DPP 4.7.1 Crop Settings

[GenXRailmedia]

I've been using it for a couple of weeks and like it fairly well. The only thing I'm not a fan of is when I go to crop, the default setting is 3:2.  I always prefer "Free" because I am an OCD control freak.  

Anyway, is there a way to change the crop default to "Free" so I don't have the extra step of having to click to change it?  I know it doesn't take that long, but I find it incredibly annoying.  

I looked in preferences but saw nothing pertaining to cropping options.

[RobertTheFat]

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@GenXRailmedia wrote:

I took those 2008 with a Canon Rebel (the original from 2003.)  I notice the same thing with stuff taken with my Rebel 400D.  To be fair, I haven't tried to edit anything in between those dates and stuff I shot last month.  I'll just have to do some tinkering and see what I can figure out.  

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As Waddizzle pointed out, the Exif data in those early Rebels probably don't include aspect ratio, since aspect ratio wasn't a selectable option on most Canon DSLRs until much later. So if current versions of DPP are trying to default to the aspect ratio to which the camera was set, the best you can hope for is that the program will realize, in the absence of any relevant Exif data, that you were using a camera on which 3x2 was the only possibility.

That said, it would be nice if DPP let you set the default to "free", since some users say they prefer it, and to manually add aspect ratios to the list. But neither of those options appears to exist.

[Waddizzle]

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@GenXRailmedia wrote:

I took those 2008 with a Canon Rebel (the original from 2003.)  I notice the same thing with stuff taken with my Rebel 400D.  To be fair, I haven't tried to edit anything in between those dates and stuff I shot last month.  I'll just have to do some tinkering and see what I can figure out.  

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I think your complaints are without merit.  What camera are you using NOW?  There are menu options in many models to include cropping info, or to leave it blank.  You should read the instruction manual for your camera, because I am betting this is the issue.

[GenXRailmedia]

I'm using the 650D now, I thought I indicated that already, maybe not. 

Are you talking about the menu options within the camera or in DPP? 

I went through all of my preferences in DPP, but I see no mention of cropping.  I do like how I was able to set it up so that my sharpness is default setting is at 7.  

My in camera aspect ratio is set at 3:2 which is where it should be, correct?

[RobertTheFat]

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@GenXRailmedia wrote:

I'm using the 650D now, I thought I indicated that already, maybe not. 

Are you talking about the menu options within the camera or in DPP? 

I went through all of my preferences in DPP, but I see no mention of cropping.  I do like how I was able to set it up so that my sharpness is default setting is at 7.  

My in camera aspect ratio is set at 3:2 which is where it should be, correct?

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Yes, 3:2 is the aspect ratio that uses all of the camera's pixels.

[Waddizzle]

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@GenXRailmedia wrote:

I'm using the 650D now, I thought I indicated that already, maybe not. 

Are you talking about the menu options within the camera or in DPP? 

I went through all of my preferences in DPP, but I see no mention of cropping.  I do like how I was able to set it up so that my sharpness is default setting is at 7.  

My in camera aspect ratio is set at 3:2 which is where it should be, correct?

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I was referring your camera, not DPP.  I think there is info in the EXIF data that describes the aspect ratio.  I do not have your cameras, so i cannot check your model.  I have newer models  BTW, you mentioned 20D and 7D, and now it is a 650D.

My 7D Mark II gives me the option to include/exclude cropping information in the EXIF data, for example.

[GenXRailmedia]

Re: the 20D and 7D:  No, I think another poster who replied to this thread mentioned that he had some experiences with those bodies, but that was not me.  I've only had the 650D.  

I'm thinking that as long as I use this software, I'm just going to have to just spend the extra few seconds to change it every time. It is free, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.  

Thanks to you and everyone for your responses.  

[Waddizzle]

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@GenXRailmedia wrote:

Re: the 20D and 7D:  No, I think another poster who replied to this thread mentioned that he had some experiences with those bodies, but that was not me.  I've only had the 650D.  

I'm thinking that as long as I use this software, I'm just going to have to just spend the extra few seconds to change it every time. It is free, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.  

Thanks to you and everyone for your responses.  

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This is why it is a bad practice to hijack other user’s threads.  Not only is it confusing to people trying to reply, but it can send email alerts to the original user about your issue, which IMHO is impolite, at best.

[markm1]

I have the same problem. I can add some observations.

Firstly, I have the problem with some of my photos, not all. I have 2 cameras, a 20D and a 7D. It appears the problem only occurs with the 7D raw photos. When I try to crop images from my 20D the software works as expected. It defaults to my last crop setting of "Free". When I attempt to crop photos from my 7D, the software first defaults to "Free", as I would expect. It then quickly flicks to 3:2. To me it appears that the software loses the plot with larger resolution images as the images from the 7D have a considerably larger resolution that the 20D images. Obviously a program bug.

It appears to me that DPP has been totaly redesigned in version 4. When I moved from version 3 to version 4 I have encountered numerous bugs. This goes for all releases up to 4.7.1. Canon needs to do work to get this software right.

I can point to another crop issue in version 4. When you did a free form crop in version 3 the software would dynamically display the aspect ratio. I found this extremely useful. This is because in this day and age you rarely have to enforce an exact aspect ratio as it's unlikely that your images will be printed on a 4in x 6in piece of paper. So for me cropping is a balance between good photo composition and getting close to a desired aspect ratio. Dynamic display of aspect ratio is great for this. Canon have dropped this feature in version 4 of DPP. It will only display the aspect ratio once you have finished cropping and let go of the bounding box. This is a backward step.

[Lundavra]

Has a way been found yet to change the default setting of Aspect Ratio to 'Free'?

It is annoying having to change this every time I load some more images to edit.

[RobertTheFat]

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@Lundavra wrote:

Has a way been found yet to change the default setting of Aspect Ratio to 'Free'?

It is annoying having to change this every time I load some more images to edit. 

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Canon, please see Message 12 in this thread. Any hope for those improvements? They should be fairly easy to add.