what is Adobe Camera RAW?

[camera obscura]

I'm aware of some of the advantages of shooting in RAW; just don't know what ACR does.

Does it come with Photoshop CS5? I'm still on Photoshop 7.

 

[ajkramer87]

Its what photoshop uses to edit raw images.

 

[camera obscura]

Its what photoshop uses to edit raw images.

OK, how is it different than just Open As... RAW in PS 7? Is it just newer technology that is integrated into PS? I'm still confused.

 

[tirediron]

ACR is simply the updated version of "Open as RAW", in PS 7, with a dedicated RAW editing interface which allows you to take much greater advantage of all of the extra information in raw images. It's not as powerful as NikonCapture or Lightroom, but it's pretty good.

 

[KmH]

Yes, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) comes with CS5. CS5 also comes with Bridge. ACR can be hosted from Bridge or Photoshop.

ACR and the editing function of Lightroom 3 are virtually the same rendering engine, ACR 6.x (the current release is 6.2. CS4 and Lightroom 2 used ACR 5.x).

Today's ACR bears little resemblance to "Open as RAW".

List of Tools in ACR 6:

• Zoom
• Hand
• White balance
• Color Sampler
• TAT (Targeted Adjustment Tool)
• Crop tool
• Straighten tool
• Spot Removal
• Red Eye removal
• Adjustment brush
• Graduated Filter
• Preference dialog
• and rotation tools.

List of Panels in ACR 6: (includes - RGB histogram, EXIF data, RGB readouts)

• Basic (Tone mapping controls - Exposure, White Balance (temp/tint), Fill Light, Blacks, Contrast, clarity, Vibrance, Saturation)
• Tone Curve (Parametric or Point)
• Detail (Sharpening and Noise Reduction)
• HSL/Greyscale (Hue, Saturation, Luminance)
• Split Toning (Highlights/Shadows)
• Lens Corrections (Profile and manual)
• Effects (Grain and post crop vignetting)
• Camera Calibration
• Presets
• Snapshots - snapshots are user multiple saved settings saved as .xmp data either in the file's sidecar or within DNG, JPEG, and TIFF images

A great book for learning how to use ACR 6 (and Lightroom 3's image editor) is:

http://www.amazon.com/Real-World-Ca...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286738143&sr=8-1


Edit: I forgot to mention that ACR can also batch process, set the color space, bit depth, image size/resolution, and convert the RAW conversion to a smart object, something not even considered possible in the days of PS 7.

 

[sam_justice]

ACR is fantastic, I edit all my landscapes in ACR and not PS now.

 

[camera obscura]

Yes, Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) comes with CS5. CS5 also comes with Bridge. ACR can be hosted from Bridge or Photoshop
<snipped>

Thanks KmH (and others who replied), that is what I needed to know (and couldn't find in adobe.com).

The book looks really good too. I was going to get the PS + LR bundle at BH Photos but I'm thinking I could save a few bucks by just getting PS since the book describes a work flow using PS, Bridge and ACR.

Or, should I just get the bundle and save $100 on LR?

 

[Naphtali14]

I would get lightroom. It is really amazing.. You can do the majority of your editing and workflow in it much more quickly than in photoshop.. I only use photoshop for advanced editing now.

 

[camera obscura]

I would get lightroom. It is really amazing.. You can do the majority of your editing and workflow in it much more quickly than in photoshop.. I only use photoshop for advanced editing now.

Yeah, I'm thinking that too. I tried trial versions 1 and 2 of LR. Thought they were pretty cool. I just wasn't as serious about photography then as I am now. But I have to have PS as well; I'm an old PS user from way back (anyone remember the Mac II?).

I just know that it's important to have a system or "work flow." So whether I do LR, ACR, or both, it should be an experience to enjoy. Not like it is now (my laptop-Win XP Pro, 2gb RAM, a separate scratch disk, dual processors, PS 7 and IrfanView). It's doable but I have to close most programs that are running.

I'm dl'ing PS CS5 and LR3 now to try it out but a new laptop is on the horizon for me.

 

[KmH]

... but a new laptop is on the horizon for me.

Then look at external monitors too, because laptop displays are not very good for image editing. :thumbdown:

Lightroom's main function is image catalog database management, and can be a very handy part of a Digital Asset Management plan.



Thre are 2 kinds of software you can use to work with large groups of images:

1. A browser (Bridge is a browser)
2. Cataloging software. (Lightroom, Expressions Media, idImager, MediaBeacon)

A browser can display what is in a folder, drive, on a CD, etc. It won't remember what is in those storage place when it's not connected to them.

Cataloging software (database management) does remember where stuff is, making image retrieval much quicker.

You can specify you want to see all the images in your collection that you keyworded as blue, woman, clouds, lake, sunset, canoe, paddle, and the database manager will look in the database and gather up all those images containing all those keywords. It will look in all the folders, drives, etc that are inclused in the database. A browser can only do that on a folder-by-folder basis. You can still accomplish the same thing, it just takes more time.

So, the decision on getting Lightroom or not should depend on it's cataloging capabilities more so than on it's editing abilities.

The editing workflow of ACR and Lightroom are virtually identical. Image ingestion and output are where Photoshop and Lightroom differ.

You should note, with Lightroom, moving image files around is more restricted. If you move a file outside the database, Lightroom will not know where it is any longer.