Both have merit and both have depend upon human and medium
variables. In the old (film) days there (very broadly speaking) were two types of photographers:
1) those who created photos and hired out developing and printing and 2) those
that handled print creation from start to finish. The basic limits of what
could be done with a print were tied to the quality of the original
negative image; the printing process allowed for an additional creative
touch to be applied to the final print. Those photographers who handled
all of these steps could of course have maximum creative input into the final
output. It should be noted that most (if not all) aspects of image
creation and printing were controlled by the photographer or printer. The
choice of film brand, type, ISO as well as the choice of chemicals and papers
used all affect the final outcome and, in many cases become a type of
signature for a photographer or printer.
In the digital photo world these factors are still in play (or
they can be.) Camera manufactures have made tremendous, perhaps even
miraculous progress in developing current digital cameras (entry level to pro
dSLR systems.) Photo-printer manufactures have made similar levels of
improvements. It is now possible to click the shutter button, wait a few
seconds for the image to pass through the air to your wireless network, reach
your computer and then be shuttled to your inkjet printer - all without
you having/needing to decide on any camera settings, computer settings, printer
settings, nada! Provided that your ink levels are good and your
photo-printer paper is of reasonable quality you will most likely wind up with a
print that is acceptable and it may even be a photo that your share with others.
If you take the 'no-hands' approach described above then for
each auto setting you use you are actually allowing the camera (i.e. the
knowledge/wisdom/skill of the camera, printer, computer & software
engineers) to pick for you. There is nothing wrong with this - it's
just a choice that you make; most serious photographers (pro and non-pro) will
make these choices (i.e. they won't use any automatic settings.) Does this
really make any difference? So far, no, not much difference - well, not
until you start doing truly creative things with the image/print.
Cameras (film or digital) are really, really, really dumb -
compared to the combination of the human eye and brain. The camera will
never 'see' the level of image complexity that we perceive in a scene (our
eye/brain combination is a 3d view; a camera only has a 1d, flat
view.) So, a camera never lies really means that a camera
never sees the whole truth... How about: the print
never lies? The camera is much closer to the original image - any
print that we encounter is in fact, one interpretation of any given image and as
such, is much less likely to be close to any sort of truth - a digital negative
(file) is much closer to the truth (errr, the camera's truth.)
JPEG, TIFF, RAW - the Digital Negative
Camera manufactures offer you choices - most cameras include an
option for RAW files. The choice of digital negative file type
impacts image quality and places practical limits on what can be done with your
negative. JPEG files are cooked - i.e. they are sort of
like using other automatic settings - they limit your creative input
control. RAW files allow the most flexibility for post-processing. A
simple example is the choice of light temperature (i.e. setting the camera for daylight,
night, cloudy, etc.) If you have a RAW file then you can change this
after the photo has been taken; if you use a JPEG file then you have to
re-process the file (i.e. create a new file to use) to fix a problem like
this. Since a RAW file is never a work-file, you could argue that
there is no difference. In addition, the latest version of Adobe Lightroom
treats all negative files as if they were RAW files (any changes result
in the creation of a new file so the original is never changed.) If your
camera supports it I suggest that you try using a setting that provides you with
both a RAW file and and a JPEG file - only then will you be able to see the
differences in both types of capture.