Software (contd.) - RAW conversion

As is normal in our digital SLR reviews I like to compare the supplied RAW conversion software, any optional manufacturer RAW conversion software and some third party RAW converter. Note in this instance we are using at least TWO RAW converters which are still at Beta stage and only have initial support for the EOS 350D, these are Adobe Camera RAW 3.1 (Photoshop CS2; not yet released) and Bibble Pro 4.2.

• JPEG - Large/Fine, Default settings
• RAW Image Task - Canon ZoomBrowser EX 5.1 (using RAW Image Task plug-in) *1
• DPP - Canon Digital Photo Professional 1.6.1 (Shot and Faithful color settings)
• Adobe Camera RAW - Adobe Camera RAW 3.1 (Photoshop CS2), Beta *2
• Bibble Pro - Bibble Pro 4.2, initial support for the EOS 350D (normal tone), Beta

*1 This appears to be a development of 'EOS Viewer Utility' now a plug-in for ZoomBrowser
*2 ACR 3.1 has 'Auto' adjustments for several settings, these were disabled for neutral output

Color reproduction

Place your mouse over the label below the image to see the GretagMacbeth ColorChecker chart converted using each RAW converter. As we saw in our EOS 20D review there's a noticeable difference between JPEG / RAW Image Task and DPP in either mode. Bibble is clearly in early Beta stages and so it's color balance is still a bit off. Adobe Camera RAW delivers a fairly similar hue balance as DPP Faithful but with more saturation.

JPEG	RAW Image Task	Adobe Camera RAW β
Bibble Pro 4.2 β	DPP Shot	DPP Faithful

Sharpness and Detail

Fairly interesting results here, we get the best detail and sharpness from Adobe Camera RAW followed by in-camera JPEG and RAW images processed by ZoomBrowser's "RAW Image Task". Digital Photo Professional produces a less processed looking image with slightly less detail and more lost in areas of highlight.

J P E G
R A W I m a g e T a s k
D P P
A d o b e R A W
B i b b l e P r o

Digital Photo Professional coloration artifacts

One thing we did note were odd green coloration artifacts around areas of contrast in our watch shot, this was not visible in any of the other images, the JPEG from the camera or RAW converted images. The other thing you can see fairly clearly in the 200% crops below is how much better RAW Image Task is at maintaining highlight detail compared to DPP.

R A W I m a g e T a s k
D P P
A d o b e R A W

Resolution

The result from out of the camera JPEG and RAW Image Task are fairly good and absolutely identical, clearly the RAW Image Task utility has an identical image processing pipeline to the camera. Of the RAW converters Adobe Camera RAW is clearly better at this task with no visible sharpening artifacts and extremely good resolution.

Digital Photo Professional delivered good resolution without sharpening halos but with very visible color moire artifacts (as we have seen in previous incarnations of this converter). Bibble Pro in Beta form also delivered good resolution with no noticeable sharpening artifacts but with an obvious green color cast and moire.

JPEG from camera	RAW Image Task (via ZoomBrowser)
Digital Photo Professional 1.6.1	Adobe Camera RAW 3.1 β (Photoshop CS2)
Bibble Pro 4.2 β