GUI: DPP has two basic GUI views. The first is called 'folder view' and it is a classic light box view of the open folder's image files as thumbnail images. The thumbnails are on the right side of the GUI. A folder list is displayed on the left side of the GUI. The second view is called 'edit image'. Edit view shows a large version of a selected image on the left and the toolsets on the right. This is where you do your image adjustments before conversion to standard image file. The browser will decode and thumbnail JPEG and TIFF (TIFF at both 8 & 16 bit) and Canon RAW files. You can drag and drop thumbnails to other folders as either a copy or a move. You can see screen captures of these two GUI views at the bottom of this page.

DPP does not have any database search capability. You can rate your images with 'checkmarks' 1, 2 or 3. You can sort your images by checkmark, Raw Priority, Filename or Shooting Date or Time. A RAW priority sort lists RAW images first followed by JPEG and then TIFF. DPP has a 'before and after' dual window editing view available. DPP has a good searchable help document.

Editing Tools: The 'Edit image' window has three tool tabs. The first tab is for RAW file conversions only. It has white balance, brightness, dynamic range and color adjustment tools with hue and saturation adjustment sliders. Within the RAW tool tab you can color pick the white balance from a 'white' or neutral gray area of your image or you can select from a preset including actual Kelvin color temperature. You can also tune white balance with a color wheel tool. The RAW dynamic range tool is basically a levels tool that allows you to set white and black point. There is no mid point or gamma setting with this tool. The tone curve tool sets image contrast. The second tool tab is called RGB and it is for editing any supported RGB image like TIFF or JPEG. You can also work with RAW files in the RGB tool tab. The RGB tool tab includes a contrast adjusting curves tool as well as brightness, contrast, sharpness and hue and saturation slider type adjustments. The third tool tab has noise reduction, lens aberration and distortion correction tools. Lens distortion correction is only available for certain Canon lenses. DPP's image edit window has 4 levels of image view magnification available between 'fit in window' to 200% image magnification.

If you make adjustments to any of your RAW images, when you exit DPP it will ask you if you want to 'save the changes' to those images. If you reply yes, DPP saves those tools settings and the next time you open that image the tools are set to where they were the last time you edited that image. DPP's recipe feature allows you to save current image adjustment settings to a file and apply them later to a another file or selected group of files. DPP does not have shadow or highlight recovery 'smart tools'.

Color management: DPP has a full ICC color managed workflow. You can select the monitor profile DPP will use to display your image. Actual camera profiles are imbedded and not accessible. However, Canon cameras have different picture styles to choose from such as 'standard', 'landscape' and 'portrait'. Software available on your OEM CD called 'Picture Styles Editor' will allow you to adjust images to your liking and save that group of adjustments as a 'Picture Style'. You can then open and use your own custom 'Picture Styles' in DPP as a starting point for all the rest of your adjustments. For your working color space and exported color profile you can select sRGB, Adobe RGB, Wide Gamut RGB, Apple RGB and ColorMatch RGB.

Output: DPP will save your RAW files to TIFF in 8 or 16 bit and JPEG. DPP will also output dual images in TIFF 8 bit and JPEG or TIFF 16 bit and JPEG. The single file outputs are available with or without saving the EXIF information in the file. You can give unique file names to single image conversions. DPP will batch process a group of images. DPP has no provision for web slide shows or HTML contact sheets.

Printing: The 'print with detailed settings' option brings up a print preview along with a list of page layout and color management options. DPP supports a fully color managed print output for both a contact sheet and single image on page prints. There is a long list of preset page sizes. You cannot set different print sizes on one sheet.

Comments: Canon's DPP has evolved into a very full featured RAW converter and image editing program. Canon has always been quick to keep DPP up to date since this is the program that all Canon camera buyers get bundled with cameras that can output to RAW format. The quality of DPP's converted images is excellent. You aren't giving up anything quality wise with this freebie.

Digital Photo Pro's Browser GUI (Graphical User Interface)

Digital Photo Pro's Edit Image GUI (Graphical User Interface)

To print this web page correctly you will need to set your printer's page setup properties to 'landscape' paper orientation

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