ACR Prophecy

[Oscar_Rysdyk]

You know, I just installed CS2 and I can already see it happening. ACR 3 has turned into a really ugly, multi-headed monster and one or two version down the road I clearly see the following headline for a press-release by Adobe:

Adobe releases Camera Raw as a stand-alone software application.

Adobe, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that 90% of the work Photographers do can be done entirely in Camera Raw with its new rotation and curves features (and local adjustments in that future version), so that Photoshop is really only used for additional creative adjustments and endeavors.

Encrypting a white-balance is questionable, but claiming that Photoshop is a wee bit of overkill..., well, I'm sure at some point in the future Adobe is going to try to tell us the same message...

And of course, we, meek sheep, are going to run to the store to then buy both apps. We don't actually use the additional Photoshop capabilities, but we have just grown too fond of the idea that IF it were necessary, we could theoretically make the adjustments, were we not hampered by moral obligations not to twist reality too much...

[Quentin_Bargate]

ACR will be worthess if Nikon D2x type encryption is enough to prevent full raw support. ACR would become decreasingly attractive if more raw formats are encrypted. Something has to give - ACR's future now hangs on Adobe either winning the encryption battle, or changing their minds about their entitlement to crack the code.

Quentin

[PaulSharpe]

As I recall ACR WAS an add-on to PS at one time... I don't remember if it was completely stand-alone...

[Jamie_Roberts]

Adobe will change their mind, IMO, or get out of that business.

You know, I think the whole Nikon vs Adobe thing is just posturing on Adobe's part... some kind of FUD based on a very narrow interpretation of current US law. If they "win" they get to control their own R&D costs and project function and camera adoption much more regularly. If Adobe "loses" then they're on a level playing field with all the other RAW interpreters out there.

Level? Not quite--they already have all the function and RD support of Photoshop! Let's just say their lead won't become a monopoly as long as camera manufacturers can throw them a loop in their file format / secret sauce.

Adobe announced DNG to great fanfare--and none of the camera companies bought it... and with some good reason. There's no way a hardware manufacturer is going to build in a dependency on a third party software integrator--especially when in the RAW space, they're *not* the only game in town.

So what's Adobe to do to control / minimize costs for cameras coming out with new RAW schemes? Take the position that the *only* way for them to play is to have an "open" (eg. Adobe SW controlled) file format.

Heh. It's interesting. If Adobe gives up on Nikon, then all the Nikon users will go to CO, Qimage, DCRAW / Bibble etc and so on to work on their files. Those companies don't seem to have a problem with decrypting white balance or other essential image information. But most of the folks will *also* still buy Photoshop... so Adobe's in a no-lose position by posturing for more home-court advantage.

[AndrewRodney]

-->Adobe announced DNG to great fanfare--and none of the camera companies bought it... and with some good reason.

I guess that Hasselblad (Imacon), Leica and PhaseOne don't count.

From www.rawfomrat.com:

[ QUOTE ]

DNG support status, April 05


Here is a list of the software that do already support the non-proprietary DNG format:


Raw converters:


Adobe Photoshop CS2 (Win, Mac) or Photoshop CS with ACR 2.3 and 2.4
Adobe Photoshop Elements3* (Win, Mac)
Pixmantec Rawshooter Essentials 2005 (Win) -freeware- DNG support only for supported cameras.
Raw PhotoDesk : (Win) Improved support in V1.12
Dcraw 7.0 (multi platform: coded in C)Mac OS X and Windows versions at insflug.org and optimised builds by Benjamin Lebsanft
Iridient Digital Raw Developer V1.2* (Mac)
VueScan from Hamrick Software (Mac, Win) since version 8.2.02
cPicture, with RAW plug-in ( Version2.2.1249.0)
Lasersoft Silverfast DC Pro partial DNG support for cameras with RGB CCD chips cameras since V6.4.0r5 (Mac, Win)
Helicon filters(Win)

Programs that output to the DNG format:


Camera Raw 3.0 from Photoshop CS2 can save edition settings of RAw files inside the DNG.
Adobe DNG converter* (Mac, Win)
DxO Optics Pro v2.2* (Mac, Win)
Imacon Flexcolor v4.0b10 (beta version)* (Mac, Win)


Image Viewers / Digital Assets Management tools:


BreezeBrowser 2.11* (Win)
BreezeBrowser Pro* *(Win)
CameraBits Photo Mechanic 4.3.3* (Mac, Win) supports DNG 2.4
Cerious Thumbs Plus7, with the Digicam Raw Plug-in v 1.5 (Win)
dpMagic Plus since version 1.1.010 (add-on to view your DNG in win explorer)
Extensis Portfolio7* (Win, Mac)
Exiftool by Phil Harvey (exif reader-writer)
IrfanView (versions published on and after 4/22/2005
iView MediaPro 2.6.2 by Multimedia (Mac, Win) DNG 2.4 images in 2.6.3
Photools Imatch* (Win) since version 3.4.0.29
Polybytes PolyView : since version 4.20 (Win)
Proshooters DigitalPro 3 : initial support in 3.1
Rawview by through-the-lens (all OS: Java technology) -free for non commercial use-

Operating systems:

Preview, an application included in Tiger, AKA OSX 10.4 will be able to display DNG files
Windows XP needs a change in the registry to display DNG files


DNG support announced:


Leica should support DNG natively in a forthcoming camera
Phase One* Capture one* (Mac, Win) support in 2005
Qpict Media Asset Management: (Mac) in the next major release


[/ QUOTE ]

-->There's no way a hardware manufacturer is going to build in a dependency on a third party software integrator--especially when in the RAW space, they're *not* the only game in town.

None of them seem to have any issues writing out JPEG or TIFF files which are standard file formats (TIFF is owned by Adobe).

[Jamie_Roberts]

Andrew--with all due respect--of course Leica and Phase (we'll see when that happens) and, for that matter, Hasselblad, don't count here.

None of them are volume players in digital imaging. Leica will be lucky to be around in a year; Phase One (Capture One--I've never seen anything about Phase backs supporting DNG) has it's own delivery problems, and I can't imagine DNG support is a big line item for them right now (2005)... and Hasselblad? For digital? That would be someone else's back.

I can understand, by the way, why Software manufacturers (Imacon, Phase One CO)--like Adobe--would like DNG. They also would get less problems adopting newer cameras faster.

But that doesn't mean the hardware manufacturers will play--which was the gist of my argument.

As for JPEGs or TIFFs (which Adobe acquired from Aldus *after* it was a publishing standard), they still claim the best rendition of color comes from their own imaging expertise. If you have a problem with a Canon 1d2 rendition of reds, for instance, Canon support will point you at DPP.

They see JPEGs and TIFFs (Canon doesn't do these anymore) as convenience files... not highest quality files.

[AndrewRodney]

-->Andrew--with all due respect--of course Leica and Phase (we'll see when that happens) and, for that matter, Hasselblad, don't count here.

Excuse me? They don't count? OK, let's make up the rules as we play.

The fact is, camera manufacturers are getting on the bandwagon. If you're referring specifically to Nikon and Canon, OK, let's put pressure on them. So they have larger volume, that means more customers who can and should demand support for an open RAW format.

-->As for JPEGs or TIFFs (which Adobe acquired from Aldus *after* it was a publishing standard), they still claim the best rendition of color comes from their own imaging expertise.

I don't follow you. If you ask for a TIFF or JPEG, you HAVE to accept the in-camera RAW to TIFF/JPEG rendering and encoding which is why so many want RAW. Point here is that these companies have adopted a standard file format, one of which is owned by Adobe. As such, what reason would they have for NOT adopting a new RAW standard? What advantage do they have in keeping the hundreds of proprietary formats and what advantage is there for us, the customer? For us, none. For that reason, the most critical issue facing digital photography today is having these other players adopt a RAW standard format. No downsides for us, the people keeping the companies in business.