Developing Canon G10 RAW - Lightroom vs Canon DPP

I was fooling around with some photos I took with my Canon G10 at the Cambridge Fair, and I thought I'd run them through Canon DPP in addition to Lightroom, which I usually use for all my RAW developing.

As regular readers know, I'm a Lightroom lover, but I was just curious to see how the two sets of photos looked in comparison to each other. I didn't do any editing or adjustments. These are as shot.

Click on any of the photos to see a larger image.


Lightroom


Canon DPP

Pretty hard to see any difference here. Both look good, which is also a testament to the venerable little Canon G10 and P mode. Yes, I've been shooting the G10 in P mode a lot lately. It just works!


Lightroom


Canon DPP

This one I actually prefer the color rendering a little better on the Lightroom image, but again, it's so close, it's almost hard to tell them apart.


Lightroom


Canon DPP

Going to give the nod to the Canon DPP image on this one, mostly for shadow and mid tones. Again though, I'm splitting hairs. Both the Lightroom and the DPP images are very good and virtually identical.


Lightroom


Canon DPP


Lightroom


Canon DPP


Lightroom


Canon DPP

I think I like the Lightroom version of this one a little better for it's slightly warmer colors.


Lightroom


Canon DPP

I think this one goes to Canon DPP by a slight margin as I like the blue rendering a little better than Lightroom's, but again, splitting hairs here.


Lightroom


Canon DPP

Hard to call on this one. You decide. :-)


Lightroom


Canon DPP


Lightroom


Canon DPP

Slight edge to DPP on this one for color, but again, it's so close.

Overall, most of these are really virtually identical. There are subtle differences, but not enough to be identifiable by most people. All the images from both Canon DPP and Lightroom are excellent. I would have no problem using either to develop my Canon G10 RAW files from an image quality standpoint.

That said, the big difference again is that Lightroom is a much faster, much more powerful tool. I wouldn't think twice about it. I'd just use Lightroom and be done with it.

Of course, if you don't own Lightroom and aren't interested in purchasing it, well then this also proves that you won't be losing anything by way of image quality using Canon DPP, even if your workflow takes you a wee bit longer.

I should also mention that at this point, Lightroom has become so much more than just a RAW developer for me. I rarely take my images into Photoshop anymore. Lightroom has so many great tools that I use regularly (i.e. the clone tool, grad filters, vignetting), that I don't need Photoshop for the bulk of my images.

This is a major difference between Canon DPP and Lightroom. You don't get these kind of tools in DPP, so I'd be doing additional work in Photoshop if I was using DPP to develop my RAW files. With Lightroom, it's a one step solution! Not only is Lightroom faster, you can do so much more to finish your images than you can in DPP.

More on the Canon G10...

Shooting the G10 at ISO 800 and ISO 1600

Closeup Pics Using Macro Mode On the Canon G10

Mrs. Ballard Shoots The Canon G10 - Straight Out Of Camera Jpegs

Shooting the Canon G10 With An SB-26 Off Camera Flash

Canon G10 Unboxing & Why I Bought A Canon G10

5 Reasons To Sell Your Canon G10 And Buy A G11

Lightroom vs Canon DPP

Since I posted my Lightroom vs Nikon Capture / Nikon View article, I've had quite a few inquiries about my thoughts on Lightroom vs Canon's DPP (Digital Photo Professional) software.

I always liked DPP when I worked with it. It was very easy to work with (once you got the workflow figured out) and capable of delivering excellent quality RAW develops from Canon CR2 files. (for those that missed it, here's the link to my previous article on using Canon DPP.)

So I got to thinking that an actual comparison between Lightroom and DPP was in order.

Overall, my thoughts on comparing the RAW develops from each are very similar to the Lightroom vs Nikon comparison I did. In general, DPP does a better job right out of the gate with no tinkering.

You can get the same results, or very close, from Lightroom, but DPP provides a beautiful result right out of the camera as it were.

Between DPP and Lightroom, sometimes I liked the DPP file slightly better, and sometimes I liked the Lightroom file a little better. I used the Camera Standard profile in Lightroom, so the results were always pretty close (once I turned off my own presets).

That's the big thing that's changed since I used DPP a lot. Lightroom introduced camera profiles, and they do an excellent job of giving you the same or similar results as you would have got with a straight out of camera jpg or with the Canon software.

My conclusion here would be that DPP is great for quick and easy RAW to jpg conversions without having to tinker. Lightroom can take some tinkering to get an equally good result, but it's much better now that we have the camera profiles available.

Lightroom can match or come VERY close to Canon's DPP in quality when it comes to developing RAW CR2 Canon files. When it comes to workflow, speed, and versatility, Lightroom just blows Canon DPP away, although not as bad as it does Nikon. DPP is much more usable than the Nikon software.

Let's look at a couple images to see the results.

These are all from RAW files, developed as is with no adjustments (except a small exposure correction in a couple of them).

Lightroom 2 develops were set to Camera Standard as that was my default camera setting with my Canon DSLR's. DPP already defaults to the camera setting and does not need to be set in the software.

All the images have been saved at 800 pixels on the long side. The images aren't posted for pixel-peeping, only to show the basic differences between the Lightroom and DPP RAW develops. Please don't email with complaints about pure testing methods and such... that's not why I posted these.



Here's my bulldog Hyla, posing for the camera (Canon 30D) with a pair of sunglasses on. In this instance, DPP rendered the contrast and tones a little punchier than Lightroom did.

I actually like the DPP shot better, but I can get the same thing out of Lightroom very easily. For a quick and easy develop with no tinkering, I have to say DPP beat Lightroom here.



Here's a shot of a bride from a wedding I shot with a Canon 20D. Both are very similar, but I have to give the edge to the DPP develop.

Again, I could've got the same look in Lightroom very quickly, but DPP rendered this beautifully with no tinkering.



This bridal party shot (Canon Rebel XTi) is so close I almost wouldn't call a winner.

On close inspection in Photoshop, I'm going to give a slight nod to DPP, but it's so close it's probably more appropriate to call it a draw. Lightroom does an excellent job here.



This shot (Canon Rebel XTi) of a bride and groom with a train in the background is a tie. I can't even tell the difference in Photoshop without really studying it. Even then, neither is better than the other. Lightroom matches DPP quality here.



This photo of the Lake Erie shoreline in winter (Canon 30D) is, again, very close. I actually think Lightroom won this one by a slight margin, because I prefer the detail rendering Lightroom did, especially in the log on the shore.

Again though, they're so close it's hard to call a winner. Lightroom does a great job with color and kudos for the better detail rendering.

It's worth noting that DPP doesn't demand as much from your computer as Lightroom does. Lightroom likes as much power as you can give it, while DPP runs quite comfortably on a less than top of the line machine.

DPP is a valid alternative to Lightroom if you don't want to spend the money on Lightroom. Workflow isn't as good or as fast as Lightroom's, but it's still very usable. I used to use DPP as my primary RAW conversion software for a year or more.

If you're a Lightroom convert like myself, consider using DPP when you're having trouble getting an image just right in Lightroom. You may be surprised how good it looks in DPP without having to make any adjustments at all.

Feel free to post a comment and let me know your experiences with DPP.

If you don't have Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2, Amazon usually has the best price.




See you behind the camera!

Matt

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