Lightroom vs ACR (Adobe Camera Raw)

[Arjay12345]

Morning.

Anyone have any thoughts on the pros/cons of Lightroon vs. Adobe Camera Raw? Apart from the database management, does Lr do anything more than ACR?

I have a 50D and have PS CS2, so my raws can't be opened directly in PS (version issues); I instead have to convert the raws to dngs and then open in PS - too many steps, and too much extra storage space required.

I'd purchase Lr if it gave me additional functionality and meant I could work on Raws immediately.

Thanks
Arjay..

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by Arjay12345

Morning.

Anyone have any thoughts on the pros/cons of Lightroon vs. Adobe Camera Raw? Apart from the database management, does Lr do anything more than ACR?

I have a 50D and have PS CS2, so my raws can't be opened directly in PS (version issues); I instead have to convert the raws to dngs and then open in PS - too many steps, and too much extra storage space required.

I'd purchase Lr if it gave me additional functionality and meant I could work on Raws immediately.

Thanks
Arjay..

ACR and LR are similar when you compare the "Develop" module to ACR. They differ in the functionality LR provides is the library, web, slideshow and print modules. The ability to apply development adjustments across several images at once is also a LR advantage.

[zappo]

The ability to apply development adjustments across several images at once is also a LR advantage.

No, this can also be done in ACR. It's as you said, the "Develop" Module is exactly the same as in ACR. The libary can be compared to the Bridge but has extendet functions. Lightroom 3 is just out, so I guess give it a try.

Regarding the DNG/RAW thing, anyhow it's a good idea to convert your images in DNG so I would advise doing this even if you get LR. (can be done directly when importing images)

[Arjay12345]

Thanks guys

Zappo - can you expand on why it's a good idea to convert to DNG anyway?
Seems like extra effort and space issue for what benefit?

Thanks
Arjay

[zappo]

I'll give you a simple example. I used to have a Minolta Maxxum 7D, Sony bought Minolta and introduced a new RAW-Format for Sony cameras. So .mrw is basically discontinued and chances are good that in 10 years no software will be able to read my Minolta RAW-Files anymore.

Also did you recognize that with every new camera ACR has to get a new version to support the raw files? This means in other words the manufacturers keep changing things in their format, this makes me really suspicious.

For this reason I convert everything to DNG, it's an open, documented format and chances are good that there will be programms in future that support DNG. There is a discussion going on this topic, but I see it this way: The company that produces the software to process images has more chance to survive than a random camera producer (see Minolta).

I don't keep the orginal RAW-Files, and the DNG-Files are a little bit smaller so I actually gain space.