Photoshop CSII/ACR won't be compatible with D2X?

There is a big huh hah over at Nikonians right now about D2X NEF white balance information being encrypted and Adobe has decided not to support it as they are worried about possible lawsuit from Nikon if they crack the encryption or something to that effect.

I guess if you want to shoot RAW with D2X, you will have to buy Capture4 or one of 'em Bible program, I suppose.

Or just set the white balance yourself - like you probably should be doing with all of your underwater photos...

Much ado about nothing, IMO - at least as far as underwter photography is concerned.

The larger issue still stands - is it fair for Nikon to encrypt a photo (or part of a photo) that I am taking...

Cheers

James

I think it is a bit annoying because as I understand it, you won't be able to import NEF file into PS with 'as shot' setting unless you go through NC4 first. I guess it is a different starting point and it take one extra step and one extra program to do the same thing. Beside NC4 is such a hog for memory that my poor laptop, heck even my relatively new desktop slow down quite a bit.

If you shoot in sunlight, cloudy, flash WB - you will always know what numbers to type in. Its only a problem with AUTO WB. And in anycase, most of the time underwater I find that my WB settings (Colour Temp and Tint) are pretty consistent. You soon learn the normal ranges that your photos fall into.

I'm not sure that this argument is really about the encription. I can't see Nikon suing Adobe for disciphering the photographers data (even if it was Nikon who encripted it). I think that there is some bigger issue at stake (between Adobe and camera companies) and this argument has been whipped up as leaverage.

Alex

Good, I was kind of wondering how big a deal this is, as far as consumer goes. Nikonians and Dpreview crowds seem to be too busy denouncing Nikon and threatened to switch to Canon etc and there are very few discussion about how it will affect the end user.

I am still a bit worry though as once the automatic WB or whatever WB you use affect the pictures, some information may be lost/change and it is not always easy to get back to the beginning. I guess if the picture is properly exposed right from the beginning, it is not such a big deal, unfortunately us mere mortal (well, at least me anyhow..) consistancy is not something that comes naturally :-) I need all the helps I can get.

Adobe eventually wants to own the RAW format. They came out with their own "universal raw" format recently and I think that spurred Nikon to thumb their noses at Adobe with their D2x and D2Hs RAW formats. It's business jockeying and has little to do with us right now. If Adobe wins, it might end up having a LOT to do with us which wouldn't be too cool - especially now that I think Capture One is a better RAW converter... I'd hate to be stuck using only Adobe.

Cheers

James

James, what makes Capture One better for you over ACR?

Karl

I like the white balance functionality and the batch processing. I also think the colors from C1 are better, but I haven't color calibrated my version of ACR.

Cheers

James

Hey Guys

Excuse what may well be a terminally dumb question, but how DO you calibrate ACR? I can't find a calibrate-type program on my ACR CD and I would like to calibrate it accurately against my Sony VAIO laptop - if such a thing can be done on an LCD screen

but how DO you calibrate ACR?

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You don't.

Adobe's software (all of it AFAIK) assumes that you are in a colour managed environment and that the monitor profile currently being used is correct.

You can tell photoshop your output profile (View>Proof Setup>Custom>select your output profile from the list) and see what effect that has when soft proofing, but if your monitor is not accurately profiled this will not necessarily be super accurate.

If you have profiled the laptop screen and set that profile as your default monitor profile, everything else happens automagically in the background for you (including ACR's preview display of Adobe RGB, sRGB or any other target colour space).

Laptop monitors are notoriously difficult to profile, as brightness (and in some cases, colour) can vary with viewing angle.

Hi Craig et al.

Actually, you DO calibrate ACR colors to your individual camera. I'm talking about calibrating the input device (sensor), not the output device (monitor). You do this by shooting the color chart, and then running one of the available calibrations scripts that you can find on the internet. Do a search on DPreview.com or robgalbraith to find a link to the script.

Every sensor records and outputs colors slightly differently - that's why the reviewers mention "color rendition accuracy" in their reviews. You can take that factor out by using the "calibrate" tab in ACR.

Cheers

James

Here's a quote by Thom Hogan that thows a lot of light on back and forth spin:

"Here's a more likely story: when Adobe approached Nikon about getting access to upcoming NEF file formats, Nikon said "use the SDK." Adobe balked at that, because that means not only signing a licensing agreement, but also using specific Nikon DLLs. Now we find Adobe making a loud noise about "encryption" and apparently trying to make Nikon out as a bad company. Getting a different spin yet?"

And further explanation by Thom:

"As I've pointed out elsewhere, I originally took Adobe's use of the word encryption at its face, especially since I had heard the same word used by other folks I trusted. But in reality now having looked at the data, the most extreme word I'd use is "encode." There is a very big difference. In encryption, you're trying to completely mask the data so that only those who have the decryption key can unlock it. Encoding simply means you use a representation for the actual value. Heck, storing "Daylight" is a representation for the actual value of 5400K and a form of encoding."

Cheers

James

You can take that factor out by using the "calibrate" tab in ACR.

 

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OOOOOoooooh, so that's what that thingy is for

I take back my prior comment, and shall look at profiling the camera.

[Good thing I shoot a Nikon, and thus get good colour rendition right out of the box :ph34r:]

Excuse my ignorance but Colour Management makes my head spin.

Doesn't Adobe Gamma set a profile for you monitor which is then used by Photoshop ?

I think this might be PC specific but I'm not sure.

Doesn't Adobe Gamma set a profile for you monitor which is then used by Photoshop  ?

 

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Yes, it does set a profile for your monitor, and you can profile manually using Adobe Gamma, but this is an "a bit better than nothing" approach, as it is relying on your visual assessment of colour and gamma values. The higher end profiling systems (Gretag McBeth, Colorvision Spyder, EyeOne) do a similar thing in much more depth. They ask the monitor to display pure specified tones, then measure them with a spectrophotometer attached to the monitor. The measurements are compared to the "gold standard" values expected, and the software then describes a profile for the monitor.

If you do this an still have Adobe Gamma installed, though, bad things can happen. Adobe Gamma can muscle in and over-rule the other profiles.

As I said above, Photoshop simply assumes that you are in a colour managed environment. It will use whatever is set as the default .icc profile for calculations of how to represent the colours in ACR and in photoshop itself. In many cases the default .icc profile supplied by monitor manufacturers is adequate, or you can replace that profile with either one generated by Adobe Gamma, or one generated by an aftermarket profiling/calibration system.

Thanks for that explanation.

I think I finally begin to see some light on colour management. Why can't the help in Photoshop or indeed any of the articles I have tried to read be that clear

I really don't want to invest in colour management hardware because it seems to me it is something you use once to create a profile and then that's it. I must try and find someone with something I can borrow.

it seems to me it is something you use once to create a profile and then that's it.

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Monitor responses change over time, particularly CRT monitors where the phosphors change in their responsiveness as they age. How frequently you profile the monitor depends on how anal you are... I profile mine about every three weeks, for instance. So I make quite heavy use of my profiling device.

In the space of the last 3 months I have noticed quite marked changes in the gamut that my main home monitor is able to display. It is time to buy a new monitor, though I'll wait till I get to my new house in Oregon.

FYI I just got an email from Adobe, with tracking number, saying that my CS2 Upgrade for Windows was shipped today.