A Selection of Software by Michael Shannon

For Canon Digital Camera Owners

Digital camera software can be roughly broken up into the categories described below. A single software application may not fit neatly in a single category, so in many cases categorization is inevitably imprecise. Nevertheless, it should give you a rough idea of what software exists and what purposes it serves. Listed below are applications supplied by Canon with some of their digital cameras, and some of the most popular alternatives. Also included are all programs written specifically for Canon digicams that I am aware of. For many more applications see Steve's DigiCams.

1. Downloading From the Camera

This is the first step you take in any workflow: getting the images from the camera onto your hard drive. Here, there are two ways to proceed:

1.A. Download Directly from the Camera to the Computer

1.A.1. Canon TWAIN Driver

This driver comes with the camera. You don't use it directly, but rather "call it" when opening images directly from an application that supports the TWAIN standard (e.g., Adobe Photoshop). It is likely that all other applications that download from the camera (see below) use this driver.
PowerShot.com Driver Page
Canon USA Driver Main Page
Canon USA Driver Download Page

1.A.2. Canon WIA Driver

This is a Windows Image Acquisition driver compatible with WinMe and Windows XP only. It allows you to see your camera as a hard drive and access it as such. It is mutually exclusive with the TWAIN driver (which is compatible with all Windows versions that support the cable connection your camera is using). See the links for the TWAIN driver above.

1.A.3. Canon ZoomBrowser

This program comes with the camera and is seemingly not available for download. It allows you to:
- preview images on the camera
- download selected images to your hard drive
- upload images from your hard drive to the camera
- convert RAW images to JPEG
- maintain a database of images on your hard drive
- print images
- do slideshows of images
According to many users, ZoomBrowser is not the best piece of software, to put it mildly. It's probably not the worst, and can do the job, but there are probably better alternatives for most of the functionality it offers. Specifically, ZoomBrowser has been reported to trash its database of your images, which sometimes leads to the total loss of them. It should be noted that it does offer some functionality not present in the competitors' solutions: previewing the images that are on the camera, and uploading to the camera.

1.A.4. Breeze Downloader by Breeze Systems / Chris Breeze

A freeware application that has the following functionality:
- see the names of the images on the camera
- download selected images to your hard drive
- put images in a date-driven folder structure on your disk (\2001\11\ and so on)
- create text files with EXIF data for each image
- preserves image file names as they appear on the camera
- preserves THM files that accompany RAW files (low-resolution JPEG thumbnails)
It doesn't attempt to do all things possible. Instead, if offers the easiest way to get your images from the camera onto your hard drive, for which it is highly praised by many users. The last 4 features are not duplicated by ZoomBrowser.

1.A.5. PowerLoad by James Adams

I've never heard of this one, but it looks roughly similar to Breeze Downloader above.

1.B. Download via a Card Reader

1.B.1. Use Windows Me/XP to Access the Camera as a Hard Drive

This has nothing to do with card readers, but it is similar from the user's perspective: you map a drive letter to the camera and access it as you would access a hard drive to copy/move files, etc. This requires the WIA driver (1.A.2.) which is only compatible with WinMe or XP.

1.B.2. Use a Card Reader

There are card readers of various flavors (discussed elsewhere). Some require drivers for some operating systems, some may not. In any case, the memory card is accessed as if it were a removable hard drive (which in essence it is). Laptops with PCMCIA slots can read Compact Flash cards directly in these slots with the help of a simple adapter, so these slots can be regarded as a "card adapter" that can serve as a card reader.

2. Converting RAW Files to Other Formats

Some Canon digicams are capable of producing RAW files. These files are in a proprietary format, which can only be read and converted using Canon DLL's. (A DLL is compiled executable code that can be called by an application (simplified)). To the best of my knowledge, all programs listed below simply use this DLL to access and manipulate RAW files. One exception is noted towards the end of this section.

2.A. Canon RAW Image Converter

This program comes with the camera. It allows you to convert RAW files to JPEG or TIFF (8-bit or 16-bit).

2.B. BreezeBrowser by Breeze Systems / Chris Breeze

A shareware program from the author of Breeze Downloader (1.A.4.). We'll talk more about it in section 4.B. below, but part of its functionality is RAW file conversion.

2.C. Scott Professional Photo Studio by Scott Murray

Shareware program with the following features:
- convert RAW files from D30, Pro90 IS, G1, G2 to JPEG or TIFF (8-bit or 16-bit)
- browse/view images
- rename files
- perform lossless JPEG rotation
- display image histograms (luminosity or R/G/B channels)

2.D. ACDSee 4.0 by ACD Systems

As of this version of the popular image viewer, ACDSee can read Canon RAW files. Well, it should. But according to numerous users, it crashes when attempting to do so. The developer is apparently aware of the problem, so we can hope to see a fix in the next version.

2.E. IrfanView by Irfan Skiljan

Popular graphics viewer/browser. Freeware for non-commercial use. Version 3.51 adds "Support for Canon CRW format (JPG image only)" (quoted from the "What's new" page). It is not very clear what level of support this provides. Possibly browsing only.

2.F. Direct Decoding of Canon RAW files

Dave Coffin (mirror) has managed to decipher Canon's proprietary RAW file format and wrote some C code to convert CRW files to PNG.
Peter Galbavy also presents some relevant info that is now mostly of historical value.
I am not aware of any applications actually using direct decoding of RAW files at present time.

2.G. Yarc by Bruce Henderson

Freeware command-line program for RAW file conversion. Works on D30, Pro90 IS, G1. Nothing else specified. A rare feature is extraction of a JPEG thumbnail directly from the CRW file (using CRW decoding info) which has a higher resolution (640x480) than the THM file (CRW Bridge does it for D30 RAW files).

3. Image Editing

Now that the images are finally on the hard drive and in some format readable by most applications, it's time to improve some of them. Image editors are numerous, and just about anything more sophisticated than Microsoft Paint can be used, so we will list only the few most popular applications. All of the applications listed offer a wide range of editing features, a much more limited range of printing options, and a few may offer other features, such as image browsing.

3.A. Adobe Photoshop

This is the standard in professional photo editing. There's probably nothing it can't do (within the current state of computer graphics software), so all other applications are to some extent subsets of Photoshop's immense feature set.

3.B. Adobe Photoshop LE

This Limited Edition of Photoshop comes bundled with some Canon cameras. It is basically Photoshop with some of the more advanced "professional" functionality stripped out. Some of it is regarded as quite essential by some users.

3.C. Adobe Photoshop Elements

A kind of Photoshop Junior, this application is closely related to Photoshop, has a similar (albeit not identical) interface and functionality. Some features appear to be more user-friendly, others may be missing. I am not aware of a comparison between PS Elements and PS LE, so it's hard to tell which is "better".

3.D. Jasc Paint Shop Pro

A shareware program that offers solid editing tools and a good number of features.

3.E. MediaChance Photo-Brush

Many seem to like this shareware editor. Haven't personally tried it.

3.F. MediaChance DCEnhancer

Digital Camera Enhancer is a freeware noise reduction and white balance correction program.

3.G. Picture Window by Digital Light & Color

Generates transformations of images, most of which are specifically designed to respond to digital photographers' needs. Shareware.

3.H. PhotoGenetics by QBeo

Shareware program that performs "Evolutionary Enhancement" of images. Liked by some, disliked by others.

3.I. Ulead PhotoImpact

Shareware photo editor.

3.J. Corel PHOTO-PAINT

A powerful photo editor.

4. Image Viewing, Browsing, and Cataloguing

Once you have taken more than a dozen pictures, you need some program to browse through them and optionally catalog them. There are many such applications, so only a few of the more popular ones are listed.

4.A. ACDSee by ACD Systems

One of the fastest image viewers and browsers. The interface is neat, the functionality is just right for the task. Shareware. As mentioned above, versions 4.0+ should be able of reading Canon RAW files, but version 4.0 crashes when attempting to do so. I've seen other reports of relative bugginess of this version so you might be better off with the previous version 3.1 for the time being. Features are close to the ones listed below for BreezeBrowser.

4.B. BreezeBrowser by Breeze Systems / Chris Breeze

Shareware, specifically written for Canon digicams. Many prefer this program to others. Its features include:
- browsing/viewing
- RAW file conversion
- cataloging/renaming
- HTML album generation
- Lossless JPEG transform

4.C. IrfanView by Irfan Skiljan

Popular graphics viewer/browser. Freeware for non-commercial use. Supports Lanczos interpolation for image resizing.

4.D. ThumbsPlus by Cerious Software

Shareware image browser/viewer with database features.

4.E. Jasc Paint Shop Pro Integrated Browser

Paint Shop Pro comes with an integrated browser, so it should be listed, I guess.

4.F. Windows XP Explorer

The new Windows Explorer in XP can show image thumbnails (Picture Folder Options). I haven't tried it and I doubt it's anywhere as versatile as the dedicated applications above, but it's still an option.

4.G. Canon ZoomBrowser

As mentioned above (1.A.3.), this comes bundled with the camera. Browsing and cataloguing functionality appears to be dangerously unreliable though, so most users advise to consider one of the alternatives.

4.H. Ulead Photo Explorer

Shareware image viewer and browser from the authors of Ulead PhotoImpact (above).

4.I. Extensis Portfolio

A professional media asset management application.

4.J. Canto Cumulus

Another professional media asset management application.

5. Printing

Lots of applications can print. Most - if not all - image editors (Section 3) and browsers/viewers (Section 4) can also print an image. Some applications may do a better job than others, some may print images with more options, e.g., several per page, and so on. Such specialized applications are listed below.

5.A. Qimage Pro by Digital Domain Inc.

This shareware program offers very powerful printing features plus some image manipulation features. Many think it produces higher quality prints, possibly due to its use of sophisticated image resizing algorithms (e.g., Lanczos, not offered by even Photoshop).

5.B. Canon PhotoRecord

This comes with the camera and is seemingly not available for download. Allows you to print your images with a variety of frames.

6. Panorama

PanoGuide.com has reviews of a large number of panorama/stitching applications. Only a few are mentioned below.

6.A. Canon PhotoStitch

This comes with the camera and is seemingly not available for download. It does a credible job, but some experienced users seem to prefer alternatives.

6.B. PanaVue ImageAssembler

Shareware image stitching program. Phil Askey seems to prefer it to Canon's PhotoStitch.

6.C. The Panorama Factory by Smoky City Design / John Strait

Another shareware application.

6.D. Panorama Tools by Prof. Helmut Dersch (mirror)

PanoTools is freeware open source software. It can be used with a PTGui front end.

7. Remote Capture

Programs that allow you to control the camera from the computer.

7.A. Canon RemoteCapture

This comes with the camera and is seemingly not available for download. Compatible with a large number of Canon digital cameras.

7.B. RemoteCapture by Breeze Systems / Chris Breeze

Shareware program from the author of Breeze Downloader (1.A.4.) and BreezeBrowser (4.B.). Compatible with Pro90 IS, G1, G2. Supposedly provides more control than Canon's software.

7.C. Cam4you by Hans-David Alkenius

Freeware program supporting a large number of Canon cameras. Features include:
- preview pictures on the camera
- downloading images from the camera
- lossless JPEG rotation
- RAW file conversion
- remote capture with webcam features (not supported on all cameras)

8. Miscellaneous Tools

8.A. Dead Pixels Test by StarZen Technologies

This freeware program will let you test your camera for dead and hot pixels.

8.B. EXIF Image Viewer by Michal Kowalski

Displays EXIF data and also: thumbnails, images, histograms. Apparently freeware.

8.C. Exif Reader by Ryuuji Yoshimoto

A standalone EXIF viewer. Seemingly freeware.

8.D. ExifView Shell Extension for Windows 95/98/NT by Lawrence 'Foxbat' Young

This extension will show you EXIF info in file properties as invoked from Windows Explorer. It can be downloaded from Steve's DigiCams. Author's home page is outdated and doesn't contain any relevant information.

8.E. CRW Bridge by Marten Dalfors

Freeware (at the time of this writing, end of November 2001) application that can extract higher-resolution JPEG thumbnails from D30 RAW files and display their EXIF info.

8.F. Noise Reducer isoX by Fred Miranda

Photoshop 5.5/6.0 action for high ISO noise reduction for all digicams.

8.G. Noise Reducer g-isoR by Fred Miranda

Photoshop 5.0+ action for high ISO noise reduction for G1/G2/Pro90 IS.

8.H. Neat Image by ABSoft

Freeware noise-reduction program. The beta version is freeware .

8.I. PhotoStreak Pro v3

Wavelet-based proprietary-format image compressor (sounds similar to JPEG2000). The regular version is freeware. The Pro version adds lossless compression but costs USD30. However, if you go to Canon Print Planet you will discover that Canon offers it for free. Thought I'd share this info.

Corrections, additions, and feedback (positive!) is welcome on DPReview Canon Talk Forum in the Software for Digicams Overview thread.