Adobe « 360Photography

RSS

Posts Tagged ‘Adobe’

Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements 2022 announced with new Sensei-powered technology

07 Oct

Adobe has announced the 2022 versions of its Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements software. The applications are designed to make creative photo and video editing accessible and fun.

To that end, Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements include what Adobe calls ‘Guided Edits.’ These are step-by-step interactive tutorials you can use on your photos and videos to achieve specific editing tasks. The new applications add four new Guided Edits, bringing the total to 87.

There’s a new Guided Edit in Photoshop Elements 2022 for editing pet photos. Credit: Adobe

The four new Guided Edits include a couple in Photoshop Elements, and the other two are in Premiere Elements. In Photoshop Elements, you can use a new Guided Edit to edit pet photos and extend photo backgrounds. For pet photos, you can adjust color and lighting, select and refine detailed edges like fur, remove collars and leashes and more. In the Guided Edit for extending photo backgrounds, you can use Content-Aware Fill technology to extend your image beyond its original crop, either to change an aspect ratio or just change up the framing.

Using Content-Aware Fill, you can extend the background of your photo. Credit: Adobe

In Premiere Elements, there’s a new Guided Edit to add animated overlays to your videos, such as fun butterfly animations. The other new Guided Edit shows you how to adjust shadows and highlights in your video, allowing you to bring out additional details.

Looking now at just Photoshop Elements 2022, the new software uses more Adobe Sensei AI technology than last year’s release. You can use Adobe Sensei to transform your photographs into painting-inspired images. You can select from different artistic effects inspired by famous artwork and other popular styles.

Credit: Adobe

Another Sensei-powered feature is the ability to warp photos to fit any shape. You can place one photo inside another by wrapping it around an object, like a mug, or fit the image into shapes, like the sunglasses example above.

Within Photoshop Elements 2022, you can combine still and motion photography with animated frames. You can place different moving overlays like snowflakes, hearts and sparkles to your still photos and then export the motion image as an .MP4 to share on social media.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2022 also includes new slideshow styles, a revised Organizer that lets you view GIFs in motion, and automatic software updates.

Premiere Elements 2022 includes animated overlays. Credit: Adobe

Adobe Premiere Elements 2022 includes new aspect ratio options. Many users share videos on social media, which sometimes includes vertical video and square aspect ratios. In Premiere Elements, you can edit and export videos in social-friendly formats without losing content. You can also add motion titles, mattes and backgrounds designed for vertical videos.

Premiere Elements 2022 includes new aspect ratio options for editing and exporting. Using these ratios doesn’t affect your original video file. Credit: Adobe

Another new tool is Sensei-powered auto-reframe. This tool allows the software to automatically re-frame your subject to ‘keep the most important part of the action in the frame.’

Premiere Elements 2022 includes a slider for video compression. If you’re editing and exporting a video for social media, you probably don’t need it to be a high-quality 4K video. Instead, you can use a compression slider in Premiere Elements to reduce the size of your movies, making them more suitable for uploading to the web or social media or sending to friends and family in a message.

Auto-reframe is powered by Adobe Sensei AI technology and keeps your subject front and center in different aspect ratios. Credit: Adobe

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2022 and Premiere Elements 2022 are available now. The applications are available for macOS and Windows and can be purchased standalone or in a bundle. Standalone versions are $ 99.99 for new users and $ 79.99 to upgrade. The bundle is $ 149.99 or $ 119.99 for eligible upgrades. Education pricing is also available. For the full details and to purchase the software, click here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Adobe Camera Raw vs Lightroom: Which Is Best in 2021?

23 Jun

The post Adobe Camera Raw vs Lightroom: Which Is Best in 2021? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Are you trying to decide between Adobe Camera Raw vs Lightroom but you keep getting confused? This used to happen to me, too – because to understand ACR and what it offers, you have to understand the program that hosts it (either Photoshop or Bridge).

That’s also why some people haven’t even heard of Adobe Camera Raw even though they’re using it; it’s the program designed by Adobe to develop RAW files, so it’s integrated into all Adobe photo-editing programs, including Lightroom.

As you read through this article, you’ll notice that ACR and Lightroom look very similar. Both of them allow you to process your photos and make adjustments to color and exposure. You can also correct perspective, fix lens distortions, and apply effects such as a vignette or split toning.

So what’s the difference? Keep reading to find out!

Whether you know Adobe Camera Raw or not and whether you shoot in RAW format or not (I hope you do!), this article can help you choose which editing program works best for you.

Adobe Camera Raw vs Lightroom: overview

Adobe Camera Raw was first launched in 2003 to develop RAW files. It can be supported by Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Bridge, and After Effects.

Lightroom was based on Adobe Camera Raw and was initially released in 2007. As such, both programs share the same RAW processing technology. And in recent updates, Lightroom and ACR have started to look quite similar.

That said, if you want to use ACR, you need another software program to host it. Lightroom, on the other hand, is a one-program solution. It’s the reason why making a comparison between Lightroom and Camera Raw is so difficult – you’re comparing a plugin to a full-fledged software program.

Ultimately, there are two major comparisons you can make:

If you want to know which program to use for serious photo editing, you need to consider Lightroom vs Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop.
If you want to know which program to use for file management and basic editing, the comparison is between Lightroom vs Adobe Camera Raw in Bridge.

That’s why, to avoid confusion, this article is structured in terms of features and workflows. Then I’ll wrap things up by telling you which program wins (in my opinion) considering the needs of different photographers.

Access and interface

Lightroom

The first big difference between Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw is that Lightroom is a standalone program. You can get an Adobe subscription and have access to Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and Lightroom Mobile.

The individual subscription only allows for Lightroom to be installed on two devices, and files can only be accessed by one person at a time.

The interface is very user-friendly and streamlined. As a result, Lightroom is easy to use and has a smaller learning curve than Camera Raw.

When handling RAW files, Lightroom uses the same technology as Camera Raw. The results should therefore be the same but with a different interface.

Adobe Camera Raw

You can’t download and use Adobe Camera Raw on its own – you always have to use it through another Adobe app. These can be Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Bridge, or After Effects.

When you launch Adobe Camera Raw with these programs, you access the ACR interface. Since the most recent updates, ACR looks very similar to Lightroom. Because of this, the user experience is very similar. However, learning to use Bridge and Photoshop is more difficult than learning Lightroom.

Adobe Bridge can be installed on any number of computers and can be accessed by multiple contributors at a time. Photoshop, like Lightroom, can only be installed on two computers and can’t be used at the same time.

Files and formats

the organization options in Lightroom and Camera Raw

Adobe Camera Raw

Adobe Camera Raw was developed with the idea of opening and editing RAW files. It therefore supports most raw file formats (you can find a complete list of cameras supported by ACR on the Adobe website). And you can use ACR to process other file formats such as JPEG and TIFF.

ACR + Photoshop

When you open a RAW file with Photoshop, it will automatically launch Adobe Camera Raw. Camera Raw can also be launched midway through your workflow in Photoshop as a filter.

ACR + Bridge

Bridge supports all sorts of file formats because it’s meant to be an asset manager for all of the Adobe apps. So it handles PDF files, AI files, PSD files, etc.

When you open a RAW file from Bridge, it will automatically launch Adobe Camera Raw. If you want to use ACR with other photography formats (such as JPEG), you can just right-click on the image and choose Open>Camera Raw.

Lightroom

Lightroom might share some photo-editing capabilities with Camera Raw, but it wasn’t developed specifically for RAW files – it was created to satisfy the needs of all photographers. As a result, you can import any type of photo with the same process regardless of the format.

Lightroom supports most RAW formats (including DNG), HEIF, TIFF files in 8, 16, and 32 bits, JPEG, PSD, PSB, CMYK, PNG, and some video formats.

Image editing and batch editing

The photo editing tools in Lightroom and Camera Raw are quite similar. Both offer basic color and exposure adjustments.

You can also do selective edits, crop and rotate, remove spots, correct perspective and chromatic aberration, etc. But there are a few differences, as discussed below:

Lightroom

One of the best things about Lightroom is the ability to sync your edits across multiple photos. After you’ve edited a single photo, you can tell Lightroom to sync all the edits with other photos in the catalog (or you can select just a few adjustments to sync).

Another way to apply the same edits to multiple pictures is by using presets. You can save your edits as a preset, or you can download presets from other photographers (some are free, others are for sale). You can then preview the presets just by hovering over them, which makes it easier to browse different effects.

A great Lightroom feature is that it retains a photo’s editing history, even if you close it and come back to your image another time. That way, you can always revert to an earlier version if you’re unhappy with your recent edits.

Lightroom does support video files, though you can do very little video editing (you can apply some presets and use the Quick Edits in the Library module).

Adobe Camera Raw

In Camera Raw, you can batch edit only if you decide to do so from the beginning. You simply open several images in ACR and select them. Then every adjustment you make will be applied to all the selected images.

If you want, you can save your edits as a preset and apply them to multiple photos inside Adobe Camera Raw. It’s also possible to buy or download ACR presets from other creators; however, there aren’t as many available as there are for Lightroom.

To edit video, you can use Camera Raw as a filter inside Photoshop CC – all the tools are enabled as if you were editing a photograph. And Photoshop allows you to edit the duration of the video, add text, graphics, and so much more.

With Adobe Camera Raw, if you want to come back to a certain point in your editing process, you need to save Snapshots as you go. These Snapshots get stored in an XMP file, so they’ll be available anytime you want them – as long as you remember to create them. Otherwise, there’s no way to go back in your editing history if you close and later re-open the file.

File management

ACR and Lightroom snapshots and image previewing

This is one of the biggest differences between Lightroom and Camera Raw; Lightroom is an image manipulation and organization software, while Camera Raw is only for image manipulation. Therefore, you simply cannot manage your files with ACR (no file management features exist!). That’s why I’ll compare the workflow of Bridge plus Adobe Camera Raw vs Lightroom.

Both workflows allow you to organize, tag, and rate your files before or after editing. Adding keywords is also available in both programs.

Adobe Camera Raw + Bridge

Bridge is a file browser that you can use to manage all the files – not just the photographic ones – on your hard drive. Therefore, you’re working directly with your original files.

Because you’re only browsing existing files, loading is faster than Lightroom’s import process, though it takes longer if you need to search with keywords or you want to make collections.

Since Bridge supports many file types and gives access to more than one person at a time, it’s great for collaborative work in big teams, whether people are working on the same or different projects.

From Bridge, you can access Adobe Camera Raw to process your images – RAW and otherwise. All the edits are saved in a sidecar file (ACR creates one for every photo). Having the edits in separate files is what makes the adjustments in ACR a non-destructive process. Separate files can also store presets.

Lightroom

Lightroom is a database program. When you import your images, you can access them even if they are offline, you can sync them across devices (if you use Lightroom CC), and you can keep your original files intact.

Importing your images can be a slow process, as Lightroom uploads the files and creates high-resolution previews (you have several options here). However, once the import process is complete, searching and organizing your files is faster than in Bridge.

Note that edits done in Lightroom and uploaded to the Cloud can be accessed from other devices that share the account, because all the files and edits are stored in one place. Edits can also be saved as presets for a more efficient workflow.

Adobe Camera Raw vs Lightroom: Which program is best in 2021?

As you’ve probably gathered, there’s not a clear answer to the Adobe Camera Raw vs Lightroom question. The program that’s best depends on your workflow and personal preferences.

If you’re a beginner photographer, Lightroom might be better for you, as it’s more user-friendly and has a smaller learning curve. Also, if you like using presets, you’ll find plenty of great options for Lightroom users. If you don’t plan to do advanced photo retouching, you can even get by without Photoshop.

For event photographers who need to cull, keyword, and batch-edit large amounts of pictures, Lightroom has better organizing tools. Also, most websites allow direct uploading from Lightroom, which allows you to share images with your clients in a more efficient way.

On the other hand, photographers who also need to edit videos or do graphic design will appreciate Adobe Camera Raw. That’s because Bridge and Photoshop support more file types and offer more tools for advanced editing.

In terms of cost, the two programs are essentially identical. For $ 10 USD per month, you can grab Adobe’s Lightroom Plan (which includes access to Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC, plus 1 TB of cloud storage). Alternatively – and also for $ 10 USD per month – you can purchase Adobe’s Photography Plan, which includes Lightroom Classic, Lightroom CC, and Photoshop CC (with Adobe Camera Raw), though cloud storage is limited to 20 GB.

Of course, you can also use both Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom according to the needs of each project – that’s what I do!

Now over to you:

What do you think of Adobe Camera Raw? How does it compare to Lightroom? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Adobe Camera Raw vs Lightroom FAQs

Is Adobe Camera Raw free?

Not really. While you don’t pay for Adobe Camera Raw specifically, accessing the full program requires a Photoshop subscription.

How do I use Adobe Camera Raw with Lightroom?

Whenever you import a RAW file, Lightroom automatically uses ACR – you don’t have to do anything extra because ACR is built into Lightroom’s editing engine.

How do I use Adobe Camera Raw with Photoshop?

When you open a RAW file in Photoshop, it will automatically launch ACR. You can also use Adobe Camera Raw as a filter at any time while in Photoshop.

What is the difference between Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop’s Camera Raw filter?

The Camera Raw filter has fewer tools than ACR. Also, you can use the filter to modify a layer in a document, but it cannot modify the document properties.

Can I use Adobe Camera Raw by itself?

No. ACR is a plugin that needs to be hosted by another program – you can use it with Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Bridge, and After Effects.

The post Adobe Camera Raw vs Lightroom: Which Is Best in 2021? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Adobe Camera Raw vs. Sony Imaging Edge Desktop: Which is your best bet?

31 Jan

For most photographers, the digital darkroom is based around payware or subscription software from the likes of Adobe, Capture One, DxO or one of their many rivals. But if you’re a Sony shooter, there’s an option which is available entirely free of charge along with your camera purchase: Sony Imaging Edge Desktop.*

Sony Imaging Edge Desktop version 3.0’s user interface.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how Imaging Edge Desktop compares with the 800-pound gorilla in the room, Adobe Camera Raw, whose algorithms also underpin the company’s popular Lightroom Classic application. As with previous articles in this series, I’m limiting myself only to still image editing in the interests of keeping things to a readable length, and won’t address features like image management, tethering or printing.

*Sony does include a version of Capture One, called ‘Express,’ with camera purchases, which we’ll investigate in a future article.

The ground rules

This comparison is based upon the most recent versions of each application at the time of writing. For Adobe, that’s Camera Raw 13.0 and Bridge 11.0. For Sony, it’s Imaging Edge Desktop 3.0. My computer is a 2018 Dell XPS 15 9570 laptop running Windows 10 version 1909.

To ensure neither Adobe nor Sony had any advantage out of the gate, I’ve aimed to reproduce, as closely as possible, the look of already-processed images from our galleries, without any prior knowledge as to the recipes behind them.

Adobe Camera Raw version 13.0’s user interface.

I’ve chosen images from the Sony A7 III (ILCE-7M3) for use in this comparison, as its been available for long enough for Adobe to fine-tune its rendering, while its price tag and resolution are broadly similar to those of the Canon EOS R and Nikon Z6 used in my previous manufacturer software comparisons.

Sharpness and noise reduction were left at their default settings to avoid overcomplicating things, while lens corrections were enabled for both applications. Images processed in ACR were saved at JPEG quality 11, just as used in our galleries. For Imaging Edge Desktop, which offers a choice of just four different compression levels, I used the maximum quality.

The main differences

Of course, the most immediately obvious differences between ACR and Sony’s Imaging Edge are their camera support and price tag. You already paid for Imaging Edge when you bought your Sony camera, so it’s effectively free. While it only supports Raws shot by the company’s own cameras, you can expect full Raw support for every Sony camera to be available pretty much immediately upon release.

Imaging Edge’s shadow and highlight sliders don’t give you as much latitude as the same sliders in Adobe Camera Raw, so shadows can only be lifted so far – even with D-Range Optimizer enabled.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

By contrast, ACR requires a recurring subscription fee. It supports a vast range of cameras from many manufacturers – including every single interchangeable-lens or large-sensor Sony camera made to date – but that support can sometimes take a while to arrive after the release of new models. It’s also sometimes more limited than that in first-party software, especially for older models.

For example, while Adobe offers ‘camera matching’ profiles for most recent Sony cameras, it’s not yet available for the recently-launched A7C. Nor has it been provided for any Translucent Mirror model made before 2014, or any Sony DSLR model at all.

A clean, modern interface with good multi-monitor support

Imaging Edge Desktop offers a twist on a modal interface. The initial install is merely a launcher which in turn installs and then launches separate viewer, editor and tethering apps. These can run separately or simultaneously, and can span multiple monitors. The editor app can’t browse entire folders of images, but you can open individual shots directly from within and stay out of the viewer app entirely, should you choose. Web help is available through the menu system, but it’s quite abbreviated.

We’ve found that Imaging Edge uses a bit stronger noise reduction by default, though in some cases its finer-radius sharpening will tease out the finest details a bit better; but ACR has a ‘punchier’ look.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

The user interface is really quite straightforward and very clean, although it does involve a lot of scrolling. Buttons in Imaging Edge and the individual apps launch the other apps, and the editor sports a single scrollable toolbar whose 14 sections can be rearranged or hidden. Thumbnails of currently-opened images line the bottom of the screen, but they’re tiny and not terribly useful even at Full HD resolution, and lots of space is wasted on the filenames. Nor can you move them to the side of the screen, unfortunately.

Unlike most rivals, Imaging Edge doesn’t treat your Raw files as sacrosanct

Sliders move smoothly, but some control names are a bit unintuitive like “overshoot” / “undershoot” for the sharpness control, or “magnification chromatic aberration correction”, neither of which are explained in help. There are also no automatic controls other than those for white balance, dynamic range and noise reduction.

A risky data strategy and not the best standards compliance

Sadly, while Imaging Edge plays nicely with pens and touch screens, it doesn’t support 4K monitors terribly well. Many user interface elements are too small for comfortable use, and Windows’ scaling setting is mostly ignored. Imaging Edge also doesn’t follow Windows keyboard conventions like tabbing between controls, and you can’t customize the keyboard shortcuts at all. And there are some occasional bugs; for example on canceling processing of a brief six-image batch, the program stopped functioning for multiple minutes and had to be force-closed.

Overall, I did find it easier to get more pleasant foliage and sky color out of Imaging Edge than Adobe Camera Raw.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

That’s doubly worrisome because unlike most rivals, Imaging Edge doesn’t treat your Raw files as sacrosanct. Instead of using a database to store its edits, or putting them in sidecar files in the same folder, Sony instead saves them in the headers of the original raw file.

The company has already been bitten by this approach once in the past with a separate application, PlayMemories Home, and in 2018 had to release a tool to correct that app’s corruption of Raw files. To avoid this issue, I recommend using Imaging Edge solely with copies of backed-up images.

Curiously, batch processing is not available in Edit mode, even if you have multiple images open. It’s available only from the Viewer window, and provides fairly limited possibilities for renaming your output images. Imaging Edge also only has a choice of four compression levels, and there’s a huge gap in quality between the highest (~15MB/image) and second-highest (~5MB/image) levels.

Reasonable if pedestrian performance

Compared to ACR, Sony Imaging Edge’s performance is reasonable, but it’s not going to light any fires. Where ACR takes just 12 seconds to process six images, Imaging Edge takes around 21.5 seconds when saving highest-quality JPEGs. Admittedly, dropping the quality level one step reduces this to just a hair under 20 seconds, but it also slashes files sizes by two-thirds.

You can see here how much more highlight detail Adobe Camera Raw is able to save in the windows, though the softer overall tonality of the Imaging Edge version isn’t unpleasant.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

While previews are two-pass, they update fairly quickly, usually within a second or two of releasing the control. This is still nowhere near as quick as Adobe’s near-real time previews, however. And they sometimes don’t update the whole screen at once, with a tile or two of the overall result occasionally needing a few additional seconds to finally fill in.

Very similar controls to ACR, but not all as effective

Sony Imaging Edge Desktop’s editing controls are broadly similar to those on offer in Adobe Camera Raw, including the highlight and shadow sliders that many other apps lack. It also allows display not just of clipped highlights and shadows, but out-of-gamut colors. It foregoes ACR’s texture and vibrance controls, but adds a D-Range Optimizer slider with auto mode.

In many cases, it’s just hard to balance dynamic range and contrast in Imaging Edge.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

D-Range Optimizer does a pretty good job of lifting shadows, but the highlight and shadow sliders are nowhere near as effective as their Adobe equivalents, and the highlight slider in particular didn’t seem capable of recovering much detail at all from blown highlights, even when ACR could do so with ease. I found the best results with more difficult images tended to send me to the curves tool, whereas Adobe could get the results without needing to fiddle with curves.

Sony’s noise reduction is rather more heavy-handed

By default, Imaging Edge uses higher levels of noise reduction than Camera Raw, and Adobe produces crisper results out of the box. With that said, you likely won’t notice the difference unless you’re pixel peeping or making large prints, where Adobe’s NR has a finer-grained look.

Noise reduction levels in both apps can be dialed back from that default. Imaging Edge also offers an “off” setting, but Sony’s app still applies more noise reduction than Adobe’s, even when that’s used. Setting NR to off definitely applies less noise reduction than simply zeroing out the sliders in manual mode, though, especially when it comes to chroma noise.

I found ACR to do a better job with skin tones. Imaging Edge tended a bit towards the magenta, but in turn delivered more convincing skies and foliage than ACR. Of course, you can improve color in either app by fiddling with the sliders, but ACR has an auto mode to get you in the ballpark, whereas Imaging Edge requires you make corrections manually.

Another example where Adobe Camera Raw is able to take advantage of remaining highlight information better than Imaging Edge.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

Final thoughts

Sony Imaging Edge Desktop looks and feels more modern than some of its rivals from other camera manufacturers, but I still found Adobe Camera Raw more pleasant to use. And Adobe also wins in terms of performance, although Sony certainly doesn’t trail in this respect as badly as some of its rivals.

In terms of image quality, things were rather closer, however. Imaging Edge is capable of delivering good results with most images, although Adobe clearly still has an edge when it comes to recovering blown highlights and blocked-up shadows. And Sony’s highlight slider, in particular, proved rather less effective than I’d hoped.

But if you’re trying to slash your budget to a minimum, Imaging Edge Desktop delivers pretty decent image quality for most shots, and does so with reasonable performance and versatility. There’s definitely money to be saved by switching away from a monthly subscription, especially if you tend to stick with just the basic tweaks and don’t often make major edits to your photos.

Sony Imaging Edge Desktop

Pros	Cons
Available free with a Sony camera Excellent support for Sony’s cameras from launch day Good foliage and sky color with minimal effort Tames noise well Good lens corrections D-Range Optimizer makes it easy to lift shadows	Only supports Sony cameras Doesn’t treat Raw files as sacrosanct UI requires lots of scrolling Doesn’t follow Windows standards Doesn’t support 4K monitors well Minimal help documentation available Highlight / shadow sliders aren’t very effective Skin tones tend towards magenta Denoising robs some fine detail even if switched “off”

Adobe Camera Raw

Pros	Cons
Clean, clear and modern interface Supports a vast range of cameras from many brands Great performance Allows fine-grained adjustments with accurate real-time preview Great image quality Extracts more fine detail than Imaging Edge with minimal fuss Does a great job with highlights/shadows	Recurring subscription fee with no perpetual license option Camera support can take a while to arrive for more obscure features or even fairly big ones like camera matching profiles One-click auto control produces overly contrasty, saturated results Tends to leave more noise in images by default

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Adobe Camera Raw vs. Nikon ViewNX-i and Capture NX-D: Which should you be using?

19 Jan

Introduction

Recently, I kicked off a new series of articles comparing the software provided by camera manufacturers with one of their most popular third-party alternatives, pitting Canon Digital Photo Professional head-to-head against Adobe Camera Raw. Now, I’m back with the second in the series, in which we’ll take a look at how Adobe’s raw processing rivals that offered for free with Nikon’s cameras.

Nikon ViewNX-i version 1.4.3’s user interface.

There’s a bit more to discuss this time around, as Nikon offers a choice of two different raw processing apps for free — the somewhat inconsistently-named ViewNX-i and Capture NX-D. As in the previous article, I’ll be limiting discussion mostly to each application’s user interface and image quality in the interests of keeping things to a readable length, and won’t be addressing features like image management, tethering or printing.

The ground rules

In this article, I’m comparing Adobe Camera Raw 12.4 alongside Adobe Bridge 10.1.1 versus Nikon ViewNX-i 1.4.3 and Capture NX-D 1.6.3, all of which are their current versions. My computer is a 2018-vintage Dell XPS 15 9570 laptop running Windows 10 version 1909.

To level the playing field as much as possible, I’ve once again aimed to reproduce the look of already-processed images from our galleries, without any prior knowledge as to the recipes behind them. I’ve chosen images from the Nikon Z6 for use in this comparison, since it’s similar in price and resolution to the EOS R used in the first article, and has been around long enough for Adobe to fine-tune its support.

Adobe Camera Raw version 12.4’s user interface.

To avoid getting too far into the weeds, sharpness and noise reduction were left at their defaults, while lens corrections were enabled for all three apps where possible.

Adobe Camera Raw doesn’t allow built-in corrections to be disabled at all. ViewNX-i doesn’t allow you to change whether or not distortion correction is enabled, and just abides by what’s set in the raw file. Only Capture NX-D allows corrections to be enabled/disabled (although even it prevents disabling distortion correction for certain lenses).

Images processed in ACR were saved at JPEG quality 11, just as used in our galleries. For NX-i and NX-D, I saved at JPEG quality 86, producing similarly-sized files.

The main differences

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

Of course, the most immediately obvious differences between ACR and NX-i / NX-D are their camera support and price tag. You already paid for NX-i and NX-D when you bought your Nikon camera, so it’s effectively free. While it only supports Raw files from the company’s own cameras, you can expect full Raw support for every Nikon camera to be available pretty much immediately upon release.

By contrast, ACR comes with a recurring subscription fee. While it supports a vast range of cameras from many manufacturers – including every single interchangeable-lens Nikon camera made to date – that support can sometimes take a while to arrive after the release of new models.

It’s also sometimes more limited than that in first-party software, especially for Coolpix compacts. While Adobe offers ‘camera matching’ profiles for almost every Nikon ILC, for example, it’s not available for a fair few compacts, including the relatively recent Coolpix A1000.

As for the differences between ViewNX-i and Capture NX-D, we’ll describe those in more detail when we look at NX-D on the next page. Suffice it to say that NX-i is the simpler, more approachable of the pair, however.

ACR is a little cleaner, but NX-i is approachable too

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

For the remainder of this page, we’ll focus solely on ViewNX-i. Although its interface isn’t quite as modern as that of ACR, it’s still pretty clean overall, with relatively few controls on offer. Some features like sharpening are combined into a single easy-to-use slider, while others like noise reduction are controlled entirely automatically.

The selection of controls available to the user is sometimes a bit odd, though. For example, I’d wager that most NX-i users won’t have the first clue what “axial color aberration” means, nor will they find any tooltip explaining it if they hover over the control. Yet several more common (and easily-understood) attributes like distortion and vignetting corrections cannot be controlled by the end-user.

The selection of controls available in ViewNX-i is sometimes curious. For example, there are controls for more obscure functions like aberration and diffraction, but none for more easily-understood variables like distortion and vignetting.

The good news is that, with fewer controls on offer, Nikon gives you access to everything up front. Editing functionality isn’t hidden behind buttons or under menus. Nor is it strewn across multiple tabs of controls, as in some applications.

Instead, you’ll find all available editing tools grouped together in a single, relatively short scrollable panel. And sliders move smoothly rather than in large steps, so making fine-grained adjustments is easy.

Like ACR, modern features like support for 4K displays, touch-screens and pen control are pretty good, although if you switch between 4K and Full HD displays — especially while NX-i is running — you’ll often have to resize panels or perhaps even restart the application entirely so it redetects the screen resolution before you can get to work.

ACR is still the speed champ, but ViewNX-i isn’t that far behind

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

ViewNX-i isn’t quite as fast as ACR, especially when it comes to previewing changes as controls are adjusted. Still, it trails Adobe by only around a third in terms of final rendering times, which is much better than some rivals. All six images in this preview took ViewNX-i around 26 seconds to batch-process, compared to 19.5 seconds for ACR.

And while image previews aren’t adjusted in near real-time as in ACR, they never take more than a second or less to catch up to your changes, and render in a single pass. The accuracy of that preview isn’t perfect when viewing full images, so for the finest adjustments you’ll want to switch to a 1:1 view instead, but it’s certainly good enough to get you close.

Unfortunately, there’s no indicator to show when the preview is updating, which is a bit frustrating when making more subtle adjustments.

ACR gives you much more control, especially over shadows and highlights

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

As noted previously, ViewNX-i offers a smaller selection of controls than does Capture NX-D, and the same goes doubly when compared to Adobe Camera Raw. A particularly surprising omission in an app aimed at less-experienced users is the lack of a one-click auto control to help get everything in the ballpark. Much like ACR, ViewNX-i includes slider control over brightness, contrast, shadows and highlights.

NX-i also has D-Lighting HS and Color Booster sliders, the latter replacing the separate saturation/vibrance sliders offered by Adobe, and providing a choice of people or nature modes for some control over skin tones. Sharpening control is likewise limited to a single slider with no fine-tuning possible. And Nikon’s app lacks ACR’s sliders for texture, clarity, dehazing or black-points and white-points entirely, as well as its noise reduction and curves controls.

The D-Lighting HS slider makes it really easy to recover shadow detail, but I found its interactions with the shadow protection and contrast sliders in particular to be a bit difficult to predict and control. With D-Lighting HS set in the upper half of its range, as little as a 2-3% change in the contrast slider could have a pretty major effect overall and badly block up deeper shadows. This was particularly true of the shots inside the aircraft hangar, as well as the backlit model shot.

The fixed noise reduction is too heavy-handed by far

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

With less challenging scenes, though, I thought ViewNX-i did a pretty good job in most respects. It yielded pleasingly lifelike color with relatively little effort, and I found myself preferring its rendering of foliage and skies in particular over those of ACR.

The fly in the ointment is that its noise reduction – which, remember, can’t be disabled – is quite heavy-handed. This is particularly noticeable in portrait shots, where much fine detail is lost in things like hair or thread patterns in clothing, and skin can end up looking unnaturally plasticky. This, more than anything else, will push more experienced photographers to either Capture NX-D or a third-party alternative like ACR.

ViewNX-i’s default noise reduction can lead to slightly plasticky-looking skin.

If your shot doesn’t have much noise to start off with, though, ViewNX-i can extract about almost as much detail as can ACR. (And can appear a little crisper at default settings, thanks to slightly stronger unsharp masking).

Final thoughts on ViewNX-i

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

Less experienced photographers might, perhaps, find ViewNX-i to be a bit less intimidating than Capture NX-D or Adobe Camera Raw, and it’s certainly capable of providing decent results if you can live with its noise reduction performance. Performance is decent too, especially in terms of final rendering, although Adobe still takes the win handily in this respect. But for many, the limited controls on offer and the heavy-handed noise reduction will push them to Capture NX-D or a third-party alternative instead — and rightly so.

Nikon ViewNX-i

Pros	Cons
Available free with your camera Excellent support for Nikon’s cameras from launch day Realistic color with minimal effort Impressive shadow recovery from D-Lighting HS Decent performance, albeit still not as good as ACR	Only supports Nikon cameras Lacks many controls offered by ACR and other rivals Selection of controls doesn’t make sense for less-experienced shooters No one-click auto control Can’t use distortion correction if it wasn’t enabled at capture time Denoising robs fine detail and can’t be disabled Interactions between controls can prove challenging

Adobe Camera Raw

Pros	Cons
More modern user interface Supports a vast range of cameras from many brands Great performance and accurate real-time preview Great image quality overall Holds onto more fine detail than ViewNX-i Does a great job with highlights/shadows	Recurring subscription fee with no perpetual license option Camera support can take a while to arrive Less pleasing color than Nikon’s software by default Leaves significantly more noise in images by default

And with our Nikon ViewNX-i vs. Adobe Camera Raw comparison complete, it’s time to see how Capture NX-D fares against its third-party rival. Continue reading on the next page!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Adobe releases Photoshop beta for Apple Silicon and Windows ARM

18 Nov

As new M1-equipped Macs arrive to early adopters this week, Adobe has released a beta ARM version of Photoshop. The beta allows owners of the Microsoft Surface Pro X and M1-powered Macs to run Photoshop natively. The current public release version of Photoshop runs emulated on both Windows and macOS.

Looking at the beta version of Photoshop for Apple Silicon, there are missing features, but Adobe states that many core features are fully operational. The beta will only run on Apple hardware using the M1 chip, so the M1-equipped MacBook Air, 13″ MacBook Pro and Mac mini.

M1-equipped 13″ MacBook Pro. Image credit: Apple

There are a variety of known issues, the full list of them can be found here. As Adobe states, many features are not yet available, including Camera RAW, Select Sky/Sky Replacement, Content Aware Fill/Scale/Move, Auto-Blend Layers, Photomerge, Spot Healing Brush and much more. Further, some included features have bugs, including opening hundreds of files, performing object selection, certain upscaling methods and more. For additional details, refer here.

For the Windows ARM beta, many of the same issues persist. To use this beta, you must have a Surface Pro X with at least 8GB of RAM and be running Windows 10 build 19041.488. Specific to the Windows ARM version, users must install the Microsoft OpenCL and OpenGL Compatibility Pack in order to take advantage of OpenCL- and OpenGL-related functions, of which there are many inside of Photoshop.

Microsoft Surface Pro X. Image credit: Microsoft

Despite the missing features and known issues, Adobe says, ‘We are excited to announce the first Beta release of Photoshop running natively on Apple Silicon Hardware and Windows ARM devices.’ Adobe also promises that more features will be added in short order. Since the software is in beta, it’s not officially supported yet, but Adobe wants users to try it and provide feedback. You can post issues not listed in the ‘Known Issues’ sections found in the above links by visiting the Photoshop (Beta) forum.

To reiterate, the current beta version is not quite ready to act as your daily Photoshop application, nor does it fully showcase what the new Windows ARM and Apple M1 architectures are capable of when it comes to running Adobe Photoshop. In fact, the beta has been released exclusively for early feedback. Nonetheless, the beta represents a critical and important step in the development process and paves the way for what we all expect to be very fast, efficient versions of Adobe Photoshop. Early reports from users of the new Apple M1 machines showcase remarkable performance and benchmarks, and there’s ample reason to expect Adobe will be able to extract that power in its software.

(Via The Verge)

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Adobe apps not officially supported on Apple’s M1 chips using Rosetta 2, but native versions are coming

14 Nov

Earlier this week, Apple announced the first trio of Mac computers built using Apple’s own silicon. The new MacBook Air, 13″ MacBook Pro and Mac mini devices all use Apple’s new M1 chip. During the event, Apple announced that Adobe, among many other developers, is working on releasing new versions of its software that are compatible with the M1 chip.

As it turns out, these new M1-compatible versions will be critical for Adobe Lightroom users on the new Apple silicon Macs. On a dedicated page about Lightroom Classic compatibility with the upcoming macOS 11 operating system, Adobe warns that ‘Adobe apps run under Rosetta 2 emulation on Apple devices with Apple Silicon M1 processors is not officially supported.’ The company continues, ‘Native support is planned.’

Click to enlarge

Early adopters of the M1-powered Apple computers will have to do without official support for now. It is worth noting that at this point, Adobe hasn’t discovered any issues with running Lightroom Classic 10 under Rosetta 2 emulation, but as it is not officially supported, the user does assume non-zero risk. The MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini computers powered by the M1 chip are all available for order now ahead of a November 17 release.

In Apple’s presentation, embedded below, Senior Vice President, Craig Federighi, said Adobe is bringing Lightroom CC to its M1 computers in December and following it up with Photoshop in early 2021 (around the 18:10 timestamp).

While Photoshop and Lightroom are the primary apps for photographers in the Adobe ecosystem, the company has many other heavily-used apps, such as Premiere, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, and much more. As of writing, Adobe has not offered a timeline for other Adobe apps built for the M1 chip.

In case you missed Apple’s event on Tuesday, you can watch a replay of the stream below:

The Apple M1 chip promises massive performance gains over prior Intel chips. In the case of the M1-powered MacBook Air, Apple promises up to 3.5 times faster CPU performance and up to 5 times faster graphics. The MacBook Air also ditches a fan, offering a ‘silent design.’ The 13″ MacBook Pro maintains an active cooling system, offers up to 2.8 times faster CPU performance and up to 5 times faster GPU performance. With the M1 chip, the new Mac mini also sees massive gains. Its CPU is up to 3 times faster and the GPU is 6 times faster. The new computers start at $ 999 USD, $ 1,300 and $ 699 respectively. For the full details on the new machines, check out coverage from earlier this week.

Adobe has been hard at work developing native versions of its applications, including Photoshop shown here during the Apple presentation on November 10. In the presentation, seen further above, Adobe states that it has observed massive performance gains on Apple silicon.

The move to Apple silicon is a major one for Apple. The promised performance gains are hugely impressive on paper, and the foundation being built appears to be a strong one. Of course, software must be designed to take full advantage of the new silicon. Adobe certainly has the talent and resources to do so.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Loupedeck announces Adobe collaboration and new Loupedeck plugin at Adobe MAX

22 Oct

Adobe has announced a massive Photoshop update which included, among many other features, the integration of Adobe’s new Unified Extensibility Platform (UXP) for plugins. Shortly after Adobe unveiled the new version of Photoshop, Loupedeck announced its collaboration with Adobe on a new plugin for Photoshop.

The free plugin, which can be downloaded through the new Plugin Marketplace in the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop application, introduces new features and improvements for owners of the Loupedeck CT and Loupedeck Live. You may recall that we covered the new Loupedeck Live product last month, which you can learn more about here.

Image credit: Loupedeck

In addition to the improve performance and usability offered by Adobe’s UXP architecture, the new Loupedeck Photoshop plugin includes the following features, per Loupedeck:

Ability to add adjustment layers and control their corresponding parameters with dials and/or wheel
Reset functionality for individual adjustment parameters
Intuitive control over Font settings
Quickly scroll through and view history panel with dial and/or wheel
Increased control over Curves, including the ability to adjust color channel curves separately and control curve points
Smoother control over Brush settings and Zoom In/Out functions
Streamline workflow by combining Photoshop actions into macros within the Loupedeck software
Full control over Layer Properties
Ability to control Quick Actions (e.g., select object, remove background) introduced in Photoshop 2020
Better performance for Camera Raw

Of the new plugin, Loupedeck’s founder and CEO, Mikko Kesti, says, ‘We collaborated with Adobe to develop the new plugin and to ensure Loupedeck users could easily integrate and maximize their creative potential with the new features offered by Photoshop the moment they are available. Our new plugin for Photoshop incorporates the software’s new features into both the Loupedeck CT and just-launched Loupedeck Live, giving creators the power to further customize their Photoshop experience.’

Image credit: Loupedeck

Vijay Vachani, Adobe’s Senior Director of Product Management and Partner Ecosystem for Adobe Creative Cloud adds, ‘Photoshop users will now have increased functionality when using their Loupedeck devices and the ability to take even more control over a wide variety of Photoshop features, including the newly introduced Quick Actions.’

You can download the plugin from Adobe’s Plugin Marketplace by clicking here. You can learn more about Loupedeck Live and purchase it directly from Loupedeck. To learn more about Loupedeck CT, click here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Adobe Premiere Pro can now natively decode ProRes Raw video files

22 Oct

Adobe has announced Premiere Pro (version 14.5) will now natively support ProRes Raw, finally opening up editing of Apple’s Raw video format to all Premiere Pro users.

Earlier this year, Adobe started selectively supporting ProRes Raw, but only for Windows users running Nvidia GPUs. With this new update, both macOS and Windows users will be able to edit ProRes Raw video regardless of what system or GPU your computer has packed inside.

The initial support is limited, in the sense you aren’t offered full control of ISO and White Balance settings as you are with Apple’s Final Cut Pro X, but it’s likely Adobe is working to get this functionality in place too. Adobe has also added ProRes Raw to LOG color space conversion.

As more cameras get ProRes Raw recording, most notably with the help of Atomos who’s already brought ProRes Raw support to more than 20 cameras via its Ninja V monitor/recorder, it’s nice to see Premiere Pro finally getting the ability to decode and work with the files.

Other improvements in the October 2020 release (version 14.5) of Premiere Pro include support for HDR workflows in Rec2100 PQ color space, improved hardware decoding when using AMD and Nvidia GPUS and faster audio pre-roll.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

HP launches eight new monitors for creative professionals at Adobe MAX 2020

22 Oct

During the Adobe MAX conference on Tuesday, HP introduced the newest products added to its HP Create Ecosystem, including the next-generation DreamColor and Z by HP monitors. According to the company, these models were made ‘with the creator in mind,’ offering everything from frameless designs to the promise of ‘seamless color accuracy,’ 4K resolutions and USB-C connectivity.

The HP create Ecosystem was first announced at Adobe MAX 2019, introducing a variety of products and partnerships aimed at supporting the creative community, including photographers and videographers. The new expansion of this ecosystem announced during Adobe’s 2020 conference adds a total of eight displays, all created for visual professionals.

Leading the lineup is HP’s Z25xs G3 and Z27xs G3 DreamColor displays; these models boast more than a billion on-screen colors, PANTONE Validated color gamut and the promise of color accuracy straight out of the box. HP says that these DreamColor models are the world’s first ‘color critical HDR monitors’ to feature a one-touch brightness adjustment feature, enabling users to rapidly increase display brightness.

Users are likewise promised up to HDR 600 and customized workflow color presets, USB-C connectivity and support for both macOS and Windows from the DreamColor monitors.

Those two models are joined by the six new Z Core displays, all of which HP describes as premium and offering creators ‘flawless color accuracy’ straight from the box. The Z Core models are notable for their incredibly thin profiles, nearly bezel-free displays — something HP calls a ‘frameless’ design — and support for all devices with its 100W USB-C power delivery.

HP notes a number of features that come with the Z Core displays, including the integrated HP Display Manager for remotely managing the monitors, as well as HP Eye Ease, a proprietary technology that offers ‘always-on low-blue light’ that HP claims offers ‘ultimate comfort with zero impact on color fidelity.’

The company likewise says that its Z by HP product family was made with a focus on sustainability, noting that, for example, the Z Display lineup uses plastics featuring more than 80% ocean-bound and consumer waste plastics. Likewise, 75% of the aluminum used in these monitors has been ‘upcycled’ and the packaging used to ship the monitors is 100% sustainably sourced.

The inclusion of USB-C connectivity makes these monitors ready for the latest and greatest laptops on the market, but they can also be used with other hardware, as well, due to the inclusion of DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 (DreamColor models). The new product lineup brings a variety of resolutions at various price points ranging from Full HD to Quad HD and $ 239 to $ 749.

HP lists the new monitor availability and pricing as follows:

HP Z25xs G3 QHD USB-C DreamColor Display is expected to be available in March 2021 for a starting price of $ 599
HP Z27xs G3 4K USB-C DreamColor Display is expected to be available in March 2021 for a starting price of $ 749
HP Z24f G3 FHD Display is expected to be available in January 2021 for a starting price of $ 239
HP Z24n G3 WUXGA Display is expected to be available in January 2021 for a starting price of $ 299
HP Z24u G3 WUXGA Display is expected to be available in May 2021 for a starting price of $ 349
HP Z27q G3 QHD Display is expected to be available in January 2021 for a starting price of $ 399
HP Z27u G3 QHD Display USB-C is expected to be available in March 2021 for a starting price of $ 449
HP Z27k G3 4K USB-C Display is expected to be available in March 2021 for a starting price of $ 599

The new HP DreamColor display models join Dell’s newly announced UltraSharp HDR display, a particularly pricey model at $ 5k launched to directly compete with Apple’s Pro XDR Display, beating it specs-wise by offering a 2,000-zone mini-LED array versus the 576 zones found in Apple’s model.

HP’s new models are quite a bit cheaper, of course, pitting them against Dell’s newly introduced and likewise less expensive UltraSharp 24 USB-C Hub monitor with ComfortView Plus tech and a WUXGA resolution; this model is priced at $ 450. In addition, Dell also released its new UltraSharp 34 Curved USB-C Hub monitor with a massive 21:9 aspect ratio, USB-C with 90W power delivery and an $ 800 price tag.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized

Adobe shows off prototype version of its Content Authenticity tool and ecosystem

21 Oct

In addition to its Lightroom and Photoshop updates, adobe has also revealed a prototype of its Content Authenticity Prototype, a key new tool that will play a key role in Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative first unveiled a year ago at Adobe MAX 2019.

A screenshot from the video showing the ‘Content Credentials’ toolset in the beta version of Adobe Photoshop.

As the above video demonstrates, the new opt-in tool provides a way for photojournalists, artists and other creatives to cyptographically sign and embed editing and attribution information to images that have been adjusted or altered in Photoshop (and presumably other Adobe programs). Creators can choose to include as little or as much data as they would like and export that information with the image(s).

A screenshot from the header video showing what information will be embedded with the edited image upon export from Photoshop.

When the image(s) are uploaded to websites with CAI compatibility, viewers will be able to see exactly who captured the image, what edits were made, what assets were used and more. Adobe is even launching a dedicated site (verify.contentauthenticity.org) that will serve as an original database of sorts to see every detail of every change made and asset used.

The verify.contentauthenticity.org website will break down the signed metadata for each asset used.

Currently, the prototype will only be available to a select group of beta testers. Eventually, we can expect the tool to roll out to the masses, but even then, adoption will come to be the greatest barrier to Adobe’s efforts to keep authenticity at the forefront of digital content creation.

Adobe says it’s working with ‘The New York Times Company, Twitter, Inc., Microsoft, BBC, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Truepic, WITNESS, CBC and many others,’ but it’s honest about what it will take to get the masses to adopt such attribution technology as the norm:

‘We believe attribution will create a virtuous cycle. The more creators distribute content with proper attribution, the more consumers will expect and use that information to make judgement calls, thus minimizing the influence of bad actors and deceptive content. Ultimately, a holistic solution that includes attribution, detection and education to provide a common and shared understanding of objective facts is essential to help us make more thoughtful decisions when consuming media. Today is a huge leap forward for the CAI, but this is just the beginning.’

While the companies Adobe is already working with are certainly leaders in their respective spheres, there are plenty of other agencies and organizations that will need to hop onboard the CAI train to truly make this a ubiquitous standard that’s the rule instead of the exception. Media empire Gannett, for example, would be a great opportunity, as the company owns over 90 daily newspapers, nearly 1,000 weekly newspapers and almost two dozen television stations. Getty, AP and others are obvious candidates as well.

You can keep up with the latest CAI developments on the Adobe Blog and the Content Authenticity website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

Comments Off

Posted in Uncategorized