Can you shoot a RAW video with an EOS Rebel T8i?

[stevet1]

My T8i shoots videos in mp4 format, which, as I understand it, is a compressed version, sort of like a jpg.

DPP4 can play these, but they can't be edited. What would I need to be able to shoot RAW videos?

I set RAW as the Picture Quality, but that setting in the Menu System only seems to apply to still photos. That setting does not appear in the video Menus.

Steve Thomas

[justadude]

Have you tried a different video editor?  There are plenty that edit mp4 format.  I can't tell you which one is good vs. bad because I don't do much video.  When I do I use Adobe Premier Rush, but there are cheaper alternatives.

[stevet1]

Gary,

You asked, "Have you tried a different video editor??"

No, not yet. I'm still in the early stages of looking at this.

Steve Thomas

[stevet1]

Gary,

I did a little reading. One site I ran across said this,

https://blinksandbuttons.net/what-cameras-shoot-raw-video/

Types Of Cameras That Can Shoot Raw Video

"Cameras capable of shooting raw video can be broadly categorized into three groups: professional cinema cameras, mirrorless cameras, and high-end DSLRs."

On the mirrorless side, it looks like Canon first introduced this with the R5.

As far as high-end DSLR's, they talked about the 90D, but you have to use some kind of external recorder.

Steve Thomas

[AtticusLake]

Short answer: DPP4 can't edit your videos because DPP4 isn't a video editor.  Shooting RAW video isn't going to help.

You may be confusing different uses of the term "RAW".  DPP is a program for editing still photographs,. which are often shot in a RAW format, because RAW basically stores more information to work with when editing.

But shooting and editing video is a completely different world.  For someone just starting out in video, I would strongly suggest that you forget about RAW.  Yes, some expensive cameras can shoot RAW, but for a beginner, the only thing RAW is going to do for you is create massive files that use up all your disk space.  Your camera's mp4 video is fine.

For editing video, you need a video editing app (often known as an "NLE").  Someone suggested Adobe Rush, which seems like a good option, but sadly it has been discontinued.  https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/premiere-rush/kb/end-of-life.html

Another option would be Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve.  This is a high-end editing app, and so may be a bit much to deal with, but I find it intuitive for editing, and there is a free version which actually works very well.  I'm sure there are many other options.

[Jkarl]

Try Adobe Premiere Elements. It would be a good place to start it works well with .mp4 files.

[AtticusLake]

Oh good call!  I used that way back... didn't realise they were still doing it.

[Jkarl]

I am using the 2024 edition, it is the last of the perpetual license versions. The new versions cost 99 USD for 3 years. years. That is just for The Adobe Premiere Elements package.

[justadude · Accepted solution]

Hey Steve, 

I was unsure about the RAW, which is why I didn't answer that part.  I was just pointing out editing options in case you did stick with the mp4 files.  

But now you have me curious about the R8 and R6m2 if either of those cameras can shoot RAW video.  I'll have to look.  Although my videos are not frequent, they are done on my iPhone 16 Pro currently.  If I can do RAW, I'd gladly start using my mirrorless.

...and curiosity got the best of me, so I paused typing this reply, and checked right now.  The R8 cannot shoot RAW, but the R6 Mk ll can shoot RAW.  So if I get hooked on this, I'm blaming you, Steve!  😂

[stevet1]

Gary,

You wrote, "So if I get hooked on this, I'm blaming you, Steve!"

I'll remember that.😁

I don't know why my reply turned it into a solution. After poking around on this question a little, I don't think I would recommend shooting videos in RAW. The file sizes are enormous and almost require a SSD or a cloud solution for storage. They are also slow to load and work with.

Steve Thomas