Canon RAW Software or Photoshop RAW?

[ognesty]

Hi everyone,
I am looking to reboot and start my post from the beginning - there's a lot of aspects I've never understood and I figure a complete restart will help. So first things first -

1. What should I use to get my RAW into a jpg for further post - should I used Canons software or Photoshop RAW?
2. And how should I sharpen?
3. Should I do that now or when I'm done with any further post like burning etc?
4. What settings am I looking for?

I dont own light room (yet) but I have PS CS5. I'm looking to get "fairly serious" with my photos this time around so I might look into light room..!

[Ray-uk]

This query would be better placed in "Cameras/Software"section, perhaps some helpful mod will move it   [Done!]

Canon's DPP is free, it is designed to work only with Canon files and will achieve excellent results (in my opinion also the best results), it doesn't have all the extra bells and whistles that you may need for some shots and the files may sometimes need exporting to another software package for for further editing after the raw conversion.

Adobe Lightroom is quite expensive, works with files from virtually all camera manufacturers, can produce excellent results but may require more input from the user to achieve similar results to DPP. There are some limits with extra processing but slightly more versatile than DPP.

Adobe Photoshop is very expensive, again works with all camera files, contains loads of features most of which you will probably never need but is considered to be the industry standard for professionals. It is quite complicated to use and can represent a long learning curve for some users but will produce excellent results in the right hands.

Whichever software you use the sharpening process should be applied last after all adjustments and resizing. If using DPP I would recommend using "Unsharp Mask" with settings of "Strength" at 4, "Fineness" at 2, "Threshold" at 1, for an initial setting. If you view the image at 100% you can easily see if these settings need any tweaking, if it does then just alter the "Strength".

[rs-eos]

There's a very nice Photographer's package still that bundles Lightroom Classic and Photoshop for around 10 USD per month. So defninitely not expensive.

Yes, Photoshop has a massive set of features and it will take time to learn.  But there is a tremendous amount of free content out there to learn various skills.

[jrhoffman75]

You don't say what camera you have, but it is possible/likely that the version of PS you have will not support use of the RAW files from that camera.

There are two work-arounds. You can use the free Adobe DNG converter that will convert your canon RAW files into DNG which can then be used in PS. You could alternatively use DPP; there is a "button" in DPP to transfer a file directly to PS.

I agree with Ricky. The $10/month Adobe package is a great deal.

If you decide to go that route be sure to get the desktop version of Lightroom (Lightroom Classic, not plain Lightroom).

You can use LrC as a cataloging and file management tool as well as an image processor. Should you feel more editing is necessary you can seamlessly transfer ("Edit in") to Photoshop.

Canon DPP is free, sort of "clunky" to use and not as user friendly as LrC or PS from an interface standpoint. But, DPP is, by definition, the most accurate converter of Canon RAW files. However, some folks prefer Adobe's conversion, others Capture 1, etc.

DPP also has a very good lens correction module.

A common workflow is to do RAW conversion and lens correction in DPP and transfer a TIFF file to LrC or PS for further editing, getting the best of both tools. There is also a plugin to LrC called "Open directly" that allows you to use LrC for cataloging and file management, select a RAW file in LrC, "Open directly" in DPP for RAW conversion and the be automatically back in LrC for further editing.