Adobe Bridge Preview vs Actual Open Raw File

[Geoff79]

Hey all,

I recently got the whole new Adobe system and despite the jabs to my chest each month the monthly fee is deducted, I am really enjoying the program/s. It has certainly added a lot more "joy" to PP, for whatever that's worth. But I've noticed something recently that's starting to bug me a bit and I thought maybe folk here might know. Or maybe I could contact Adobe? Either way, I'll try here first.

For the record, I still don't, never have and never plan to use Lightroom, but I would guess the issue would be the same for Lightroom use? I guess?

My issue is that I am seeing a beautiful looking CR3 file in Adobe Bridge - a completely "unprocessed" RAW file, straight from camera. Then, when I open it up in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) it reverts back to the bland, lifeless dull RAW file, which is cool. To be expected. The problem I am having at the moment is that I'm editing the photo, then saving it back to Bridge and when I look at the files side by side, the version of the photo in Bridge looks 100% better than the photo I just processed. So my long winded question would be this-

Does anyone know if there is any way to open your CR3 file in ACR so that it appears how it appears in Bridge? Or how to get it to look like it looks in preview in Bridge?

Sorry, I know this is probably terrible worded, but anyone have any ideas?

[ameerat42]

No, it's not badly worded. I know what you mean because it happens with my raw files and raw conversion program
(both Sigma), and, I'd suspect, with just about all of them. Mine, for instance, opens a very nice looking view for a few
seconds, then reverts to a "rather wanting" rendition that I then have to (try to) coax back to something lifelike.

Now that's a long-winded "hang on" back.

I suspect that both Bridge and my program are respectively opening up an embedded (and in-camera worked on) jpeg
as a sort of a preview. Then, in my case it loads and displays the raw data, and for you, ACR is doing that straight off.
(Mind you, this could all be dreamland stuff )

Anyway, how does the Bridge view compare with the in-camera playback view AND, how does it look in a free program
such as UFRAW or perhaps Faststone?

So, the only part where I think you're "wrong", is that you said Bridge opens a "...completely "unprocessed" RAW file,
straight from camera...". So this will have to be verified, otherwise, I think what you have described is quite normal.

(And BTW, I have sent you a PM.)

[Geoff79]

Thanks Am. Yeah, I think in essence, what I am asking is if there's a way to start the processing of your photo in ACR, with it looking like the JPEG on the back of the LCD screen of your camera or, apparently, how it looks in Adobe Bridge? Because yes, I think the two are the same. I checked out the files in Photoscape X and they too look a little different to both the Bridge and ACR versions.

Of note is that this only occurs with the CR3 files. I noticed that the DNG files in Bridge are identical when opened in ACR (Before my new Adobe upgrades, I had to convert CR3 files to DNG just to view them. So grateful that is in the past).

[ameerat42]

That I don't know, Geoff. Somebody here would surely be able to help you.

[Glenda]

Firstly I don't use Bridge - I just double click on my NEF (Nikon raw) file and it opens in ACR. However, I have just opened Bridge, took a file into ACR, clicked auto (at the top next to edit) then clicked done and I only end up with my processed raw image in Bridge, not a before and after as you seem to have. So I then duplicated a NEF file, took the copy into ACR, processed it, clicked done and I end up with two different images in Bridge, one appears as my original raw the other as I've processed. So I can't seem to duplicate the effect you are talking about. I don't usually process a copy as if I want to revert to the original raw it is easy to do so.

A lot of people recommend using that auto button to start their raw processing. You can still tweak any of the sliders after. That may give a similar edit to the jpeg you see on your LCD but I'm not sure.

[tandeejay]

I think in essence, what I am asking is if there's a way to start the processing of your photo in ACR, with it looking like the JPEG on the back of the LCD screen of your camera

As has been stated previously, what is being opened that "looks beautiful" is the straight out of camera JPEG imbedded within the RAW file, so it is how the camera would have processed it if you were photographing with JPEG.

Unless your photo editing software knows exactly what the camera did to produce that JPEG, you will never be able to "start" from that view.

I have slowly come to the view that it is best to shoot in RAW and JPEG with the aim to nail the exposure in camera. If I manage to do that, then I'm happy to use the SOOC JPEG, but if I miss, I still have the RAW file to use. In some situations, this significantly cuts down on the amount of time I need to spend in post processing.

[fillum]

I think in essence, what I am asking is if there's a way to start the processing of your photo in ACR

Hi Geoff,

[I'm a version or two behind with Adobe at the moment and pretty rusty as well, but this should be ok...]

When ACR opens you should see a field called "Profile" near the top of the right-side panel - it will probably have a default something like "Adobe Color". Just to the right of this is the "Browse Profiles" icon (3 rectangles and a magnifying glass) - click this to open the panel.

There should be an entry called "Camera Matching" - clicking this should open a selection of profiles that are available for your camera model. Just select the one you want. (Note that these are Adobe's interpretation of the profiles so may vary a bit from the camera).

If you want to pick up the profile from the camera automatically do this:
From the main PS menu select Edit / Preferences / Camera Raw...
This will open a dialog box. In the left-hand panel click on "Raw Defaults". The panel for this will show a field called "Global:" which will likely be set to "Adobe Default". Click this dropdown and select "Camera Settings". Then click "OK". When you open a raw file from then on, Adobe should read the camera settings from the file.

Additional note - if you have some 'standard' settings that you usually apply to most images (e.g. sharpening, noise reduction, etc) you might want to look at creating a preset. (A preset can be set up to run automatically when a file is loaded). Should be plenty of You Tube stuff on how to do this if interested.

Hope this helps...



Cheers.

- Phil.