What are the advantages of shooting in RAW format rather than a high quality jpg?

I use a Nikon D80, and am becoming more familiar with its capabilities. I've been told shooting in RAW format allows for more manipulation of the photographs later. I don't have Photoshop and am not going to spend the money on that right now. So would shooting in RAW format still benefit me? I'm able to shoot RAW + jpg at the same time, but it fills up the buffer faster and takes longer to save to the SD card.

Added (1). Sorry about the capitalization. It was like that in the manual so I didn't know.

I like RAW because the files are bigger and the saturation is better. Even if I don't manipulate them, the RAW usually has aesthetic benefits.

All the different information is saved separate in a RAW file. So contrast, colour and all that are all separate and complete. So you have complete control in the edit.

JPEGs are processed by the camera and then flattened to save the information in as small as space as possible.

For example using a Vivid setting on a camera has a complete and irreversible effect on a JPEG but doesn't have any effect on a RAW file at all. But the RAW file can later be edited to look just like the Vivid JPEG file.

Quite simply - you have more image data in a raw file (no need to capitalise it - it's not an acronym).

When your camera saves a jpg file, it compresses it - throws out a lot of the data captured by the sensor (that's why the file size is smaller).It has also processed the image (irreversibly) with any picture settings you had in camera.

If you later want to edit the file, jpgs are 8bit images, which means they have a limited range of tones - extensive processing of a jpg will cause this tonal information to become 'stepped' rather than a smooth transition. This leads to posterisation or 'banding' of the image, where the tonal range can't be rendered smoothly.

A raw file is the complete image data off the sensor - think of it as an unprocessed film negative. It can then be processed in software (as a 16bit tiff - more data) in many ways, the original file remaining untouched.

If you are absolutely certain that you can nail the exposure spot on & you have no intention of post processing, then jpg may be better for you - it will save on storage space.

I wouldn't bother shooting raw + jpg, just shoot raw. You can download a (free) Microsoft plug-in that will allow you to view raw files in Windows Picture viewer.

If you aren't going to edit using a RAW-capable program (Lightroom, Aperture, Bridge, Photoshop CS5), then your pictures will actually loook BETTER if you shoot at a high-quality JPEG. JPEGs take the sensor data and form it into an image (so the camera adds the right amount of saturation, sharpening, etc.). RAW files are just the sensor data. All color corrections, sharpening, etc. Have to be done manually; otherwise the photo looks a little bit blurry, not as vibrant, etc.

Here's the simple answer…

Regardless of what you set your camera to, every picture you take is shot in RAW, and then converted to a useable image (like a jpg).

The question is: Do you want your camera to do that conversion for you, or do you want to take a few seconds and do it yourself?

I can open all of my RAW images in Adobe Camera Raw, select "All Images," and click "Save Images." I select JPG and a folder, and click OK. Doing that will give me almost the same JPGs that my camera would have saved… All with around 6 or 7 mouse clicks.

Now, if I selected the wrong white balance when I shot the photo, I can fix that in a second with Adobe Camera Raw, simply click the White Balance Dropdown, and select the correct white balance (or select the White Balance Tool and click on something white in the photo)… With two mouse clicks I can correct for the distortion that various lenses create on an image… In a few seconds I can straighten an image if my camera wasn't level… And I can do all of this without changing my original.

Well now, here's a good question.

When you shoot in RAW, the image has more bits of information than a jpeg. Usually at least 12bits as opposed to 8 in a jpeg.

What this means is that the RAW image contains lots more information than a jpeg. So when it comes to processing you can recover detail in the shadows or highlights that will be otherwise lost in the jpeg.

This is really handy as it gives you full access to the full dynamic range your sensor is capable of capturing.

Also when shooting in RAW, you don't have to worry about white balance. You can process the image later to whatever white balance preset you want (or even adjust it manually).