In RAW which parameters.. ?

well I have the doubt, according to your experience, which parameters does affect canon RAW files. ?? I mean highlight tone priority, creative styles, sharpness,NR,etc...

CyberManiaK wrote in post #11956252
well I have the doubt, according to your experience, which parameters does affect canon RAW files. ?? I mean highlight tone priority, creative styles, sharpness,NR,etc...

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but, the camera uses the parameters to display the image on the LCD and DPP uses the parameters as a starting point.

Basically, none.

Shoot in RAW : Certain settings will be ignored.
Shoot in JPG : Certain settings will be used.

So, shoot in RAW and you can change a LOT in Canon's DPP or Photoshop. If you would make a small JPG file bigger from 1024 x 768 to 2048 x 1536 it will look bad. RAW files can be resized without looking bad.

Raw files contain all the data from the sensor so none of the style settings are set in stone, only exposure settings.. Some raw converters use the style settings as a starting point but they are just there for reference.

Yeah I have been shooting RAW since i started on DSLR 3 years ago, but I was wondering which parameters do affect Canon RAW's (i have been shooting canon 1 month only). I know that some parameters are only for the preview jpg, but wondering if something does affect the raw. For example on the D7000 even if you have NR OFF even on RAW, there is a just a bit of NR of ISO 1600 and above. On my ex alpha it wasnt anything taking into the Raw. Of course developing the raw in a third party software.

But Glad to see that also canons raws dont take anyhing..

Long exposure noise reduction reduction is carried forward in raw, but that is very different than the other noise reduction technique.

CyberManiaK wrote in post #11956252
well I have the doubt, according to your experience, which parameters does affect canon RAW files. ?? I mean highlight tone priority, creative styles, sharpness,NR,etc...

There are a couple settings that affect how some Raw processors might render your images, although there is some mystery and confusion in the various settings.

White Balance/Tone settings is a long-standing example: Canon writes WB info in a way that can be read by a Raw processor but it is proprietary so that only the Canon software Digital Photo Professional can "accurately" interpret it. Third party processors (Lightroom, Camera Raw, Aperture, etc) have had to "reverse engineer" these values to make an "educated guess" as to how to apply them in their initial rendering. Fortunately, WB settings are well established for things such as daylight, shadow, tungsten, etc. Also the process of using a White Balance "target" is simple to use and make the corrections in your Raw processor.

A setting that involves a bit more mystery is Highlight Tone Priority. What the camera does is capture an image at one stop lower ISO than the "specified" ISO so that everything, including the highlights, is a stop underexposed, and then applies a "boost curve" to the lower and midtones while preserving the highlights at the lower exposure level. People who have analyzed the Raw data have confirmed this from the noise levels of a shot at the "nominal" setting of ISO 200 using HTP an then a shot at ISO 100 with HTP turned off.

So, you would think that a Raw file would ignore the HTP setting and just deliver the shot at the lower ISO, but at least some Raw processors do present the "camera-processed" HTP data. Adobe does this, for example, but some analysts claim that it's an Adobe interpretation of a flag and is not the actual Raw data. This is a bit disturbing.

A "best practice" if you are shooting Raw is to leave a setting like HTP off and use "Expose To The Right" techniques, exercising your own control to keep highlights in check but let as much light in as you can with that in mind. If shooting jpegs, though, I'd probably tend to turn that setting on when it could be useful.

There is another tonal setting in newer cameras but I don't have one of those cameras to play with -- maybe someone in the know about newer settings can chime in. But if you are interested, I ran some tests with my 1DM3 on HTP and you can check out my results here:

http://www.pbase.com/t​onylong/mk3_htp_test

One more area of interest is that of "intermediate ISOs". These are settings where the camera puts out the "native" ISO, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and, if it has it, 3200. These are generated electronically and as a rule deliver Raw data that has not been "processed" by the camera. But you have camera settings for up to two "tweener" ISO levels between each of these native levels. These are done using the camera software and do something similar to what HTP does in that they either lower the brightness level of a higher native ISO output or raise the brightness level of a lower ISO output. These settings are again picked up by Raw processors, at least "commercial" ones (like Adobe). I don't know if a technical/analytical tool is affected. But, I know that again "best practice" when shooting Raw would be to exercise control of your highlight and shadow variables when shooting, using native ISOs, and then applying your own adjustments in your Raw processor. You have more control over highlight clipping and/or shadow clipping that way instead of trusting the camera to preserve important things and throw away the rest. Again, if shooting jpegs, you'd be probably best served by using the intermediate settings because the camera will use the Raw data to make the tonal adjustments in-camera, whereas in post-processing you will be stuck with an 8-bit jpeg which has less latitude in adjusting tones.

Hope this helps a bit!

Good explanation and write up Tony

Thanks Tony.. Thats why i'm asking because I do ETTR, but i'm having a hard time,to preserve details on the highlights, so i'm looking to find which settings will represent the most accurate histogram of the RAW and not the JPG.. Because i can't believe that sometimes I cant recover 1 stop of highlights, i'm using a 60D, and on my ex alpha A300 I was able to recover 2 stops with out a problem. But on the 60D i don't know if that is because the dynamic range is to short or what, but the sensor got saturated very easy and the results as you know posterized highlights.

Any tips here?

CyberManiaK wrote in post #11958454
Any tips here?

Look for something called UniWB.
Here's one discussion: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=485349

CyberManiaK wrote in post #11958454
Thanks Tony.. Thats why i'm asking because I do ETTR, but i'm having a hard time,to preserve details on the highlights, so i'm looking to find which settings will represent the most accurate histogram of the RAW and not the JPG.. Because i can't believe that sometimes I cant recover 1 stop of highlights, i'm using a 60D, and on my ex alpha A300 I was able to recover 2 stops with out a problem. But on the 60D i don't know if that is because the dynamic range is to short or what, but the sensor got saturated very easy and the results as you know posterized highlights.

Any tips here?

To get the most accurate histogram in the camera you need to lower the in-camera contrast and saturation levels all the way -- set your Picture Style to Neutral or Faithful and then lower those settings.

But that doesn't really address what you mention as far as not being able to recover highlights. I don't have the camera you mention (or any non-Canon DSLR) so I can't directly address any differences. I've heard that there are differences in dynamic range between the various makers, and that would make sense, I just don't have any "solid" info there.

If you want to be "safe", turn on your highlight warning "blinkies". Do some test shots as to how accurate they are in predicting clipping in a Raw photo, and act accordingly. The histogram isn't always the most reliable approach with little highlight areas.

To get my ISO expansion scale to start at 50 = "L" ISO for some night light shots. I had to disable the HTP.

fstop72 wrote in post #11997589
To get my ISO expansion scale to start at 50 = "L" ISO for some night light shots. I had to disable the HTP.

I didn't know that, but people also should know that ISO 100 is disabled as well with HTP -- you set it to "iso 200" and it captures the ISO 100 signal, but you can't set it to ISO 100.