20D raw & image editors

[tumb]

I spent some time tinkering with my new 20D yesterday, and have some observations and questions. I noticed that the bundled software showed all images (raw) as exposed, as in normal/dark/light for exposure bracketing, but the images I shot with my parameter set as B/W showed up in color. On the other hand, when I opened the same B/W images in another editor (Irfanview) the images showed up in grayscale, as I thought they should. Why do they show up in color in the bundled software and B/W in some other viewers/editors?

Also, just exactly what information is saved in a raw file?

[Jesper]

If you didn't setup Irfanview otherwise, it shows you the JPEG preview image which is embedded in the CR2 file. That image will be black and white, because the 20D wrote it that way.

Strange that the bundled software shows your B&W files in colour - you'd say the software should be able to see you had the camera on B&W and take that into account when showing your RAW image. (I don't have a 20D myself, so I can't tell you if it's supposed to work like that or not).

In a RAW file, the camera saves the information that comes from the sensor directly, without any post processing - things like sharpening, contrast and effects like B&W are not applied. Instead of the camera, the software on the computer is supposed to do the post processing. This has advantages - mainly that you have more control over the processing with the software on the computer, and that you get the full 12 bits per channel colour information (JPEG is limited to 8 bits per channel).

[Malaxos1]

The manual does say that if all photos shot in B+W and in RAW will be in color. I guess that the B+W mode only works in JPEG...Dean

[tumb]

These particular images were shot in raw only, not in raw+jpg. I always divide the raws and jpg's into seperate folders anyway. I just tried it again, and in the bundled software (Digital Photo Professional) the raw's shot in BW (in the parameter setting) show up in color, but the same files show up in BW in Irfanview. Strange! I've even read that Irfanview can't read the .cr2 files from the 20D but it will on my machine.

I'll have to try shooting raw+jpeg and try to duplicate this...

[PacAce]

These particular images were shot in raw only, not in raw+jpg. I always divide the raws and jpg's into seperate folders anyway. I just tried it again, and in the bundled software (Digital Photo Professional) the raw's shot in BW (in the parameter setting) show up in color, but the same files show up in BW in Irfanview. Strange! I've even read that Irfanview can't read the .cr2 files from the 20D but it will on my machine.

I'll have to try shooting raw+jpeg and try to duplicate this...

In addition to the JPEG file that you may or may not shoot with your raw file, the raw file also had an embedded JPEG image just like the 10D raw file. The difference is that on the 10D you can select the size of the embedded JPEG image but on the 20D, it is fixed and cannot be changed. When Irfanview is displaying your image in B&W, it's actually displaying this embedded JPEG file instead of the actual raw image. If you can display the property of this B&W image, check out the actual resolution of the image.

[tumb]

In addition to the JPEG file that you may or may not shoot with your raw file, the raw file also had an embedded JPEG image just like the 10D raw file. The difference is that on the 10D you can select the size of the embedded JPEG image but on the 20D, it is fixed and cannot be changed. When Irfanview is displaying your image in B&W, it's actually displaying this embedded JPEG file instead of the actual raw image. If you can display the property of this B&W image, check out the actual resolution of the image.

Apparently this is correct, the file as it appears (B&W) in Irfanview is a little less than half the size of the raw viewed in Photo Professional. Why would you want an embedded jpeg in your raw when you already have a raw+jpg setting?

[PacAce]

In addition to the JPEG file that you may or may not shoot with your raw file, the raw file also had an embedded JPEG image just like the 10D raw file. The difference is that on the 10D you can select the size of the embedded JPEG image but on the 20D, it is fixed and cannot be changed. When Irfanview is displaying your image in B&W, it's actually displaying this embedded JPEG file instead of the actual raw image. If you can display the property of this B&W image, check out the actual resolution of the image.

Apparently this is correct, the file as it appears (B&W) in Irfanview is a little less than half the size of the raw viewed in Photo Professional. Why would you want an embedded jpeg in your raw when you already have a raw+jpg setting?

This is just an educated guess but maybe the embedded JPEG is used for the LCD display and also for the thumbnail display in EVU and DPP. If you think about it, it's the same thing with the 10D. When you shoot raw with the 10D, you not only get a raw file with an embedded JPEG file but you also get a THM file which is nothing more than a JPEG file using a .THM extension instead of the .JPG extension.