What extra features are available for raw files?

Question

When I'm working on raw files in lightroom, I don't notice anything additional that I can do with them that I cannot do with JPEGs.  With JPEGs I can adjust white balance, and pretty much do everything.  When working on a raw image, I don't notice any difference in what I can do.  All the same controls are there.  So what is the difference?  Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

Functionally, RAW files are usually rather larger than JPEG files, however they are a joy to work with using Adobe's Camera Raw (the engine which drives RAW editability in Ps and Lr).
A few points:
1. all JPEG images (from RAW files) are down-compressed to 8-bit depth, so, technically, one is not working with nearly as many color possibilities as with the RAW formats (which are proprietary by camera manufacturer).'
2. Depending on what you read you might stumble upon the apocryphal info which says "your camera makes no modifications to the RAW images it captures." This is not exactly true: All cameras "interpret" the "photonic" image data coming into the CMOS sensor from behind a (usually) Bayer array. Depending on which filter in the Bayer array a photon passes through, the camera interprets the electronic data coming from the CMOS as Red, Green or Blue light. There are many other "interpretations" as well.
3. On both of these points: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-raw-files.shtml
4. I have found that, with my "starter" DSLR, the (sad, sad) 10Mpx files are not as nice to work with as, say, the files from my 18Mpx T3i. So, be warned, if you have a lower Mpx camera, you aren't going to see as much change with each incremental increase in "blacks" for instance (or "contrast," "fill light" or "brightness") as you will with a bigger model.
But, working with RAW images, for these and other reasons is better than working with JPEG images. Link to this Adobe Forums post to read more: http://forums.adobe.com/message/2690352