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DPP 4 - limitations

RobbieK
Contributor

I have just downloaded DPP 4, installed it and tried it out. I have been an avid user and proponent of DPP for years now. It does most of what I need to do, and I rarely have to use Photoshop these days.

 

It looks really nice. Trouble is, I don't see how I can use DPP4 in its current form. 

 

I have three Canon Cameras - an 350D (Rebel something or other), a 40D and now a 6D. The 40D is a wonderful camera as is the 6D, and I make use of both of them for different occasions. The 350D is my backup.

 

Two very important things are lacking in DPP 4:

1. Backward compatibility of changes made in DPP 3 and earlier. I have already used DPP 3 to make changes to many 6D CR2 files, and thiose changes don't appear why I open the file in DPP 4 !    I simply can't understand why Canon has done this.

2. The 40D is not supported by DPP 4 (nor is the 350D), so I have to keep DPP 3 .

 

The whole thing gets really messy if I start to use DPP 4. I can't tell whether a 6D image has been edited in DPP 3 or DPP 4 unless I open it in both versions to see if edits have been made and saved. Add to that the fact that I can only use DPP 3 for CR2 files from the 40D - and I can't tell which camera I used unless the file is opened in either of the versions.

 

Does Canon expect us photographers to just chuck away all our old images (modified by earlier versions of DPP), along with our "old" camera equipment?  I won't be doing that.

 

Using DPP 4 seems to mean that we have to maintain two versions of DPP, and to cope with the mess maybe keep images edited with the two different versions in separate libraries. 

 

This really is unacceptable, and makes me wonder what will happen in the future.

Will Canon withdraw support for DPP 3?

How would we edit then the CR2 files from earlier cameras?

Will all the edits done with DPP 3 still be invisible in DPP 4 (and later) as they are now?

 

I'd really like some answers from Canon.

 

 

8 REPLIES 8

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

"The whole thing gets really messy if I start to use DPP 4. I can't tell whether a 6D image has been edited in DPP 3 or DPP 4 unless I open it in both versions to see if edits have been made and saved. Add to that the fact that I can only use DPP 3 for CR2 files from the 40D - and I can't tell which camera I used unless the file is opened in either of the versions."

 

I'm going to assume that you download all images to the same folder.  I would suggest creating different sub-folders within THAT download folder for each camera.  You can also create custom filenames, too.  Hope that helps.

As far as DPP goes, you can use DPP4 with all of your cameras.  Open the camera's EOS Utility while the camera is connected.  Go to "Preferences", and then the "Linked Software Tab."  You should be able to set each EOS Utility to startup whichever version of DPP that you wish, or any other program for that matter.  Hope this helps, too.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

DPP4 will not work with the RAW files of any camera; I believe the 1D Mark IV is the earliest model that is compatible. 

 

But, 1. There has never been any reliable indication that Canon will drop DPP3, and 2. No one is forcing anyone to use DPP4. 

 

 

John Hoffman
Conway, NH

1D X Mark III, Many lenses, Pixma PRO-100, Pixma TR8620a, LR Classic

Peter
Authority
Authority

That's one of the reasons I use Darktable instead. That and because of the highlight recovery tool Darktable has.

For DPP3, you maybe will like DPP++ (Windows).


@RobbieK wrote:

I have just downloaded DPP 4, installed it and tried it out. I have been an avid user and proponent of DPP for years now. It does most of what I need to do, and I rarely have to use Photoshop these days.

 

It looks really nice. Trouble is, I don't see how I can use DPP4 in its current form. 

 

I have three Canon Cameras - an 350D (Rebel something or other), a 40D and now a 6D. The 40D is a wonderful camera as is the 6D, and I make use of both of them for different occasions. The 350D is my backup.

 

Two very important things are lacking in DPP 4:

1. Backward compatibility of changes made in DPP 3 and earlier. I have already used DPP 3 to make changes to many 6D CR2 files, and thiose changes don't appear why I open the file in DPP 4 !    I simply can't understand why Canon has done this.

2. The 40D is not supported by DPP 4 (nor is the 350D), so I have to keep DPP 3 .

 

The whole thing gets really messy if I start to use DPP 4. I can't tell whether a 6D image has been edited in DPP 3 or DPP 4 unless I open it in both versions to see if edits have been made and saved. Add to that the fact that I can only use DPP 3 for CR2 files from the 40D - and I can't tell which camera I used unless the file is opened in either of the versions.

 

Does Canon expect us photographers to just chuck away all our old images (modified by earlier versions of DPP), along with our "old" camera equipment?  I won't be doing that.

 

Using DPP 4 seems to mean that we have to maintain two versions of DPP, and to cope with the mess maybe keep images edited with the two different versions in separate libraries. 

 

This really is unacceptable, and makes me wonder what will happen in the future.

Will Canon withdraw support for DPP 3?

How would we edit then the CR2 files from earlier cameras?

Will all the edits done with DPP 3 still be invisible in DPP 4 (and later) as they are now?

 

I'd really like some answers from Canon.

 


Yeah, you're right, and you didn't even touch on the fact that DPP4 is still buggy and almost certainly has at least one memory leak. Or that its user inferface is confusing and needs work.

 

But DPP4 contains a lot of nice features that DPP3 lacks, so I use it when I can. Now that DPP4 supports the 7D, I rarely take pictures that I can't edit with it. But it doesn't support my wife's T2i. (I have a spare 7D that she could use, but she says it's too heavy.)

 

So since I still have to edit with both versions, here's how I handle it: When I have a folder containing pictures from cameras that are and aren't supported by DPP4, I start by opening it in DPP3 and labelling the DPP4-compatible images with check mark 5. From then on, I know not to edit those pictures with DPP3. When I open the same folder in DPP4, I don't see the check mark 5. But DPP4 does indicate the images that it can't edit, so the two editors stay out of each other's way.

 

You can of course use any check mark as the "don't edit here" indicator. I use CM5 because I use the lower check marks to tell me how many more steps a given image needs. CM1 means the image is fully edited and needs only to be converted to JPEG. CM2 might mean, for example, that redeye correction will be needed, in which case the converted JPEG will get CM1. Etc. YMMV, but it works for me. And yes, DPP3 should warn me that an image can be (or has been) edited with DPP4. But that seems increasingly unlikely as time passes.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

RobbieK
Contributor

Thanks folks for the replies and suggestions. I have always organised my photos in folders by date. I use the Canon EOS Utility to download my pics and assign my initials instead of "IMG". I then edit the folder name to identify the project or place the photos were taken. So I make a distinction by date, but not by camera, as the camera information is in the EXIF data anyway. Of course the EXIF information isn't visible until the file is opened. 

 

It seems a bit odd that DPP4 is not backward-compatible - that the CR2 EXIF information created by DPP3 can't at least be read and used by DPP4. It also implies that the format of edit data put into the EXIF by DPP4 is different to that put in by DPP3. I can only wonder why Canon would have done this. I have worked in the IT industry for nearly 40 years, and can say it's very unusual for a manufacturer to change forrmats like this without a really good reason.

 

DPP4 looks really nice, and has some useful new features, but if I choose to use it there is no question that one way or another it unnecessarily complicates my work-flow.

 

Is anyone from Canon reading this forum? It would be nice to understand why DPP4 has been designed this way, and what the plans are to redress the concerns.

RobbieK
Contributor

Incidentally, while there may be no evidence of plans to drop DPP3 right now, no manufacturer wants to maintain two versions of the (essentially) same software for longer than necessary. So that's my concern - the DPP3 will eventually be dropped and we'll be left with older CR2 images that can't be edited with Canon's software.

RobbieK
Contributor

Is there anyone from Canon who can give us some idea of where DDP 4 is heading and allay some of the concerns expressed in this thread?

 

Is Canon listening?

Sigh.  I guess not.

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