Picture Styles Settings

[valo_soul]

I have never owned an EOS digital with the option of Picture Styles. My 40D

will be arriving tomorrow and I'd just like to know, do the styles affect RAW

files or just jpegs.

 

I mean, I shoot RAW anyway and I probably won't use Picture Styles but I'm just

curious. Do they embed some sort of preset into the RAW? Similar to how all RAW

converters read the original white balance?

 

From past experience with shooting in B&W mode on a 350D, I know that Canon

software will open RAW files as being B&W, when shot in B&W, while all other

converters show it as they interpret it, and in color. I assume this will be

similar. Canon software will show RAW files with the picture styles effects,

while Lightroom, etc, will show it as they would normally interpret it?

[uncle_ziba]

Camera settings are stored with the RAW file and applied automatically when you view the image in canon software (DPP). The pictures will show up with the Picture Style effect applied. But you can remove it and apply a different effect. Even if you selected monochrome mode in camera, the RAW will allow switch from B&W back to color, change filter effect, sharpening level, etc.

[PuppyDigs]

Pic styles and other parameters only effect processing of JPEGS. However RAW files have a

software tag telling DPP to use these settings as default processing. However, you can

change any of these defaults and save a new tag or recipe as Canon calls it. The RAW data

stays intact, only the recipe changes. Third party apps like PS Camera RAW are unable to read

Canon's software tags and thus ignore them. For this reason I prefer DPP over PS for initial

RAW conversion. Having my fav camera defaults already set saves a hoe lotta clicks...

[valo_soul]

Thank you both. It's as I had imagined.

[daniel_nordling1]

Note that the Picture Style also affects the preview image embedded in the RAW-file. This preview image is used for in camera browsing and magnifying, it is also used by many image browser and sorting applications on your PC (i.e. Irfanview, Imatch etc.).

 

Therefore you might want to set a Picture Style that is close to the output you get from your favorite RAW converter software, usually lower contrast and medium to high sharpening. If sharpening is set to low it can be hard to judge image focus, contrary to when shooting in JPEG when low sharpening is recomended for post processing of images.

 

/Daniel

[bobatkins]

You don't have to have a Picture Styles Capable DSLR (such as a 30D or 40D) to use picture styles.

 

If you shoot RAW with a 20D (which doesn't have picture styles), you can apply them during RAW conversion with DPP (at long as you're using one of the later versions of DPP which are available for download from Canon).

[robin_sibson1]

Picture Styles appear to be more than just named combinations of user-settable parameters, although each does incorporate its own choice of settings for those parameters - in other words, you can't turn one Picture Style into another just by changing parameters. Canon's descriptions of the Picture Styles are at an elmost entirely superficial level, apart from Faithful which is now asserted (still in rather imprecise terms) to be designed to achieve colorimetric matching under a 5200K light source. If anyone understands in depth what is going on, it would be really interesting to learn more.

[keith_lubow]

Lets get the terminology right; they are called Idiot Modes, not Picture Styles.

 

Just kidding.

 

They are applied to JPEGs in camera, and cannot be undone in that case. If you have them set while shooting raw, they will be carried over to your computer (just like white balance), but are not set in stone until you convert the raw info into an image file.

 

The pictures that show on your LCD are mini JPEGs that are there just for in-camera viewing, since you cannot actually ever view a raw file directly. These little JPEGs have to be processed from the raw info, so they will be affected by the settings as well.

 

I almost always shoot JPEG with a custom parameter with contrast at -2 and everything else flat. Anything else can be done better later.

 

Keith

[uncle_ziba]

I downloaded a couple of "canned" picture styles from here http://web.canon.jp/imaging/picturestyle/

 

But couldn't figure out how to view all of the parameters of a Picture Style. The camera only shows/sets basics like sharpness, saturation, color tone, but not color curves.

[robin_sibson1]

No, Keith, you'll have to invent some other disparaging name for Picture Styles, the Idiot Modes are the Basic Zone modes with tacky icons. At least you can avoid using those and even pretend they aren't there. Canon's own RAW converters, whether in the camera or in software like the increasingly useful DPP, all use Picture Styles, so even if you stick to Neutral or Faithful, it's helpful to understand what they are doing. I think Zibadun is right that the interesting bit (clever bit, perverse bit, depending on your point of view) is what goes on with the tone curves. I don't even know whether what is used is a 3D or 3x1D lookup table.