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I'm going to be pedantic and air a pet-peeve of mine. "Raw" isn't an acronym. It's just shorthand for raw image data. It's not even the file extension of most (
by jxcl 9y ago
I'm going to be pedantic and air a pet-peeve of mine. "Raw" isn't an acronym. It's just shorthand for raw image data. It's not even the file extension of most (any?) camera raws. Why does everyone insist on writing it in capital letters?
- vanderZwan 9y agoNever really thought about that. I think I subconsciously interpret RAW as only meaning "file of unprocessed image data from a camera", whereas raw has more possible meanings. I know this shouldn't matter, because it's never confusing in context what one would mean. I guess there's also the visual "symmetry" with JPG or JPEG.
- jpk 9y agoProbably because it's cased that way in camera menus (correctness notwithstanding).
- dwringer 9y agoAnother possible reason not outlined the other replies you received to this comment - If I were to say "copy the raw file" someone less experienced may think "okay, take the fresh jpeg file and copy it", interpreting "raw" in a more conventional, non-technical sense. Capitalizing it emphasizes that it refers to the file format, even if not the actual file extension. Sure, I could say "copy the NEF file" or "copy the CRW/CR2 file", but that means I'd have to know whether the user was using Nikon or Canon. "RAW" lets the speaker eliminate ambiguity in non-technical contexts without needing to be so specific as naming the actual extension.