Cant figure this out for the life of me!

[Slick Fork]

Originally Posted by Jeff000

What camera do you use?

Shooting with a Sony A55. Noise is a little noticeable at 800 but doesn't get really grainy until 1600

As far as RAW not being for the beginner, most programs will have an "auto" setting that does the same job (or better) as the camera does when shooting jpg's. You could also try shooting RAW and Jpg. Takes up more memory on the card but it gets you both a 'ready to go' jpg and a RAW file that you can play around with. As noted above, manipulating jpgs never works out well.