Canon 40D raw format and Lightroom....

[marxz]

Just a quick question.....

has any Lightroom +EOS 40D users, particularly those moving from an earlier EOS DSLR such as (like me) a 20D noticed that the Canon 40D's raw files come across as being substandard to earlier EOS DSLRs?

while they seem to have better dynamic range the images seem "crunchy" or less smooth and noisier.

I've only had my 40D for a week or so so mainly being concentrating on learning the camera interface rather than stressing on image quality and as such it may be some issue I've having with settings.

I was shooting RAW + large JPG and for a while thought it might have been that lightroom was actually displaying and using the JPG (it was showing as "RAW +JPG", same as when I shoot on the 20D with simultaneous formats) changed it to RAW only on the 40D without any joy.

Have turned off highlight protection and auto ISO.

Later today I'm going to set up the tripod and do a test shoot with my D60, 20D and the new 40D with the same lens (70-200 f/2.8 manually focused) and with the same settings on each camera - RAW only, 100 ISO and same exposure and see if I'm actually seeing this or it's just some psychological thing......

I haven't installed Canons software from the 40D as I have a profound dislike of their software particularly their mac versions. That said if the above test shows that lightroom is still producing what I see as substandard results on importing 40D RAW files then that may be the way I'll need to go.

[dougj]

I don't have the 40D, nor do I use Lightroom so I am 110% not qualified to comment. However, there was a very interesting thread related to the 'inbetween' ISOs Canon introduced with the 30D and sensor noise. I don't know if Canon changed this with the 40D or if auto ISO is using fractional ISOs, but if you're going to do some testing it might be worth comparing.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=19721647

[marxz]

yeh that might be it - my test shots showed that using the same settings as I mentioned in my first post (100ISO and manual exposure) the 40D is at least equal or better to the 20D and the D60 in almost all detail rendering and gives an equally smooth "non digital crunchy" look.

I think I'll be leaving Auto ISO off for now, handy feature, yes, but not essential, I've lived without it for years, can carry on living without it now

Interestingly it looks like, to me, that the D60 manages to render very fine line details better (power lines, guy ropes on boats) than the 40D when they are set to cover roughly the same number of pixels but the higher resolution of the 40D all but canceled that out when shooting from the same distance or focal length.



DAMN, I know the interface, imaging chip, focus system and actual mechanics of the D60 are almost 6 years antiquated but it still manages to impress me with its image quality from RAW files.