G7X II - RAW into Lightroom question

I have just had a play with the G7X 2 in a shop and there is indeed no config for the RAW type. You can choose RAW plus various jpeg quality levels, but no option for the RAW except on/off.

LIghtroom 6.12 imports CR2 files with no issue.  Don't know about later versions.

Pap38 wrote:

I finally purchased the G7X ll. I needed a small camera that produces a good image and allow me to leave the DSLR behind. I'm still trying to understand the menu, came from Nikon and Panasonic, so I am confused. And I would prefer to shoot RAW but not understanding how to convert as Lightroom is an older copy and refuses the RAW. I went on the Adobe web site and couldn't figure out how to make it work. Any help would be appreciated.

Bruce

I haven't experienced your problem so no direct experience but here's a WAG fwiw: Convert CR2 files to 16 bit tiff or other current-lightroom-version acceptable format (DNG perhaps?) via Cannon's free photo processing software (avail on canon website) or other free raw converter program.

16 bit tiff will preserve all data and I assume in Canon's software it will preserve your current JPEGS settings which is a bonus because upon importing to lightroom ur pic will look exactly like on the camera's LCD but still have all the Raw data. I say "assume" because: 1) I haven't done it with Canon's software, only Nikon's, and 2) Nikon's capture NXD software (canon's equivalent) does exactly preserve camera picture settings when converting to 16 bit tiff.

Also BTW, since the g7xII is new to you, I would suggest looking into customizing the picture settings (JPEG settings) to your taste because it changes how the photos look (JPEG, and possibly Tiff as explained above) a lot, fe contrast and sharpness settings can make a big difference.

Pap38 wrote:

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

Haven't found the sharpness setting quite yet or saturation. The JPEG setting looks pretty good though>

Bruce

It's in the first menu ("shoot" menu), page 6, pictures styles. Go to "user defined" and it will let you customize the pre-determined styles (f.e. landscape) how u want.  You can set up 1-3 custom picture styles to choose from.

The G7X 2 has arrived but Lightroom 6.5 won't read the CR2 files

So I will investigate the converters mentioned further down.

Is there no Lightroom plug-in which might fix this?

MyM3 wrote:

G7x II needs Lightroom version 6.6 (or later). Look here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html

You should be able to update to (the last perpetual) 6.14.

https://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2017/12/6-14-now-available-last-perpetual-update-of-lightroom.html

(You will also find a link to the downloads there.)

FYI lightroom 6.12 works fine with g7xII raw files

I am successfully using the Canon software for batch converting the CR2 into TIFF.

I am specifying 8-bit TIFF because that is the only option which mentions EXIF, and obviously I want EXIF preserved. It looks like 16-bit TIFF doesn't support EXIF.

The strange thing I noticed in the Canon software is this

which looks like the program uses camera settings to decide what to do during the conversion. Obviously this is not desired. The CR2 should be converted into a "raw" TIFF file.

Does this make any sense? In any case I cannot see any camera config for the CR2 file processing. There are some Jpeg options for tweaking the jpegs...

Ideally I would like a simple standalone batch converter (the Canon software is mega bloated) but the only one I could find is dated 2012 and is unlikely to process the current CR2 format.

Yes it makes sense. Every Raw photo has a JPEG associated with it. If you are shooting raw only and you review the shot on the camera's LCD, you are looking at the RAW file's embedded/associated JPEG.

Preserving the camera settings means that your Tiff will look like the JPEG on your LCD, but it retains all the data (in this case 8 bit, not 16) and you can manipulate it just as with any raw file.

Think of it as the "starting point" for working on the raw file. When the camera JPEG settings are preserved, the starting point is a group of settings (f.e. saturation, contrast, etc.) just like the image on the LCD. So preserving the camera settings can be a big time saver as your starting point is already pretty close to where you want the photo to be. I don't see it as much on Canon but for Nikon RAW files it is so much faster for me to get the true Nikon colors by using Nikon software to keep those camera settings as the starting point (some poeple may use custom presets in lightroom or similar programs to achieve the same thing).

When you convert or import with a different program it will apply it's own settings so that the "starting point" probably won't look like the image on the LCD and sometimes can look really bland or sharpening will look different etc. (which is o.k. if that is what you want for a starting point). Have you ever opened a Raw file and it looked a certain way t first and then a moment later it looked different? That first image you see briefly is the JPEG that has the camera settings.

Another way to get the "starting point" closer to where you want the final product to be is that some programs like lightroom allow you to use presets so that it will automatically apply settings upon import so that the "starting point" looks a certain way based on the preferences you tell it (the preset).

Whether you want 16 or 8 bit or want to preserve EXIF info is personal preference. I do 16 bit because I want all the data but that means bigger files/poteniailly slower computer. You may never notice any difference between 8 and 16 bit depending on what you are doing such as heavily pulling shadows for example you might see a difference.

I would suggest trying a couple different options for those settings shown in the screenshot and see what you prefer.  And from then on you can just leave it at those settings.

Thank you for the explanation. I sort of knew that a raw file contains a camera profile of some kind, otherwise displaying it would be meaningless. But I expected the TIFF file to not be modified by this conversion.

Is there a CR2 to DNG converter which preserves EXIF and works with the G7X CR2?

EDIT: I have just exported some contrasty CR2s via the Canon sw (Digital Professional 4) to both 8 bit and 24 bit TIFFs and cannot see any difference whatsoever, even at 1:1 between them, in terms of anything and especially how much information can be extracted from shadows, or from highlight suppression.

The G7X is nothing like my Pentax K1 whose "shadow extraction capability" is awesome. Really the G7X is quite a bit better than my Samsung S7 phone, which is why I bought it. There is the optical zoom too of course...

Upon export to "95% quality" jpegs from Lightroom (this is my normal process) I see absolutely no difference in the jpegs. The difference in file size ranges from 1% to 10%, which on a jpeg is nothing.

But the weirdest thing is that EXIF is preserved in both 8 bit and 16 bit TIFF! It looks exactly the same!I can dropbox some pics if anybody wants to see them. I don't want to post the db link because that will get my db account pulled

I have also re-run the test with the options in the screenshot I posted earlier disabled, and it makes no difference. This could be because sharpening etc is disabled in the camera, although I have not yet found where those settings are. I am not really interested in image enhancement since jpegs from a decent camera don't need any...

There is plenty online suggesting that Canon software as of a few years ago can generate 16 bit TIFFs with EXIF, so why the current Canon PC software is still offering that list of options suggesting that 16 bit TIFFs have no EXIF option, is a mystery!

In any case, 16 bit TIFFs are clearly wasted on the G7X. You merely end up with 100MB files instead of 50MB.

peterh337 wrote:

Thank you for the explanation. I sort of knew that a raw file contains a camera profile of some kind, otherwise displaying it would be meaningless. But I expected the TIFF file to not be modified by this conversion.

Is there a CR2 to DNG converter which preserves EXIF and works with the G7X CR2?

EDIT: I have just exported some contrasty CR2s via the Canon sw (Digital Professional 4) to both 8 bit and 24 bit TIFFs and cannot see any difference whatsoever, even at 1:1 between them, in terms of anything and especially how much information can be extracted from shadows, or from highlight suppression.

The G7X is nothing like my Pentax K1 whose "shadow extraction capability" is awesome. Really the G7X is quite a bit better than my Samsung S7 phone, which is why I bought it. There is the optical zoom too of course...

Upon export to "95% quality" jpegs from Lightroom (this is my normal process) I see absolutely no difference in the jpegs. The difference in file size ranges from 1% to 10%, which on a jpeg is nothing.

But the weirdest thing is that EXIF is preserved in both 8 bit and 16 bit TIFF! It looks exactly the same!I can dropbox some pics if anybody wants to see them. I don't want to post the db link because that will get my db account pulled

I have also re-run the test with the options in the screenshot I posted earlier disabled, and it makes no difference. This could be because sharpening etc is disabled in the camera, although I have not yet found where those settings are. I am not really interested in image enhancement since jpegs from a decent camera don't need any...

I'm not following you. They should look exactly the same. All you are doing is converting the RAW and applying the camera's JPEG settings. That is exactly the same thing that the camera is doing for it's jpeg embedded in the raw file. The whole purpose of shooting RAW is so you have all the data to do post processing. If you only want the JPEG output why not just shoot in JPEG?

Maybe we need to review a few terms. Raw file is the RAW data file collected by the camera without any settings applied (i.e. no contrast, saturation, etc. etc.). The purpose of shooting in RAW is to be able to enhance the image via post processing. Think of it like film. If you shoot a polaroid, that is like shooting in JPEG. You have a printed, finished image that you can't change much. If you shoot film you have a negative that the then needs to be developed. The Raw file is like the negative. Then the developer adds any changes such as burning, dodging etc. and develops it to get the final print you want.