rawformat

CS2 Raw Features Profiled at Digital Outback Photo

Definitely worth a read, Brad Hinckel has done a in-depth look at the new features of CS2 that he thinks will make his "photographic life easier."

Along with his analysis of Merge to HDR, Smart Sharpen, the Spot Healing Brush, the Reduce Noise filter, and interface enhancements, he covers Adobe Camera Raw 3.0, specifically:

Auto-Functionality
By now setting Auto settings by default, RAW images are opened with a "reasonable starting histogram". There is now a clipping warning for shadows and highlights (like the clipping warning found in the Levels dialog).

Multiple Image Editing
Select and open a series of similar RAW images, and "Camera RAW will open with all of these images available for editing. You can choose to process all of these images with all the same settings, or set some basic settings for all the images and manually adjust others for each image."

Adobe Camera Raw 3.1 in May

Thomas Knoll announced that Adobe Camera Raw3.1 will be posted in public beta at the same time as PSCS2 will be available.

The Version 3.1 will have preliminary support for the Nikon D2X and the Canon Digital Rebel XT/350D/Kiss N, among other cameras.

ACR 3.1 will work only in PsCS2 and in Photoshop Elements 3.0, but users of CS1 that cannot afford to upgrade immediately are saved thanks to the free DNG converter 3.1, which will be posted at the same time: indeed, ACR 2.3 and 2.4 are able to open DNG's...

Supported & Compatibility for Adobe Camera Raw 3.0 (shipping with Photoshop CS2)

Most of the work that went into the next rev. of Adobe Camera Raw version 3.0, which will be shipping with Photoshop CS2, was overall enhancements and new features in the plug-in itself.   As a result, additional camera support is less expansive in this release.  In addition to those cameras supported in version 2.4 (which you can find listed here), only two were added for 3.0; Fujifilm's FinePix S3 Pro & Sony's DSC-V3.  Currently, Adobe Camera Raw 3.0 is not posted for download on Adobe’s site, but I can tell you that it will not be compatible with versions of Photoshop earlier than Photoshop CS2.

Martin Evening previews the new features of Adobe Camera Raw

The talented folks at pixel genius have a new site dedicated to all things Photoshop. Photoshopnews  features all of the latest info about working with everyone's favorite pixel app. Martin Evening, author of Photoshop for Photographers has just posted a 21 page PDF profiling all the new enhancements to Photoshop at the site. Some of the Camera Raw related enhancements he lists include:

* The new Lens Correction filter: Chromatic aberration and vignetting corrections can now be done on any file, within Photoshop itself. This is no longer exclusive to just files processed in Camera Raw.

* You can now (non-destructively) straighten an image or apply a crop in Camera Raw.

* Make corrections to a set of selected images by correcting a single image and apply those changes to the selected group of files.

Get the whole scoop here.

Significant Camera Raw enhancements coming in Photoshop CS2

Just announced this morning (and due to ship in May), Adobe has formally opened the kimono on Photoshop CS2. Thanks to new multi-threading code, Camera Raw will now allow you to select and process multiple raw and DNG image files at the same time in the backgound. (No more need for Dr. Brown's image processor!) There are also more automatic exposure and tonal adjustments. This new release will improve upon previewing the tools for shadow and highlight clipping; dynamic or preset tone curve adjustment; crop and straighten tools; and allow for multiple color sampling.

Dramatic Camera Raw Workflow enhancements in CS2 (sneak peek)

More info at slashdot.

Calibrating Camera RAW

Adobe Camera Raw ships with default profiles for all supported cameras, but all cameras are not created equal. For optimal results, you may have to calibrate Camera Raw for your camera, to make sure that it reproduces accurate results.

Bruce Fraser describes a manual method in this article at CreativePro, shooting a Color Target (in this article, he uses the MacBeth 24 color checker, but there are different brands that manufactures them) and comparing it with a electronic version, then using the calibrate tab of the advanced controls of Camera Raw until the two images matches.

Thomas Fors has written a script to automate this procedure.
The script is currently still in beta version, but can be found on this page.
Visual vacation provides some further shooting and ACR tips about  Thomas' script.

Note: The calibrate tab is not present in Photoshop Elements' version of ACR, as you can see in this 1.76Mb PDF done by Chad Rolf at Adobe Evangelists.

Adobe Camera Raw 'Sidecar ".xmp" files'

Have you ever noticed that along with your camera raw image files, sometimes there is a sister file with the same name but with a .xmp extension? “What are these,” you ask, “and where do they come from?” Let's start with how they are created. These files are sometimes created when you process/open a camera raw file via the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) dialog. Why only sometimes? Well, that depends on how you have your Preferences set up.

To see what I'm talking about, open a file via the ACR plug-in and click on the fly-out menu (circle with a triangle on the right next to Settings) and select Preferences. If your 'Save image settings in:' is set to 'Sidecar “.xmp” files', then whenever you open and process a camera raw file via the ACR plug-in, an accompanying .xmp file will be created. Okay, so we know how these files are generated, but what are they? One thing to try for fun is to open these .xmp files in a text editor. You'll see a bunch of Metadata represented and some other fun stuff. These .xmp files are records of how you processed your file. After the files have been generated, if you re-open your original camera raw file, those settings will be re-applied. These .xmp files will also update how your thumbnails are viewed in the File Browser, for instance. Want to start over from scratch, simply move or delete that .xmp file.

Adobe Camera Raw 2.4 and DNG Converter posted!

Camera Raw 2.4 plugin and DNG converter are posted on http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/new.jsp for downloading.

These are the newly supported cameras that have been added to the list of all supported cameras:
Canon
EOS 20D
PowerShot S70
PowerShot G6
EOS-1Ds Mark II
Konica Minolta
Maxxum 7D / Dynax 7D
DiMage A200

Dr. Brown's RAW Photo Styler

Check out this Javascript utility that will let you experiment with creative techniques when using Camera RAW images. This new version supports DNG files (works with Photoshop CS via scripts menu). Download a movie tutorial, and more at: http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html