Digital Photo Professional (DPP) 4.8.X is extremily slow (performance)

[SenJerzy]

I'm using DPP 4.8.30. It is extremely slow in RAW processing. Cannon suggests (in DPP manual) to add graphic card. I got GTX1060, used the new setup - no change. Same on other computers. Contacted Canon support - only stupid answers which do not help. Looks like Canon is not capable to develop a good software for their products. Should I sell all my Canon equipment and for other?

[jrhoffman75]

To SenJerzey:

1. you are correct in that some users have reported that DPP is not as fast as some other programs that are available - for a cost. There are also many folks who complain about speed (lack thereof) of Lightroom. No one is required to use DPP; if the benefits of the software don't outweigh the downsides there are many other products on the market.

2. " the installation process should provide correct deinstallation (if necessary) and installation of the new version. " I do not unsderstand this point - updates to DPP overwrite the older version.

[SenJerzy]

I posted the problem on Forum because:
1. I'm looking for solution to my problem.
2. I'd like to help Canon to improve the products.
I am Canon cameras user from many years and I have no interest in DPP depreciation.
Anyway, thank you for your comment.
Ps.
DPP is not for free. It's licensed only to Canon cameras owners who purchased DPP in a package with EOS camera.

[jrhoffman75]

"Ps.
DPP is not for free. It's licensed only to Canon cameras owners who purchased DPP in a package with EOS camera."

This argument falls apart once you recognize that EOS D30 and EOS Rebel owners (as well as all later ones) can download the latest version of DPP. The D30 and Digital Rebel were released before DPP even existed.

[SenJerzy]

Yes, you are right. I was not precise. Also uses of non EOS, Canon cameras apply. But, any way, you can download only if you have Canon camera.

[jrhoffman75]

You need a Nvidia graphics card with CUDA. If you download the PDF manual from the Canon website it gives you all the requirements.

[jrhoffman75]

DxO Photolab Elite.

[shadowsports]

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@jrhoffman75 wrote:
DxO Photolab Elite.

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Thanks John!

BTW, PL comes in two flavors,,  Standard and Elite

[SenJerzy]

Nvidia GTX1060 is Cuda architecture. Setup of DPP for Cuda graphic card is easy. Need chech a proper box in DPP setup window. No help and no improvement.

[Tulio · Accepted solution]

DPP4 *is* much slower than most other programs (including DPP3) regardless of GPU (more on that in a bit), but you won't feel it much unless you're at higher-than-FHD and/or on a slower-than-top-class CPU. That's because DPP aims for the best quality possible, and it's often possible to get better results than even Adobe RAW/Lightroom if you know how to use it, unless you need "local contrast" and/or "dehaze".

That being said, there are 3 features cases that worsen noticeably (and irritatingly) the already slow workflow:

1. working on 3k or higher resolutions;

2. enabling "Digital Lens Optimizer" (DLO);

3. noise correction.

If you use 2 or more of those, sit down and cry rivers. 🙂 Also, custom tone curve adjustments and color correction, as well as Auto Lighting Optimizer (ALO) may add a bit of extra drag (and, naturally, the more you add, the worse), though these are much less impactful than the aforementioned.

What I do to counter this issue is:

1. do main edits (except sharpness) on a FHD display (if you're on 4k without dual-display, either work with DPP as a quarter-screen window or manually set display resolution);

1.1. if I need to fiddle with Noise Reduction, do it after the main adjustments, and if I really need speed, disable NR altogether when first editing (remember to write down NR settings beforehand) at this phase;

2. once I'm satisfied with everything, and only then, I turn on DLO and fine-tune the other adjustments (including NR), except sharpness;

3. only then I switch back to a higher resolution (i.e. maximizing on the 4k display) for the final kicks. Expect up to 30s between updates on slower CPUs (i5-750, i5-2500, i7-4500u) and 5-15s on faster CPUs (i7-7700HQ) patched against Spectre/Meltdown;

4. only then I adjust sharpness.

The drag is irrestrictive of GPUs, because they're only used for certain preview operations (i.e. when first opening files) that Canon doesn't reveal (if any). Most of the work is still done by the CPU. It doesn't matter which GPU you own (ATI 5770, GTX 960, GTX 1070), the difference is minimal and if anything you'll only see a small spike in GPU activity when initially opening files (and maybe in some other operations I don't remember). Not sure if it's used at all when converting to JPEG.

Actually DPP4.8 is *much* faster than the initial 4.0 releases. I hope DPP5 will improve on this if and when it's released.

Hope this helps.

(edited to add tags, minor corrections for clarity and precision)

[SenJerzy]

Thank you for your comment. It is also my experience, but some advices I'll implement myself in future. It is a pitty that Canon do not provide such explanations. Instead they sugest to use GPU with CUDA (btw - "cuda" in Polish means "miracles" 🙂 ).

Waiting for version 5.

Regards.