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Author Topic: Lightroom v. CS3  (Read 2738 times)

william

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Lightroom v. CS3
« on: June 19, 2007, 10:50:09 am »

I know, the "Lightroom v CS3" debate will never be resolved, but I actually have a specific question.  Is there anywhere that I can see a list of exactly what RAW image manipulation tools are present in the current version of Lightroom that are NOT present in the current version of Camera RAW for CS3?   (I'm already familiar with the differences in DAM tools, printing tools, web tools, user interface, and I'm also aware of the current lack of plug-ins for Lightroom).  Or is there now complete overlap in the RAW editing capabilities of both programs?

I have the current version of Lightroom, but only had the beta of CS3 for a short while before it expired, so I did't get a chance to do a side-by-side comparison.
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Mort54

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Lightroom v. CS3
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2007, 01:09:28 pm »

Quote
I know, the "Lightroom v CS3" debate will never be resolved, but I actually have a specific question.  Is there anywhere that I can see a list of exactly what RAW image manipulation tools are present in the current version of Lightroom that are NOT present in the current version of Camera RAW for CS3?   (I'm already familiar with the differences in DAM tools, printing tools, web tools, user interface, and I'm also aware of the current lack of plug-ins for Lightroom).  Or is there now complete overlap in the RAW editing capabilities of both programs?
Both Lightroom and CS3/ACR use the same RAW engine, so the underlying capabilities are roughly equivalent.

ACR 4.1, being newer than Lightroom 1.0, has a few more controls to tap into that underlying RAW engine. Specifically, the "Clarity" slider and the additional sharpening controls. The clarity slider is a way of applying local contrast adjustments similar to what you can do with wide radius USM settings, but using the curve in Lightroom yields virtually identical results (at least when looking at the big picture). The additional ACR 4.1 sharpening controls can not be matched by Lightroom today. You must open the file in CS3 to get the same controls. There may be a few other differences, but those are the main differences that I notice in my normal workflow.

Lightroom 1.1 will reportedly add these new controls as well, and add some other stuff as well. Frankly, there's really not enough difference to worry about, even with Lightroom 1.0 vs ACR 4.1.
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tomrock

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Lightroom v. CS3
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2007, 06:11:35 pm »

I have to disagree about the sharpening tools -- they are remarkably valuable in ACR 4.1.

There are also some de-fringing tools in ACR 4.1 that aren't in LR.

Here's a pretty good recap of the new ACR 4.1 features http://photoshopnews.com/2007/05/31/about-camera-raw-41/
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jdoolitt

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Lightroom v. CS3
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2007, 08:22:37 am »

Until ACR4.x adds Targeted Adjustments -- it will be *less than* any version in Lightroom, in my opinion.
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DavidW

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Lightroom v. CS3
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2007, 12:23:13 pm »

My understanding is that the engine in Lightroom 1.0 and Adobe Camera Raw 4.0 are the same, and that Lightroom 1.1 will get the Adobe Camera Raw 4.1 engine.

However, the user interface is different - as has already been said, the interactivity of the targeted adjustments in Lightroom isn't replicated in Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS3. The only thing that is in ACR but not Lightroom is 'full' curves - but with the Shadows / Darks / Lights / Highlights version, you very rarely need them.



David
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