Probs with picture styles

Having shot a series of jpg test pix using 6 different Canon Picture Styles on my 30D, I find that, apart from monochrome, although they look different on the camera LCD display they all look the same when viewed on the pc. I have tried viewing with DPP, Lightroom, Windows Live Gallery and I can see no difference.

One other problem is that I the metadata will not show which picture style was used on each shot.

Can anyone help please ?

Hmm...how are you downloading the shots? Let's start with the picture Exif -- using DPP, what shows when you right-click on an image, select Info, and click the Shooting Information tab? That is where all the settings show up -- the Metadata tab would be empty unless either the camera entered data such as "Author" or software entered metadata.

If you could, post a screen shot "snip" of that Info window.

Then, the different Picture Style stuff -- after posting the Info snip, we'd need to look at some actual pics that show what you are seeing/not seeing. So, could you post a sample pic shot in 1) the Landscape Picture Style and 2) the Neutral Picture Style?

Picture Styles are relevant in two instances; jpgs from the camera and RAWs converted in DPP. The P.S. application is part of the conversion from RAW to jpg, so the camera setting does not directly affect RAW data. However the camera does make a metadata note of the P.S. (not in the Exif, in another section called Maker's Notes) and this causes DPP to default to that P.S. Other converters will not do this.

tzalman wrote in post #13127465
Picture Styles are relevant in two instances; jpgs from the camera and RAWs converted in DPP. The P.S. application is part of the conversion from RAW to jpg, so the camera setting does not directly affect RAW data. However the camera does make a metadata note of the P.S. (not in the Exif, in another section called Maker's Notes) and this causes DPP to default to that P.S. Other converters will not do this.

Right. Now the OP says the shots were jpeg, so the Picture Styles should definitely show up! But then the OP describes what would be typical if they shot in Raw and then opened the images in a Raw processor other than DPP...?

I've just finished updating all my Canon progs and now I can see the PS in the info. Still need to find out how to see thePS info in windows or Lightroom as these are the progs I usually use.
Re posting the pix, what siize & resolution etc do you require - Im not used to sending pix out ?

Lightroom ignores the Picture Style and doesn't attempt to "process" it, so I imagine it ignores it in the Exif as well. And (I presume) Windows does as well. In fact, Lightroom (as well as your generic Windows Properties view) don't show a lot of things that one could wish for if on was an Exif/Metadata junkie!

Photoshop/Bridge actually have have a more comprehensive Exif presentation. But, here's the deal: things like the Picture Style and other in-camera settings are in a special Exif section called Maker's Notes. And Adobe does very little poking around in there and I'd imagine Windows does even less.

So, if you just get Info with DPP and try to find some of the little odds and ends that you see there even in the Photoshop exif viewer, you will find that a fair number don't show up.

So the question is, does it actually matter whether Lightroom shots the Picture Style? I guess if you are shooting jpegs it could matter (in that case I'd just keep DPP at the ready). For Raw files it matters not a whit to me because LR ignores the Picture Style anyway.

One more thing, though: there are standalone Exif viewing apps that actually do delve into these "Maker's Notes" fields, with varying degress of success. So, I downloaded one of these apps not long ago, called PictureME.

And it shows a whole bunch of stuff, a lot of it repetitive, including a Whole lot from the Makers'/Manufacturer Notes.

And yes, buried deep in hundreds of entries in that section, I actually saw one for the Picture Style! I haven't experimented with it, for this pic it was set to "Standard" but I haven't cecked any recent image. In fact these days my cameras that I do most of my "serious" shooting with are set to the Neutral Picture Style and are tweaked for lower Contrast and Saturation, and I don't know whether this software goes that far, although DPP definitely does. DPP also sows your Custom Functions settings, which is nice to know!

Thanks for your time and input. I think I too will ignore the fancy bits and just use one setting before going into LR/PS7. My problem is the fact that I regularly work with 2 different cameras (20D and 30D) and need to synchronise them. Have you any idea which Picture Style most matches the Standard vivid parameter on the 20D?

I don't have a 20D, so I can't compare with the 30D I do have.

But, it shouldn't be too hard -- open your 30D Standard Picture style and up the Saturation and Contrast a bit and then compare, tweak as needed (maybe a bit of sharpening as well?).

Or, what I would probably prefer: take a Raw from each and bring them into DPP. Examine the 20D file -- does DPP correctly recognize the "Standard Vivid" designation? And, if so, can you identify the settings in the Raw and the RGB tabs that were applied from the in-camera setting?

If so, then you can try to replicate that in your 30D. Although, EOS Utilities has a nifty ability to actually download a custom Picture Style using the Picture Style editor.

So, if in DPP you are able to tweak the 30D file so that it is "close enough" to the 20D then you can use the Picture Style editor to create a custom Picture Syle with that effect and use EOS Utilities to download it to your 30D if the 30D supports that (I don't know if it does).

I can't give you any more info on that, though, because I've never actually used the utility!

But, again, in Lightroom and Elements you really don't need to bother if you are shooting Raw. But if you are shooting jpegs, well, you'll have to mess around with your 30D Picture Style like I'm talkin' about!

If memory serves, at the time when Picture Styles were introduced Canon stated that the Neutral P.S. was designed to replicate the single tone curve available in previous models. However, a better way to synchronize across models is to shoot RAW. If you use DPP for conversion you can apply any P.S. to 20D files (and of course to the 30D) or if using LR since the P.S. flag in the 30D's metadata is ignored the two models are treated the same.

Thanks guys, look like I'll have to do it the old fashioned way - trial and error !
Because I sometimes shoot Raw, sometimes jpeg Ill have use both suggestions. but at least I now know which direction to go.

I like shooting with a very flat picture style even though it doesn't matter for PP, because it's closer to what the RAW file actually captures. In other words, the histogram and preview you see is closer to showing the details you've actually captured.

geoffbubbles wrote in post #13129426
Thanks guys, look like I'll have to do it the old fashioned way - trial and error !
Because I sometimes shoot Raw, sometimes jpeg Ill have use both suggestions. but at least I now know which direction to go.

I'm really curious as to how DPP would treat a 20D Raw file!

Can you post a 20D Raw file to YouSendIt,com so we could check it out? And, since I have a 30D, I may be able to give you some more informed feedback!

To use that site, go to it and then type your email address into the Recipient, and then click the upload button and go through the process.

You will get an email notification right away with a link to the file ro downloading.

Post that link here and we can get it!

tonylong wrote in post #13130074
I'm really curious as to how DPP would treat a 20D Raw file!

Mine shows up in Picture Style as Standard in DPP. In ACR I have it defaulted to Camera Faithful.

Tony, its 3am here so Ill get back to you after 8 hours of ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Cheers

D Thompson wrote in post #13130156
Mine shows up in Picture Style as Standard in DPP. In ACR I have it defaulted to Camera Faithful.

Ahh, thanks for chiming in!

So, how does the Standard in DPP compare to a jpeg shot in the 20D "Standard Vivid" mode the OP was talking about? And, how does it compare to a 30D in Standard I wonder?