DPP questions

[LCPete]

Hi I'm using DPP to convert Raw files into Tiffs (16bit)
When I convert and save it comes up with the following options :
Quality setting
I set this to 10, I presume this is for Jpegs ?
Output setting
Output resolution this is set to 350 what does this do ?
I set it to the maximum 6000
when I have converted and saved the file and close the window, it comes up with the message "image was edited do you want to save" , if I enter yes will the overwrite the origanal Raw file ?
I hope this makes sense I am over my head with the computer side to things as I'm relatively new to digital
Pete

 

[Sharkey]

Not familiar with DPP Pete BUT.

When you first start with any software package it is not a bad idea to take a card of snaps that are of little interest to you and try your software out on them, so that any muckups are not too disastrous.

 

[Wookie]

there was a thread earlier this week with a link to teh canon video tutorials for DPP : http://www.usa.canon.com/content/dpp2/index.html

Quality setting
I set this to 10, I presume this is for Jpegs ?

10 sounds like a good move. Less is useful for decreasing the size of jpeg files where you need to eg. for putting them in your gallery on TP.

Output setting
Output resolution this is set to 350 what does this do ?
I set it to the maximum 6000

this says how big the physical print size of the image will be. I dont have a full handle on teh detail, but basically its the scaling conversion factor for taking your pixels and saying how many will be fitted in an inch of print. Yours at 6000 should look good on postage stamps, or possibly the head of a pin. 300 appears to be a good figure, you can set it as the default value in Tools - Preferences - General Settings

when I have converted and saved the file and close the window, it comes up with the message "image was edited do you want to save" , if I enter yes will the overwrite the origanal Raw file ?

when it saves the editing done to the RAW file it does not exactly overwrite the file. It adds the editing data. So if you change the brightness, sharpness, crop etc, it makes a list of what settings you applied to the image, saves it alongside the original data and applies them to the original data each time you open it in DPP. You can always go back to the original as-shot settings. If you use Save As you can have multiple versions of the exact same original RAW file but with different editing instructions.
I always (correction : "try to") save original unedited files on one hard drive (and backup to dvd or cd) I try not to touch that again, I then work on a copy of the files on another hard drive, just in case I accidently corrupt or delete one while editing :bonk:

 

[Freester]

Not really an expert with DPP myself but have had a play with it just now to see if I could work out an answer to your questions...

Hi I'm using DPP to convert Raw files into Tiffs (16bit)
When I convert and save it comes up with the following options :
Quality setting
I set this to 10, I presume this is for Jpegs ?

Yes I think so. On my version of DPP it 'greys' out the quality setting if I select the 16 or 8 bit TIFF options. The help suggests it is only applicable for JPEG conversion.

Output setting
Output resolution this is set to 350 what does this do ?

The help says it changes the output resolution. I.e. the resolution of the picture you are converting to. Not much help eh? The setting is in (DPI) Dots Per Inch.

I set it to the maximum 6000 when I have converted and saved the file and close the window, it comes up with the message "image was edited do you want to save" , if I enter yes will the overwrite the origanal Raw file ?

Mmm. This didn't happen to me when I tried. I am guessing it would though. Are you sure you didn't change something in the original raw image before you did the conversion to TIFF?

I hope this makes sense I am over my head with the computer side to things as I'm relatively new to digital
Pete

All part of the learning curve!

 

[LCPete]

Thanks Sharkey, Wookie and Freester
I'm glad I asked and will set the output resolution back to 300 I had set it to the maximum 6000 thinking that would be better
Pete

 

[pxl8]

DPI/PPI comes up a lot. Basically it's a value that some applications use to calculate the physical size an image should appear when printed. If you had a 3000x3000 image at 300 DPI then it would be 10x10 inches when printed.

In those terms it's pretty useless, we don't have to worry about this value when ordering prints at a given size.

DPI doesn't change the quality of an image but it can be used to calculate it. Anything printed at 300 DPI will look great. So if you want a 30x20" print at 300 DPI you'd need an image 9000x6000 pixels but you image is probably somewhere around 3000x2000 so if you do the sums the other way you actually have 100 DPI.

The other factor is viewing distance, with a 30x20" print you need to stand back a fair way to view it and this means even with a lower DPI it will still look good - think about the massive billboard posters, if you stand next to one you just see the dots but from a distance they look fine.

The bottom line is if you're printing a full frame from 8mp or higher then you can go to 30x20" and not worry. If you're cropping a lot then you might need to work out the DPI and see if it will be ok for the print size at a normal viewing distance.