Results of the OpenRAW survey on the use of raw files by photographers have been released as a 54-page PDF document that makes interesting reading.

 

June 28, 2006: Results of the OpenRAW survey on the use of raw files by photographers have been released as a 54-page PDF document that makes interesting reading.
A total of 19,207 photographers completed the survey, more than ø‚ ¾ of them in the first week of its release. Half of those who provided data were ø¢â‚¬Å“dedicated amateurø¢â‚¬ photographers, while 10% described themselves as ø¢â‚¬Å“hobbyistsø¢â‚¬ and 32% as professional photographers (either part-time or full-time). Most had prior experience with film-based photography, with an average of 19.4 years of shooting film and 4.5 years of shooting digital. North American photographers made up 46% of respondents with European photographers closely following at 43%. Asian photographers at 5% were closely followed by Australians at 4% with South American and African photographers at 1% each.
All respondents were high-volume shooters, capturing an average of at least 920 images/month (with professional photographers capturing an average of over 2500 images/month). Fifty-five percent of respondents reported using raw format for all images captured. Among all potential benefits, ø¢â‚¬Å“the ability to change many exposure settings ø¢â‚¬ ¦ post captureø¢â‚¬ was the factor that most respondents (79%) considered to be ø¢â‚¬Å“extremely important.ø¢â‚¬ In fact, 93% of respondents ranked this item with values ø¢â‚¬Å“5ø¢â‚¬ (extremely important) or ø¢â‚¬Å“4.ø¢â‚¬ The ability ø¢â‚¬Å“to extract more detail with lower noiseø¢â‚¬ and ø¢â‚¬Å“to edit many tonal characteristicsø¢â‚¬ were considered ø¢â‚¬Å“extremely importantø¢â‚¬ by more than 50% of respondents, and to be ø¢â‚¬Å“importantø¢â‚¬ (given ratings of ø¢â‚¬Å“4ø¢â‚¬ or ø¢â‚¬Å“5ø¢â‚¬ by over 80% of respondents.
The full document can be downloaded free of charge from www.openraw.org/survey/.