Focus Merging raw vs jpg

[Chris in NZ]

Hi all

 

I've found that when focus merging in Photo, if I focus merge raw files (CR2 from a 80D in this case) the merged result is substantially darker than if I do the merge from the JPG files I captured at the same time as the RAWs.  I can also use the batch function to make JPGs out of the RAW files and use them for a merge and it's exactly the same, the RAW one is several stops darker than the JPGs I got from those raw files. It doesn't give me any develop options so I'm stuck using JPGs.

This has happened in every version of AP I've tried, including 1.9.

 

Any ideas?

[NotMyFault]

Hi Chris,

your observations are correct. It is at least hard or next to impossibleto get the same RAW conversions from Affinity Photo compared to out-of-camera JPG.

Your brightness issue might be solving by adjusting the "develop assistant" settings, e.g. aplly tone curve / apply brightness.

I can only strongly recommend to pre-process the CR2 files in Canon DPP (its free for every Canon camera owner), and export as TIFF16.

• Consistent results for multiple images (use "receipts" and copy/pase them)
• Far superior CA correction (Photo does not work at all for CR2)
• Option to use Camera settings (picture profiles) and basic sharpening
• Option to use digital lens optimization to re-gain fine details
• Support for all Canon Cameras and Lenses, immediately after launch of new products (e.g. CR3 support, compressed RAW, R5 support)

Then, you can fire up Affinity Photo and import the TIFF16 to do all the advanced stuff like focus merging, HDR merging etc. where Photo really shines.

Canon DPP allows batch processing of unlimited fles in one click.

My normal workflow is to

1. Import all images with Canon Utility 3
2. Star rate photos in Canon DPP
3. Do basic adjustments like brightness, white balance
4. Delete all bad images (filter filter to "rejected", hit delete)
5. Export the good images as TIFF16
6. Do all the fancy stuff in Affinity
7. This takes about 5-19 minutes plus 1 minute for every image, but drastrically simplifies live as you need much more time to do these steps in Affinity.

The only exeption: If i use third party lenses (Sigma), i use Affinity for RAW as DPP is bound to Canon products.

Greetings from another EOS 80D owner - still the best Canon APS-C sensors regarding dynamic range.

[Chris in NZ]

Hi, thanks for the very detailed answer. Just bear in mind this is for a product photography job I am doing.  I have to spend the absolute minimum of time on each image, so I’ll continue shooting my focus brackets in jpg, with the lighting setup we have I don’t need the extra DR of raw, I just wondered if what I was seeing was expected behaviour.  It’s really no problem to bracket jpgs.

 

cheers for your time