Calling All Canon DPP4 Users!

GR8 said:

RLight said:

I stick to "auto" actually; it's a picture style that the camera chooses at time of capture which it "thinks" applies. Typically it's a slight variant of Standard. Don't believe me? Try flipping between auto and standard, it varies ever so slightly.

Now, when I venture away from Auto, it's to either Fine Detail, or on occasion, and for just those occasions, landscape. It makes greens and blues punch harder (think foliage and sky or water)

If I do apply other sliders on the R8, it's saturation. Less is more. Typically, I apply about +0.3 saturation, if, desired. Contrast, somewhere between +0.2 and +0.5 at most. The auto button is pretty smart at finding how much highlights need to be adjusted to keep whites from clipping, but dumb at wanting to constantly push shadows which make your blacks no longer black. Word to the wise? Every shot needs a true black and a true white. Frequently, I'll take the suggestion by auto on highlight, but sometimes I won't. Say it suggests -4 highlights; if the results produces greys in the sky, I'll actually dial it back to say -3 or -2 till I have a white pop of some form. Likewise, I'll actually go negative on the shadows on occasion, say -0.5 or at most -1.0. Be careful, any positive values on contrast also introduce negative shadows. The idea is having a true black and a true white. Ansel Adams was very insistent on it, and I have to concur. So if you're punching contrast hard, be careful with reducing shadows, and vice versa.

Click to expand...

Thank you! More like this, please!

Click to expand...

lehane19 said:

I mean to resize the whole application window. It seems the code is optimized for LCD screens in 2006. For me it's mainly manifesting when scrolling through images. See it by yourself. Make it full screen and try scrolling. It’s darn laggy.

Also, I forgot to mention. When scrolling through images with labels underneath the images disabled speeds up the application too

Click to expand...

MAC said:

GR8 said:

RLight said:

I stick to "auto" actually; it's a picture style that the camera chooses at time of capture which it "thinks" applies. Typically it's a slight variant of Standard. Don't believe me? Try flipping between auto and standard, it varies ever so slightly.

Now, when I venture away from Auto, it's to either Fine Detail, or on occasion, and for just those occasions, landscape. It makes greens and blues punch harder (think foliage and sky or water)

If I do apply other sliders on the R8, it's saturation. Less is more. Typically, I apply about +0.3 saturation, if, desired. Contrast, somewhere between +0.2 and +0.5 at most. The auto button is pretty smart at finding how much highlights need to be adjusted to keep whites from clipping, but dumb at wanting to constantly push shadows which make your blacks no longer black. Word to the wise? Every shot needs a true black and a true white. Frequently, I'll take the suggestion by auto on highlight, but sometimes I won't. Say it suggests -4 highlights; if the results produces greys in the sky, I'll actually dial it back to say -3 or -2 till I have a white pop of some form. Likewise, I'll actually go negative on the shadows on occasion, say -0.5 or at most -1.0. Be careful, any positive values on contrast also introduce negative shadows. The idea is having a true black and a true white. Ansel Adams was very insistent on it, and I have to concur. So if you're punching contrast hard, be careful with reducing shadows, and vice versa.

Click to expand...

Thank you! More like this, please!

Click to expand...

use a good photo monitor that is calibrated

use your eyes on the adjustments, including zooming in to see the impact of the change

instead of paying $5/mo. for DPP AI, save that and on Black Friday buy the latest DXO Photo Lab Elite at a huge discount which will give you class leading AI and so much better processing and you'll not pay rent

get free faststone for culling that has the same full screen selection mode but has much better magnification and comparison and scrolling through photos - it is also faster

I use to use DPP. but DXO PL Elite and free faststone is so much better and you'll be able to get it for under $100 on black friday

I've been at it for 25 years shooting millions of shots

don't dumb down your processing software

Click to expand...

MAC said:

I use to use DPP. but DXO PL Elite and free faststone is so much better and you'll be able to get it for under $100 on black friday

Click to expand...

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

Andy01 said:

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

The cost to upgrade DxO PL is half the standard cost - if upgrading within 2 years.

Right now for anyone with PL6 or PL7 the cost is US$120 (full price = US$240). I can't remember for certain, but I think this upgrade price dropped to around US$80 at BF.

So yes, if you feel the need to upgrade EVERY year, then there is a cost. If, however, you upgraded every 2 years, then the cost (currently) would be US$120 every 2 years, or US$80 every 2 years at BF (= $3.33/month). Remember that the upgrades are included during the first year, so it is only 1 year that you are without upgrades.

For comparison a basic Lightroom subscription is US$10/month, which is a fair bit more than $3/month (over 24 months).

Click to expand...

MAC said:

Andy01 said:

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

The cost to upgrade DxO PL is half the standard cost - if upgrading within 2 years.

Right now for anyone with PL6 or PL7 the cost is US$120 (full price = US$240). I can't remember for certain, but I think this upgrade price dropped to around US$80 at BF.

So yes, if you feel the need to upgrade EVERY year, then there is a cost. If, however, you upgraded every 2 years, then the cost (currently) would be US$120 every 2 years, or US$80 every 2 years at BF (= $3.33/month). Remember that the upgrades are included during the first year, so it is only 1 year that you are without upgrades.

For comparison a basic Lightroom subscription is US$10/month, which is a fair bit more than $3/month (over 24 months).

Click to expand...

yeah, I've been upgrading every 2 years on black Friday

Click to expand...

MAC said:

GR8 said:

RLight said:

I stick to "auto" actually; it's a picture style that the camera chooses at time of capture which it "thinks" applies. Typically it's a slight variant of Standard. Don't believe me? Try flipping between auto and standard, it varies ever so slightly.

Now, when I venture away from Auto, it's to either Fine Detail, or on occasion, and for just those occasions, landscape. It makes greens and blues punch harder (think foliage and sky or water)

If I do apply other sliders on the R8, it's saturation. Less is more. Typically, I apply about +0.3 saturation, if, desired. Contrast, somewhere between +0.2 and +0.5 at most. The auto button is pretty smart at finding how much highlights need to be adjusted to keep whites from clipping, but dumb at wanting to constantly push shadows which make your blacks no longer black. Word to the wise? Every shot needs a true black and a true white. Frequently, I'll take the suggestion by auto on highlight, but sometimes I won't. Say it suggests -4 highlights; if the results produces greys in the sky, I'll actually dial it back to say -3 or -2 till I have a white pop of some form. Likewise, I'll actually go negative on the shadows on occasion, say -0.5 or at most -1.0. Be careful, any positive values on contrast also introduce negative shadows. The idea is having a true black and a true white. Ansel Adams was very insistent on it, and I have to concur. So if you're punching contrast hard, be careful with reducing shadows, and vice versa.

Click to expand...

Thank you! More like this, please!

Click to expand...

use a good photo monitor that is calibrated

use your eyes on the adjustments, including zooming in to see the impact of the change

instead of paying $5/mo. for DPP AI, save that and on Black Friday buy the latest DXO Photo Lab Elite at a huge discount which will give you class leading AI and so much better processing and you'll not pay rent

get free faststone for culling that has the same full screen selection mode but has much better magnification and comparison and scrolling through photos - it is also faster

I use to use DPP. but DXO PL Elite and free faststone is so much better and you'll be able to get it for under $100 on black friday

I've been at it for 25 years shooting millions of shots

don't dumb down your processing software

Click to expand...

Zeee said:

MAC said:

Andy01 said:

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

The cost to upgrade DxO PL is half the standard cost - if upgrading within 2 years.

Right now for anyone with PL6 or PL7 the cost is US$120 (full price = US$240). I can't remember for certain, but I think this upgrade price dropped to around US$80 at BF.

So yes, if you feel the need to upgrade EVERY year, then there is a cost. If, however, you upgraded every 2 years, then the cost (currently) would be US$120 every 2 years, or US$80 every 2 years at BF (= $3.33/month). Remember that the upgrades are included during the first year, so it is only 1 year that you are without upgrades.

For comparison a basic Lightroom subscription is US$10/month, which is a fair bit more than $3/month (over 24 months).

Click to expand...

yeah, I've been upgrading every 2 years on black Friday

Click to expand...

A whole $7 a month savings. If I get a second job I might be able to take my wife out to MaDonalds because $7 won’t be enough

Click to expand...

Zeee said:

For my financial justification I’ve always had a personal website which I paid for. The Adobe plans come with that. Zenfolio cost me more per year than the Photo Plan itself so a no brainer for me. Also we get pretty big updates about every two to four months. Doesn’t work for everyone.

I have to tip my hat to DXO that now updates PL with any new features with the spring release of PureRaw.

Click to expand...

Zeee said:

At one time customers had to wait until the next version of PL in the fall and pay for it.

Click to expand...

Andy01 said:

Zeee said:

MAC said:

Andy01 said:

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

The cost to upgrade DxO PL is half the standard cost - if upgrading within 2 years.

Right now for anyone with PL6 or PL7 the cost is US$120 (full price = US$240). I can't remember for certain, but I think this upgrade price dropped to around US$80 at BF.

So yes, if you feel the need to upgrade EVERY year, then there is a cost. If, however, you upgraded every 2 years, then the cost (currently) would be US$120 every 2 years, or US$80 every 2 years at BF (= $3.33/month). Remember that the upgrades are included during the first year, so it is only 1 year that you are without upgrades.

For comparison a basic Lightroom subscription is US$10/month, which is a fair bit more than $3/month (over 24 months).

Click to expand...

yeah, I've been upgrading every 2 years on black Friday

Click to expand...

A whole $7 a month savings. If I get a second job I might be able to take my wife out to MaDonalds because $7 won’t be enough

Click to expand...

I agree that $7/month isn't a fortune, but by that basis neither is the $10 or $12/month for the Adobe subscription, and plenty of people complain about that. I guess over 10 years it does add up to a couple of new lenses

Andy01 said:

For my financial justification I’ve always had a personal website which I paid for. The Adobe plans come with that. Zenfolio cost me more per year than the Photo Plan itself so a no brainer for me. Also we get pretty big updates about every two to four months. Doesn’t work for everyone.

I have to tip my hat to DXO that now updates PL with any new features with the spring release of PureRaw.

Click to expand...

As a new user (since BF24) of DxO, I think I have had probably 4-5 updates since December'24 (I haven't kept count), so it hasn't just been the one with PureRaw.

Andy01 said:

At one time customers had to wait until the next version of PL in the fall and pay for it.

Click to expand...

I wasn't trying to open a discussion about DxO vs LR (or PS) - just commenting on the cost aspect of it - that is, DxO isn't a huge cost, especially if you don't upgrade every year, and you time your (2 yearly) upgrades to around the BF sale. It is substantially cheaper (1/3rd of the cost) than LR over time.

As I mentioned early in this thread, my workflow went from DPP (for corrections & RAW conversion to TIFF) + LR (for 90% of editing) + PS (for 10% of editing) to DxO PL8 (for 95% of editing and RAW conversion) + PS (older non-sub version for 5% of editing of very selected images).

So for me, DxO has sped up (and simplified) my workflow a LOT, and saved me from doing the very storage (and PC resource/power/time)-hungry step of 16bit TIFF conversion (using the notoriously slow DPP) in-between RAW and the final JPEG. But everyone has different needs, wants & priorities.

Click to expand...

Zeee said:

Andy01 said:

Zeee said:

MAC said:

Andy01 said:

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

The cost to upgrade DxO PL is half the standard cost - if upgrading within 2 years.

Right now for anyone with PL6 or PL7 the cost is US$120 (full price = US$240). I can't remember for certain, but I think this upgrade price dropped to around US$80 at BF.

So yes, if you feel the need to upgrade EVERY year, then there is a cost. If, however, you upgraded every 2 years, then the cost (currently) would be US$120 every 2 years, or US$80 every 2 years at BF (= $3.33/month). Remember that the upgrades are included during the first year, so it is only 1 year that you are without upgrades.

For comparison a basic Lightroom subscription is US$10/month, which is a fair bit more than $3/month (over 24 months).

Click to expand...

yeah, I've been upgrading every 2 years on black Friday

Click to expand...

A whole $7 a month savings. If I get a second job I might be able to take my wife out to MaDonalds because $7 won’t be enough

Click to expand...

I agree that $7/month isn't a fortune, but by that basis neither is the $10 or $12/month for the Adobe subscription, and plenty of people complain about that. I guess over 10 years it does add up to a couple of new lenses

Zeee said:

For my financial justification I’ve always had a personal website which I paid for. The Adobe plans come with that. Zenfolio cost me more per year than the Photo Plan itself so a no brainer for me. Also we get pretty big updates about every two to four months. Doesn’t work for everyone.

I have to tip my hat to DXO that now updates PL with any new features with the spring release of PureRaw.

Click to expand...

As a new user (since BF24) of DxO, I think I have had probably 4-5 updates since December'24 (I haven't kept count), so it hasn't just been the one with PureRaw.

Zeee said:

At one time customers had to wait until the next version of PL in the fall and pay for it.

Click to expand...

I wasn't trying to open a discussion about DxO vs LR (or PS) - just commenting on the cost aspect of it - that is, DxO isn't a huge cost, especially if you don't upgrade every year, and you time your (2 yearly) upgrades to around the BF sale. It is substantially cheaper (1/3rd of the cost) than LR over time.

As I mentioned early in this thread, my workflow went from DPP (for corrections & RAW conversion to TIFF) + LR (for 90% of editing) + PS (for 10% of editing) to DxO PL8 (for 95% of editing and RAW conversion) + PS (older non-sub version for 5% of editing of very selected images).

So for me, DxO has sped up (and simplified) my workflow a LOT, and saved me from doing the very storage (and PC resource/power/time)-hungry step of 16bit TIFF conversion (using the notoriously slow DPP) in-between RAW and the final JPEG. But everyone has different needs, wants & priorities.

Click to expand...

This true. The updates that have been added to LrC over the years which includes the new Adobe Adaptive Color which is AI. I know over the years members have stated that DXO got them there faster. Those who have not used LrC for many years would find it is not a slouch in that area either.

Click to expand...

Andy01 said:

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

The cost to upgrade DxO PL is half the standard cost - if upgrading within 2 years.

Right now for anyone with PL6 or PL7 the cost is US$120 (full price = US$240). I can't remember for certain, but I think this upgrade price dropped to around US$80 at BF.

So yes, if you feel the need to upgrade EVERY year, then there is a cost. If, however, you upgraded every 2 years, then the cost (currently) would be US$120 every 2 years, or US$80 every 2 years at BF (= $3.33/month). Remember that the upgrades are included during the first year, so it is only 1 year that you are without upgrades.

For comparison a basic Lightroom subscription is US$10/month, which is a fair bit more than $3/month (over 24 months).

Click to expand...

seliMcc said:

Andy01 said:

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

The cost to upgrade DxO PL is half the standard cost - if upgrading within 2 years.

Right now for anyone with PL6 or PL7 the cost is US$120 (full price = US$240). I can't remember for certain, but I think this upgrade price dropped to around US$80 at BF.

So yes, if you feel the need to upgrade EVERY year, then there is a cost. If, however, you upgraded every 2 years, then the cost (currently) would be US$120 every 2 years, or US$80 every 2 years at BF (= $3.33/month). Remember that the upgrades are included during the first year, so it is only 1 year that you are without upgrades.

For comparison a basic Lightroom subscription is US$10/month, which is a fair bit more than $3/month (over 24 months).

Click to expand...

Basic is a misnomer - You get LR, LRC, Photoshop, Adobe Portfolio, Bridge, iPad and iPhone apps, and cloud storage. It’s an excellent deal if you don’t mind subscriptions - and let’s face it, they’re all subscriptions whether in name or not.

Click to expand...

seliMcc said:

Andy01 said:

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

The cost to upgrade DxO PL is half the standard cost - if upgrading within 2 years.

Right now for anyone with PL6 or PL7 the cost is US$120 (full price = US$240). I can't remember for certain, but I think this upgrade price dropped to around US$80 at BF.

So yes, if you feel the need to upgrade EVERY year, then there is a cost. If, however, you upgraded every 2 years, then the cost (currently) would be US$120 every 2 years, or US$80 every 2 years at BF (= $3.33/month). Remember that the upgrades are included during the first year, so it is only 1 year that you are without upgrades.

For comparison a basic Lightroom subscription is US$10/month, which is a fair bit more than $3/month (over 24 months).

Click to expand...

Basic is a misnomer - You get LR, LRC, Photoshop, Adobe Portfolio, Bridge,

Click to expand...

seliMcc said:

iPad and iPhone apps, and cloud storage

Click to expand...

seliMcc said:

. It’s an excellent deal if you don’t mind subscriptions - and let’s face it, they’re all subscriptions whether in name or not.

Click to expand...

MAC said:

seliMcc said:

Andy01 said:

StrugglingforLight said:

I agree and that is why those that take photography seriously should look into a Lightroom subscription. You got to pay to update DXO to the latest release every year, so it's technically a subscription without saying it's one.

Click to expand...

The cost to upgrade DxO PL is half the standard cost - if upgrading within 2 years.

Right now for anyone with PL6 or PL7 the cost is US$120 (full price = US$240). I can't remember for certain, but I think this upgrade price dropped to around US$80 at BF.

So yes, if you feel the need to upgrade EVERY year, then there is a cost. If, however, you upgraded every 2 years, then the cost (currently) would be US$120 every 2 years, or US$80 every 2 years at BF (= $3.33/month). Remember that the upgrades are included during the first year, so it is only 1 year that you are without upgrades.

For comparison a basic Lightroom subscription is US$10/month, which is a fair bit more than $3/month (over 24 months).

Click to expand...

Basic is a misnomer - You get LR, LRC, Photoshop, Adobe Portfolio, Bridge, iPad and iPhone apps, and cloud storage. It’s an excellent deal if you don’t mind subscriptions - and let’s face it, they’re all subscriptions whether in name or not.

Click to expand...

?? Photoshop not included

Lightroom pricing and membership plans - Adobe

Click to expand...

JRET said:

Very interesting and informative thread. I've ignored DPP since moving to DxO almost 3 years ago. Time to upgrade my "ancient" DPP and revisit its capabilities.

Click to expand...