How do I make pictures with "superfine" definition with 20D?

[tiziano]

Hi All, Thanks in advance to whoever can help me with a probably stupid issue. When I set my new camera Canon 20D at the best jpg definition (not raw), the pictures, displayed with the EOSviewer software, have the Image quality of "Fine", but when I look the pictures from other people on the web, taken with the same 20D, these have, through the same software, the Image quality of "Superfine". How do I setup that definition level on my camera?
I'm attaching two screen captures in which I highlighted the difference in the two pictures. The Coloseum one is mine, the other was found on the web.
Thanks.
Tiziano

[FlyingPete]

Thats odd, my 20D also only has a 'fine' option, no superfine. I has never been a problam for me though. Perhaps a different version of the firmware provides superfine, or perhaps it is from a RAW converter?

[tiziano]

Hi Peter, Thanks for the answer, but I already tried both. I upgraded to the firmware version 2.0, and the raw images have the quality attribute at "RAW". If you connvert them, even with the Canon software, the quality attribute will not be displayed any more. What bothers me is that the pictures with superfine quality I downloaded, seem actually to have a better definition.
Tiziano

[SkipD]

Raw images from my 20D can all tolerate a bit of sharpening in Photoshop. The definition information is there, but the images are a bit soft right out of the camera.

There are a number of threads on this forum covering this issue, and a there's a lot to be learned.

[Raj]

tiziano, there is no superfine compression option for 20D (just checked the manual)
My guess would be that eiditng in some s/w & then converting it to jpeg may be causing fine to change to superfine. that is, it is the quality level in which image was saved after opening in some editor instead of quality level set by 20D.
Offcourse just a guess ;)

[Raj]

Hi Peter, Thanks for the answer, but I already tried both. I upgraded to the firmware version 2.0, and the raw images have the quality attribute at "RAW". If you connvert them, even with the Canon software, the quality attribute will not be displayed any more. What bothers me is that the pictures with superfine quality I downloaded, seem actually to have a better definition.
Tiziano

tiziano, the pic you are downloading may have been enhanced using some photo editor like PS or Painshop etc. jpegs will definately look sharper than raw.
Dont waste too much energy on getting superfine mode on your 20D to produce sharper pics - because you simply cant.
Instead, open your raw fine in some editor & apply some contrast & sharpening, they will look better. You can try evaluation copy of photoshop elements...

[tiziano]

Hi Raj, Thanks for the advise. I'll work on sharpening the "RAW" pictures. I thought that everybody but me was getting the "Superfine" jpg quality out of the 20D, now I see that's not the case. I still believe it's strange, becaused after you edit, with any sofware, your pics, the Canon software recognizes it, and doesn't display the quality attribute anymore, but I have to many more important things to learn about photography....
Thanks.
Tiziano

[Raj]

I still believe it's strange, becaused after you edit, with any sofware, your pics, the Canon software recognizes it, and doesn't display the quality attribute anymore, but I have to many more important things to learn about photography....
Thanks.
Tiziano

Which eidting s/w are you using to convert RAW files ? There should be some option to save "exif" data in your final image. If you find & enable it, you should see the image data in your jpeg also.

[tiziano]

I just checked again. I used Adobe Photoshop CS, and while adobe, when converting, keeps the some information about the picture (but not the image quality), the canon viewer does not open anymore the pics converted with adobe, while it opens the pics converted by the "Canon digital photo professional", but without displaying the image quality anymore.
Thanks

[Raj]

I use PS but not the other too s/w.... so conat help muc here.
BTW you can see image exif data in adobe too.

[Bob_A]

If you shoot in RAW then use EOS Viewer Utility to change to jpeg at quality=4 (highest), the resulting jpeg will have the designation "Superfine" when viewed in EOS Viewer Utility. However if you shoot in jpeg at the highest quality the designation is "Fine".

The file size for my "Superfine" images created from RAW are about double of those shot as "Fine" (Large Fine) ... i.e. 6 MB versus 3 MB for approx the same scene.

Bob

[tiziano]

Hi Bob! Thanks! I just tried, and it works. The mistery is solved, my camera works fine and I can start again sleeping at night!
Thanks
Tiziano