Hey guys.

I'm new to the entire photography scene and have done research to buy my first camera.
Given my budget I settled on a Fujifilm FinePix s8100fd, which I'm very happy with.
However, I didn't understand that only so many models were supported by camera raw. (It's always frustrating that the many modern softwares seem to have the most limitations in some respects. I also never notice until AFTER a purchase!) I'm trying to become an ACE for Photoshop, but have only played the editing field, hence my mistake coming into camera raw as a novice.

Here's where I'm getting at... Given camera RAW is among the features used in the industry, how badly did I screw up purchasing a camera that cannot use it? Am I really missing out on a huge deal here without camera raw for my own needs?

How much was the camera?

Secondly, for basic things you don't need RAW. I just got a new Pentax K20D a couple weeks ago, and I love it, but i rarely find myself taking RAWs, although the photo forum i'm on is hounding my to try it.

The Pro photographer of my county says he doesn't even use RAW anymore, since most jpgs are good enough for most photos.

Overall, I don't think you screwed up, unless you paid 600$+ for it. I'm guessing that it was probably 400$ at most.