You say that the image has to be A3 size (and I assume 300 ppi for printing), so resize your image to that size and set your viewer to show it at that size. You should be viewing the image at 100%, based on final output. This poses another question: should i use usm or sharpening [which i presume is pixel sharpening i ask this cause i understand that a raw file id just data and not actually viewable unless its converted If i do as u suggested which is working with raw files is any sharpening i do applied to the raw file, or is it applied to what to whatever i convert the raw file to, such as tiff or jpeg. I am learning capture one 7, but not now or here. I'd also select 'High Quality Interpolation' and 'Use Camera WB' on this screen.

This ensures you are working with the RAW file itself rather than the embedded jpeg. You can use FastStone viewer to convert raw files but to do this, make sure you go into Settings, select the RAW tab, and select 'View RAW File' and 'Batch convert RAW files' as 'Actual Size(slow)'. You could probably update it to the latest version. As wm says, you would have received Canon's DPP with the camera and this is probably your best bet if you still have the software.

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