RAW Camera File Format and Photography

Three advantages of a RAW file: 

• higher in dynamic range (ability to display highlights and shadows)
• the complete (lossless) data from the camera’s sensor 
• uncompressed

One disadvantage of a RAW file:

• requires special software to view and edit

Three advantages of a JPEG file: 

• a standard format readable by any image program on the market or available open source
• fairly small in file size
• immediately suitable for printing, sharing, or posting on the Web

One disadvantage of a JPEG file: 

• lower in dynamic range

1. All the information in all the pixels within the image because it's not compressed.
2. White balance, contrast, highlights, shadows, colours and saturation.
3. The camera might not have the RAW format, the RAW files are large files, and you can't convert JPEG to RAW but you can do the opposite.
4. RAW files give you more flexibility and processing options which is important because editing is usually more important than shooting the photos.