DPP 4.0

[mjperini]

It's being widely reported that the new DPP will only support the latest FF Canons.
If true, it seems sure to alienate large groups of users unnecessarily.
Lets hope there is more to the story,?

[Bob Atkins]

It's not being widely reported by me!

I'd be very surprised if Canon dropped DPP support for APS-C  and older FF sensor cameras. There seems to good or logical reason to do so and Canon aren't stupid.

I presume the rumors are being caused by the translation of the Canon Japan Press Release which says DPP will support the current lineup of FF cameras. It DOESN'T say that it won't support all previous FF and APS-C cameras. Don't read what's not there.

Translation from Japanese to English, as well as understanding differences in how the Japanese phrase things, isn't 100% when done by machines yet.

My prediction is this will turn out to be yet another "stupid internet rumor" propagated on chat forums by people who don't really know what they are talking about.

[mjperini]

Bob,
I would hope you are correct (as you usually are), because it really doesn't make sense for them to exclude many of their own cameras.
There is a lot of interest in DPP4 because it has always been a capable application that seemed one major upgrade away from being Really Good.
I own a bunch of Canon gear and am a platinum CPS Member, I don't think the folks at Canon are stupid. Quite the opposite.

 But I did come across it first on DP Review, where I also found a link to the DPP 4 PDF Manual
http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/0/0300015460/01/dpp-4-0-00-w-im-en.pdf

On page 2 of that manual it plainly states under Supported Cameras: 1Dx 1D C  5D III  & 6D.
On the same Page under Supported RAW Files: RAW Files from the supported Cameras.
It does NOT say that specific cameras are unsupported, but it does seem to imply that. (Or it's a bad translation)

So once I saw it on DP Review AND in a Canon Manual, I thought it qualified as more than a wild rumor, and came to 'The Source' for clarification.
My intension was not to hijack the site into wild rumors,  but to get clarification, because even the best and smartest companies occasionally come out with 'head scratchers'
Thanks

[Bob Atkins]

You're right. The DPP manual does list only current FF cameras as "supported cameras". This seems very strange. It's very hard to see why Canon would do this and so annoy legions of users of earlier cameras, including many professionals who still use cameras like the earlier 1 series models, plus the 5D MkII and the current 7D (which Canon regard as one of their "professional" cameras).

I'll try to get some info from Canon directly and see what they say. It would be a pretty dumb move unless there is some technical reason for this - but I can't see any possible technical reason why the camera support would be so limited. Canon managed to make all previous versions backwards compatible with all EOS bodies. so it's hard to see why that would change.

[Bob Atkins]

OK, I talked with Canon. What they said was that the INITIAL release would indeed support only the current full frame cameras. It will not initially support the 7D. However they will be working on adding in compatibility with earlier FF cameras and APS-C cameras. It sounds like either they may be waiting for feedback from pro users before modifying and adding in other cameras, or adding in support for the other cameras would take additional development time and they wanted to get the software out ASAP. Maybe you could look at the initial release of DPP 4.0 as a Beta test? What I didn't get from them was that DPP 4.0 is intended to support only to ever support only the current FF cameras and exclude users of all other EOS cameras. It seems to be a matter of timing and software development.

Of course they didn't say whether it would be 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or longer before additional support was added in a version 4.0.1 or whatever number they give it. It was phrased as an intention of adding support some time after the initial release, not a commitment that other cameras would be supported in a given timeframe.

This makes some sense I guess. I'm sure they developed the software based on the current crop of professional FF DSLRs and adding in backwards support for all other EOS cameras would take additional software development time since it would require additional camera recognition modules, possibly along with additional RAW conversion routines for earlier formats. If they wanted the earliest possible release date, releasing the version with limited support makes sense. I'm sure they will hear lots of very vocal comments from EOS users about getting out a version with more extensive support ASAP.

So it wasn't a wild rumor, but it appears to be only half of the story.

If I get additional info, I'll post it.

[mjperini]

Bob,
Thank you for taking the time to follow up with Canon.
In my email this morning I received a CPN Europe announcement about the wonderful features of DPP 4. It included the following:
CAMERA COMPATIBILITY AND OS SUPPORT
At launch, DPP 4.0 is compatible with Canon’s current range of full-frame DSLRs, including the EOS-1D X, EOS-1D C, EOS 5D Mark III and EOS 6D. For other models, an update of DPP 3.14 will be released.

As you said, they are not necessarily excluding other cameras forever (and my guess is that they probably will include some later) But they are going to the trouble of updating the old version rather than saying, we'll be adding other cameras asap.

In my view,  unless support for other cameras comes faster than implied , this seems like a marketing blunder destined to unnecessarily exclude many loyal users.
>DPP has always been slow in development and lacking in important features- it took them years to add a straighten tool----why not wait until recent cameras could be supported
>They are clearly doing development for other cameras -- but for v 3.4.1 which will clearly not have the look, feel and features of DPP 4 or there wouldn't be a separate development process.
>They may in fact have every intension of supporting older cameras, but their statements and actions clearly exclude loyal users now and for at least some significant amount of time.
> The 7D is still a current 'pro level' camera , the 70 D represents an evolution of their sensor technology,  if the 7d mk II were to come out next month the implication is that it would not be supported because it's APS C. Does that make any sense?
Personally I shoot with a 1Ds mk III, 7D, & 70D,   I (and many others) paid  $7995 for the body, I'm waiting for the next High Res 1 series. There are many folks with $5k 1D4's
Purposly excluding customers who have spent those kinds of dollars on your company's products from a free utility program that might actually be helpful to them seems like a blunder to me.
Why make customers feel badly when you don't have to?
It's not the end of the world, they just missed a chance to make customers feel Included rather than Excluded.
A 'head scratcher'

[Bob Atkins]

I guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm sure an update of the existing DPP is a lot easier to do than include every legacy camera in DPP 4.0. From a marketing standpoint I'd say that an existing DPP update is probably designed to minimize the bad feelings cause by limiting DPP 4.0 to a few high end cameras. At least I hope that's the case. We'll have to see what's in the current DPP update. I presume it won't have the new RAW conversion module that DPP 4.0 appears to have but it may have the new bells and whistles.

I don't have any of the current FF DSLRs either, so I'm hoping that DPP 4.0 is updated to 4.0.1 soon, at least with a few cameras like the more recent 1-series bodies, the 7D and the 5D MkII. I can see them leaving for last (if ever) the really old APS-C bodies (D30, 10D etc.) and Rebel series, since the owners of those are probably the least likely to want to use DPP, but I'm sure that many 7D, 5D mkII and recent EOS-1D and 1Ds users will certainly want DPP 4.0.1

Let's just hope that DPP support for legacy cameras is a better rumor than a new EOS 7D Mkii seems to have been....

[mjperini]

A small update with a better look at some features.....
In the latest CPN Newsletter form Canon Europe, they herald DPP4 as the 'First major update of the software since it was launched"
It is still compatible ONLY with current FF sensor cameras, thus leaving out even the 1Ds III, 1D IV, 5D mkII, 7D and all other Canon Cameras.
It adds " (although support for more models will be added in due course)"
DPP has always been a free converter/editor utility for all Canon Cameras, and always provided ecxelent conversions, but DPP4 aspires to do more than that, which is welcome.
The good news is that they are saying 'more' models will be added "in due course" (2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years??) But, they are saying 'more models' not' all models', so some camera models will be left out of DPP4's functionality.  For those left out, they have said they will continue to supply a version of DPP 3.x.x. (although they have not said how long they will provide it, or if they intend to update two different versions for Windows & MacOS for the forseeable future ??)
DPP4 looks much improved.
I'm not a software engineer, I don't know if the different DIGIC processor versions could be a factor in their decision to include a 6D but Exclude 1DsIII &5D II,  or why it would be easier to upgrade two different versions of DPP long term rather than to roll them into one. (There may be a good reason for that, but it seems counter-intuitive [and also a marketing mistake] to me) Perhaps someone with expertise in that area could help clarify...?
There is an opportunity to Download DPP4 but I think you need files from one of the 4 supported Cameras to try it.
I can't imagine Canon would go to all this work to support only 4 cameras,(or why it makes any sense to launch this way), so I'll remain hopeful
Here is the Canon Professional Network Newsletter:
http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/product/canon_software/inside_dpp_4_0_software.do?utm_source=newsletter_august_2_14&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter

[Bob Atkins]

In addition to only supporting current FF cameras I think DPP 4.0 requires a full 64 bit operating system. The windows version requires Windows 7 or 8. It won't run on XP (at least not the 32 bit version, and possibly not even the 64 bit).

When I asked Canon which other models might be supported and when that support might appear they couldn't give me an answer.

I have no idea why Canon couldn't offer DPP 4.0 for all cameras, other than the effort involved adding the code for each camera. Updating DPP 3.x.x probably requires less effort since most of the work has already been done. In the long run though I agree that it would seem to be less effort to maintain just one version. Could be that Canon will in fact do that, but it will be DPP 4.x.x and development of DPP 3.x.x will stop

[mjperini]

New version of DPP4 is being reported by CPN canon Europe here:http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/news/dpp_4_1_50_available_with_support_for_more_cameras.do
There is a list of many additional cameras supported. (Including the 7D I & II & 70D)  I did not immediately see the 1DsIII mentioned

[mjperini]

Re DPP 4.1.50
A serial # for a SUPPORTED Camera is required for download. I did so for a 7D
I also confirmed that the 1DsIII is NOT supported (at least at this time) Which is too bad. A tip of the hat to a recent flagship camera would have been nice.
But the good news is, that true to their word, several new cameras have been added including the 1D IV, 70D, 5D II, 700D, and 100d
Michael

[Bob Atkins]

Thanks for the update.

Just a reminder that DPP4.0 will not run under Windows XP (32 bit). I know...I tried!

[mjperini]

Canon Europe has done a nice article on the new EOS Utility 3,
which has many new features, and new integration with DPP4 as well as wiFi
You can find it Here: http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/yourspace/newsletter/newsletter_january_1_15.do?utm_source=newsletter_january_1_15&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter

Unfortunately, only the newest Canon cameras are supported.
I use EOS Utility 2 for Tethered shooting with my 1Ds III ,7D, & 40D none of which are supported.

A didappointing trend for free but very useful utility software.
I also saw a note elsewhere that Neither application works with Apple's Yosemite

[Bob Atkins]

Yes, currently  EOS Utility3.x only supports these cameras:

EOS-1D X
EOS-1D C
EOS 5D Mark III
EOS 6D
EOS 7D Mark II

I don't know if Canon intend to extend this selection, as they did with DPP 4.0. I know that in the previous version of the EOS Utility they made a big thing out of support for all EOS cameras back to the D30, so they may be planning to extend version 3 to other camera bodies. As far as I know they haven't commented on that, but I may have missed it if they did.

[mjperini]

We're now up to v 4.2 with what look like many helpful features.
Still no support for the 1Ds III  1D III or earlier 1 series cameras, but ever growing support for consumer cameras.
This is more than a little frustrating for those who have older top of the line cameras, especially since the 1DsIII is Still the last 's' version of the 1 series.
Why Canon would want to exclude purchasers of some of their most expensive cameras for helpful free software continues to elude me.??

Here is the list of supported cameras:
Digital Photo Professional 4.2.10 supports EOS 8000D / EOS REBEL T6s / EOS 760D, EOS Kiss X8i / EOS REBEL T6i / EOS 750D, EOS-1D C, EOS-1D X, EOS-1D Mark IV, EOS 5D Mark III, EOS 6D, EOS 7D Mark II, EOS 70D, EOS 7D, EOS 5D Mark II, EOS Kiss X7i / EOS REBEL T5i / EOS 700D, EOS Kiss X7 / EOS REBEL SL1 / EOS 100D, EOS M3 and is a genuine, Canon-made application for browsing, selecting, and developing RAW images. It has various image adjustment functions in the Picture Style format and allows the user to make speedy image adjustments with freedom.