I always use my camera in raw mode.
Raw is the read out of all of the data that your camera sensor captures.
And a raw file is just data.
Your camera takes this data and applies whatever settings you have, white balance, colour space etc.
Jpeg is a lossy format which means that you're throwing data away when you store an image in that format.
If you only used jpeg then you'd be stuck with those settings.
Using raw you're not. You can change them in post production.
Here's a rather extreme example.
I had my camera set to monochrome mode and had added a red filter, boosted the contrast and shot a series of photos 1 stop underexposed.
I wanted to make the dark clouds look apocalyptic.
What if I had wanted a colour photos instead. no problem Just change the picture settings and it's done.
With Raw everyone knows that you can change the white balance later but with modern sensors you can do something else.
Some sensors are iso invarient, which in a nutshell means that you can increase the exposure in software and get the same result as if you set the iso in camera in the first place.
So if you shot at iso 400 but really needed to use iso 3200 then you could add the +3 stops in software and not end up with a grainy blotchy mess of a final image.
Newer software also has an effect on your Raw image.
It does a better job of putting all that data together into a final image and the newer versions of Raw processing software have really great noise reductoin tools built into them.
There are only 2 drawbacks to using Raw made.
1: The files are larger - The Raw file from a Nikon D850 is around 90Mb compared to a Jpeg at around 20Mb
2: You get less images in your Buffer.
Storage is cheap these days so that's a non issue anymore.
I always want the option of having the Raw file so that I have the option of going back and reprocesing or reworking an image at some point in future.
I only use Jpegs if I need images out of camera immediately with zero time for processing. and even then I always want the Raw file.
I have never thought about that, dealing everyday with cameras and producing best shots you are an expect and that is great you sharing your experience with others
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