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Author Topic: Camera RAW 4.4.1 Lightroom vrsus CS3/Bridge  (Read 2942 times)

Patrick_Toomey

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Camera RAW 4.4.1 Lightroom vrsus CS3/Bridge
« on: April 11, 2008, 07:00:10 am »

Howdy all,
        I'm pretty new at this and own Photoshop CS3 but not Lightroom and am processing images on an iMac with 2 GB of RAM.  This morning I upgraded my Bridge/CS3 with Adobe's latest Camera RAW release and am now on version 4.4.1.  HAving never seen or used Lightroom can  some of you clue me in a little on the present differences between what I now have for a Camera RAW version versus the one that is contained within Lightroom?  Are they the same or not?  In talking to a few photographer dogs out in the field they tell me that one can tell the difference because Lightroom's version has more and different sliders.  Not having Lightroom makes it pretty hard for me to make that comparison.  Any advice would be welcomed.

Patrick Toomey
Charlottesville, Virginia
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01af

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Camera RAW 4.4.1 Lightroom vrsus CS3/Bridge
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2008, 09:20:56 am »

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... can  some of you clue me in a little on the present differences between what I now have for a Camera Raw version versus the one that is contained within Lightroom?  Are they the same or not?[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=188666\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
With regard to raw image processing, they are the same exactly. In fact they use the very same raw conversion engine internally. On the user interface's surface a few of the sliders are designed a bit differently but all the functionality is the same for both.

And then Lightroom has some additional functionality for viewing, archiving, and presenting images which Camera Raw hasn't. Camera Raw users have Adobe Bridge for viewing and third-party solutions for archiving and presenting (an image data base program for instance). Camera Raw is nothing but a raw converter; Lightroom is a raw converter and then some. The raw converter part, however, is the very same in both.

-- Olaf
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Patrick_Toomey

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Camera RAW 4.4.1 Lightroom vrsus CS3/Bridge
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2008, 09:23:41 am »

Olaf,
      Thaks for the info.

Patrick

Quote
With regard to raw image processing, they are the same exactly. In fact they use the very same raw conversion engine internally. On the user interface's surface a few of the sliders are designed a bit differently but all the functionality is the same for both.

And then Lightroom has some additional functionality for viewing, archiving, and presenting images which Camera Raw hasn't. Camera Raw users have Adobe Bridge for viewing and third-party solutions for archiving and presenting (an image data base program for instance). Camera Raw is nothing but a raw converter; Lightroom is a raw converter and then some. The raw converter part, however, is the very same in both.

-- Olaf
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=188701\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
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01af

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Camera RAW 4.4.1 Lightroom vrsus CS3/Bridge
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2008, 10:00:15 am »

Forgot to mention that Camera Raw and Lightroom are the same only with regard to the current Camera Raw version (i. e. ACR 4.x). Older Camera Raw versions, namely ACR 2.x (for use with Photoshop CS) and ACR 3.x (for use with Photoshop CS2), are sporting a bit less of functionality.

-- Olaf
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BenjaminJ

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Camera RAW 4.4.1 Lightroom vrsus CS3/Bridge
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2008, 09:57:41 am »

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With regard to raw image processing, they are the same exactly. In fact they use the very same raw conversion engine internally. On the user interface's surface a few of the sliders are designed a bit differently but all the functionality is the same for both.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=188701\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I used to think that the differences were minimal as well, until i really tried it (now i completely switched over). Did you actually use LR, instead of just glancing at the user interface? Lightroom's UI has a number of extra's that make it easier/faster to work with than ACR. For instance, you can manipulate
- blacks
- fill light
- exposure
- recovery
by dragging the histogram (in the range at which those adjustments are targeted).

Additionally, you have the little circle thingy in the left corner of a few panels, that allows adjustment of the Parametric Tonecurve, the HSL controls and the Grayscale sliders, by dragging (up/down) in the image. It automatically detects which tonal range or which colors (can be multiple ones) are present under the cursor. In ACR you only have the trick of holding Ctrl/Cmd to place a point on the tone curve.

Another big difference: the preview quality is way better in LR than in Bridge.

Things that i miss in LR:
- No normal tone curve, only the parametric one, which gives you less freedom.
- No option to merge to HDR like in Bridge.


So it's not just "slightly different design", but also added functionality (with some things missing as well) to the features also existing in ACR (i'm not talking about the web page/slideshow creation options etc.).
« Last Edit: April 14, 2008, 09:58:39 am by Benjamin Jung »
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01af

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Camera RAW 4.4.1 Lightroom vrsus CS3/Bridge
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2008, 08:31:53 am »

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Another big difference: the preview quality is way better in LR than in Bridge.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=189399\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
We are talking about raw converter functionality, not virtual light-table functionality.


Quote
Things that I miss in LR:
- No normal tone curve, only the parametric one, which gives you less freedom.
- No option to merge to HDR like in Bridge.
So it's not just "slightly different design", but also added functionality ...[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=189399\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Huh!? In the world I live in this would count as reduced functionality.


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... to the features also existing in ACR ...[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=189399\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Adjusting parametes by dragging the histogram or grabbing pixels right in the preview window sure is a cool feature and will make life a bit easier ... but it doesn't add any functionality. Instead it just boils down to differently (cleverly) designed sliders. All the parameters behind those sliders are there in Camera Raw, too. So no added functionality in Lightroom's raw converter, just improved usability/ergonomics.

-- Olaf
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