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Level 1

0 points

Aperture 3, RAW vs JPEG. I give up...

Hi All,

I am not a professional photographer, but an enthusiast. I have been trying to understand why a raw file and a JPEG would create such a different result in Aperture. Below is an example of a random shot that I just took, RAW on the right, JPEG on the left. The JPEG version is exactly how I expected it to look, but the RAW has this weird yellowy/green pale theme to it (frankly the kid looks kinda ill) and you can see the worse definition on the flowers in the background. I use a 5D MARKII and I am running Aperture 3.2.1.

I know the difference is not that huge, but it has been bugging me for a long time now. I prefer to shoot in RAW, but for the moment that just means I never the image that I want, so I shoot in JPEG+RAW. Any ideas on how to manage this?

Aperture 3, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Dec 5, 2011 11:00 AM

Best reply

Frank Caggiano

Level 7

25,969 points

Posted on Dec 5, 2011 11:15 AM

You're screen shots didn't make it into the post.

But to answer you question the reason the images appear different is because they are different. The JPG had the camera settings applied to it in the camera, the RAW is the image as it was, the camera settings have no affect on it.

Think of an extreme example, shooting an image with the camera set to Black & White. The JPG will be B&W while the RAW image will appear in color in Aperture. Why? Because a RAW image contains all the information in the image without being modified by the camera settings.

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19 replies

Dec 6, 2011 5:20 AM in response to PashaT

You are welcome ... but can you tell us how this was resolved? Doing so helps others who encounter the same issue. Thanks.

PashaT Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 6, 2011 1:24 PM in response to Kirby Krieger

I have found that my camera was using a preset "picture style" setting (Landscape), weird as I never actually played around with these. Moving to "standard" picture style + using custome WB makes JPEGS and RAWs as close as they can get I think. When I have a little more time I will try to undestand what exactly these picture styles change and will try to duplicate that in Aperture for the RAW file.

Dec 6, 2011 1:44 PM in response to PashaT

You might try your camera's auto-WB. Auto-WB on my Sony a850 (and on Sony Alpha cameras in general) is excellent (yours could be even better).

imagin8r

Level 1

5 points

Aug 29, 2012 6:04 AM in response to PashaT

Thanks for the post. I've been having the same problem and it's been bugging me for a long time too.

I just got back from an event where I was shooting with a 5DMii and a T2i using Canon 24-105L IS, 70-200 2.8L, 50 1.8 and a Sigma 120-400. Images were viewed on an iMac running Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 and Aperture 3.3.2. Workflow is importing through Canon's DPP and then using referenced images in Aperture.

Comparing the T2i images to the 5DMii images, there's no contest, the T2i blows away the 5DMii every time. I shot full RAW on both bodies and the T2i images aren't just better, they're in a different league as far as tone, texture, luminesence, and in every way that gives an image that POP, wow factor that lets a non-professional enthusiast think wow I can't believe I shot that.

I don't have this problem in LR4, or in Canon's DPP, in those apps the 5DMii images look how you'd expect them to, it's only in Aperture.

Aperture 3, RAW vs JPEG. I give up...