LR5 --> PS5; Render in Lightroom question

[dpirazzi]

I have the latest LR and still use PSCS5.1 running on Win8. Both programs are up to date.

When I have a single raw image (Sony RX100) selected in LR and choose "Edit in... Edit in Adobe Photoshop CS5.1...", I'm presented with the option to Render in Lightroom, which I use. This opens a TIF in PS per my LR settings, all is good.

When I select multiple raw images in LR and choose "Edit in... Merge to Panorama in Photoshop..." I am not presented with the option to Render in Lightroom, only "Open Anyway", or "Cancel". Selecting Open Anyway launches PSCS and passes the ARW files, but photoshop then fails to take any action since it does not have a recent version of ACR.

As a work around I can instead create TIFs and then use merge to panorama with those, but I would like to skip that step if possible.

Am I doing something wrong or is the price of not running the latest version of PS?

thx, Dave

[Wayne Fox]

I have the latest LR and still use PSCS5.1 running on Win8. Both programs are up to date.

When I have a single raw image (Sony RX100) selected in LR and choose "Edit in... Edit in Adobe Photoshop CS5.1...", I'm presented with the option to Render in Lightroom, which I use. This opens a TIF in PS per my LR settings, all is good.

When I select multiple raw images in LR and choose "Edit in... Merge to Panorama in Photoshop..." I am not presented with the option to Render in Lightroom, only "Open Anyway", or "Cancel". Selecting Open Anyway launches PSCS and passes the ARW files, but photoshop then fails to take any action since it does not have a recent version of ACR.

As a work around I can instead create TIFs and then use merge to panorama with those, but I would like to skip that step if possible.

Am I doing something wrong or is the price of not running the latest version of PS?

thx, Dave

Yes, this is one problem with using an older version of LR ... because PS 5.1 has an older version of ACR, ACR cannot render the file.  So your best choice is to let LR render you a working file as you are doing.

Probably not optimal, but certainly not a big issue.  Personally I always open my files into PS as a smart object which then allows me to reopen the raw file with all adjustments in ACR.  I can easily make a few tweaks without having to go back to LR and then render another working file.  But this requires PS/ACR to be the equivalent version to LR.

Merge I believe renders the working files automatically through LR rather than sending them to ACR for photoshop to render so no need for the question.

[dpirazzi]

Thanks Wayne, yes not a big issue but wondered if I was missing something.

[AFairley]

Personally I always open my files into PS as a smart object which then allows me to reopen the raw file with all adjustments in ACR.  I can easily make a few tweaks without having to go back to LR and then render another working file.  But this requires PS/ACR to be the equivalent version to LR.

Bearing in mind that, AFAIK, the changes made in ACR don't automatically migrate back to the LR catalog image which may or may not be an issue.

[Hans Kruse]

Bearing in mind that, AFAIK, the changes made in ACR don't automatically migrate back to the LR catalog image which may or may not be an issue.

That's correct, except that it probably would be possible with compatible LR and ACR versions if you after an edit of the smart object in PS go and do a read from metadata in LR on the same image from which the edit in was done. I haven't checked this. In fact in my opinion this edit in PS as a smart object is a cludge so big from Adobe that I can't believe it. So inelegant!

What Adobe should have done in my opinion would be either not provide such a function or make it properly which would be that you afterwards could edit the smart object in Lightroom. But of course that would not be exactly simple since you can edit the TIFF or PSD and inside there is a RAW file! But the RAW file inside comes from the RAW file and edits from where the TIFF with the smart object was created, so there could be a link back to the RAW file so that you could go back and edit that one and Lightroom would make sure to put the changed parameters into the TIFF file. Alternatively the TIFF would always reach back into the LR catalog for the parameters! Done by PS, of course, when rendering the TIFF. In that way there would be consistency. Now there is not and you have to edit the smart object using a very different UI which is very confusing. Adobe has made many smart things (no pun intended), but this is not one of them.

And yes, I know there can be multiple smart objects inside a TIFF file and how should they be handled in LR? One idea could be to create a virtual copy wherever a smartobject copy was made in Photoshop.

PS: I checked editing the smart object in Photoshop and the edits are not written into an xmp file (which makes sense btw.) so there is AFAIK no way to make the edits from the smart object back into Lightroom. If I export the smart object the edits do not follow.