topic Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg in Camera Software

CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 00:25:59 GMT

I downloaded 49 photos of an outdoor shoot today. After downloading, I sent them to the dedicated file and started to scroll through them. The CR2 photos would be light but after a couple of seconds would darken in comparison to the jpg photo. Never seen this before as both have been the same before today. Any ideas as to cause and the cure? As always, thanks.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Danny — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 13:28:10 GMT

Hi, Tintype_18!

So that the Community can help you better, we need to know exactly which applications you're using to view your CR2 files. That, and any other details you'd like to give will help the Community better understand your issue!

If this is a time-sensitive matter, click HERE search our knowledge base or find additional support options HERE.

Thanks and have a great day!

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 14:04:53 GMT

Danny, I would have to dig into the archives for the program/software that I was told to use to view CR2 photos along with the jpg photos. Might take a while. The situation is this just now popped up!

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Peter — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 14:30:24 GMT

The raw viewer uses the embedded JPEG file first. After that when the CR2 file has loaded you will see the raw file without an added tone curve. This is kind of how all raw converters work, but some have profiles (which includes a tone curve).

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

ebiggs1 — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 15:35:47 GMT

"I was told to use to view CR2 photos along with the jpg photos."

Did you d/l DPP4? If you will just do that and start using it, your issues will go away. An, option to DPP4 is to buy Photoshop Elements. DPP4 is free. PSE has a reasonable price to buy.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Sat, 29 Jan 2022 21:10:11 GMT

I have both DPP4 and PSE 2021. I don't see that is the issue. I view the photos on Explorer (file folder icon at the bottom of the screen, W10) and scroll through them with CR2 first, followed by the jpg photo. When I click on the CR2, it is light for a couple of seconds then darkens. The jpg never changes. This is before any editing of any kind. It just started with this batch of photos taken yesterday and downloaded last night. Can't figure out why CR2 is light and then goes dark.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Peter — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 08:06:27 GMT

@Tintype_18 wrote:
I have both DPP4 and PSE 2021. I don't see that is the issue. I view the photos on Explorer (file folder icon at the bottom of the screen, W10) and scroll through them with CR2 first, followed by the jpg photo. When I click on the CR2, it is light for a couple of seconds then darkens. The jpg never changes. This is before any editing of any kind. It just started with this batch of photos taken yesterday and downloaded last night. Can't figure out why CR2 is light and then goes dark.

https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Camera-Software/CR2-photos-darker-than-jpg/m-p/361595/highlight/true#M12052

Here is one sample without lens correction, but it is corrected the first two seconds (embedded JPEG) before it switches over to the raw file.

Here another sample from the free raw database raw.pixls.us. Raw file from EOS R. To the left the raw file. To the right the embedded JPEG extracted with Exiftool. The raw file looks like the JPEG before it goes dull:

As you can see when the raw file is loaded in darktable, a tone curve is needed:

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

ebiggs1 — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 15:04:25 GMT

"I have both DPP4 and PSE 2021. I don't see that is the issue."

Use them! Why use anything else if you have them?

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 20:20:12 GMT

I have taken hundreds of photos with this T7 and this just popped up Friday night. As I said, this has never happened before. I'm going to check the settings, take a few photos and see if this happens again. Thanks.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 23:51:26 GMT

Danny, checked the archives and got Windows Photo Explorer as d/l. Does this sound right?

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:02:53 GMT

Noted another issue: When viewing the CR2, it is smaller top to bottom compared to the jpg. But when I double click on the CR2 it is larger side to side than the corresponding jpg.😫

I'm going to be out and about tomorrow. Will take some photos in the backyard and see what happens. Will go over the settings and make sure they are all correct for the type of shot, etc.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 13:39:28 GMT

I have looked at the replies and appreciate all the responses. I'm still trying to interpret them to see what is causing the two problems that have never occurred before that last photo shoot.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

ebiggs1 — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 15:08:20 GMT

Why make problems you don't need. Use DPP4 or PSE.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 15:33:55 GMT

Still like to know what is causing these things. Why now after hundreds of photos? Never did it before. I was under the impression to shoot photos in a way to minimize editing.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

ebiggs1 — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 15:40:55 GMT

Every great photo you see and love gets post editing in some form or another. DPP4 or PSE is the place to start. 99 times out of 100 you will end up there anyway, so why not just start there? There is no point in trying to find issues you don't have.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 20:59:32 GMT

Update: Just finished a shoot of 16 photos. CR2 does not darken as I had experienced. The size differential between CR2 and jpg still exists but I can live with that. I checked several other photos with CR2 and jpg being the same size when viewed. Many thanks for your concern and advice!

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

ebiggs1 — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 14:57:21 GMT

"CR2 does not darken as I had experienced.

It's best to not search for problems that don't exist.

"The size differential between CR2 and jpg still exists but I can live with that. I checked several other photos with CR2 and jpg being the same size when viewed."

There should be a size difference between the two. Raw files are not compressed but jpg is. RAW file will be between two and six times larger than a JPEG file. RAW files are bigger because they contain more image data.

A JPEG image is has the data compressed down into a smaller file size.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

Tintype_18 — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 21:31:31 GMT

Update: Still having the RAW photo darken after a couple of seconds. The jpg isn't affected. Plus the jpg image is smaller, cutting off part of the photo as compared to the RAW photo. As I have said, this has never happened before with hundreds of photos. I checked settings on File Info and the only difference between two of three photos I sampled was the ISO.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

ebiggs1 — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 23:43:52 GMT

Are you using DPP4?
Reset the camera to default. The camera and DDP4 won’t do that. Unless you set something up in the camera that is.

Re: CR2 photos darker than jpg

ebiggs1 — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 23:46:33 GMT

BTW, if you are still using some other editor who knows what it might be doing. If that is the case you need to contact them about it.