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Author Topic: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6  (Read 38779 times)

cocasana

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Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« on: March 07, 2012, 09:03:41 am »

I find very interesting/useful all L4's new features. I was also thinking to buy it.
But then I thought that most probably next Bridge, ACR and PS release will have all the same features. Am I wrong?
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digitaldog

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2012, 09:37:16 am »

Bridge+ACR never had the same functionality as LR. You can do a lot with both of them but no way do they equal LR.
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Chris_Brown

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2012, 09:53:57 am »

Bridge + Photoshop ≠ Lightroom

Lightroom is different in a fundamental way: it creates a catalog specifically for images (and now videos), and provides a toolset to manipulate images. It creates a catalog for sorting and finding images in a (supposedly) more efficient way than Bridge. If you work on a project where you create and manage a couple thousand images, Lightroom is (supposedly) a better program for editing & sorting the body of work. The cache and previewing engine of Lightroom should be faster and more stable than Bridge because it's specifically designed to handle images.

[I say "supposedly" because I use Bridge daily as a project tool. I've use Lightroom v3 on a few projects where thousands of images were generated. I'm on the fence with regards to its file management protocol.]

Bridge is a tool that is best used when you are using many Adobe tools (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Premiere, etc.) on a project. It's a great tool for sorting project files, finding & opening those files into their respective parent program. Its cache system is still a bit weak-kneed when thousands of images are managed. It generates "hidden" cache files and project files that are critical to its functionality. Lightroom creates a directory for the storage of cache, previews and settings with the idea that it will be faster and more robust (i.e., stable) in generating image previews and managing hundreds of images.

With Lightroom, Adobe also targets photographers who don't want to use Photoshop on every image. The basic toolset allows someone to make global and some local adjustments that, in many cases, provide adequate post-production results.
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cocasana

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2012, 09:55:31 am »

I mean Lr's development module tools vs next ACR!
« Last Edit: March 07, 2012, 09:57:41 am by cocasana »
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digitaldog

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2012, 10:04:48 am »

I mean Lr's development module tools vs next ACR!

The raw processing is the same (if version parity is true).
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francois

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2012, 04:06:04 am »

I mean Lr's development module tools vs next ACR!

UI is different but, as others said above, the results are identical. I'm not 100% sure but one difference is that Lightroom provides an history of all your actions and I don't think that ACR has that feature - but I might be wrong here…
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Francois

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2012, 04:42:32 am »

If you aren't sure then how can you say the results are identical? :)

francois

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2012, 06:58:49 am »

If you aren't sure then how can you say the results are identical? :)

The thing I'm not sure is whether ACR offers an history or not... Andrew above already wrote about results, provided both ACR and Lightroom versions are on par.
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Francois

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2012, 07:04:43 am »

I use PS 5 extended and it doesn't have history.

francois

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2012, 07:37:30 am »

I use PS 5 extended and it doesn't have history.

Stamper,
Thanks for the confirmation.
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Francois

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2012, 09:23:49 am »

The raw processing is identical. In fact, when you ask LR to ‘Edit in Photoshop’ it is ACR that renders the data! But the two have to be on parity version wise.

But there are lots of non processing functionality that LR provides ACR doesn’t. History has been mentioned. Virtual copies is another that comes to mind.
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john beardsworth

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2012, 02:48:55 pm »

Another difference is the Before / After view, great for fine level adjustments. Presets too, if they interest you.

John
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BobD

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2012, 12:27:13 am »

The raw processing is identical. In fact, when you ask LR to ‘Edit in Photoshop’ it is ACR that renders the data! But the two have to be on parity version wise.

But there are lots of non processing functionality that LR provides ACR doesn’t. History has been mentioned. Virtual copies is another that comes to mind.

When can we expect the ACR 7.0 plug-in for PS5.  Right now we are pretty limited "Editing in Photoshop". It seems our only option to "Edit in PS" is "Render using Lightroom" to see our LR changes. NO"Smart Objects" and NO ability to "Open as Layers..." with our LR4 changes
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #13 on: March 09, 2012, 12:47:14 am »

Hi!

The problem is that you have an old version of ACR in PS CS5. I think a new ACR has been released at the same time LR4 was or that the incompatibility has been fixed in LR4.

The bad news is that ACR 7 may indicate need for a new release of Photoshop.

Best regards
Erik


When can we expect the ACR 7.0 plug-in for PS5.  Right now we are pretty limited "Editing in Photoshop". It seems our only option to "Edit in PS" is "Render using Lightroom" to see our LR changes. NO"Smart Objects" and NO ability to "Open as Layers..." with our LR4 changes

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Schewe

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #14 on: March 09, 2012, 01:10:21 am »

It seems our only option to "Edit in PS" is "Render using Lightroom" to see our LR changes.

yes, and no...if you have downloaded and installed ACR 6.7 RC1 from Labs.Adobe.com then you can process PV 2012 in Photoshop CS5/5.5. Until you get ACR 6.7 (or ultimately ACR 7 in PS CS6), no, processing images through Photoshop will be a disconnect...get the RC and test it and then get back to us. It's at Labs.Adobe.com. Also understand this is now a new problem...same thing happened with LR3 and CS5.
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BobD

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #15 on: March 11, 2012, 10:57:24 am »

yes, and no...if you have downloaded and installed ACR 6.7 RC1 from Labs.Adobe.com then you can process PV 2012 in Photoshop CS5/5.5. Until you get ACR 6.7 (or ultimately ACR 7 in PS CS6), no, processing images through Photoshop will be a disconnect...get the RC and test it and then get back to us. It's at Labs.Adobe.com. Also understand this is now a new problem...same thing happened with LR3 and CS5.

Yes, I have downloaded ACR 6.7 this is better than the non-functioning 6.6 - but there still are issues that go a little beyond "nuance".  The 3 options for opening the file in Photoshop from Lightroom as I see it are:
1.   "Open Anyway" (Default)
2.   "Render Using Lightroom"
3.   Open as "Smart Object "

Options1 & 3 are lighter than 2 which appear to look most like the Lightroom 4 rendition... a bit disconcerting.  I am hoping this is because it is a "Release Candidate" and would expect that in the final version (or ACR 7.0), opening any three options from Lightroom to Photoshop would look the same. Correct?
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Dinarius

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #16 on: March 17, 2012, 07:47:16 am »

Another difference is the Before / After view, great for fine level adjustments. Presets too, if they interest you.

John

LR, for reasons known only to Adobe, lacks a Color Sampler Tool, something I use all the time.

Secondly, the Spot Removal Tool behaves differently (& less intuitively, in my opinion) in LR compared to ACR. Why the target circle disappears when you click on it with the mouse cursor is beyond me.

Finally, 0-255 RGB is, in my view, a case of if it ain't broke.... I hate % readouts.

Viewed purely as RAW image processing tools, I think that ACR is better featured - at least for my workflow. I'm processing small numbers of images for clients. If you're a photojournalist or an amateur shooting shed loads of images that need organising, then LR makes sense.

But, LR should, first & foremost, have everything that ACR has. It doesn't.

D.
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Chris_Brown

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #17 on: March 17, 2012, 05:24:34 pm »

LR, for reasons known only to Adobe, lacks a Color Sampler Tool, something I use all the time.

Secondly, the Spot Removal Tool behaves differently (& less intuitively, in my opinion) in LR compared to ACR. Why the target circle disappears when you click on it with the mouse cursor is beyond me.

Finally, 0-255 RGB is, in my view, a case of if it ain't broke.... I hate % readouts.

+1
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Schewe

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #18 on: March 17, 2012, 05:36:47 pm »

Finally, 0-255 RGB is, in my view, a case of if it ain't broke.... I hate % readouts.

Not for nothing, but exactly what color space would you expect LR to read out? When you are in the Develop module, you are working on a raw file. The pipeline processes images in Pro Photo RGB but in a linear gamma. So, 0-255 would be useless since the gamma is linear.

If you want to see 0-255, turn on soft proofing and select the color space you want; sRGB, Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB. Then you'll get 0-255 readouts.

BTW, I don't disagree that the lack of multiple color samplers is a deficit to LR. Been asking for them since the beginning...just hasn't gotten enough traction to spend the dev time to add them.
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Chris_Brown

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Re: Lightroom 4 vs. PS6
« Reply #19 on: March 17, 2012, 06:01:39 pm »

If you want to see 0-255, turn on soft proofing and select the color space you want; sRGB, Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB. Then you'll get 0-255 readouts.

I don't understand why the output profile is not on by default, as it is in ACR. Isn't every image file tagged when it leaves LR? Or does Adobe provide the % readout because LR will output to multiple color space? (If so, then I'm old school, touching a single image file in PS, then creating multiple files from it, tagged with different profiles as needed, before it leaves my studio).
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