1D MkIII Highlight Tone Priority & Aperture

Let's just say that Aperture does not currently understand the Canon Eos 1D MkIII's new 'Highlight Tone Priority' setting. Any of the images with HTP set to 'on' are approximately 1-stop underexposed. When I compare them to either the in-camera JPEG or a DPP version of a CR2 file, they are too dark. You can even see Aperture updating the thumbnails as they are processed; the ones with HTP = 'off' aren't updated, and look fine.
Is there any known workaround for this, short of waiting for Apple to update the RAW engine? This is a bummer, as I really needed Aperture to weed through 700 soccer images from this weekend...
Thanks in advance for any help,
Jeff

It sounds like it's Canon "secret sauce", which modifies what's captured even in the RAW (CR2) file between HTP-on and HTP-off (which is interesting, because so many of these types of features only affect the camera-produced or vendor-software-output JPEG file.)
From an article by Rob Galbraith, at http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8739-8970
"A Highlight Tone Priority image is processed differently in the camera, regardless of whether the camera is set to CR2 or JPEG. Specifically, the amount of gain applied during the analog-to-digital conversion step is less. For instance, if the camera is set to ISO 200, the amount of gain applied is similar to or the same as ISO 100, which means more of the highlight detail captured by the sensor is preserved during this early in-camera processing step. This is the main reason the camera can't be set lower than ISO 200 when Highlight Tone Priority is enabled; it requires the extra highlight headroom it gets by applying a level of analog signal boost to the sensor data that is commensurate with a lower ISO setting.
After that, it's all secret sauce: Canon isn't publicly describing what is done to the image once it's in digital form, but it obviously involves a modified tone curve that's meant to give Highlight Tone Priority ON photos the same overall tonal look as Highlight Tone Priority OFF ones, but with more detail and smoother gradation in the highlights."
Interesting.

Similar Messages

Unsupported for highlight tone priority enable RAW of 1 Ds MK III

I have used Aperture for a while and been very impressed with the feature of this software. However, I notice that Aperture does not fully support RAW file of 1 Ds MkIII. There is a problem in Aperture with 1Ds MK III RAW format when the "highlight tone priority enable" is turned on in the camera. The Aperture will shift the histogram of the picture to the left side, causing the picture to look darker.
Have anyone here has this problem?

Yes, it has been discussed before. If you shoot with highlight tone priority, Aperture will show the photos as underexposed by about 1 stop. Which is, frankly, what the camera is doing. You need to do extra PP work in Aperture if you go this route.

LR/ACR and Canon Highlight Tone Priority

Hey All,
I recently acquired a Canon 1D Mk III which, among other things, offers the Highlight Tone Priority function.
I've read different things about how this "works" and how it may affect Canon RAW files. Since I shoot only RAW, it's meaningful to me to understand what's going on with this function and if I as a RAW shooter gain a real benefit from its use.
From what I've read, I gather that with HTP enabled, and the ISO set to, say, 200 (the lowest ISO for HTP use) the camera actually reads the analog data for ISO 100 from the A/D Converter/amplifier, then applies a curve in digital processing to boost the exposure for the dark and midtones, while curving down the boost into the highlights. I don't have an expert analysis of this but more opinions of those who've run tests and analyzed the results.
One of these testers believes that for RAW, a flag is set in Exif that directs RAW converters to apply this flag -- in other words the actual RAW data is in this example the (underexposed) ISO 100 data and the converter, in our case Lightroom, knows to apply some kind of curve on initially rendering the data. In other words, in this opinion, the RAW data is the unchanged ISO 100, a stop underexposed relative to the desired ISO 200.
So, I'm hoping that those "in the know" in the Adobe world can give me a definitive answer so that I and other Canon RAW shooters can make an educated decision as to whether we want to use this tool or not!
I'd really like to hear from someone on the Adobe team about this, or one of you all who works with the team!
Thanks,
Tony

I don't mean to cause a problem with this statement...but here it goes any way:
For all those who have a cam with HTP, test this for yourself. You will see a noticeable difference between shooting in RAW with HTP on and off. (YMMV)
If we can see the difference, and it is a good one (in our favor of better image quality) than why do we need info from Adobe about this? We should just be happy it Does work and continue to confidently take our photos.
I have never used DPP to see if there is a difference between RAW w/HTP and the same image from LR.
edit:
I suspect the reason that it does work with LR is that HTP possibly works in the image pipeline in the camera. Meaning it does it's magic before it writes the raw file. So any luminance/tone-curve/iso trickery is done before the actual raw phase. The raw data has already been shifted (similar to RAW shot at ISO 3200, which we already know is 1600 underexposed 1 stop than pushed in camera before writing the file)

Canon MKIII Highlight tone recovery V ACR recovery

I can see the point of using the 1D MKIII's HTR feature with JPEGS for high contrast range subjects to hold important highlight detail.
What is the consensus re in-camera HTR for RAW, versus no in-camera HTR and using highlight recovery in AR V4 on RAW files? (less chance of shadow noise with ACR as highlight specific adjustment)
Are Canon merely reducing the exposure at the highlight end and increasing overall exposure from shadows up the scale hence their advisory notice that HTR technology may increase shadow noise?

>Personally, I would prefer to have the histogram show the true status of the exposure and not some shifted value
>What is "true status"? The in-camera histogram is based on the camera settings, which have no impact on the raw data. I would prefer raw histogram shown in-camera, at least as an option, but I don't think many customers share this preference.
This issue has been covered many times. Since the histogram is derived from the JPEG preview with most cameras, you should set the contrast to low. Contrast affects the quarter tones much more than the extremes of the histogram. If you want to see the channels without white balance, at least with Nikon cameras, you can upload a special white balance to the camera where the red and blue multiplers are set to unity (UniWB). Also you can upload a TRC to the camera to undo the gamma encoding, but I've never tried this.
If you do a bit of experimenting, you can correlate the camera histogram with the raw file and have a pretty good idea of what is going on with the raw file, and you can gain quite a bit of control over the histogram. Some cameras indicate clipping in the histogram when there is none in the raw file, and this can be corrected with the proper TRC.
IMHO, a raw linear histogram is not a good idea, since the data would be scrunched up on the left. A log base 2 histogram would correspond to f/stops and that would be my preference and also corresponds with human luminance perception, which is log.
>The exposure with HTP On is the same as with HTP Off, but the ISO will be halved with HTP On (that's the reason for HTP working only from ISO 200 up). The loss in the raw data is the least significant bit. As the 1DMkIII creates 14-bit raw data, this loss is practically meaningless (assuming that the extra bits or at least the first of them is not random).
If you halve the exposure, shot noise will be increased by a factor of 1.4 across the tonal range. Usually dynamic range is limited by the noise floor, rather than by quantization. The 14 bit ADC wouldn't address the increased shot noise, but it might reduce the read noise.

Oversaturating Skin Tones in Aperture 3?

I recently upgraded from iPhoto to Aperture 3 and iPhoto always had the option to "avoid saturating skin tones" but on Aperture I can't seem to find it so my skin tones always seem way to vibrant and not normal. Any ideas on how to fix that?

supersha wrote:
my skin tones always seem way to vibrant and not normal
At what point in your workflow? on import? after adjustment?
RAW or JPEG?
Camera?
What adjustments?
Have you tried the same images in both iPhoto and Aperture?
Is your monitor calibrated?
Are you soft-proofing? Sure?

Corruption of EOS-1 Ds and 5D RAW

I know this has been posted before, but I have explored the problem further. On the new Mac Pro machines, with the ATI 2600 video card, you cannot zoom, straighten or use the loupe on EOS 1Ds Mk III images and cannot use the straighten tool on EOS 5D images. The images are completely corrupted - and after using the straighten tool remain that way until you exit Aperture and restart it. This is a problem with the RAW handling inside OS-X as it is not an issue with Adobe applications like PS and Lightroom, and it also affects iPhoto and Preview. The whole reason I bought in the past 2 weeks a new Mac Pro was to enable me to have the horsepower to work with the huge image files produced by the EOS-1 Ds Mk III only to find I need to use my MacBook Pro now to edit these photos. Come on Apple - admit to the problem and get an emergency fix out for this as it is a problem only professionals are likely to see. So far calls to the Asia support hotline (I live in Hong Kong) have proven that that these people are easily confused.

Yes, it has been discussed before. If you shoot with highlight tone priority, Aperture will show the photos as underexposed by about 1 stop. Which is, frankly, what the camera is doing. You need to do extra PP work in Aperture if you go this route.

Can't focus/recompose with my 5D MkII

I've had my 5D MkII for about 2 1/2 years now, and a few months ago it inexplicably quit locking focus for me. Nothing happened with the camera, have been using it like always - no damage, etc. Just started realizing that when I focused on an area, then re-composed, it wasn't holding the original focus point. So I turned on the focal point setting so I could see during and after a shot where the focus had been. Any time I focus/recomposed, the focus was never on the original point of focus. It happens with all of my lenses, at any camera setting.
I've read my manual thoroughly and can't find any settings that may be causing this, so I'm really hoping it isn't a camera malfunction. Thoughts?
Also, I am no longer able to set my ISO at 100. The lowest I can set it is 100.
With both of these issues, I welcome and greatly appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, or similar experiences.

Yes, I keep wishing it's just a setting, or something I'm doing wrong, but it's looking more and more like it has to be some malfunction. Unfortunately, I can't be without my camera for as long as it would take to send it in and have it evaluated.
Maybe I'll try your idea on the factory reset, but I agree - not likely it will fix it.
As for the ISO thing, it was solved in another online Canon users forum. Turns out it was the highlight tone priority setting - apparently I had somehow inadvertently turned it to "enable" rather than "disable," and this setting doesn't allow for any ISO under 200. So at least THAT was an easy fix )

My aperture photos are dark/

My aperture photos are dark? any ideas?

Are you shooting raw?
Then have a look at Keith Barkley's recent user tip. That explains, why raw photos may change the appearance on import, see this link:
The Big Three: Setting your camera for the best Aperture RAW results
Don't take photos with Canon's Highlight Tone Priority or Nikon's Active D-Lighting enabled in the camera, if you want to be able to judge the raw file in the camera while taking the photo.

MKIII video noise

So first off I should state that although I have had this camera for just under a year I am very new to the DSLR video world (this is my first "real" camera) so please forgive my ignorance or stupidity haha. Anyhow, up until recently I have been able to get really clear video even at higher ISO but for some reason lately, even at lower ISO settings, my video just seems way too grainy and I cant seem to figure out why, I havent changed settings or anything.
If anyone has any tips to try or knows of something that might be malfunctioning or wrong with the camera, tips would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

ryang1 wrote:
So first off I should state that although I have had this camera for just under a year I am very new to the DSLR video world (this is my first "real" camera) so please forgive my ignorance or stupidity haha. Anyhow, up until recently I have been able to get really clear video even at higher ISO but for some reason lately, even at lower ISO settings, my video just seems way too grainy and I cant seem to figure out why, I havent changed settings or anything.
If anyone has any tips to try or knows of something that might be malfunctioning or wrong with the camera, tips would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Hi and welcome!
I'd like to mention some aspects that may affect the image quality you get from your camera (in stills and video), maybe you can check them and find your problem:
- Sensor heating: Every camera has a sensor, obviously. If you shoot in Live View mode (on which the sensor is always exposed and working), or do "long exposures" stills for long time, your camera' sensor will heat up (faster if you shoot under hot weather conditions).
This must always be kept in mind. For this reason is highly recommended to let the camera cool down after those kind of shots or long use (turning it off, for instance).
- ISO settings: It's widely known that there are specific ISO settings that deliver noiser images than others.
The real native ISOs of the camera are 200, 400, 800, 1600, etc. Although some people have called "native" to the ISO settings mentioned below due to their lower noise levels.
To be clear, if you want to get the less noisy images, you should select ISO multiple of 160. This means: 160, 320, 640, 1250, 2500. The technical reason is because the camera do a digital pull down of the next upper ISO level, with the side effect of reducing noise. This has a down side effect though: you loose a bit of information/dynamic range on the highlights (that may end up clipped easier than in other ISOs), so you have to be careful in this regard. Test and check it by yourself.
As the opposite reason, avoid using ISO settings multiple of 125 (125, 250, 500, etc.) because the camera do a digital push of the ISO below it, resulting in an increase of noise.
The noise is always lot easier to see on dark areas. Light areas won't be affected much.
- Special Camera settings: There are some features/functions that will indeed affect the noise in your image.
These are: Auto Lighting Optimizer and Highlight Tone Priority.
They're great functions, but you should knowing their utility and limitations, and use with caution. Please refer to the manual for an explanation of each one.
- Picture Styles: ALL pictures and videos taken with the Canon cameras are processed through what is called Picture Styles.
Usually the included built-in camera picture styles won't affect much the noise quantity on your shot (although they will certainly change the look of your stills & video, and may deliver different "banding" in strong gradient areas like deep blue sky, etc.).
BUT there are some 3rd party picture styles available for download (some of them mainly aimed for post-production, called "flat" picture styles, etc) that can really affect the noise on the final captured image/video. So be aware and check them before and important job.
Hope this helps!
Regards.
HD Cam Team
Group of photographers and filmmakers using Canon cameras for serious purposes.
www.hdcamteam.com | www.twitter.com/HDCamTeam | www.facebook.com/HDCamTeam

5D Mark II raw image quality

There's been a post by A Museman (earlier this year) on "5D Mark II raw image quality" that attempts to discuss the differences and problems with Aperture with flat / poor quality raw photo's as compared to sharper, clearer, more saturated pictures processed in Digital Photo Professional.
That thread "seems" to have faded in discussion. I am still having problems with Aperture and raw photo quality from my Canon 5D Mark II camera.
Can someone shed some light on this subject, in that has the problem been been identified, validate, resolved or does the problem still exist (as it does for me).
This problem is causing me a lot of frustration since I want to use Aperture because of its organization and potential processing capability. Although I get superior results with DPP, it does cause a lot of file storage requirements by having large raw and jpeg files for the same picture (in essence it doubles the file storage requirements).

On my end there are no issues. I get absolutely beautiful portrait renderings out of aperture and my 5d2 - the dynamic range is amazing with this combo. I can often adjust exposure 3+ stops if needed before getting into too much noise.
The best output I've ever had - completely smokes the ACR rendering of skin tones.
Aperture 2 doesn't apply the "Picture Style" preset to the raw decode like DPP does. This makes raw images look flat in comparison to the camera rendered jpeg - shoot in "faithful" mode and you will have a pretty much exact match.
So My quick recipe to match the default setting is adding a little vibrancy, definition, and contrast. FWIW I would turn off the auto lighting optimizer, and the highlight tone priority if using aperture.

Auto exposure not applying when using the auto enhance function

I am on Aperture 3.6 and Yosemite. I use a Canon 6D and shoot in RAW. When I am doing the batch auto enhance to my shots, I find that even though in the adjustments preset Auto Enhance includes auto exposure, often it is actually not applied. Are there anyways to fix this? The images actually are a bit underexposed and I now need to go through picture by picture to click on the auto button under adjustment. Thanks.

Have you set your camera to use Canon's Highlight Tone Priority? Then most of the Raw files will be underexposed, because Aperture is developing the RAW file "as is" and not applying the in-camera settings. See Keith Barkley's user tip.
The Big Three: Setting your camera for the best Aperture RAW results

RAW Processing with Canon 5D Mark iii

Since upgrading to Aperture 3.3.1 I started to notice a huge decrease in the sharpness of my images. I have checked previous threads and followed up on my Highlight Tone priority settings as well as Post Import Raw Process setting. Having messed around with both settings I have been unable to fix this issue. So I went ahead and downloaded a copy of Lightroom to test. Images imported into lightroom at full 1:1 previews are sharp as a tack. What could be causing my issue with Aperture. I do not want to have to switch but at this point I might not have a choice.
I am importing mRAW files without JPG and applying no Presets. The first time I click on the image it initially loads sharp and then after a split second it becomes "blurry"
Any one else seeing this issue still and have any advice?
Shooting with a Canon 5D MK3.
Thanks
Brad

Wish I had an answer here, but I will caution about mRAW files. I wouldn't use them, as they are the "red-headed stepchild" of RAW files. They are not true RAW files, and Aperture's support for them came much later than regular RAW files.
I'd recommend shooting regular RAW files and just deleting more of the non-keepers if space is an actual consideration.
Here's an article that goes into details (mostly on sRAW, but mRAW is the same thing, pretty much):
http://dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/articles/sRaw.pdf

Tethering Canon 1D X

I have been attempting to tether via USB my Canon 1D X to my 13" MacBook Air (OS 10.7.5) and Aperture 3.4.3 and finding no success. I've called Canon Professional Services, and with their help have determined that the computer can see the camera in Image Capture. Further, I set Aperture as the default application to open when the camera connects; however, when I select File/Tether/Start Session and the tether HUD opens, it tells me that no camera is detected.
Just to clarify, I have no trouble shooting tethered with my Canon 5D Mark II.
Does anyone know the fix for this?

Thanks. You are absolutely right. With Highlight Tone Priority, the RAW files after they are processes by Aperture are at least 1 stop under-exposed. On import before processing they appear fine. When I import both JPEG and RAW at the same time without Highlight Tone Priority turned on in camera, both RAW and JPEG appear to have the same exposure before and after processing, although the RAW is more FLAT and looks a little under-exposed, but I think that is the difference you would expect between the JPEG processing in Camera and Aperture.
APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THIS REMINDS ME OF THE RECENT ERROR WHERE PICTURES EDITED IN NIK OR OTHER EXTERNAL EDITORS DID NOT RENDER CORRECTLY IN APERTURE. THESE TYPES OF RANDOM ERRORS ARE GETTING REAL OLD. GET IT TOGETHER OR JUST ANNOUNCE THAT YOU ARE NOT FOCUSED ON PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE ANYMORE.

5D Mark III Video Problem -- Help Needed!

Hello,
Been using my 5D Mark III for video for about a month now. I noticed a problem occurring in the middle of certain shots where the color seems to shift. The problem is so slight that it will take full screen, full HD and a high level of concentration to detect. I believe the most obvious occurence is at 28 seconds where the valley below suddenly takes on a different color. Here is a video of my issue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw9IHYkUEqQ
I run these settings:
Manual Focus
Aperture, ISO: Manually set
Shutter Speed: 1/50
1920x1080 ALL-I 24p
Picture Style: Faithful
Custom White Balance
Auto Lighting Optimizer: OFF
Highlight Tone Priority: OFF
High ISO Speed NR: OFF
I tried to see if these were detectible on the LCD screen on the camera, but to the naked eye they are not. The original .MOV files that were transferred from the camera show them.
Could it possibly be the Chromatic Aberration or Peripheral Illumination Correction? I have not disabled these, and they are the only automatic settings that I can think of that would be changing mid-shot.
I believe ISO was set to 100 for these shots.
Any ideas what might be causing this? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Thanks,
Max
Solved!
Go to Solution.

This looks completely normal. I don't see a problem.
Be aware that our atmosphere has diffractive properties just like a lens. When the sun is at or near the horizon it's going to bend light differently depending on the wavelength (i.e. color) of that light. Colors in the atmosphere and on the ground (since the only way it gets to the ground is to go through the atmosphere) will vary depending on where you point the camera and the position of the sun. As the sun rises it wont take such a angled path through the atmosphere and this effect is greatly diminished.
Tim Campbell
5D II, 5D III, 60Da

Canon 5dm3 thumbnails perfect browser image dark

i've got aperture 3.3.2, i've used aperture for 4 years. old camera was canon 5d, but got the canon 5dm3-shooting raw. Images look fine on the camera & as a thumbnail in aperture, once i click on the thumbnail & image goes to the browser screen, it takes about 2-5 seconds to load fully & the image turns very very dark. i tried it on my desk pro & laptop, both the same, old 5d images still perfect (actually lighten slightly as they load but always have). new canon g1x photos load perfectly also in raw. i can "correct " the images
but takes major correction. Leave for europe in 3 weeks, just want to be sure new 5dm3 is infact exposing correctly. Thanks!

Highlight tone priority is the one. Disable that. My cameras are olders so I don't have that setting but I know that Aperture doesn't currently read this (proprietary) metadata that Canon uses.
Highlight alerts I think is the blinkies you see on the LCD for photos where there are blown-out or specular highlights. It doesn't affect the exposure of the photos itself.

1D MkIII Highlight Tone Priority & Aperture

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