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.
Remove Unwanted Objects Using Digital Photo Professional 4’s Dust Delete/Copy Stamp Tool Palette to remove sensor spots and unwanted objects. You can clone parts of images to remove unwanted parts such as removing a person in the ocean. You can use this tool on Canon RAW images as well as TIFFs and JPGs. 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 9: Better Blacks & Whites Want to see all of the 11 DPP Lessons, click the DPP keyword below.
Organizing & Sorting Your Images Learn how to check images for quality and organize them using a range of useful criteria. In this first video lesson George Cairn demonstrates a range of ways to help you sort your shots, from displaying them in shooting order to filtering. You'll learn how to add ratings, check marks as well as creating Collections. Mini Guide Follow along and take notes Enjoyed this lesson, comment below or tweet along with me Tweet to @DesignsOwens Lesson 2: Recovering Missing Shadows Want to see all of the 11 DPP Lessons, click the DPP keyword below.
These were amazing for me. I enjoyed every one. Thanks so much for saving these.
ReplyDeleteGerry.