bill1 wrote:
> One complaint people make about PS CS vs C1 Pro is that C1 can
> batch convert RAW files. Personally I don't understand this:
> theres simply nothing about this process I want to automate except
> to produce thumbnails and PS CS does this automatically (in the
> File Browser). The thumbnail sizes are customizable too.
>
> IMHO there is simply no good way to automate the "make this look
> good" process. Its too subjective. Its also complicated by
> underexposure: I do it a lot (deliberately). If I'm having trouble
> handholding at a given focal length and shutter there are three
> options: faster aperture, faster ISO and use exposure compensation.
> For scenes with a relatively low dynamic range I MUCH prefer EC
> over ISO Sometimes I need to use EC and ISO.
>
> The RAW converter has a wonderful "exposure" slider for this kind
> of situation. How could that be automated? Whats a "correct"
> custom setting for it?
>
> Personally my goal during RAW conversion is to preserve image data.
> This means not pushing the histogram to the top or bottom (which
> loses information unless something truly is black or white). It
> goes pretty much down the controls as they are listed:
>
> 1. Find a good WB setting. This is sometimes from the list. Other
> times I just use the temperature slider to find a good setting. I
> never set WB in my camera anymore so sometimes this can be really
> wrong before I start. Tint sometimes has uses too;
>
> 2. If necessary I up the exposure, sometimes as much as 2-3 EV; and
>
> 3. The rest of the settings (on the first tab) are subjective. I
> often find myself using a little "shadows" (value 1-6) if there is
> a dearth of black pixels (and they're appropriate). Typicall I add
> at least some saturation. Whether I touch contrast/brightness (and
> if they go up or down) depends largely on what the histogram looks
> like. Sometimes reducing contrast can shift the histogram nicely
> (so as to allow other changes).
> --
> 'A colour-sense is more important, in the development of
> the individual, then a sense of right or wrong.'
> -- Oscar Wilde
I've only been playing with PS camera RAW for a few days and I have a Canon G3. FWIW for a correctly exposed image with the white balance right the default settings give a really good result. But I might as well be using Canon's own software (if I dont mind going off for an hour or two to make a cup of tea, watch a movie etc while I wait for it to do its thing)
As bill says the advantage of Adobe's camera RAW is its ability to deal with images individually. If I can get everything right in camera the only point of using RAW is to get a Tiff file rather than a jpeg and fancy converters are unnecessary.

What I've been doing for the other images is adjusting white balance first. Then I use the exposure slider to adjust the right hand side of the histogram so it is close to but not quite to the RHS - holding down the alt/option key and shifting the slider will show what areas are burning out, so I try to avoid having anything showing up there except specular highlights if I can help it.
The I use the shadows control (again with the option key held down to show the areas that are being blocked) to shift the left hand of the histogram so that the dark areas are where I want them. (this presupposes an average sort of image - obviously with a white cat in a snow storm I wouldn't forcing the histogram out in this way.

I find Contrast and brightness are easier to control with curves so I leave that, so I convert to 16 bit tiff and then adjust the rest of the tone, and do any colour correction that is necessary. Final images save as jpeg or 8 bit tiff to save space.

While I wouldn't want to do it, I don't know why anyone would be moaning about the inability to batch in PS - as far as I can see in the help menu you can write actions or droplets that include Canon RW settings and also batch (although I haven't tried it): from the help files: "To open camera raw image files using the Batch command (Photoshop):
From within Photoshop, choose File > Automate > Batch.
In the Play area of the Batch dialog box, choose the action you created to open your camera raw image files from the Actions menu. etc etc."

susan S