RAW 4.1, LR 1.1 & CS2

[Olivia]

How bad is this. LR 1.1 uses Photoshop Camera RAW 4.1. RAW 4.1 is not compatible with Photoshop CS2. I am very happy with PS CS2 and don't want to upgrade to CS3.

Has anyone tested to see what really happens developing Raw files in LR 1.1 and then editing them in Photoshop CS2. How bad/good is it?

I'm teetering on the brink of uninstalling LR 1.1 and going back to LR 1.0

[61Dynamic]

Since PS CS2 is editing your image after it has been converted from raw to psd/tiff, using PS CS 2 will have no negative effect on your images. You could even use PS 1.0 if you wanted.

[Victoria Bampton]

All of the controls that worked between LR 1.0 and ACR 3.7 still work, as does the Edit in Photoshop CS2.  

The incompatibilities only come with the newest controls (clarity, sharpening, etc) which ACR 3.7 in CS2 can't process and will just ignore.

[Olivia]

Thank you - this is not so bad then! Based on what you are saying - in the Devlop module of LR 1.1, Noise Reduction should still be read by CS2? Do you think there is one control in in the new sharpening panel that would be read by CS2 or it will just ignore the whole thing now that there are 4 controls instead of one? And it looks like Defringe is new under Lens Corrections so that would be ignored as well, but the other two controls should still work? Have you or anyone out there tested all this? Too bad Adobe technical support doesn't tell us these things.

[Victoria Bampton]

Thank you - this is not so bad then! Based on what you are saying - in the Devlop module of LR 1.1, Noise Reduction should still be read by CS2? Do you think there is one control in in the new sharpening panel that would be read by CS2 or it will just ignore the whole thing now that there are 4 controls instead of one? And it looks like Defringe is new under Lens Corrections so that would be ignored as well, but the other two controls should still work? Have you or anyone out there tested all this? Too bad Adobe technical support doesn't tell us these things.
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The Amount slider in the LR 1.1 Sharpening translates to the Sharpening slider in ACR 3.7 in CS2, and vice versa.

Noise Reduction settings are transferred across, although I believe the results of the NR are better in LR 1.1 than CS2/ACR.  Any sliders which were already in 3.7 will read settings from an equivalent LR setting - the team have been very careful to keep legacy support as far as possible.

And yes, I've been testing the compatibilities for quite some time now as I work with both CS2 and CS3 on Mac and PC, as well as LR, and yes, they work.

[61Dynamic]

There is an important distinction that needs to be made clear here. You can edit an image from LR in PS one of two ways.

1. Convert the image to a PSD/Tiff via "Export" or "Edit in Adobe Photoshop CS2."

This option converts the image so it is no longer a raw file. Photoshop as well as several other applications can read this and edit it using their own tools. Compatibility with the tools in LR is irrelevant with this option.

2. Adjust the raw file directly after browsing to it with Bridge or opening it directly through PS.

With this option the raw file is still a raw file and not all controls from LR will work with CS2 as Victoria has pointed out. For you to do this and have all the tools available to you you must have CS3 and ACR 4.1.

If you are developing the images before you send them to Photoshop then you will have no problems with any of the controls. If you are not developing the images, you will need ACR 4.1 for full compatibility.