Canon's latest DPP 3.8 now available

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Canon's latest DPP 3.8 is now available for download from Canon USA.

I understand that in addition to being updated for the latest bodies, there's some changes to what it can do. It's a 46MB download, and installation on my machine went smoothly. Normal warnings and caveats apply.

(DPP is hidden behind a button allowing you to choose your operating system.)

[daft_biker]

I understand that in addition to being updated for the latest bodies, there's some changes to what it can do.

From the release notes on the Canon USA site:

Changes for Digital Photo Professional 3.8.0;
1. Supports Windows 7
2. Supports additional model
The EOS Kiss X4 / EOS REBEL T2i / EOS 550D is now supported.
3. Adds a lens that supports the aberration correction function.
EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM is newly supported.
4. Adds a function for adjusting the angle of an image to the Trimming tool.

I'm guessing the last one is like using the ruler tool in photoshop to fix a wonky horizon. Not that I shoot horizons very often but installed it anyway so it's there if I do need it - thanks for the heads up Malcolm

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Over the years since starting with a 10D, I've used Breezebrowser as my main browser and until two years ago felt no need to use DPP. (The raw conversion in Breezebrowser uses Canon's SDK so the results should be identical.)

However it seems as though the newer features are not being made available to 3rd. parties, and so DPP now has several advantages such as dealing with lens corrections, vignetting and having instant access to the AF MicroAdjust setting used for every image (Ctrl + I) and displayed in the EXIF panel.

I find this latter very useful when I'm trying to decide what the optimum setting is. As I live in a normal sized house, indoor tests using flash to eliminate shake are at much closer distances than I normally use when shooting birds, and a check on whether they are still optimum is worth making. So variations in the field around the indoor optimised setting are worth trying.

I've also found the lens corrections feature most beneficial when correcting images taken with my EF 20 f2.8 on my 5D. Without correction the vignetting at largish apertures is awful, and the aberration correction tool does an excellent job with sharpness in the corners.

On my quick test yesterday I had the impression that it works more speedily than my earlier edition, 3.5.2.

[daft_biker]

On my quick test yesterday I had the impression that it works more speedily than my earlier edition, 3.5.2.

I look forward to trying it later as I've just been out in the garden with my camera

Agree about the lens correction feature being useful though. I'm reliant on the CA correction to get anything like satisfactory results from my EF 24/2.8 at any aperture on the 7D.

[PeteRob]

Thanks for this - the rotate works very well - it was the one thing missing from DPP. I like the ability to adjust the grid so you always have a perfect square reference for the adjustment. The canon usa site is much easier to navigate than the UK site which does NOT have the 3.8. The DPP tutorial (google dpp tutorial canon) although for 3.2 is an eye-opener for how useful DPP can be. I had to download it - the online delivery lost the sound.

[Malcolm_Stewart]

...Agree about the lens correction feature being useful though. I'm reliant on the CA correction to get anything like satisfactory results from my EF 24/2.8 at any aperture on the 7D.

Triggered by your mention of CA on the EF 24 f2.8 (which I've had for some years without noticing any problems), I made use of yesterday's sunshine and did some church architecture using my 5D. They were captured at an ISO of 200 in raw and large jpeg. At f8, which is my usual for recording buildings, I really was hard pressed to spot the CA near the shorter edge, and only by having side-be-side comparisons in PS could I see any CA on the church steeple lightning conductor against a blue sky. Without the side by side comparison, it could easily have passed for a sharpening artefact, or not spotted at all.

Doubling the linear pixel density from the 5D to the 7D has obviously had a noticeable effect, and hopefully it should drive up lens quality - or as in DPP, clever software to sort out matters in PP at the cost of more time spent perusing one's monitor!

[daft_biker]

Doubling the linear pixel density from the 5D to the 7D has obviously had a noticeable effect, and hopefully it should drive up lens quality - or as in DPP, clever software to sort out matters in PP at the cost of more time spent perusing one's monitor!

I certainly noticed an effect the first (and only ) time I shot landscapes with the 24mm on the 7D.



I'd never looked at the lens correction feature before and haven't used it since other than to try it on some macros where I felt it was hardly worth bothering with. Chances are I won't look at it again until I see ugly coloured fringes in a shot I want to keep.

Hopefully it will drive up lens quality but I'm not holding my breath for replacements of the short and standard non-L primes. If I shot more landscapes I'd want a 5D2 with the TS-E 24mm and 45mm anyway. Although I'm not sure they're strictly necessary for what I want to do they do look like a lot of fun

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Thanks for the example - it jumps out at you, and it's pretty obvious what it is. Very different to me having to search through my images to find what you'd described.

[daft_biker]

It jumped out at me too and certainly wasn't something I was looking for.

Colour fringes aside the 24mm has never been my sharpest lens but with the CA correction I noticed a welcome improvement. With a few minutes effort in DPP the sharpness and level of detail can be improved to be more like what I'd expect from my 50/1.4. It was things like the definition of branches on trees where there may not have been fringing but CA correction gave a greater perception of sharpness and improved colour.

I can email you some sample RAW files to mess about with if you like?

[Malcolm_Stewart]

...I can email you some sample RAW files to mess about with if you like?

Thanks for the kind offer, which I'll decline. I really must tidy the house, garden, slide collection etc.... and take one of my film cameras for an outing!

[jennief]

Please be a little more specific for a dummy who cant find it anywhere on the site and a search returns nothing??
I would appreciate an idiots guide to how to locate it please.

[Malcolm_Stewart]

1 Google for "Canon USA Support".
2 Choose Consumer Products, Product search
3 Click on Cameras
4 Click on Eos, and then latest model, 1D Mk IV
This gives you the downloadable manuals page, ignore.
5 Click on "Select OS" and Voila! dpp etc. is on offer to download.
6 Click to Accept the terms and conditions, and the download should start.


There are probably short cuts in the above, but if you want the latest version of DPP, always choose the most recently issued body.

You must have already loaded dpp on to your computer's HDD from the CD which came with your camera, otherwise the newly downloaded file won't install. Plenty of ways round this if you haven't loaded dpp and don't have the CD - do a search on the DPReview Canon forums for the registry hacks etc. (If you're not into hacking the registry, beware, make backups and do take all precautions.)

HTH

[jennief]

Thank you-you are a star - that was sooo easy.
All done!

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Pleased to have been of help - the same basic technique works on many websites.

I nearly always download the manual before buying any new kit - not that I'm bright enough to understand that much before getting my hands on the new toy!

[Norman]

You must have already loaded dpp on to your computer's HDD from the CD which came with your camera, otherwise the newly downloaded file won't install. Plenty of ways round this if you haven't loaded dpp and don't have the CD - do a search on the DPReview Canon forums for the registry hacks etc. (If you're not into hacking the registry, beware, make backups and do take all precautions.)

I always thought this to be the case too. I recently re-built my PC with a 64bit OS and hadn't got round to re-installing DPP from my camera CD. I downloaded version 3.8 expecting to have to perform the initial install first. 3.8 went straight on without a hitch. I believe it is the case for some of the other Canon software but DPP went straight on.

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Browsing elsewhere I've just found this thread. Could be interesting / useful to some of us. If I've understood correctly, the plug-in, which I haven't checked in any way, adds Photoshop type measure and rotate automation to DPP.

Thread listing possibility of plug-ins for DPP

[manxman2]

I notice that on the same download site Zoombrowser is now version 6.5.1 and EOS Utility is 2.8.1 - not sure if they're worth updating?

[beejaybee]

Usual advice applies i.e. if what you have does what you want & isn't a known security hazard, leave it alone. Don't fix what ain't broke.