Five RAW converters compared

In the comparisons below the JPEG and RAW images were taken within seconds of each other. The labels beside each sample equate to:

• JPEG - JPEG straight from the camera (Large, Fine)
• EVU - Canon EOS Viewer Utility 1.1.0.15
• DPP Shot - Canon Digital Photo Professional 1.1.0.2 (Color 'Shot setting')
• DPP Faithful - Canon Digital Photo Professional 1.1.0.2 (Color 'Faithful setting')
   
• C1 Pro - Capture One Pro 3.6 Beta * (click here)
• Bibble Pro - Bibble Pro 4.0 (click here)
• Adobe RAW - Adobe Camera RAW 2.3 (unofficial support) * (click here)

* These two converters are not final versions or did not officially support the EOS 20D, as soon as we can we will update this page with results from final versions.

Color reproduction

Place your mouse over the label below the image to see the GretagMacbeth ColorChecker chart converted using each RAW converter. What's interesting is the fairly significant difference between JPEG / EVU and DPP in 'shot' mode (which is clearly nothing like a standard 'shot' from the camera). Also interesting is that the actual color hues of DPP Faithful, Adobe RAW and Bibble Pro are relatively similar. My personal preference (and visibly the most accurate) is DPP Faithful. The most balanced and least likely to slip into over-saturation or clipping are JPEG / EVU.

JPEG	EVU	DPP Shot	DPP Faithful
C1 Pro	Bibble Pro	Adobe RAW

Sharpness and Detail

In the samples below the sharpness setting for each RAW converter was set to its default setting (except in the case of DDP where sharpness was set to 2; its default is no sharpening).

• JPEG - 'Mid High' (EOS 20D's Parameter 1 default)
• EVU - 'Mid High' (EOS 20D's Parameter 1 default)
• DPP - Sharpness: 2
• C1 Pro - Sharpening: Soft look, Default
• Bibble Pro - Sharpening: Standard
• Adobe RAW - Sharpness: 25 (default), Color Noise Reduction: 25 (default)

The immediate impression from these 100% crops is that JPEG straight out of the camera and EVU appear the sharpest but closer examination reveals that they also suffer from the most noticeable sharpening artifacts (halos). DPP, C1 Pro and Adobe RAW deliver good sharpness with almost none of the halo artifacts we're used to seeing.

J P E G
E V U
D P P S h o t
C 1 P r o
B i b b l e P r o
A d o b e R A W

Resolution

Out of camera JPEG and EVU deliver good sharpness although with obvious sharpening halos. Capture One Pro and Adobe Camera RAW deliver detail images with no sharpening artifacts. DPP once more has trouble with the resolution chart and exhibits some demosaicing and moire artifacts.

JPEG from camera	Canon EOS Viewer Utility
Canon Digital Photo Professional	Capture One Pro
Bibble Pro	Adobe Camera RAW