ACR 5.6 r1 available

[David Kilpatrick]

Go to:

http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Camera_Raw_5.6

If you back to the index, there is also Release Candidate for LR 2.6.

Both support the A500 and A550, A850 and other new cameras. They also offer the improved Lightroom 3 type demosaic algorithm which makes ACR equal to converters like C1 Pro, RawDeveloper, DxO etc and should radically improve your conversions from all Minolta and Sony Alpha raw files. The change is an alteration to the way in which ACR handles cameras which create two different values from G1 and G2 pixels. Sony sensors have always had this characteristic, needing slightly different gain settings for the two green channels. Canon cameras have never had it, and it appears that Adobe has based ACR on Canon ever since the start.

The Canon EOS 7D is the first Canon DSLR to have unequal green channels, and finally Adobe has been forced to revise the conversion methods to allow for this properly. They made a similar change to Olympus conversions a while back. This change fixes poor Nikon and Sony conversions (improved already in LR3 Beta) and the effect is most noticeable at high ISOs.

David

[01af]

They also offer the improved Lightroom 3 type demosaic algorithm which makes ACR equal to converters like C1 Pro, RawDeveloper, DxO etc and should radically improve your conversions from all Minolta and Sony Alpha raw files.

Definitely not! The raw conversion engine in ACR 5.6 Beta basically is the same as it was in ACR 5.5, plus support for a couple of new cameras, plus a few bug fixes. Lightroom 3.0 Beta's raw conversion engine is a completely different (read: much better) thing.

The change is an alteration to the way in which ACR handles cameras which create two different values from G1 and G2 pixels.

This change had already been introduced with ACR 5.5 ... or was it 5.4? But that's not what LR 3.0 Beta's new conversion engine is about.

Sony sensors have always had this characteristic, needing slightly different gain settings for the two green channels.

According to Adobe's Eric Chan, this is not true for the current line of Sony Alpha cameras; it used to be true for some older Sony cameras, notably the DSC-F828 from 2003.

-- Olaf

[David Kilpatrick]

Are you sure of that Olaf? The Canon forums on dPreview appear to be seeing differences. I'm seeing an excellent conversion for A550 files, but so far on checking older models, not the expected improvement.

Here's an example from the Alpha 550 at ISO 800:



Full size: http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/119535679

Maybe the improved quality only applies to new models added to 5.6? Or maybe the Canon 7D guys are just seeing what they want to see?

Developers like Raw Photo Processor use two different Green levels for Sony files apparently with good effect. I thought the F-828 had what was in effect a four-colour sensor, not just a tiny difference in two G values.

David

[01af]

Are you sure of that Olaf?

Fairly sure, yes. I just compared two conversions of a Sony A900 high-ISO raw file, one prepared with ACR 5.5, the other with ACR 5.6 Beta---and there is no visible difference between them whatsoever. With Lightroom 3.0 Beta (Process 2) I'm getting a very different result, with WAY less colour noise and still the same, if not higher, level of detail.

Regarding the green channels in current Alpha cameras ... Eric Chan, who is the maker of Adobe DNG Profile Editor and one of the programmers of Camera Raw, said on Luminous Landscape's user forum a few weeks ago that the greens aren't different in Alpha cameras. They are different in Panasonic and, if I remember correctly, Olympus cameras and in a few older Sonys. And in fact I can't see any significant differences in the conversion results of A900 raw files with, say, ACR 5.2/5.3 on the one hand and ACR 5.5/5.6 on the other. The minuscule differences that are there (visible with tricks only) mostly affect acutance, not colour rendition.

Of course, I cannot say anything about conversion results for A380, A500, A550, or A850 files. Or Canon files.

-- Olaf

[David Kilpatrick]

The A900 appears to convert better than the A700 prior to V4 firmware, and it was perfect with the older ACR anyway; the A350 converts incredibly crisply, no maze effect, no colour blurring. Same for the A380.

Maybe I am hoping too much, but LR 2.6 is a 64-bit installation apparently (it installed fine on Mac Intel) where ACR by definition is not, since Photoshop and Bridge are not yet fully up to date on using new systems. I'm only going on the basis of comments from people who probably know more than I do about the computing aspect.

Since my iMac 24 after three years is displaying some unpredictable video errors, I'm about to get a 4-core i7 27 incher... hoping that new programs will appear to take proper advantage of the processor, know that CS4 does not.

David

[vincenzo]

Prior to reading your post David I was on the verge of buying DXO, but if latest ACR equals DXO output at higher ISO I may hold fire. I look forward to getting to the bottom on this ongoing issue... Cheers