RAW Converters Compared - For Fuji

Hi Folks,

I've had Photoshop CS for a few days now and have just started to use the RAW converter Adobe Camera Raw v2.0. So far, I see major improvements in the interface, such as a much larger and better Histogram display, 2 types of noise removal/smoothing, chromatic aberration removal etc.

I decided it would be worthwhile to do what Eric did and compare the 3 most common RAW converters for Fuji RAF files. These are Adobe Photoshop 7.01, Fuji's EX2.0 converter, and the new Adobe CS ACR2.0. What's really important to understand is that the controls for each converter are very different, so it's impossible to to a 100% straight apples to apples comparison.

What I decided to do first was a comparison using the "default" settings for each converter and fixing the white balance and nothing else. That was a miserable failure. This is of course, because the default settings have NO IDEA that we are shooting underwater and just aren't appropriate.

So next, I decided to use common sense and try the settings that I usually use to get the "best" results from my images. I have some experience with the conversion process using EX2.0 and Pshop 7.01, but as is evident from the results, I have a LOT to learn about using Pshop CS!

The conversions all had the color temperature set at 5,000K and were converted to 12 megapixel 16-bit TIFFs. They were then converted to 8-bit mode.

Here are 400 x 600 JPG's saved at compression level 9. These were all sharpened after resizing using Unsharp Mask at 200-.7-0

Here are the 100% crops unsharpened. Saved at JPG with compression level 9

Sharpness set at 25(default) in the RAW converter:

Sharpness left at Standard in the converter:

Sharpness set at 25(default) in the converter:

Conclusions:

1) I have a LOT to learn about ACR2.0. There are two sliders for changing exposure. One is Brightness and the other is Exposure. What is the difference? They both move the histograms around. Secondly is the noise reduction sliders for Luminance Smoothing and Color Smoothing. What to set them at? Good question.

2) My first attempt using ACR2.0 was a dismal failure. You may not be able to see it in your browser, but open the ACR files in photoshop and you will see horrible pattern noise in the black background. In addition, I could not get the colors to POP like with the EX2.0 converter, despite the fact that the White Balance settings were virtually the same

3) Fuji EX2.0 really makes the colors POP - with sort of a digital velvia effect. I'm not sure why exactly, as all images were converted to the Adobe98 color space. The blacks are black and the reds are really great.

In any case, I will keep experimenting with Photoshop CS and Adobe Camera Raw 2.0 and post some more results from the same photo soon. Hopefully the learning curve isn't too steep.

Cheers

James

Good luck, James, and thanks for the info. I installed Photoshop CS last night, and I'm looking forward to experimenting with it.

Jim

I have compared the camera raw plugin and photoshop cs using D60 raw images.

Sadly, the default settings in camera raw generally produce a better image than those

in CS. There is more noise and less contrast/saturation from the cs default parameters.

I found that the default parameters in camera raw were usually pretty good for pictures requiring little adjustment.

I think setting the luminance smoothing up a bit and either contrast and/or saturation

will make CS perform more like camera raw.

I'm going to try to find a setting that most closely resembles the previous behavior and save it.