Picture Style Selection on EOS 5D MkII

[Rupert49]

When setting up my new 5D MkII recently I was undecided which of the numerous picture style settings to use. Having selected 'neutral' (no in camera processing - the recommended choice for users who prefer to process their images with their personal computer, so the booklet says) I then referred to the picture style setting on my old 5D and was surprised to find that I have been using it all this time on 'standard', which does employ a bit of in camera sharpening.

Since I always put my pictures through Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop Elements anyway (which usually involves a tiny bit of sharpening) should I stick with 'neutral' from now on for maximum control over the final look of my pictures, or is the amount of in camera sharpening minimal anyway and doesn't really make that much difference? Perhaps I've overlooked the fact that the in camera processing will only affect the jpegs, not the RAW files ... am I right?

I'd love to hear from other 5D/5D MkII users as to what setting they use and why

[Roger_Provins]

I would say that whatever you do with those setting it's only going to affect camera processed jpeg output. If they have any effect on raw output then raw isn't raw - is it?

[Rustyknight]

If you open a RAW file with Canons DPP software, you'll see that the cameras "style setting" will automatically be applied to the image via the tool palette, though of course it's easy enough to change them before converting to jpeg.

I can't say if third party software would do the same, so p'raps an idea for someone to experiment with?

On both my 30D and 5D I have the style set to "Faithful", which for some reason has the same settings as the "Neutral" style. Looking at the menu, all the styles can be tweaked "in camera", but as everything goes through DPP anyway it, doesn't really matter too much.

[Bettina]

I think my 5D mkII is set on "faithful" but I'm mostly going through Camera Raw in CS4 - where it defaults to Adobe Standard but you can apply the other settings and see what suits the picture best. But as it's RAW, it can all be undone.

[PeteRob]

I think "raw" has to be interpreted to some baseline whatever application you open the file in. DPP offers a choice of different interpretations (the default styles) plus, with the picure style editor, you can expand these in a way that, reading AP articles on photoshop, is similar to modifying specific colour ranges in the picture. I print directly from DPP so I generally try all the styles to see what best suits each picture - generally I use standard, neutral, faithful (they are different) and landscape. Portait can make faces a bit florid. I have been trying to improve on the standards using picture style editor. It is annoying that DPP doesn't remember extra styles - it saves the extra info. with the one picture. To use picture style editor it helps to read the tutorials on the Canon web site.

[Benchista]

I think my 5D mkII is set on "faithful" but I'm mostly going through Camera Raw in CS4 - where it defaults to Adobe Standard but you can apply the other settings and see what suits the picture best. But as it's RAW, it can all be undone.

Yup. You can apply what I think from memory Adobe refers to as "camera settings", which picks up the picture style, but you're certainly not obliged to use it either in ACR or DPP. Personally, I use a couple of monochrome settings to examine the captured image on the review screen when I'm shooting specifically for B&W, otherwise leave it in standard.

[daft_biker]

With flash I find the colours in "standard" too saturated...can't remember what I use now as I never change it or shoot JPEGs on my DSLR. I don't like that it gets it's own button either...I use mirror lockup way, way more often than change picture style on camera.

[Benchista]

Me too. What I do for that is to set my custom setting (C1 on my 5D, but more modern cameras have more) on the mode dial to be my most-used settings with mirror lock-up, then I just have to rotate the dial. Took me a long time to work that out, though!