7D Image Processing

[Ed Cordes]

I have been using my 7D for about 2 weeks now. So far just testing nothing serious. I must say that I am one of the happy ones. One thing I have learned is that Adobe LR and ACR are in beta form for the 7D RAW files. While I can view them the processing formula needs to be updated. If I use the DPP software that came with the camera the colors and noise characteristics are much better. - A whole lot better in the noise department.

Just though I would pass this along.

[Mark Theriot]

I agree. I'm an Aperture user and figured I'd test the Lightroom demo while I wait for the Apple converters. I was not very happy with my new camera - to say the least!! Glad I decided to try the Canon SW! The camera is all better now!

Yes, trying to judge critical exposure/sharpness/etc with beta SW - um, not so much! And no shots against Abobe here - to even have beta converter ready when the camera launched is great!!

Mark

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Thanks Ed as I have been shooting whitetails with the 7d in good light and had lots of noise and went back to the markIII but wanted the 1.6 and 18 mb photo of the 7d

[Ed Cordes]

To add to the discussion - last night I opened a file in LR as well as DPP. The difference was remarkable! I am not knocking Adobe either; I am just passing along my experience to help us all understand the true capabilities of the 7D. I hope Adobe updates ACR quickly as I like the interface and flexibility of it a lot better than DPP.

[arash_hazeghi]

I have been using my 7D for about 2 weeks now. So far just testing nothing serious. I must say that I am one of the happy ones. One thing I have learned is that Adobe LR and ACR are in beta form for the 7D RAW files. While I can view them the processing formula needs to be updated. If I use the DPP software that came with the camera the colors and noise characteristics are much better. - A whole lot better in the noise department.

Just though I would pass this along.

Agree Ed, Manufacturer sw uses optimized proprietary algorithm for demosaic and NR which is always better then the generic methods used in DCRAW. I always use DPP for Canon cameras and then PS to do the final editing.

[Stu Bowie]

Just a question guys. When the 50D came out, I had to update my ACR to version 4.6. Will this version accept the 7D files?

[arash_hazeghi]

Just a question guys. When the 50D came out, I had to update my ACR to version 4.6. Will this version accept the 7D files?

The newest version (LR 2.5) has beta support for 7D but the output is noisy and colors are off, IMO there is no point in LR when DPP comes with the camera for free.

[E Grav]

The LR version looks better to me.

[Michael Eckstein]

I have tested DPP vs. many of other raw converters and have found that DPP gives better results than any of the others. What is a slightly or barely noticed improvement when viewing the image on a monitor is much more noticable when comparing prints made when the original file was converted in DPP vs. the other raw processors. My work flow has been to convert in DPP convert to a tiff and then finish it in Photoshop. I have tried virtually every raw processor available for Mac OS X that has a trial version and none have bettered the results achieved by DPP.

[Don Saunders]

Ed,

I have been a long-time subscriber to "EOS" magazine. It is published quarterly in the UK and, like all UK photo magazines, it is excellent. They even published one of my photos. I found that they will write about info on the EOS cameras and lenses that may not be widely published in the US.

I just received the Oct-Dec, 2009 issue and it has an article on the 7D and another article on Noise. The 7D article gives a good description of how both the new iFCL metering system and AF system works. The article on Noise goes in depth on in-camera processing and post-processing. I had not heard before that DPP "largely" ignores and ACR ignores in-camera noise reduction information and instead use their own noise reduction algorithms. Since ACR has only beta software available today, any comparisons of High ISO noise levels in the 7D, no matter what in-camera high ISO noise reduction setting is used, will be processed with less than ideal software. The results with final versions of software should be better.

The article also stated that cameras, using DIGIC 4 processors and in-camera high ISO noise reduction set to "Strong", will experience a slow down in burst rate. That burst rate reduction only occurs when it is set to "strong".

This raises the question - If you're shooting in RAW on a 7D, why not disable high ISO noise reduction?

[Ed Cordes]

Thanks Don for your complete answer. I have found by luck many of the things you stated. I do have high ISO noise reduction off. I like the files much better when converted via DPP. I do hop-e ACR catches up soon. Now they have the 1D4 to catch up to as well.

[Dug Threewitt]

Thanks Don for your complete answer. I have found by luck many of the things you stated. I do have high ISO noise reduction off. I like the files much better when converted via DPP. I do hop-e ACR catches up soon. Now they have the 1D4 to catch up to as well.

I wouldn't count on ACR, they still haven't caught up on the 50D, hopefully they will on the 7D though.