LR3 instead of CS5 just to get a current ACR??

rockcanyonphotos

I have CS3 and really don't want to upgrade to CS5. I can do everything I need in CS3 and I hate the thought of reloading all my plug-ins and recreating all of my macros.

The question is: Can I use LR3 as my ACR replacement? Then can I keep using CS3 for editing my outputted JPGs?

The reason I am considering doing this is that I have some newer cameras whose RAW format is not supported by the last version of ACR for CS3. I have loved ACR and it has been my preferred tool for editing photos, however, I am wondering if it is worth switching to LR3, learning their flow and using that for my RAW processing. The last time I used LR was when it was in Beta and I just found the workflow to cumbersome and slow.

Thoughts, comments, alternative ideas are welcome.

Thanks, Kevin

jfriend

I'm using LR3 with CS3. I do 95% of my editing in LR3 and occasionally save an image as a 16-bit TIFF and take it into CS3 to finish it off. LR3 makes that operation easy (two clicks). The combo works great and you get the added image management capabilities of LR3.

pathfinder

The improvements in the RAW engine in LR3/ACR6.1 result in dramatically better files than available with the RAW engine shipped with CS3. Much smoother, lower noise, better color profiles, better lens corrections etc. Better, faster, easier, what's not to like?

You can do local editing via CS 3 easily.

rockcanyonphotos

Thanks guys, just what I needed to hear!!

pmbpro

jfriend wrote: »

I'm using LR3 with CS3. I do 95% of my editing in LR3 and occasionally save an image as a 16-bit TIFF and take it into CS3 to finish it off. LR3 makes that operation easy (two clicks). The combo works great and you get the added image management capabilities of LR3.

This is exactly my situation too. I had no need to upgrade from CS3. Even when CS4 came out, I didn't even give it a second look. Same with CS5...

arodney

The only "issue" having a later version of Lightroom compared to Photoshop is if you do ANY raw editing outside LR's develop module (like using Smart Objects with a raw file). If you do all the rendering in LR, export out a TIFF, then you would be fine using LR3 with CS3. Also, using the Edit in Photoshop (instead of actually exporting out a TIFF) will be a problem because when you use this command, its actually ACR that does the processing and again, you are on an older version. Just turn that preference off (don't use Edit In Photoshop), use Export instead and everything will be LR3 raw processing.

jfriend

arodney wrote: »

The only "issue" having a later version of Lightroom compared to Photoshop is if you do ANY raw editing outside LR's develop module (like using Smart Objects with a raw file). If you do all the rendering in LR, export out a TIFF, then you would be fine using LR3 with CS3. Also, using the Edit in Photoshop (instead of actually exporting out a TIFF) will be a problem because when you use this command, its actually ACR that does the processing and again, you are on an older version. Just turn that preference off (don't use Edit In Photoshop), use Export instead and everything will be LR3 raw processing.

This is not quite right. "Edit in Photoshop" is smart. It knows that you don't have a compatible version of ACR in Photoshop and gives you this prompt when you select it for an image:



If you pick "Render using Lightroom", it automatically makes a TIFF for you. I freely use the convenience of "Edit in Photoshop" all the time with the LR3/CS3 combination.

arodney

jfriend wrote: »

This is not quite right. "Edit in Photoshop" is smart. It knows that you don't have a compatible version of ACR in Photoshop and gives you this prompt when you select it for an image.

No its right (however, as you point out, you do get a prompt). Bottom line is, you can't use an older version of ACR and get the functionality in Develop using a newer version of LR. If you want to use the older rendering engine (not a good idea), go for it.

jfriend

arodney wrote: »

No its right (however, as you point out, you do get a prompt). Bottom line is, you can't use an older version of ACR and get the functionality in Develop using a newer version of LR. If you want to use the older rendering engine (not a good idea), go for it.

I guess you thnk you can never be corrected on anythng. You said you couldn't use the edit in photoshop menu item and would have to use export instead. I wsaS explaining to the OP that you can use edit in photoshop and it will automatically offer you the option to render a tiff. You do not have to use export as you said. And none of tbis has anything to do with rendering with the older ACR. In the example I provide, the rendering is done by the latest ACR in LR3.

arodney

jfriend wrote: »

I guess you thnk you can never be corrected on anythng. You said you couldn't use the edit in photoshop menu item and would have to use export instead.

I never said you could not use the Edit in Photoshop, read it again. I said its an issue and it is! Im all for being corrected (it happens all the time). Usually useful when a correction is in order.

I wsaS explaining to the OP that you can use edit in photoshop and it will automatically offer you the option to render a tiff. You do not have to use export as you said. And none of tbis has anything to do with rendering with the older ACR. In the example I provide, the rendering is done by the latest ACR in LR3.

You can and you should not Edit in Photoshop if there is a mismatch in develop functionality. That's what I wrote, that's the facts. You do have to and you do want to Export if you want to maintain full, current raw processing functionality (like lens correction, new sharpening and noise reduction etc). The OP stated he is using CS3 which uses a very old version of ACR. IF you decide to do this, you lose all the new raw processing functionality.

jfriend

I'll respond to Kevin, the original poster rather than Andrew. When using LR3 with CS3, you can use the Edit in Photoshop CS3 feature from Lightroom. When you do, you will be prompted for how you want to do that (see screenshot in my other post in this thread). The two choces are to "Render Using Lightroom" or "Open Anyway". Nearly all the time, the right choice will be "Render Using Lightroom". This will take the latest version of ACR in Lightroom and convert the image into a 16-bit TIFF (or some other image type according to your preferences) add that TIFF to the Lightroom catalog so you can keep track of it in LR3 and then open that TIFF in Photoshop CS3. You can then do further editing on that TIFF and when you save it, those changes will appear back in your LR3 catalog.

If, for some reason, you chose the "Open Anyway" option (which I never do and I would advise against), that would take the RAW file and the LR3 adjustments you have so far and give them to Photoshop CS3. Since Photoshop CS3 doesn't have as current a version of ACR, it would use an older version of ACR to show the image in Photoshop which is NOT what you would want. If the older version doesn't have support for your camera, then it wouldn't even be able to open it.

So, Edit in Photoshop CS3 works great and saves several steps over manually exporting, but you need to choose Render Using Lightroom when promtped and you are then done with RAW editing at that point as the RAW edits are all baked into the TIFF.

If you used LR3 with CS5 (which both have the same version of ACR), then you could open the RAW file directly in CS5 and though you used layers on top of it in CS5, you could still open the smart object and make further RAW adjustments in ACR in CS5. Without CS5, you cannot do that and preserve all adjustments that LR3 is capable of. So far, this has not been a problem for me because when I go to Photoshop, I'm going to Photoshop because I'm done with RAW editing and I'm ready for pixel editing so I'm fine with rendering it to pixels at that point. You lose a little flexibility if you want to change something in the RAW editing, but it really hasn't been much of an issue for me and I haven't needed the newer features in CS4/5 so I'd rather save that money for lenses and other photo accessories.

Anyway, the combination of LR3 and CS3 is working great for me.

arodney

OP. This is all really simple! If you find a disconnect between the develop module functionality (versions) in LR and ACR, just do not use the Edit in Photoshop command! Allowing an old version of ACR to render the data will null any new LR 3 develop functionality. Its an issue, you don't want that to happen when you can get full functionality by simply exporting the data (with I'll add, more control and options).

Some LR users have found issues with the Edit command (usually when more than one version of PS is installed, fixed by reinstalling PS) or doesn't work at all. The link between LR and PS is fragile. The other advantage of not using Edit With PS are for many of us that do NOT want the edited version to be stored back into the LR catalog (you want to render and view a soft proof but don't want nor need that afterwards).

Bottom line is, you don't need CS5 and LR3 to be in sync version wise as long as you understand ACR's role here (Edit in PS, using Smart Objects).

jfriend

arodney wrote: »

OP. This is all really simple! If you find a disconnect between the develop module functionality (versions) in LR and ACR, just do not use the Edit in Photoshop command! Allowing an old version of ACR to render the data will null any new LR 3 develop functionality. Its an issue, you don't want that to happen when you can get full functionality by simply exporting the data (with I'll add, more control and options).

Some LR users have found issues with the Edit command (usually when more than one version of PS is installed, fixed by reinstalling PS) or doesn't work at all. The link between LR and PS is fragile. The other advantage of not using Edit With PS are for many of us that do NOT want the edited version to be stored back into the LR catalog (you want to render and view a soft proof but don't want nor need that afterwards).

Bottom line is, you don't need CS5 and LR3 to be in sync version wise as long as you understand ACR's role here (Edit in PS, using Smart Objects).

Even simpler. After selecting Edit in Photoshop CS3 from the menu, just select the Render in Lightroom button (which is essentially an automatic export using settings defined in your prefs) when prompted and you will never have any issue between the two versions of ACR because PS will only be dealing with TIFFs. I like the Edit in Photoshop function because it's many less mouse clicks to open an image in Photoshop (it just opens right up in Photoshop) than export to the file system and then manually open it in Photoshop and because it automatically adds it to the catalog. You can use export if you want of course.