Canon DPP on iMac (1 Viewer)

[Colin Key]

Wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the computers section - belongs to both really.

I am now getting to grips with the new 20" iMac and most teething troubles are sorted. I still have reservations about the quality of the display but can confirm it is not a problem with my machine as I have seen other examples in the past couple of weeks which all appear to me to be a bit "naff".

I have today put the Canon software (DPP, Image Browser, EOS Utility, etc) onto the Mac and also copied over all my photos from my Sony Vaio laptop; as well as the original RAW files straight from the camera I have also copied the processed photos which have been saved as JPEGS or TIFFS. First time I opened DPP on the Mac I looked at a favourite photo of a Black-tailed Godwit which has been cropped, slightly sharpened and saved as a JPEG (attached). On my Vaio this photo looks absolutely superb with whichever viewer program it is opened, but in DPP on my iMac it is appalling. I transferred it into Image Browser on the Mac and, although the colour was not as good as on the Vaio, it was a nice sharp image.

Has anybody using a Mac experienced the same problem, or does anyone know what the problem might be? I know that DPP is much maligned but, for the moment, it is what I intend using to convert and process my RAW images.

Colin

 

[avan]

I use both Mac at home and at the museum. At work I got an e-mac, a one in all computer, so with a mac TFC screen. At home I use a G4 tower with a sony trinitron screen. The trinitron are a bit better but both screen are pretty good, anyway the Apple computer are renowed worlwide by graphist . As say both screen are TFC and not LCD like your, and so it can have a difference.Do you have set the color preference (adobe RGB or sRGB) to match the in camera one on both computer, screens, picture software? Do you have calibrated your screens?

 

[pe'rigin]

Colin,

I don't know too much about the Canon software, as it never crosses my path, but I have used Macs since they first came out. In theory, you should have no problems at all, the only thing that's sending me a warning note, is whether the software is savy with the Intels duo-processors and the running system. We are having fun and games at the moment with our software not being compatible.

The screen should give you a good, clear image to view. There not my favourite to use for colour balancing, but still are good screens.

On calibration, it should be already set from Apple, a simple test would be to colour up some blocks in the RGB and CMYK colours and then view.

Hopefully, it's a software browser problem which someone I'm sure can solve for you.

 

[Colin Key]

I use both Mac at home and at the museum. At work I got an e-mac, a one in all computer, so with a mac TFC screen. At home I use a G4 tower with a sony trinitron screen. The trinitron are a bit better but both screen are pretty good, anyway the Apple computer are renowed worlwide by graphist . As say both screen are TFC and not LCD like your, and so it can have a difference.Do you have set the color preference (adobe RGB or sRGB) to match the in camera one on both computer, screens, picture software? Do you have calibrated your screens?

Thanks for your reply avan. Yes, I have tried everything regarding colour preferences and screen calibration.

Since I first posted I have re-processed the RAW image on my iMac and saved it as a JPEG and it looks fine in DPP, but the same processed image copied over from my Sony Vaio still looks terrible in DPP on the iMac (as do all the images originally processed on my Vaio).

Do not understand why.

Colin

 

[avan]

Image save in JPG go in a compression process, so every time you save the same image it become compressed again and again. It doesn't take long to see the image degradation appear. Try to save from an original picture(JPG or RAW) in DPP to TIFF instead of JPG and try it in the iMac if you can see a difference. TIFF format are much more heavier in size but there are no compression done. I'm not sure this is the problem but it worth a try.

 

[pe'rigin]

Colin,

I think it's a process of elimination, just like anything to do with computers.

Can you open direct RAW in CS2 on the iMac?

If the image is fine then it's either the Sony or the Canon software.

Try as Avan said in tiff format but "save as" in Mac tif.file format, it may something as simple as your files being saved in PC format not transferring correctly.
Check that your files are at 8 bit colour channel depth.

 

[screaming piha]

Why use DPP, which is RAW processing software, to view JPGs? Seems back to front to me.

And what calibration tool are you using?

 

[Colin Key]

pe´rigin,

Thanks for your responses; your first one crossed with my post #4. I think that what you said in your second post is true - JPEGS and TIFFS saved on my PC are not transferring correctly.

jdj,

I don't actually use DPP normally to view JPEGS or TIFFS. As soon as RAW files are converted and saved I move them to another folder. I was really just curious as to why processed files saved on my PC (some of which were still in DPP with their RAW originals) were showing up in awful quality on my Mac in DPP. As I said earlier, the same files were O.K. in Image Browser on the Mac.

avan,

This cannot have been caused by over-compression since the files in question had only been saved once.


Clearly this is a software problem between PC and Mac. As I also said earlier, if I reprocess the RAW image in DPP on my Mac and save as JPEG or TIFF then they look fine.

I don´t use CS2 but I have ordered PS Elements 4.0 for Mac which should be in place later this week, so it will be interesting to see what it does as a RAW converter and JPEG/TIFF viewer.

Many thanks,

Colin