Can the Canon S5 IS take RAW images?

Question

I have photoshop cs3 and of course the canon software (Zoom Browser EX) they both have programs that work specially with raw images. What exactly is a raw image and can i use it with my canon s5 is?

best answer gets a 5

Answer 1

RAW files contain uncompressed raw sensor data. That means little to nothing is applied to the image; the image quality you get shooting RAW is the best your camera can output.

Modifiers like saturation, sharpening, and contrast are applied when you shoot with the popular JPEG format. After these are applied, the camera discards most of the RAW data and the image is compressed so you're left with what the camera thinks is what you want. This means much of the data is uncoverable which gives you less headroom to work with in post-processing. The benefit is that JPEGs are smaller and are readily compatible across multiple systems.

The downside of shooting RAW is the larger files and the amount of work needed to "develop" them after you get them onto your computer. In my opinion, it's well worth it after you establish a workflow.

The Canon PowerShot S5 IS cannot save RAW straight out of the box. However, there's a custom firmware addon compatible with many Canon PowerShots, including the S5, called CHDK. Installing this will enable many features on the S5 including RAW.

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/S5IS