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P
Panagon-1
Participant
March 31, 2014
Question

Rendering of RAW images in LR5 vs Canon Digital Photo Professional

  • March 31, 2014
  • 3 replies
  • 24474 views

Just as a pre-amble, I love LR and perform 90% of image processing with it (rest in PS). I use a Canon EOS 5D MKIII shooting in RAW, running LR5 on Win7. My monitor is properly calibrated.

Every so often I view a RAW image with Canon DPP mostly to display the AF point. What I am noticing is that the DPP SW renders the image very different from LR and I tried every LR Profile. In my opinion the DPP rendering is sharper, with less noise and a more natural look. My latest example of the difference in image rendering is from images taken with the Canon 200-400 1.4 zoom lens. This difference in image rendering is after RAW import with no images editing on either application. I just wish there would be a LR profile that yields a similar quality image. Does anybody share my experience on this?

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3 replies

B
Barna Tanko Photography
Participant
August 2, 2015

I just downloaded Canon Digital Photo Professional 4. I don't see any advantages in Lightroom anymore after I tested CDPP. As matter of fact I find it even better the Canon software somehow. With Adobe announcing it's last update on Photoshop 6 and not eager at all to sign up for paying forever for CC, I am continuously looking for alternatives. Once my PS6 and LR5 will stop working, the door will close between me and Adobe. CDPP will do for RAW converting for sure, no need for Adobe anymore.

F
fwampler
Participating Frequently
August 7, 2015

I feel the same as you do. I've already jumped.

Keith Reeder
Keith Reeder
Participating Frequently
August 12, 2015

I think a lot of users have fallen into a rut and just assumed that DPP4 offers little or no benefit compare with Lightroom. They would be wrong. For Canon users DPP4 is free! You would be well served to give it a fair trial. You just might be surprised.   You mister trshaner are the exception. Glad there are a few around.


It's not a "rut": I'm well aware of DPP's abilities, and for me, it's simply not up to the job.

Don't assume that those of us who disagree with your assessment of DPP and Lr are speaking from a position of ignorance.

    JELSTUDIO
    JELSTUDIO
    Participant
    August 22, 2014

    I see it to.

    This is a 100% crop of an image shot on the 5D3 and exported from DPP3 and LR5 (using process 2012). The example-image here is enlarged 400% with no interpolation used during resizing to avoid introducing artifacts.

    In DPP3 noise-reduction and sharpness was turned OFF. ALO was OFF, and picture-style was standard. There's no lens-modifications done in DPP3 (all are OFF since it doesn't know the lens used (it's a non-canon lens)). So I believe this should be as un-modified as possible from the raw-file.

    In LR5 all modes was turned OFF except the last one, camera calibration, where Camera standard (NOT adobe standard) was chosen (I believe this is adobe's version of the Canon standard picture style)

    Saturation and noise seems higher in LR5. Blue color in the sky is more saturated in DPP3, and almost gray in LR5. Green has more yellow in LR5.

    There's a clear difference in looks, but which is better is obviously a matter of taste. I would say DPP3 makes the image look more natural, and LR5 makes the image look more popping. Personally I prefer DPP3's look.

    F
    FSt0p
    Inspiring
    March 31, 2014

    Change camera defaults in LR.

    By default DPP applies sharpening and noise reduction in accordance to in-camera settings, while LR does not apply luminance noise reduction at all and very low sharpening and color noise reduction.

    So change settings to what you like more and save as defaults.

    Or use DPP.

    P
    Panagon-1Author
    Participant
    April 1, 2014

    Using DPP is not an option. I do not understand your suggestions: "Change Camera defaults in LR" and "So, change settings to what you like more and save as default". I have obviously attempted to achieve the same level of sharpness and noise reduction with the LR Detail Controls. However, I find it very difficult mimic the DPP image quality and feel DPP is still better than what I can achieve with LR.

      areohbee
      areohbee
      Legend
      April 1, 2014

      Panagon-1 wrote:

      I find it very difficult mimic the DPP image quality and feel DPP is still better than what I can achieve with LR.

      Well, if you can't get the results you want by manually tweaking everything, then setting up defaults won't improve matters much.

      Maybe you are being bitten by the "Lr not sharpening and noise reducing properly" bug.

      I'm not sure what to say, except "I don't share your experience on this", but that doesn't seem particularly helpful.

      On the other hand, you also said:

      Panagon-1 wrote:

      This difference in image rendering is after RAW import with no images editing on either application

      In which case, what cppasm said: "you can't expect Lr to render like DPP by default - you gotta set up your own defaults in Lr, and or edit first, because DPP does a bunch of stuff by default that Lr doesn't" (my words, not his/hers).

      PS - consider using a plugin like ISO Detailer to apply initial detail settings based on ISO.

      UPDATE:

      -----------

      I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "image quality", because that term means different things to different people. You *should* be able to get better "detail" quality in Lr by adjusting settings in the detail panel. BUT DPP may also do some intelligent contrast reduction stuff by default which can make a photo seem sharper or more clear without increasing noise. Similar results are had in Lr by +exposure -highlights +shadows and/or +clarity. But now that I'm thinking about it, PV2012 *does* seem to run a little noisy in the shadows (only), more so than PV2010 did, or DPP/NX2, so I do share that experience with you, FWIW.

      -----------

      ~R.

      Message was UPDATED by: Rob Cole

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