What settings is ImageBrowser previewing RAW with?

[Ninjak2k]

I've been at a wedding this weekend and shot a bunch of pictures in RAW (for fun, not professionally). When I imported them into ImageBrowser and preview my RAW images, it's applying some settings on them that look really good. I'd like to just convert them based on those settings, but the only thing I can seem to do is open RawImageTasking to convert them and the image looks different. Here is an example:

ImageBrowser Preview:
http://inlinethumb64.webshots.com/33279/2457974430103381133S600x600Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2457974430103381133fhMcES)

RIT Conversion:
http://inlinethumb53.webshots.com/4404/2840882400103381133S600x600Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2840882400103381133wKnEbE)

This one actually doesn't look too bad, but there are others that need more white balancing in RIT that look great in ImageBrowser (they have a yellowish/red tint since I was inside in low light), so it seems like it's doing some adjustments automatically.

Is there any way to export the image I see in ImageBrowser without going through RIT, or is there a way to get it to process the image in RIT so it looks just like it does in the ImageBrowser preview?

Thanks,
Dan

[tzalman]

Every RAW file contains, in addition to the RAW data, a quarter sized jpg. It is used by the camera for the review display and histogram and it is used by ImageBrowser to display the image before conversion by RIT. It's appearance is determined by the jpg settings in the camera: white balance and Picture Style and the contrast, saturation, color and sharpness parameters within the Picture Style. If when you open RIT you do not change the defaults the conversion will be identical to that embedded jpg because RIT reads the camera settings from the Exif data and uses them as its own defaults. Moreover, it is said that the conversion algorithm in RIT is the same as the one in the camera's Digic processor.

However, I must comment that the whole point and justification for using RAW is to produce something better than the camera can (man vs. machine). If you are simply going to apply the defaults, you might as well just shoot jpg. But with a bit of experience and reading anybody can outdo the machine.

[Ninjak2k]

Thanks for that, Elie. The bottom photo, the one processed in RIT, was converted with the default shot settings, so shouldn't that make it look the same as the one on the top if that is the quarter size JPG processed with the camera settings?

~Dan

[tzalman]

Thanks for that, Elie. The bottom photo, the one processed in RIT, was converted with the default shot settings, so shouldn't that make it look the same as the one on the top if that is the quarter size JPG processed with the camera settings?

~Dan
Yes, it should. I must admit upfront that my experience with ImageBrowser/ZoomBrowser is very limited. I tried it very briefly years ago and then uninstalled it and left DPP. So I actually just parroted what I have read repeatedly, that IB/ZB accurately reproduces camera output. Perhaps there are other members that would care to express an opinion (PacAce and Rene come to mind). One question: are you using a version of IB that is roughly concurrent with your camera? Because Canon pulled a joker from the pack when they introduced Picture Styles. An older camera, like a 350D or 20D an a new version of IB would have a Picture Style applied by RIT which was not done to the jpg. And the opposite is also a possibility: a newer camera with P.S. and an old IB/RIT without the ability to do the P.S.

Digital Photo Professional (DPP) also adopts the camera settings as its defaults, although the implementation is subtly different. You might give it a try.

[Ninjak2k]

I'm using the versions that came with the camera, a Canon D40, so I can only assume they're in sync. Working from a different computer at the moment, so I don't have the IB version, but it's DPP 3.3.1.1.

I'm getting better at figuring out the best white balance settings in DPP (see thread here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=535940), so I'm less concerned with duplicating the results I'm seeing in IB. I'm still curious what's going on, but if I never find out, I can live with it. It turns out that ZoomBrowser, the Windows equivalent, is not doing the same thing as the images are displayed with same yellowish tint DPP and RIT show before white balancing. This seems to be isolated to ImageBrowser on Macs.

~Dan

[René Damkot]

Canon has color management off by default in IB.
I have no idea why, and I suppose Canon doesn't have a clue either ;)

Go to Prefs > Colormanagement and
http://img.skitch.com/20080714-r83pn3183ycqx26rjq39bqt5ha.jpg