Canon Digital Photo Professional? Just wondering if anyone out there uses this program that comes free with the camera. I have this and a free copy of Photoshop Elements 8. I only want...

Mandonan Loc: On the Road full time!

Just wondering if anyone out there uses this program that comes free with the camera. I have this and a free copy of Photoshop Elements 8. I only want to learn one.....any suggestions?

Thanks so much in advance, I have so much to learn and so little time! Loving this forum!

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Sorry Mandonan, they are both good programs and they will both be better than the other at something.
But if I had to pick just one to learn, it would be the one that can work in layers and selective editing.

Tim Wellington Loc: Hull, UK

Both these programs have their own advantages, however you can open your raw files without any problems whatsoever using DPP, you can also use live-view from your pc or laptop and have full control over your camera using DPP, something not available using elements!!

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Hi Tim, I know it is in the same bundle but isn't it the EOS Utility program that does this?

Tim Wellington wrote:

Both these programs have their own advantages, however you can open your raw files without any problems whatsoever using DPP, you can also use live-view from your pc or laptop and have full control over your camera using DPP, something not available using elements!!

Tim Wellington Loc: Hull, UK

Sorry Lighthouse, yes you're right, I was just pointing out the added advantages of the DPP software, however they are both good programs, but you get more of the editing facilities on photoshop!!

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Mandonan wrote:

Just wondering if anyone out there uses this program that comes free with the camera. I have this and a free copy of Photoshop Elements 8. I only want to learn one.....any suggestions?

Thanks so much in advance, I have so much to learn and so little time! Loving this forum!

Man, I use DPP almost exclusively. It's very fast to use and will batch process(resize) and do batch recipes very fast as well.
I did not get a different program until two years ago when I was required to use PS and LR in the school labs.
Now I use LR4 only on shots for customers or competitions. I have CS6 and very rarely open it.
It will of course depend completely on your goals as a photographer. Can't do surreal with DPP or LR. If you want to completely metemorphosize your images, you will need the power of PSE or CS6. Nothing wrong with that either !

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Mandonan wrote:

Just wondering if anyone out there uses this program that comes free with the camera. I have this and a free copy of Photoshop Elements 8. I only want to learn one.....any suggestions?

Thanks so much in advance, I have so much to learn and so little time! Loving this forum!

I love DPP, but you may as well try PE9 since you have it. I am sure you will find a use for both.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Mandonan wrote:

Just wondering if anyone out there uses this program that comes free with the camera. I have this and a free copy of Photoshop Elements 8. I only want to learn one.....any suggestions?

Thanks so much in advance, I have so much to learn and so little time! Loving this forum!

While DPP will work with jpeg, its was primarily developed as a RAW processor and as a result many of its features are not available for jpeg processing. It is intended for fixing exposure issues. PS Elements 8, which is 3 versions old at this point, is more complicated to use, but will allow you to manipulate objects in your images. If you are shooting RAW and perhaps even jpegs and are just interested in exposures, it is relatively simple to learn and easy to use. One benefit it has over, I believe, all other RAW converters is that it uses the same in-camera settings for RAW files as it does for Jpegs, so your RAWs look just like your jpegs.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

MWSilvers reminded me of a point with DPP..
DPP will keep your in camera settings on the raw file.
ie if you take a raw pic with increased contrast and saturation - when you open it in DPP those changes (edits) will be there, already applied to the raw.
If you open that raw in another raw converter (like Elements ACR) the contrast and saturation edits will not be present.

mwsilvers wrote:

While DPP will work with jpeg, its was primarily d... (show quote)

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

lighthouse wrote:

MWSilvers reminded me of a point with DPP..
DPP will keep your in camera settings on the raw file.
ie if you take a raw pic with increased contrast and saturation - when you open it in DPP those changes (edits) will be there, already applied to the raw.
If you open that raw in another raw converter (like Elements ACR) the contrast and saturation edits will not be present.

Correct. Its the answer to those you dislike opening RAW files in ACR because they look dull and washed out compared to the JPEGs. Also, unlike Adobe, the parameters of the exact picture style you shot are retained in DPP. I shoot in RAW 100% of the time and primarily use Lightroom 4 for PP. However, If my shots look pretty close to where I want them right out of the camera, then depending on my mood and the time available, I often will just use DPP to quickly tweak the exposure settings a bit. If only Lightroom had the ability to access the native Canon settings.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

I tried DPP and found it clunky and unintuitive. I like LR much better as it has more features and plenty of tutorials available online. Elements has even more features than LR but the newer versions, PSE11 are far better. If I had to make the choice, I'd go with elements and then upgrade to the newest version. There are plenty of tutorials available for it online, too.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

birdpix wrote:

I tried DPP and found it clunky and unintuitive. I like LR much better as it has more features and plenty of tutorials available online. Elements has even more features than LR but the newer versions, PSE11 are far better. If I had to make the choice, I'd go with elements and then upgrade to the newest version. There are plenty of tutorials available for it online, too.

I am primarily a LR4 user. While DPP is light on functionality, what it does do, it does well. It is easy to learn and use. I disagree with the clunky and unintuitive comment. I am not comparing it to Lightroom, but for a free program that can easily make final exposure adjustments to RAW photos that are already decent, it is an excellent choice. That is especially true if you want to retain the original in-camera settings. IMHO its the perfect PP tool for Canon shooters who really don't like post processing, but would occasionally like to nudge or tweak an image a little.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Of course, if I'm converting RAW I use DPP, get the best conversion before going to a third party, my choice is PSPx5,
Bob.

andrew.haysom Loc: Melbourne, Australia

I would agree that you probably need both, and that you should consider upgrading PSE to the latest version.

marki3rd Loc: Columbus, Indiana

lighthouse wrote:

Hi Tim, I know it is in the same bundle but isn't it the EOS Utility program that does this?

I believe that DPP will pull up EOS Utility automagicaly