording settings, for example my “Portrait” mode is set for RAW 14-bit uncompressed. Wedding bank is 12-bit RAW uncompressed + JPEG fine, etc. 

Even though you think that no settings changed, I’d recheck all your settings with different modes and see if you can duplicate the problem. 

In addition, on some Canon bodies there is a button on the back of the camera that allows you to change the setting from Raw to JPEG without you knowing it and it seems easy to do. After some Googling, a photographer accidentally hit this button during a wedding and switched over from Raw to JPEG and didn’t realize it until he got home. 

It seems that this button is to the left of the LCD, if you hit it, is shows the current record settings. Hit it again it starts scrolling through some options and it’s also possible that setting it to a different mode that your options are different. I’m not sure that this will work on your camera, but here is the setting on some bodies:

“C.Fn4:Disp/Operation Rec card, image size setting change this from default "Rear LCD panel" to "LCD monitor.”

[Yoomie]

Thanks Brian for replying back.  I tried duplicating it but I can't seem to find the answer for now.  I'll definitely pay attention from now on when I switch over to the different modes.  I did find the button that you were talking about..on my camera its the "Q" button (quick control).  I don't recall using "Q" button during the last photo session.  I'm glad you pointed that out bc I didn't know that button can do so much.  Thank you for the tips.  Hopefully I'll have the answer soon.  Donna.

[Brian]

You aren't the first person to go through something like this. That Q button could easily be bumped, especially if you are using a shoulder strap like a Black Rapid. The camera could bump against your hip/waist without you knowing changing things, then it gets hit again and goes back to "normal."