When I import my images using Canon Digital Professional, and then view the RAW files, they look great. Then when I import those same files into Aperture 3 for editing, they look darker. Is there a way to turn off color management in Aperture, so when I import an image, it'll leave it as is?
Aperture 3, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
Aperture, when it imports Raw, tries to match of the Raw image to the camera type that took the image. It is possible that is not happening for your images. Using the right-click, lift adjustments on one of your Raw images. Do you see a dimmed "Raw Fine Tunning" Item? If not, that might be the problem.
Also check, you may have set the camera fine tuning to something else by accident. A search for "Setting Camera Defaults" in Aperture Help will get you started in the right direction. This will show how to adjust Raw fine tuning and potentially point to clues on problmes with Raw Fine Tunning.
StephenM's response is correct, but your questions reveals that you have some confusion over how RAW works. There is no way for Aperture to "leave the image as it is", because there is no set image there. Unlike a JPEG, the RAW file needs a lot of processing to be viewable. The RAW software has to make a number of decisions like setting white point and exposure value. Canon has certain proprietary algorithms for performing these operations, and Apple is probably not privy to them. Apple does the best it can to duplicate the way that Canon does it, but cannot get everything 100% correct.
As StephenM said, feel free to tweak it with your own pre-set.
Thanks. Yes when I right-click on the image, and select lift adjustments, the lift and stamp window pops up, and the only thing listed is raw fine tuning and then lists EOS 60D Default Settings (my camera). And I can select the checkbox off to the right. So that is good, right?
I thought the RAW image had all the info in it, on how to display it properly. So what do you guys do when you import to Aperture? Is there a batch process you can save, and then apply to all images, so they'll look like they should, in your Canon Digital Professional software, or whatever you use?
Yep, that is how it is suppose to work. And since yours is not working that way, we are trying to help you with some trouble shooting techniques.
Have you looked at the Raw Fine Tuning Brick in the Adjustment Panel? Click the Gear Menu and make sure Apple Camera Default is selected. If the Apple Camera Default is not checked, after choosing the Apple Camera Default, also choose Save as Camera Defaults.
If you are still having problems, it could be a software problem or a camera hardware problem.
If you have PS Elements or better, they will open RAW files. See if they have the same darker look. if you do not have a PS program that reads RAW files, check out Raw Photo Processor. It is a free Mac app and does a better job at tuning files than many of the other software packages. Again, check for the darker look.
If the other packages also have a darker look, likely the problem is with the camera. If not, the problem is either with Aperture or a bad "default Camera Raw File Reader" file from Apple. iPhoto has been able to open Raw Files for a few versions. See if you get the darker look in iPhoto. if so it is likely a problem with the file supplied by Apple to read the camera RAW files. Since other people with your camera, do not have this problem, likely one of your files got torqued. I can't think of an easy way to replace a single Camera Raw Reader file. So, if you reach this point, I would hope you would still have some AppleCare coverage and call Apple.
Well, I tried importing using iPhoto, and it's the same slightly darker image as Aperture. And the Raw Photo Processor import looked really bad. And I checked the Raw Fine Tuning Brick, and have the settings you mentioned. The difference between the Canon software import and Aperture import is not that bad, but I like the images that the Canon software imports, because it matches the LCD display on the camera, therefore seeming to have the most accurate color. I want to use Aperture, but if I can't get it to import right, then it was a waste of money. Here are the two images. The Canon import seems to have slightly brighter color. Grass and sky mainly.
Canon Photo Professional
Aperture
I can understand your frustration. One last thing. You could use the RAW Camera Fine Tuning Brick to try to fine tune the image to get the results you are looking for. Bringing down the Boost in the RAW Camera Fine Tuning brick might get you results closer to what you want.
My personal opinion is the top picture have the blues over saturated. This would cuase the rest of the dark stuff in an image to be darker also. This is just a personal opinion though. I did not see the scene when you took the picture.
Thanks. I will probably just try to do that, and get the image I want. One thing I forgot to mention. When Aperture first imports the photo, for a brief second, it looks like the Canon imported image, but then a second later, it changes. As if it is applying a color profile or something after import. So it seems like it's loading the right color at first, then once it's done importing, it changes. I saw another person post something similar to this.
Yes the top image has great blues, and I can see your point on over-saturation. But I think that's the way it really looked when I took it. Viewing the image on the LCD on the camera also looks like that. I think Aperture dulled the green grass and even dulled the blue sky also. Just doesn't look as real in my opinion. Maybe I should compare histograms just for grins.
You can file a bug report. Under the Aperture Menu, choose Aperture feedback.
Sorry we could not get you a solution.
BTW, if you found my repies helpful, I would appreciate if you could mark it a such. It helps my ranking in the support community.
What you are seeing for that moment when you first import the image is the imbedded jpg that the camera produced. When a camera shoots RAW it also creates a JPG which gets imbedded into the RAW file. When Aperture loads the RAW file it uses the imbedded JPG as its preview the first time so as to show the user something while it is processing the RAW file.
What you are seeing on the cameras view screen is also the JPG, the camera doesn't have the ability to decode the RAW file (and if it did it would take way to long making the time between shots minutes).
My guess is that the canon software is just applying the camera settings to the raw file effectively giving you a very very large JPG.
It seems that you like the images that your camera produces with the settings you've set. In that case why are you shooting RAW? If you're happy (or actually prefer) the camera image over what you can do in Aperture (or any other RAW processor) why bother to go through the added work and require the added disk space that RAW requires?
There is nothing sacred about RAW images. For some situations and for some photographers it's worth the extra time and storage requirements, for others it offers no benefits.
Re-reading my middle paragraph:
What you are seeing on the cameras view screen is also the JPG, the camera doesn't have the ability to decode the RAW file (and if it did it would take way to long making the time between shots minutes).
was worded fairly poorly. The image on the LCD is from the JPG image in the camera the rest just came out badly.
However the overall idea of the post stands, if you're happy with the JPG image there is no real reason to shoot RAW.
That may be true looking at a particular,well exposed, picture, but it might not hold true for all images. When working if slightly overexposed images, a person can get a better recovery wit RAW. With JPG, the color is more likely to be clipped; that information is lost and can never return.
My 2 cents on RAW.
Oh ok. If the camera LCD is showing me a good JPEG image, and Aperture loads a JPEG image at first before it processes the RAW, then that makes sense why they're similar. It's just frustrating that the RAW image will look different, depending on which software you use to import it. I like the Canon imports, but would like to use Aperture. I would shoot JPEGs all the time, but like Stephen said, it's nice to have the option to tweak, in case an image comes out overexposed, etc. And when I shoot landscape shots at 10,000+ feet, that is something I'm still struggling with, lol. As well as learning a new camera. Anyway, thanks to everyone who commented, much appreciated.
Just remember that you can do adjustments to a JPG image. You won't have the latitude to adjust a JPG that you would have with a RAW image but you can still tweak it. The only adjustment that you really can't do much with on a JPG is white balance, for that you really need the RAW image.
One possibility is to have the camera record both RAW and JPG images. You can then import the JPG image, have a look and if any of the images require extensive adjustment import the corresponding RAW image and have at it. The rest of the RAW's you can trash and just keep the JPG's.
Just remember it all starts in the camera. No matter how much post processing is possible you will always get a better image if you start with a properly exposed 'negative'.
regards
Usually I can do decent a white Balance with jpg. I even did a decent job with some low light, heavy influenced by florescencewith some natural light. Pretty gross white balance situations. But I was able to recover.
The main advantage of RAW vs. jpg is the recovery of detail. With under an exposed image, far more details can be recovered with the Raw compared to the jpg. Same thing with over exposed. The main difference between RAW and jpg are extra bits of data that are retained in a RAW image. Those bits get clipped in a jpg. Once the imformation is clipped, the information is lost for ever. Can't get it back. Gone.
Try recovering information on a moderately over exposed image. With a RAW image, usually recovery will result in returning a smooth cure in the higher end of the histogram. Same recovery with a jpg and a smooth curve can not be returned because of the clipping, There will always be a sharp drop off at the high end of the histogram because of the clipped data.
Pritch,
I was looking at the Aperture support area for another problem and found these links.
Aperture 3: Discussion about differences in exposure levels with Aperture 3 RAW decoding
Aperture 3: Updated RAW Processing
These talk about how the recent change Aperture Raw Processing will affect the RAW of certain cameras. Look like many of the Cannon Cameras now have darker images.
Why do my RAW images appear darker in Aperture 3 when imported?
