+ Camera Raw Feature Requests +

[Ian Lyons]

UPDATE:

We're interested in what changes you would like see in our products. Do you have an idea for a feature that would help your workflow? Is there a small change that could be made to make your life a little easier? Let us know!  Share an Idea, Ask a Question or Report a Problem and get feedback from the Product Development Team and other passionate users on the Photoshop Family product Feedback Site on Photoshop.com.

In future it would helpful if you could use this thread as a means to add

"Features" that you would like to see in future releases of Adobe Camera Raw.

Please do NOT create additional new Topics and try not to duplicate requests by other users. Also, be thorough in your description of the feature and why you think Adobe should consider it.

Oh, and if you find it necessary to comment on someone's feature request/suggestion, try not to get into a shouting match. The penalty for doing so is...

b If you're asking that a particular camera is supported in a future release or just taking the opportunity to carp that yours isn't then please do so in another thread!

IanLyons

Forum Host

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

jfriend00,

Incidentally, the reason I did not address you directly in my last post is that, quite honestly, I did not read your very long post in its entirety and was, therefore, forced to skip all of your subsequent posts. For that I must ask for your indulgence, as my poor health forces me to limit my efforts.

[DJ-G]

I'd like to place an order, please :D.

I would love to see a "Relative" option for settings. If the "Relative" option is selected, when activated the settings would be added to the current image settings, rather than replacing them. Thanks!

DJ

[_jfriend00_]

> I would love to see a "Relative" option for settings. If the "Relative" option is selected, when activated the settings would be added to the current image settings, rather than replacing them.

Can you describe more what you are looking for?

You can achieve the "relative" effect already by using adjustment layers. If you just make a new curve/levels/hue-sat/etc... adjustment layer, you get a relative effect with the new layer.

--John

[DJ-G]

The whole idea is to have quick sets of related setting jumps to try different styles or slants in ACR. You could for example have a setting that increases saturation while reducing contrast and brightness, or viceversa, and quickly see the difference in the image.

Layers are a more formal and indeed finer instrument for the final image once you get into Photoshop. The ACR quick-tries are to get you in the ball park during the early development stage.

The ability to quickly save and recall settings and subsets is a real powerful tool within ACR. This would extend that, and is not a replacement for real work in PS with layers, as you suggest. That is indeed how I do my final image adjustments, and I always save with layers as a PSD.

Cheers!

DJ

[_jfriend00_]

> The whole idea is to have quick sets of related setting jumps to try different styles or slants in ACR.

Ahh, I get it now. That would be useful in ACR.

--John

[john beardsworth]

Echoing an earlier posting, I'd like to suggest a tool to assist straightening operations, either a grid or a drag-out ruler which would align to the crop window (not the overall image window).

[_Jörgen_Nilsson_]

First of all. Thank You Adobe (Thomas) for making ACR.

I use PhaseOne DigitalBacks and have C1PRO installed and I do not use C1 for my DSLR conversions since I find that ACR works better and are wonderfully integrated with PS and Bridge. But C1 have one feature that I miss in ACR. Custom camera profile support. If PhaseOne decides to have their backs deliver DNG files straight out of "camera", I could see myself using ACR instead of C1.

I would like to have the possibility to turn of ACRs profiles, to be able to generate my own in GMB ProfileMaker5, and then use that profile instead of ACRs.
Would that be possible in the future ?

Jörgen Nilsson, Portrait photographer.

[_jfriend00_]

> Echoing an earlier posting, I'd like to suggest a tool to assist straightening operations, either a grid or a drag-out ruler which would align to the crop window (not the overall image window).

Does the straighten tool that's already in CS2/ACR not work for you? I find that tool very, very useful and fast. If you have no crop already selected, it will make a rotated crop that makes the line you drag out straight. If you already have a crop, it will rotate the crop to straighten the line you drag out.

--John

[john beardsworth]

It works very well but the thought came after the "if you have no crop already selected" and I was angling my head and was still wondering if it was spot on. A simple grid overlay would be a fine enhancement.

[Ian Lyons]

Both the grid and rotate crop/straighten have already been mentioned - come up with your own ideas ;-)

[_trcolka_]

My wishes:

1) High Dynamic Range
a) Save one raw-file after conversion in a linear hdr-file
b) merge several raw-files into one hdr directly in acr

2) Lense databases
ACR detects the lense/camera combination from the exif-data and choose suitable values for vignetting, abberation from a database (which can be edited by the user)

3) Open up ACR for external plugins for sharpening (e.g. Neatimage), distortion correction (e.g. PTLens) so these plugins can be incorporated in the raw-conversion process

Regards
Olaf

[_Barry_Clive_Pearson_]

trcolka, a comment on "2", lens databases.

I wanted something like, but I found that my lens aberations depended also on focusing distance. For example, with a wide-angle lens I have found that I may have to do different corrections for close-up and distance subjects in the same picture.

But if that is taken into account somehow, I agree. (I started to build a spreadsheet of initial values, but it stopped because of the above problem).

[_trcolka_]

Focus distance can be a parameter for the database and the resulting values for aberration can be at least used at starting values.

[_Barry_Clive_Pearson_]

trcolka, that sounds OK.

On one or two occasions I have done two different conversions with different lens aberation corrections, then combined them as separate layers in Photoshop and erased selectively one of the layers. It was as though I was erasing chromatic aberation - a strange experience!

(Unfortunately, my Pentax puts the lens model in the Makernotes, and I think ACR can't get at it! But my guess is that problem will eventually be solved somehow).

[_nunatak_]

trcolka ...

number "2" is, imo, a good project for third parties-- especially if it were normalized for distortion, chromatic abberations, vignetting, and sample variances. it is by no means a trivial undertaking.

incidentally, DxO offers such a database--albeit limited to the lenses and samples they've tested. it would be helpful to integrate their database with ACR--perhaps as an extension or plug-in.

wrt "plug-ins", i believe a plug-in architecture would be much easier to develop for once ACR is broken out from Photoshop.

[_Shangara_Singh_]

> incidentally, DxO offers such a database--albeit limited to the lenses and
> samples they've tested. it would be helpful to integrate their database with
> ACR--perhaps as an extension or plug-in.

Not sure if a database is needed to counter chromatic aberration. I did some
shots recently of the London Eye with the Fuji S2 (Google if you want to
know what I'm talking about).

The CA was so bad around the spokes that I was seriously thinking of
changing to a 35mm censor camera! However, out of curiosity, I processed the
same images in the Fuji software, which I had retired ages ago, and to my
amazement there was zero CA. Unfortunately, as quite a few of the shots were
strongly back or side lit, the sky was either burned out or shadows crushed
to death and so the processed images were next to useless (the software has
other problems too).

From that little experience, it would *appear* CA can be corrected without
recourse to a lens databases. If that is true, then an auto Correct
Chromatic Aberration option in ACR that you can use on a per image basis or
include as a default would the ideal solution.

Shangara.

[_trcolka_]

What I meant with database is the possibility to built your own database, I think there is no need for Adobe providing the lens data, there will be enough enthusiasts out there willing to share the lens data they found out.

Right now you can save your lens settings for vignetting, abberations etc, but it's at rather time consuming process to use them:
-open up the image in ACR
-checking the data (focal length, aperture etc) in the title bar, at the same time trying to remember which lense you used (if you have several lenses covering the same focal length)
-loading the settings file
-start working with you image

If there is no lense data available in the EXIF-data the focal length can be used at least to match with a (user-defined) list of favourite lenses (mostly the lenses you own). If the focal length is covered by several lenses, ACR could ask you: "Which lense have you used for this image?"

Regards
Olaf

[DrewF]

I am currently building a list of vignetting amount and midpoint values for various apertures and focal lengths for my lenses. It would be very nice if ACR had a way of automatically applying the amount and midpoint from a user's table of values. (Perhaps interpolating if needed.)

It would also be very nice if each user didn't have to go through the process of trying to figure out the best amount and midpoint for each lens/aperture/focal length combination in his/her lens arsenal. (It would be great if the lens manufacturers would provide this information.)

[_nunatak_]

>Not sure if a database is needed to counter chromatic aberration.

i'm dusting off a few neurons here, but there are to my knowledge two types of chromatic aberrations--longitudinal and lateral. the former, requires specific knowledge of the glass to correct. the latter doesn't--well at least to correct most of it.

chromatic aberrations are most frequently found in optics that are hard to manage-- i.e. ultra-wide lenses, super telephotos, and high ratio zooms. i suspect a database relating to some co-efficent for these lenses could probably assist in some counter measure.

chromatic aberrations shouldn't be confused with purple fringing.

[ruusnak]

Top items on my wish list:
1) Shadow/highlight, would be a tremendous timesaver
2) highlight compression (á la RSP "highlight contrast"). Way too often I find that ACR gives me washed out highlights when there's detail to be shown. Now I have to combine two RAW conversions with different exposure compensations. And that brings me to...
3) HDR using the same RAW image with different exposure compensation values. It's almost the same as #2, but still different
4) Smart sharpening, in addition to existing sharpening. Now I run some sort of sharpening later in PS, because of the softness ACR is giving me. No biggie really, but would be nice
5) Improved noise reduction. Now I often get grainy looking skies. ACR takes good care of color noise, but luminance is a different story.

Bridge/ACR/PS is my #1 workflow over any other thing out there, thanks and keep up the good work!

[_Barry_Clive_Pearson_]

I've been looking at the features provided by recent products, Apple's Aperture and Light Crafts' Light Zone. It would not be useful to say "please put into Bridge + ACR everything they provide". (I wish ...!)

So I've tried to constrain my list to those features that I would use on average at least once per week, sometimes nearly every day, based on my recent use of all the components of Photoshop CS2. Plus one more feature.

1. "Spot". A simple equivalent of the Spot Healing Brush, implemented in ACR in a non-destructive way. A way to remove simple blemishes while still working at the raw stage.

2. "Patch". A simple equivalent of Clone, or perhaps the Healing Brush, implemented in a non-destructive way. Ideally allowing overlapping areas, but an earlier version without overlapping areas would be good.

3. "Printing". A simple way of doing test prints from Bridge+ACR without having to go through Photoshop just to call the printer driver. Combined with "1" and "2", I would get a lot of my test prints done in a very efficient way.

Plus one:

4. "Red eye reduction". I rarely use on-camera flash, so this isn't often a problem. But neither is it hard, and Nikon Capture and Aperture support it in a non-destructive way. Just a simple version, using the basic Photoshop parameters - pupil size & darken amount.

[SimonTindemans]

Here's my wish list:

0) Perspective correction tool

1) The ability to easily store and switch between multiple sets of settings for the same image. Great, for example, to choose between different 'looks' or to have a color and B&W version of the same image.

2) A luminance curve tool that does not have a side-effect on saturation (see the long thread on color reproduction in digital photography)

3) A two-dimensional color wheel for white balance fine-tuning. This is much more intuitive for the final WB-tweaks than switching back and forth between two sliders.

4) Per-ISO presets, a-la RawShooter. High-ISO files take less sharpening and need more noise reduction by default.

5) Instant 100% zoom tool as in Apple's Aperture and RawShooter Premium.

6) Slightly more control over the sharpening algorithm. Smart sharpening (deconvolution) would be nice.

7) More control over the trade-off between detail extraction and artefacts (as in RawShooter). Especially convenient in combination with (4).

Simon

[SimonTindemans]

Oops, I forgot no.8:

8 ) The ability to include the 'silent' reference pixels outside the standard frame in case you framed an image just a little too tightly.

Simon

[Mathias_DK_]

First, a suggestion: Make this Feature Request Topic (as the other Feature Requests sub fori) a sub forum so it is easier to get an overview! I have no intention to scroll through 75 posts to see if my suggestion is already submitted..

And my Feature Request:

I think it would be an good feature to have some sort of dust spotting available in the RAW interface.

Ideally, a re-usable mechanism (batch). I imagine something like a reference dust image (f22 - out of focus white wall), that Camera Raw can use to automatically neautralize dust spots in images. A first in a RAW developer! I also think this method would beat the cr.. out of a spot cloning tool or similar, but if not, at least include a spot healing brush.

Mathias

[_Barry_Clive_Pearson_]

Mathias, that sounds a bit like "Image Dust Off" in Nikon Capture.

And I agree with that - I have been having problems with bringing back 300 raws images with sensor dust on!