Adobe Camera Raw

Camera Raw is an Adobe PhotoShop plug-in allowing convertion of raw files into editable image formats. It opens up automatically at an attempt to open a raw file through PS open menu. It also usually gains primary control over raw files opened out of a file manager.

Camera support and destination formats

Adobe Camera Raw in its latest version (3.0) can work with almost the whole range of cameras. Canon, Nicon, Olympus, and Panasonic – almost all models in the line are supported with 1 or 2 exceptions. Pentax, Fuji, Sony, Konika Minolta, Kodak, Leica, Contax, Creo Leaf, Epson, Sigma, and even Mamiya are in the list with about halves of their lines. The complete list of camera models is in the table. Each new version of Adobe Camera Raw adds new cameras to the list, both new and old models.

{mosimage cw=400 align=left} Adobe Camera Raw does not modify original raw files. It stores all information about the modifications performed either in a sidecar .xmp file or in a database file (set in Preferences) and creates a copy with the modified version. As for available destination formats, there is a choice of 4 of them - .dng, .jpg, .tiff, or .psd. The file format corresponds to the file extension and format has its own options (like quality with .JPG)

The format is chosen in the Save dialogue box opened upon pressing the Save button. Adobe Camera Raw also lets you choose a destination directory, and file name designation method here.

As you see in the screenshot, the resulted filename can be compiled out of up to 4 blocks. The name of a series of files may be given by the common theme or by date for example with successive numbers to each file. If you choose to number your images, Adobe Camera Raw allows beginning numbering from any point suitable for you and your naming policy.

Tools

Being a Photoshop plug-in already, Adobe Camera Raw is not an “I want to be a photo editor” program at all. Its tool set, therefore, has only those options needed for editing a raw image. All the rest is given to CS.

The set of tools has all the basics needed for raw converting such as White Balance, Exposure Compensation, Brightness, Contrast and Saturation adjustments, Sharpness correction and Noise reduction etc.

I’ll only comment on those options that are rare among other converters or even unique for Adobe Camera Raw.

The Lens tab is the third in the row of tool tabs, coming after Adjust (color adjustments) and Detail (Sharpness/Noise reduction) tabs. There are two blocks, both rare among raw converters.

Chromatic aberration tools remove color fringes that can appear in some images in areas away from the center of the image as a result of he failure of the lens to focus different frequencies (colors) to the same spot.

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The Vignetting tool lightens the corners of the image that can be darker than the overall image through lens distortions. (As for me, I’m using the option all the time for indoor pictures).

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The Curves tab is not overburdened either. All you have is the Curve diagram with Input and Output text boxes and a choice of three presets. ACR Curves dialog is very much like PhotoShop Curves but it does not allow working in separate channels even though you can pick color samples. All you have is RGB curve which you can change either manually or using a preset to adjust the image. As for me I use Medium Contrast preset most of the time and almost never change the curve myself. May be that comes from the fact that I’m more used to working with separate channels in YMCK mode.

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{mosimage cw=150 align=right}The last tab in the tools panel is the Calibrate tab that is rarely visited by me, though some of you will undoubtedly find it necessary. Lets you correct a colorcast in the shadows and adjust non-neutral colors to compensate for the difference between the behavior of your camera and Adobe Camera Raw’s built in profile for your camera model. Hue and Saturation for all three RGB colors can be adjusted here separately.

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Graphical User Interface

I myself am very used to Adobe Camera Raw interface, as I’ve been using it ever since I got my digital camera. So in this part my review would be inevitably biased. I will try my best though not to be.

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As you see most of the Adobe Camera Raw window is taken by the image preview. All the tools, buttons, and option menus are arranged around it.

The title bar at the very top contains the file name and some shootings information.
The panel below has a number of transformation tools (such as Crop, Rotate, or Straiten) along with WB and Color Sampler pickers and Zoom. Those can be used at any stage of adjustment and should be at hand all the time. All of these tools can be called by hotkeys that show in prompts.

Adobe Camera Raw Zoom works in increments ranging from 6% to 400% and can be controlled in a number of ways: by outlining a region you want to zoom in while the Zoom knob is pressed, by moving a slider below the image, or by choosing a value from a drop down menu. The same menu appears on pressing the right mouse button when Zoom is chosen.

The upper panel contains also Preview, Shadows and Highlights checkboxes so that you can change their status at any time. The Highlights and Shadows have separate checkboxes and can be controlled separately.

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The toggle of Preview checkbox allows the comparison of the original image with the edited one. Pity you cannot see both of them side by side though.

Although all these buttons, checkboxes, and numbers are set in the same panel, they are logically arranged into three groups: image transformation buttons are found above the left corner of the preview, checkboxes – above the right, and RGB numbers are shown above the Histogram and tools tabs.

The bottom panel below the preview (the one that is hidden in the screen shot above) contains workflow settings options.

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As you see, you can set color space, bit depth, the size, and resolution of the resulted image. These are usually the same for all images processed at the time and once set can be hidden to free space for the image preview.

{mosimage cw=250 align=left}Now, to the Tools tab. It takes considerable space on the right of the Adobe Camera Raw window. The tools are arranged on four tabs with the Histogram and RGB values above and saving options below. The Histogram is visible all the time regardless of the active Tool. The RGB values are those of the area of pixels below the pointer: .

The arrangement of tools into separate tabs is convenient in a number of ways: it saves space for the image, it does not overburden the eye with all the options and tools at once, but at the same time there’s no need to open every tool through the menu. Moreover, it gives your workflow some method and order.

The White Balance and Exposure group is at its place on the first tab. These are a must for a raw converter of course. The WB can be set by clicking a white/grey spot, choosing a preset or by changing a number in the box. The default and auto settings are not bad (presuming your color spaces are correct).

The Brightness-Contrast-Saturation trio is in the same tab together with a Shadows slider that appeared in the latest edition. It works similar to Black Point in Levels, that is, sets the level for shadows clipping. Three out of four sliders (Saturation is off here) have an “Auto’ checkbox that can be checked or unchecked by default (whichever you choose in Preferences menu).{mosimage cw=200 align=right}

In the Sharpness/Noise block (Detail tab) Adobe Camera Raw is minimalist. You get your sharpness (set to 25 by default) with grey scale (luminance) and color noise reduction and nothing else.

I’ve already mentioned Lens, Curve and Calibrate tabs.

The four buttons below the Tools tabs are needed in the final stage when the adjustments are performed. You can convert and Save the image and remain in the plugin (to try other adjustments with the same image or starting with the other one in the case of processing several files at a time).

You can also Open a copy of the image with the new settings in Photoshop for further editing and save it from there.

The Cancel button takes you out of the Plugin without any convertions performed. And pressing of Done closes the Adobe Camera Raw dialog box and stores file settings either in the camera raw database file or as a sidecar XMP file (whicever you’ve specified in Preferences). Next time you open the file then it will heve the same settings it had upon pressing Done button.

To some it all I’d say the interface is very considered and economical. The preview takes maximum space; all the buttons and controls are arranged around so that you move from one to another in a clockwise direction as you proceed with your editing. The set of tabs makes all the tools easy to access. The options that should be set for many images at once can be hidden with one click. All these things make the workflow smooth and easy.

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Batch Converting

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{mosimage cw=150 align=left}Batch converting can be done with Camera Raw through Adobe Bridge Browser. The files are viewed in Bridge first (you can also rate and label them there, the whole spun of Bridge features is an issue for a separate article though). Then you can pick a group or a whole folder of files and send them to Adobe Camera Raw through the File menu

The Adobe Camera Raw look is a little bit different with a batch of images open in it as they are shown in a filmstrip on the left of the image preview. The active image is highlighted. Those images that were modified are marked with  .

Once in Adobe Camera Raw you can edit your images one by one (if the shooting conditions were diverse) or work with one image and use its settings for all the rest of them. In this case your course of actions will be to press Select all and Synchronize (becomes active on selecting all images) buttons. All of your images will have the settings of the active image then. If you have chosen Select All but not Synchronize, each image will have its own settings – either As Shot or Auto (whichever is set in Preferences as default).

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You can also apply some settings to a selected group of files by using the settings menu.

{mosimage cw-150 align=left}{mosimage ch=80 align=right}The Save and Open tabs reflect the number of selected files. As you see both options are accessible for a batch just like they are accessible for single files. (If you’ve chosen to process not the whole batch but only a selection of files you’ll still be able to edit your images during the processing).

{mosimage ch=80 align=right}Upon pressing the Save or Open buttons, the status of conversion process appears above the buttons block.

Although the Open option is accessible in batch mode I think it not convenient, for all the files open in Adobe Photoshop one by one, its window becomes active, and as a result you can’t do anything either in Camera Raw (due to active window change) nor in PS (because of the new files opening all the time).

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