Show Raw adjustments

[rcohn]

I'm sure I'm not alone in this. My #1 wish for PM is that it be able to reflect Raw adjustments (especially from CameraRaw in Bridge or Lightroom). I assume this isn't an easy task (or we'd already have it), but would be interested in whether there is any chance of developing this.

Right now PM is much faster and more useful for acquiring, naming and adding metadata to images than anything else I know of, but if bad shooting conditions require large adjustments to the Raw file settings I'm forced to return to Bridge (or Lightroom) to make final selections, etc.

What if I start converting to DNG? Can PM show changes to settings for this format? If so, what are the possible cons?

Ric

[Kirk Baker]

Ric,

I'm sure I'm not alone in this. My #1 wish for PM is that it be able to reflect Raw adjustments (especially from CameraRaw in Bridge or Lightroom). I assume this isn't an easy task (or we'd already have it), but would be interested in whether there is any chance of developing this.

No, and you're right, it isn't easy at all (in fact it is quite difficult.)

Right now PM is much faster and more useful for acquiring, naming and adding metadata to images than anything else I know of, but if bad shooting conditions require large adjustments to the Raw file settings I'm forced to return to Bridge (or Lightroom) to make final selections, etc.

What if I start converting to DNG? Can PM show changes to settings for this format? If so, what are the possible cons?

Photo Mechanic can definitely show the adjustments in a DNG file, because the embedded JPEG preview can be updated by Adobe's applications to reflect your adjustments.  I don't really know what the cons are, but I'm sure that there are debates about the DNG format going on all the time on the internet.

-Kirk

[heavymeister]

As a workaround you can always save your RAW adjustments as jpeg and if you have set PM to show RAW+jpeg in one, you will see the adjustments represented by the jpeg. You also could asign a special colorclass that shows that this is a jpeg representing a altered RAW file.

HM

[rcohn]

Ric,

Photo Mechanic can definitely show the adjustments in a DNG file, because the embedded JPEG preview can be updated by Adobe's applications to reflect your adjustments.  I don't really know what the cons are, but I'm sure that there are debates about the DNG format going on all the time on the internet.

-Kirk

I did an experiment where I converted some raw files to DNG which I had already made adjustments to in CameraRaw. I was happy to see that the Adobe DNG converter included the image settings and that PM properly displayed the adjustments. However, even after playing with a number of settings, I can't get PM to reflect further changes made to the DNG.

I set CameraRaw's preferences to update the Jpeg preview, and set the preview to "full size". When CameraRaw adjustments were not being reflected in PM, I also tried setting PM to "For RAW only: Use embedded JPEG Preview for speed". I tried to force a re-render using Command-/ and F5.

Assuming it's possible, does anyone know what settings will get PM to update this Jpeg preview after editing in CameraRaw?

Thanks,

Ric

Mac OS10.4.11, PS CS3, DNG converter 5.4 with it's preference set to write DNG's compatible for CameraRaw 4.6.

[Kirk Baker]

Ric,

Photo Mechanic can definitely show the adjustments in a DNG file, because the embedded JPEG preview can be updated by Adobe's applications to reflect your adjustments.  I don't really know what the cons are, but I'm sure that there are debates about the DNG format going on all the time on the internet.

I did an experiment where I converted some raw files to DNG which I had already made adjustments to in CameraRaw. I was happy to see that the Adobe DNG converter included the image settings and that PM properly displayed the adjustments. However, even after playing with a number of settings, I can't get PM to reflect further changes made to the DNG.

I set CameraRaw's preferences to update the Jpeg preview, and set the preview to "full size". When CameraRaw adjustments were not being reflected in PM, I also tried setting PM to "For RAW only: Use embedded JPEG Preview for speed". I tried to force a re-render using Command-/ and F5.

Photo Mechanic does not ever render DNG files, even if you have instructed it to render RAW files.  It will always use the embedded JPEG preview.

Assuming it's possible, does anyone know what settings will get PM to update this Jpeg preview after editing in CameraRaw?

What we'd need to know is whether the DNG's preview is being updated after adjustment.  Are you certain that it is being updated?

-Kirk

[rcohn]

Photo Mechanic does not ever render DNG files, even if you have instructed it to render RAW files.  It will always use the embedded JPEG preview.

Good to know.

Assuming it's possible, does anyone know what settings will get PM to update this Jpeg preview after editing in CameraRaw?

What we'd need to know is whether the DNG's preview is being updated after adjustment.  Are you certain that it is being updated?

-Kirk

Ah, I found the "Update DNG Preview" command in CameraRaw. It looks like this needs to be invoked separately every time you make any changes if you want them to show in non-Adobe apps. It seems to take about the same amount of time as the original conversion to DNG, which is similar in time to processing the files, so it's not insignificant for a large number of images.

On the plus side, if I choose "full size preview" it really is the same image size as the raw file, so for my .cr2 files, it is a larger preview than in the original raw and hence more accurate in PM. OTOH, the "medium size preview" option gives a smaller preview than the .cr2 file's hence is less useful in PM.

[neobux]

Learned nice things from this post , came to know few things which i was not aware of before.