Feature request: Canon RAW recipies

[mrelbe]

I wish BB Pro would show Canon RAW images that have been adjusted by Canons DPP software using the stored recipe, instead of the version that was delivered by the camera only.

This would improve my workflow in that I would not have to manually create JPGs from the DPP-adjusted RAW images for my web galleries.

[DavidB]

If I read this question correctly, it is based on a misconception. RAW converters never change the image data in the RAW file; most do not change the file at all.

The process recipe is simply a stored set of instructions to DPP (and only DPP) as to how it should convert the file. All RAW converters that I have used have their own format and storage mechanism for saving settings and recipes, and recipes are not interchangeable between converters.

There is no reason in principle why you cannot use BB Pro to create web galleries (with suitably resized and adjusted images generated as part of the process) from the JPEG conversions produced by DPP, so it would be helpful to know why you need separate conversions for your galleries.

[mrelbe]

My workflow regarding Canon RAW images, BB Pro and web galleries is the following:

1. Using BB Pro, I send the RAW image to Canons DPP RAW converter.

2. Using DPP I make adjustments to the image. As you state above, the changes are only stored as recipes (of course).

2.1. I store the recipe of changes to the RAW file.

2.2. I then export a JPEG image from DPP and stores that along with the RAW image (same location but with a slightly different name).

3. Back to BB Pro I select the exported JPEG for my web gallery.

Thing is, it would be nice not to have to export the JPEG in step 2.2 by just to selecting the adjusted RAW image for the web gallery which then is processed exactly as you describe above; applying the recipe stored in step 2.1.

Hope this clarifies my original post.

Regards,
Mikael

[mrelbe]

RAW converters never change the image data in the RAW file; most do not change the file at all.

You are right, and I still think my original post is not based on a misconception.

Canons RAW converter stores changes as a recipe but the original settings, as created by the camera when the exposure was made, is not altered thus leaving you with an option to cancel all alterations. The image data itself in the file is never ever changed!

You can even remove dust and make some trivial cloning without affecting the original image as all is saved in the RAW files meta data.

Canons image viewer even adjusts the thumbnails based on the applied recipes.

(This also applies to JPEGS being adjusted by Canons DPP software.)

[DavidB]

I'm sorry I started my original post off on the wrong foot by discussing the RAW conversion process, of which we clearly have a common view. This is what I should have said.

The Canon RAW conversion in BB Pro uses the conversion libraries in the Canon SDK. These are (believe it or not) different from the libraries used by DPP. Chris has said that the SDK libraries appear to be similar to those used for in-camera conversion. Now, although I can't prove it, I very much doubt that Canon has publicly documented either the DPP libraries or the recipe format; if this is correct, there is no way that Chris can build a capability to read DPP recipes into BB Pro, even in the unlikely event that the recipes can be used with the different libraries in the SDK.

I use 3 RAW converters (C1, ACR and BB Pro), and occasionally experiment with DPP. All four applications have some form of conversion recipe, and all the recipes are application-specific. ACR and BB Pro very sensibly save their settings as a schema in the XMP file (which is therefore moved or copied with the parent RAW file by any XMP-aware application). C1 and DPP do their own thing with recipes, which can be a real pain in data management terms.

Given that a RAW file (often described as a digital negative) is not intended to be an end product, the workflow you describe makes sense to me. It is pretty much what I do with the RAW converters I use.

I hope this now answers your original question.

David

[mrelbe]

Yes David, and thank you very much for a very insightful answer!

I knew about the Canon SDK. But I didn't know that DPP uses it in a different way (or perhaps not at all).

So, unless Chris has a magic wand of some kind, it seems hard then to request a feature as I stated above :)

Again, thanks for informing us!

Best Regards
Mikael Relbe

[Chris Breeze]

Sorry this isn't possible. The raw conversion libraries Canon supply in their SDK are the same as used by ZoomBrowser and are completely different from the ones used by DPP (which are not made available to other developers).