CS vs EX

[Rockyw]

I got to play around with CS a few days ago. I now use PS7 but convert with EX still. In side by side compairisons I found EX covertions better that CS. I'm not a big EX fan, in fact I wish I would have seen the images as being the same, or CS being better. Then I could talk by business partner (wife) into a CS upgrade. I could see a differance in EX being better in all cases. I love the CS look and fell but EX is still better. Has anyone else checked into this? Maybe it's still because FUJI wont help Adobe out with info for a good conversion.

[Swampy]

Can you explain in detail what you mean? EX is better, but why?

Since I have both, I can do some conversions and post the different pictures to see the differences maybe...

[Rockyw]

Hi Swampy
I took several images and converted them in EX and CS. Same exposure, as shot, no sharpening. I converted to Tiffs as 4256X2848 and 72PPI. I then took them to PS7 and croped to 8X10 at the same places. Sized to 300 PPI and ran the fred miranda sharpening program on them. I then looked at them in the PC and had several printed to check for details. The EX converted prints looked sharper. In PS if I blew a area up and checked for a grainy look, the CS converted images looked far worse that the EX ones. I would be interested if you find this also. I had two images printed up croped in close and I could see a differance. I tried several levels of sharpness, and before and after any sharpening was done. See what you think Swampy and let us know your findings. Don't think I'm a PhotoShop non lover, I think PS is great. Just not sure about the RAW conversion part yet.

[Mr. Stacey]

Photoshop CS:

-there's no added detail
-there's almost no added dynamic range
-and it's pretty much a smooth editable jpg (same color and DR)

Why use CS? Because it's COLOR MANAGED! I would like to use EX but I have no idea what I'll be getting when I press CONVERT. The preview does not match the output. More dynamic range is nice but it comes out as RED/MAGENTA pixels on someone's face. But then again, you can remedy that with after convertion by a small slide with the HUE.

[bjnicholls]

There is added dynamic range via ACR:

http://users.sisna.com/bjnicholls/darkroom/EX-ACR-1b.jpg

Actually, EX version 2 is color managed. You have to select the checkbox "Use ICC profile of monitor" when you set up the queue. The preview does indeed match the Photoshop display for the output file, I have an image open and visible on both right now.

[bjnicholls]

The biggest drawback to the CS converter is that it doesn't honor in-camera settings for tone, sharpness, and color. Unlike the first ACR plugin, it does now honor "as shot" white balance. This doesn't agree fully with the Fuji EX interpretation of "as shot" but at least with the new ACR the as shot setting is a reasonable starting point.

As the attached full res details show, using camera settings in EX 2 and the default values (except for noise reduction and sharpening) via Photoshop CS doesn't produce the same result. But ACR interface is so much better to work with. I'd be hard pressed to pick either image based on detail (12 Mpix conversion). ACR consistently holds more highlight detail than EX, even when you play with EX tone settings to try and try to pull down the highlights.

[stevebri]

Hi all, i've just seen this thread and I have both EX and CS.

I find CS better to use and set up and therefore I find I can get more out of a raw file because of this

[frankgh]

I've been playing with PS CS converter and have found using the custom white balance works well. On an odd note, shots taken in daylight; I slide the color temp bar down to around 3600-4000 and shots taken in daylight under a blue sky look really good. A daylight setting of 5500 just looks to pink to me. Is this a white balance problem with the camera? (shot on auto)
:confused:
Frank

[Rockyw]

But what about the quality of CS. I could see a differance between CS and EX. The pictures converted from EX were far sharper than CS. Has anyone else seen this?

[stevebri]

I shot this with hardness on (full on) in RAW, I don't know if it comes out true RAW ie with the selected in camera sharpness on, however it aint bad at all when you first see it and then I apply some sharpening afterwards just before I print it.

Does anyone know where I can find my camera settings in the Metadata in CS...?

Steve

[frankgh]

I see you point about sharpness in the example posted by bjnicholls. Must have to do with the software interpolation. CS shows the RAW pic size at 3024x2024 and you have to plus it up to get 4256x2848.

Still waiting for Tom to tell me why color temp seems off but correctable. It seems he is THE PhotoShop dude!

(of course I just put that post up like 20 minutes ago! so impatiant!) :troutsmac

[frankgh]

Originally posted by stevebri

Does anyone know where I can find my camera settings in the Metadata in CS...?

Steve

Sure, open pic, click File- File Info or Alt+Ctrl+I

Frank

[stevebri]

Cheers Frank

S

[bjnicholls]

Rocky, I don't see a difference in quality as shown in my full res samples. You have to compare apples to apples and make sure your CS settings are equivalent to the EX settings.

[Ted S]

Yes, I couldn't agree more. I can produce a great dynamic tack sharp `13x19 print with ex, but unfortunately the cs print is somewhat soft.