Digital Photo Professional (hereinafter, “DPP”) is a high-performance
RAW image processing, viewing and editing software for EOS DIGITAL
cameras. It is often thought that RAW images are difficult to handle
compared with ordinary JPEG images, but using DPP, you can perform
advanced edits and print RAW images with ease.

RAW Images and Their Features

A RAW image is image data that has recorded output data of imaging
sensor. As image processing is not performed inside the camera when a
photo is taken and the photo has been recorded in the special form of
“RAW image data + Image processing conditions information at the time
of shooting”, special software is needed to view or edit the image.
* “RAW” means “in a natural condition” or “not processed or refined”.

If described in terms of film, the concept of a RAW image is a shot
image not yet developed (latent image).
With film, the image appears for the first time when it is developed. In
the same way, for RAW images too, you cannot view them as images on
your computer unless you perform subsequent image signal processing.
Therefore, even though it is digital, this processing is called
“development”.

DPP automatically carries out this “development” processing when
RAW images are displayed in DPP.
As a result, RAW images displayed in DPP are images whose
development processing has been completed.
With DPP, you can view, edit and print RAW images without being
particularly conscious of the development processing.

What is a RAW Image?

What is RAW Development?

When is RAW Development done?

RAW images are recorded in the format “RAW image data + Image
processing conditions information at the time of shooting”. When you
open a RAW image in DPP, the image is automatically developed and
you can view the image as an image to which image processing
conditions at the time of shooting have been applied.
Even if you perform various adjustments to the image you have opened
(it undergoes automatic development processing each time), only the
image processing conditions (development conditions) change and the
“original image data itself” remains unaffected. Consequently, image
deterioration is not a problem and it is the perfect image data for users
who want to get creative with their images after they have been shot.
In DPP, the “Image processing conditions information” that can be
adjusted is called a “Recipe”.

What Advantages Does a RAW Image Have?

RAW image data

Image processing conditions information

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