According to Canon: Digital Photo Professional (DPP) is a high-performance RAW image processing, viewing and editing software for EOS digital cameras and PowerShot models with RAW capability. Using DPP you can easily perform basic and advanced editing and printing of RAW images.
DPP supports sRGB, Adobe RGB, Wide Gamut RGB and Color Management System (CMS) using the International Color Consortium (ICC) Profile. Digital Photo Professional is included in the initial software setup for your Canon camera.
You can also download the software from the Canon website of your country. You would need to locate your camera model, prove proof of ownership to be able to activate the software. I recommend updating the software regularly as Canon often releases feature updates and camera & lens updates to the software.
Why Use DPP 4?
If you are shooting with Canon's DSLRs or Mirror Less cameras I recommend using DPP as the first step in your digital Dark Room. It is the best at reading Canon's raw files. Adobe Lightroom and other 3rd party software miss critical details that Canon does in Camera and is able to read in DPP. Below are a couple of examples comparing viewing the raw file in Canon's DPP and Adobe Lightroom.
I shot both of these flowers back in 2012 with my Canon 50D. They are CR2 raw image files. The image on the left as viewed in DPP 4 preserves all of the colors, brightness and Picture Style from the camera. In Lightroom, the image on the left, those details are stripped and LR applies its default profile. I would need to do quite a bit of work in LR just to get the image to what I saw in camera. In Lightroom the flower appears to be blue. But in DPP you can see that it is more blue violet with purple hues.
The image below, the initial file opened in Lightroom is darker and not as vibrant.
Another benefit of using DPP 4 is that you can change the picture style, white balance, etc just like you would in camera and save to the raw file. In Lightroom you would need to convert the file to a DNG to save changes to a raw file.
Not convinced, then check out EOS Magazine, they have an excellent article with an in-depth feature comparison that demonstrates the value of using DPP to process your raw Canon files: Why Use Digital Photo Professional.
Video Tutorials
Canon USA has a four part video tutorial series which gives you a basic introduction to DPP 4. Below is lesson 1 Overview and Interface Tour.
Canon Professional Services Europe, working with George Cairns, created a deep dive tutorial series to learn how to use Canon's robust Digital Photo Professional (DPP) 4 software. This tutorial series consists of 11 videos and 11 mini guides with practice images for 9 of the 11 tutorials so you can work along with the instructor.
Video Tutorials
These video tutorials were hosted on the CPS Europe website. Sadly, they did a website refresh and the videos are no longer available. Fortunately, I have those videos archived and am making them available to you, so all Canon users who are not familiar with the software can get in-depth training that will help learn and master this robust software.
Mini Guides
Each video tutorial comes with a PDF Mini Guide that you should read while watching the video tutorials.
Mini Guides
I will post each mini guide with its requisite tutorial.
Practice Images
Several of the video tutorials include practice images so you can work along with the instructor.
Practice Images
I will post links to applicable practice images with each requisite tutorial.
Videos and accompanying blog posts will be posted twice a week July 10 - August 14, 2021 to give you ample time to watch and practice the skills learned using the accompanying images and your own images.
Adjust Tone Curve & Dynamic Range Learn how to remap incorrectly exposed tonal input levels to correctly exposed output levels with Canon's Digital Photo Professional 4. A photograph’s tones are represented by a range of tonal levels. The darkest black shadows have a level of 0, while the brightest white highlight level is 255. Midtones fall between 0 and 255. If a photo is incorrectly exposed then you can use Digital Photo Professional 4 to remap shadow, midtone or highlight input levels to give them lighter or darker output levels. Mini Guide Follow along and take notes Lesson Files Download the course file(s) so that you can practice with the same file(s) the instructor is working on; download the course file(s) here . Enjoyed this lesson, comment below or tweet along with me Tweet to @DesignsOwens Lesson 4: How to Correct Color Casts Want to see all of the 11 DPP Lessons, click the DPP keyword below.
Using the Crop & Rotate Tool Learn how to use the Crop tool to adjust and improve a RAW file's composition. You can correct a crooked horizon, crop out unwanted elements, or change the composition from a rectangle to a square or from landscape to portrait. With Digital Photo Professional 4’s Crop and Rotate tools you can take more control of the composition of an image. Although cropping a shot will create a smaller version of the image, it will still be more than large enough to be enjoyed on the web or printed out at standard print sizes due to the large megapixel resolution of your DSLR. Mini Guide Follow along and take notes Lesson Files Download the course file(s) so that you can practice with the same file(s) the instructor is working on; download the course file(s) here . Enjoyed this lesson, comment below or tweet along with me Tweet to @DesignsOwens Lesson 6: Sharpen Detail Want to see all of the 11 DPP Lessons, click the DPP key...
These were amazing for me. I enjoyed every one. Thanks so much for saving these.
ReplyDeleteGerry.