Shooting Raw

canon400d

I have my 40D on Raw + Ljpg. Recently I have noticed when I have transferred the photos from camera into DPP I am now finding that the Raw image is much more in focus than its corresponding Jpg image. Initially I found they were always both in focus but as I say I find it is only the raw image that is in focus. I hope I have made myself clear.
Regards
Bob

georges

noise reduction?
Did you turn on noise reduction? That can sometimes soften detail.

canon400d

georges wrote:

Did you turn on noise reduction? That can sometimes soften detail.

Hi George
I have checked and the noise reduction is in the off position. Thanks for assisting.
Regards
Bob

pathfinder

Bob,

I don't use DPP, I don't even have a copy on my current desktop, so........

The jpg, stored on your CF chip, when your 40D is firing in RAW + jpg mode, is derived directly from the same RAW image data captured by the camera; there cannot be any difference in "focus" between the images as they are they very same data captured with the lens not moving at all.

Having said that, there can be differences in sharpening - or lack thereof - between the images. Check and see if you have some automatic sharpening occurring in your RAW processing in DPP - check in preferences or settings somewhere.

Look in your 40D menu and make sure that the jpgs don't have sharpening turned all the way down too. Indeed, this is what I suspect is happening. Your jpgs in camera are not getting any sharpening, and your RAW files are getting a smidgen of sharpening automatically in passing through the RAW converter.

That would explain why RAW images seemed to be in better 'focus' than jpgs, which is backward of what is usually seen. RAW images usually have less processing done to them, than the more aggressive in camera jpg processing settings, and folks complain that the images aren't as good a P&S jpgs which are more contrasty and color punched.

Let me know what you find out.

canon400d

pathfinder wrote:

Bob,

I don't use DPP, I don't even have a copy on my current desktop, so........

The jpg, stored on your CF chip, when your 40D is firing in RAW + jpg mode, is derived directly from the same RAW image data captured by the camera; there cannot be any difference in "focus" between the images as they are they very same data captured with the lens not moving at all.

Having said that, there can be differences in sharpening - or lack thereof - between the images. Check and see if you have some automatic sharpening occurring in your RAW processing in DPP - check in preferences or settings somewhere.

Look in your 40D menu and make sure that the jpgs don't have sharpening turned all the way down too. Indeed, this is what I suspect is happening. Your jpgs in camera are not getting any sharpening, and your RAW files are getting a smidgen of sharpening automatically in passing through the RAW converter.

That would explain why RAW images seemed to be in better 'focus' than jpgs, which is backward of what is usually seen. RAW images usually have less processing done to them, than the more aggressive in camera jpg processing settings, and folks complain that the images aren't as good a P&S jpgs which are more contrasty and color punched.

Let me know what you find out.

Hi Pathfinder. You are perfectly correct once again and you appear to have solved it for me. I went into the Edit Image window which took me to the Main Window and went into Tools and altered the setting from High Speed to High Quality and that seems to have done the trick. What had me puzzled was the fact that the Jpg has just started to go out of focus in DPP. The procedure I use is when I put the photos onto the computer they go through the process of DPP and then end up in My Docs. I never do any post editing as I do this on Photoshop CS4.
Thanks once again for your help which I truly appreciate.
Regards
Bob

Thunder Rabbit

Howdy.

There are certainly reasons to save images as jpgs, but if you are shooting RAW and have RAW conversion software, capturing RAW plus jpg is not particularly advantageous. The on board jpg conversion capabilities of even the most expensive DSLRs are primitive compared to what you can do in ACR in CS4.

Shooting RAW-only offers a few advantages. The first advantage will be on board storage. Attaching a large jpg file to each RAW file will of course reduce the number of images you can store on your memory card. There's nothing worse than running out of storage when there are more images to capture. Even changing memory cards can cause you to miss the image of a lifetime. Also, writing the extra file will slow down your camera's performance. In cameras with fast processors this won't be noticeable unless you start using your camera like a machine gun. For users with lower end cameras, there might be a significant difference even shooting in single frame mode.

But even aside from all that, if you are shooting +jpg so you can archive the images, why archive an inferior version of your image? If you are going to process your RAW images anyway, why not make the jpgs after, and they will reflect the more detailed and accurate adjustments made to the RAW file in ACR? (You are editing in ACR, not Photoshop, aren't you?)

If you don't mind me asking, exactly how do the jpgs your camera makes fit into your workflow? Do they go into archive, or what?

canon400d

Thunder Rabbit wrote:

Howdy.

There are certainly reasons to save images as jpgs, but if you are shooting RAW and have RAW conversion software, capturing RAW plus jpg is not particularly advantageous. The on board jpg conversion capabilities of even the most expensive DSLRs are primitive compared to what you can do in ACR in CS4.

Shooting RAW-only offers a few advantages. The first advantage will be on board storage. Attaching a large jpg file to each RAW file will of course reduce the number of images you can store on your memory card. There's nothing worse than running out of storage when there are more images to capture. Even changing memory cards can cause you to miss the image of a lifetime. Also, writing the extra file will slow down your camera's performance. In cameras with fast processors this won't be noticeable unless you start using your camera like a machine gun. For users with lower end cameras, there might be a significant difference even shooting in single frame mode.

But even aside from all that, if you are shooting +jpg so you can archive the images, why archive an inferior version of your image? If you are going to process your RAW images anyway, why not make the jpgs after, and they will reflect the more detailed and accurate adjustments made to the RAW file in ACR? (You are editing in ACR, not Photoshop, aren't you?)

If you don't mind me asking, exactly how do the jpgs your camera makes fit into your workflow? Do they go into archive, or what?

Hi Thunder
Yes you are correct in what you have said and I really appreciate the advice you have given me. I have just rattled a few shots off in raw and I have found the process of writing these from the camera to DPP is certainly a lot faster. I do all my editing in ACR CS4 {which I am still learning} and then turn them into Jpgs.
I have had no problems in the past with Jpgs and I have been in the habit of storing all the raws and Jpgs on my 800GB external hard drive.
In view of what you have said I will certainly use Raw only. Thanks once again for your kind help.
Regards
Bob