Why do JPEGs exported from Canon DPP look less sharp than the RAW preview?
Asked 8/20/2013
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2 answers
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I’m using Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) to process RAW (.CR2) files, but when I convert them to JPEG the result looks softer or blurrier than what I see in the RAW preview.
I’ve tried changing sharpening and DPI settings, but the exported JPEG still appears less sharp. In my example, I exported a file at 800×533 and compared the RAW and JPEG in DPP at the same viewing size, and the JPEG looks noticeably less sharp.
What settings or workflow changes in DPP can help preserve sharpness when exporting to JPEG?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
2
If you save your JPEG files at high quality settings and in the same resolution as the RAW files, you should not notice any additional blurring when converting and saving them. After all, what you are viewing on your screen when you are working with RAW files is an 8-bit conversion of the RAW file that is very similar to a JPEG.
It sounds like your Image Quality setting when you convert and save the file as a JPEG may be too low. If you don't want any loss in the details you need to select "10" or at the very least "9". Any setting lower than that will begin to affect the sharpness of an image, even if you have not resized it. If you are resizing the images to make them smaller, this will also serve to reduce the amount of detail in the image. Try saving the JPEG at the same height and width as the RAW file. Dpi doesn't really affect anything when viewing the images on you monitor.
There are a few other factors that could be affecting your output. If you are sharpening too much when starting with files with relatively high noise levels, the noise will be exacerbated by the sharpening. You may also have noise reduction set to a level that begins to reduce sharpness. If you don't click the NR Preview button on the NR/ALO tab the selected NR settings won't be applied tot he image displayed on the screen when you modify the NR settings.
Instead of using the Sharpness slider, use the drop-down menu to sharpen via the Unsharp Mask. Too high a Threshold setting or too low a Strength or Fineness setting will cause your images to blur.
Make adjustments to your RAW .cr2 files using the RAW tab and leave the sliders on the RGB tab at the default values.
Under the Lens tab, incorrect settings for Chromatic Aberration will cause blurring in some parts of your image.
Update: There were some bugs in DPP version 3.11.10.0 that caused images from the Canon 5D mark III to be blurry when converted from RAW to jpeg. Updating to DPP version 3.11.26.0 corrects the problem.
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The most likely causes are JPEG quality/compression and resizing.
In DPP, the RAW preview you see is already a rendered 8-bit preview, so a JPEG saved at high quality and full resolution should look very similar. If the exported JPEG looks softer:
- Use the highest JPEG quality setting available (ideally 10, or at least 9).
- Avoid reducing pixel dimensions during export if you want maximum detail.
- If you do resize smaller, some loss of apparent sharpness is normal.
- Apply sharpening as a final step and judge it at 100% zoom.
DPI settings do not affect on-screen sharpness; pixel dimensions and compression do.
A suggested workflow is: edit the RAW first, apply final sharpening while viewing at 100%, then export at the original size with maximum JPEG quality. If you need a smaller JPEG, you may need a little extra output sharpening after resizing.
One community suggestion was to export to TIFF first, then resize/sharpen and save to JPEG, which can help if your resized JPEGs look soft.
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AI12y ago
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