Canon 40D-Shooting Raw-Which Functions Matter?

I always shoot raw, so I always shoot with auto white balance because I understand that I can correct any problems with raw software. Is this a correct understanding? In the same vein, if you shoot raw, do Picture Styles make any difference at all? Does the camera apply any sharpening, etc. to raw pics? Another one: does it matter if I have noise reduction on or off when I shoot raw? How about any other functions--which ones matter and which ones don't in Raw. Thanks in advance for any help on this.

If you shoot in Raw then none of the picture styles or in camera sharpening will be applied. If you have a large enough memory card you can shoot Raw + Jpeg. I've modified one of the picture styles and shoot Jpeg for snapshots and I really like the result it gives me. But when I'm shooting something I really want to blow up I'll shoot in Raw. As for white balance you can make adjustments in DPP or Photoshop (including Elements) before you convert the file. You'll find auto doesn't do a very good job and that you'll need to either apply an adjustment in via software or on the camera for best results.

The answer for the Digital Rebel series, from the Digital Rebel FAQ.

The 40D should be basically the same as the XTi/400D, although I'm not au fait with all of the added functionality. I do know that Highlight Tone Priority affects exposure and thus the raw data; HTP relies on Canon Raw converters (RIT or DPP) to adjust for the reduced exposure. An HTP Raw file will look quite dark in a non-Canon converter such as ACR that doesn't understand HTP.

Doug,
Excellent article ,thanks for the link.

I looked at some of your shots.....really great.,nice color,excellent composition.

Mike

only when using DPP to open the RAW files will the camera settings apply - not in Adobe Camera Raw.

brimacx wrote in post #4107273
only when using DPP to open the RAW files will the camera settings apply - not in Adobe Camera Raw.

Then what information does Adobe Camera Raw pick up to use as it's base RAW data? It's just that if the picture styles affect the RAW image in DPP, which they do, there is no "off" setting, unless this is the "Neutral" or "Faithful" setting - both of which have different effects on the image?

What you set in-camera will also show on the LCD preview regardless of RAW or not... so if you use LCD to check exposure beware!

racingsafetyman wrote in post #4110425
Then what information does Adobe Camera Raw pick up to use as it's base RAW data? It's just that if the picture styles affect the RAW image in DPP, which they do, there is no "off" setting, unless this is the "Neutral" or "Faithful" setting - both of which have different effects on the image?

Every converter has to use some default values for its initial conversion. Without them there can be no image on your screen because a Raw file is not a RGB image file. DPP uses defaults that attempt to mimic the camera's settings for jpgs. Other converters use defaults derived from their authors' judgement of what constitutes a good starting point for further editing and each one is, therefore, different. The concept of an "off" setting, a conversion without some set of default values having been applied to it, is impossible unless you are willing to accept a un-white-balanced linear conversion which would be dark and green-casted.

tzalman wrote in post #4110872
Every converter has to use some default values for its initial conversion. Without them there can be no image on your screen because a Raw file is not a RGB image file. DPP uses defaults that attempt to mimic the camera's settings for jpgs. Other converters use defaults derived from their authors' judgement of what constitutes a good starting point for further editing and each one is, therefore, different. The concept of an "off" setting, a conversion without some set of default values having been applied to it, is impossible unless you are willing to accept a un-white-balanced linear conversion which would be dark and green-casted.

OK that makes sense to me, meaning that there is no such thing as a "RAW" image which hasn't had some form of conversion before it is transformed to JPEG regardless of which raw viewer you choose. Thanks.