Elements 4.0 RAW

[Bulldog]

Apologies if this has been asked and answered before but newbie to digital and somewhat bewildered I'm using Elements 4.0 and ACR 3.4 to edit RAW files from a Dynax 7D. When I open a file and go to "standard edit" I get a window up that seems to be making automatic adjustments to the RAW file based on "camera defaults" which i can then save as a dng file. How do I avoid any changes being made before I get into the standard editing screen to make my own adjustments? I simply want to get the RAW file directly into the standard editing screen.

[Monobod]

As a guess, it seems that Elements is converting your RAW file into another Adobe RAW standard called .DNG. Perhaps ACR 3.4 cannot handle your original image format??

Does the converted file look the same or different?

[john_g]

Elements 4 can only handle 8 bit colour depth whereas your RAW files will probably have a 12 bit colour depth. This is one of the main reasons why shooting in RAW is such a good idea: shadows that would just be blocked up in an 8 bit JPEG file are easily recoverable from a RAW file. Which is why no one can ever do a useful RAW to JPEG conversion without changing some aspects of the original image - you have to take 12 bits-worth of information and re-map them so that they can be squeezed into 8 bits. If you want to import your images straight into Elements with no modification, then shoot using JPEG format, but you'll be throwing away a lot of advantages.

With regard to other parameters such as colour temperature, I think ACR picks this information from the EXIF data and uses it as a starting point for the conversion. You can save your own preferred settings to override this, if you wish. From Elements help:

"When you open a camera raw file, Photoshop Elements reads information in the file to see which model of camera created it, and then applies the appropriate camera settings to the image. If you are always making similar adjustments, you can change the default setting for your camera. You can also change settings for each model of camera you own, but not for multiple cameras of the same model.

1. In the Editor, open a camera raw file and adjust the image.

2. To save the current settings as the default for the camera that created the image, click the triangle next to the Setting menu and choose Save New Camera Raw Default.

3. To use the Photoshop Elements default settings for your camera, click the triangle next to the Settings menu and choose Reset Camera Raw Default."

The clicky triangle, on my computer at least, is tiny, but it is there.

Finally, I'm using Elements 4 with ACR 4.1 so you might want to update your system - it's a free download on the Adobe site.

[Bulldog]

Thanks for the response John, I'll certainly look at ACR 4.1. I don't have any real issues with the settings in the first screen apart from sharpeneing which I would prefer to do with USM. The colour, contrast, exposure etc all look pretty good. Guess I could just reset the camera defaults as specified in your response with the sharpening slider set to zero, save as dng file and then complete editing in standard editor with USM?

[john_g]

If I try to open a RAW file from within the Elements 4 editor, ACR opens automatically, loads the picture and then, when I hit the "Open Image" button in ACR, the converted image gets loaded into Elements without me needing to save it, so there's no need for an intermediate DNG file.

With regards to sharpening; from the Adobe help file:

"If you don’t plan to edit the image extensively in Photoshop, use the Camera Raw’s Sharpness slider. If you do plan to edit the image extensively in Photoshop, turn off Camera Raw sharpening. Then use the sharpening filters in Photoshop as the last step after all other editing and resizing is complete."

[Bulldog]

Sounds good. Are you working on MAC? I'm on PC and Adobe site says latest ACR rev for elements 4.0 on PC is 3.7 which I've now installed.

Many thanks for your input, much appreciated.

[Norman]

ACR 4.0 is OK for Elements 4.01. See Adobe's site.

[Bulldog]

Norman,

From the web site you linked to, which is the same one that I went to originally:

"The Camera Raw 4.0 plug-in is not compatible with versions of Photoshop earlier than Photoshop CS3 or versions of Photoshop Elements earlier than Photoshop Elements 4.01 for Macintosh or Photoshop Elements 5.0 for Windows. The latest versions of the Camera Raw plug-in available for previous Adobe software titles are listed below:"

"Windows:

Photoshop CS2: Camera Raw 3.7

Photoshop Elements 4.0: Camera Raw 3.7"

Sorry but ACR 4.0 is not compatable with PSE 4.0 on PC.

[Norman]

It's compatible with 4.01. You should be able to upgrade Elements 4.0 to 4.01

[Bulldog]

Hey norman I don't want to get into an argument but you directed me to a web page which clearly states that the PC version of PSE 4.0 IS NOT compatible with ACR 4.0 The MAC version of elements 4.01 is compatible but I'm not using MAC.

[Norman]

Yes, sorry. I keep a page of compatible versions on my web site here. If you scroll down to the version of ACR required for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 it shows ACR 4 is suitable for Elements 4. I must have got that info from Adobe originally but will get it amended as soon as I can.

[john_g]

What Adobe says and what really works are, in this case, two different things. I've got Elements 4.0 (Help/About doesn't report it as being v4.01) on my PC and used to keep my ACR up to date until the upgrades no longer worked, and the version of ACR I've ended up with is v4.1

In any event, always keep the old version of ACR so you can roll back if necessary.

[Bulldog]

As John has 1st hand experience of ACR 4.1 working with PSE 4.0 i'll give it a go. As you say John, can always roll back to a previous version if it doesn't run.

Thanks to all for input, much appreciated.

[Bulldog]

ACR 4.1 installed with PSE 4.0 and working well. Thanks John.