Photoshop Creative

Im reposting this here:
I just received a Nikon D700 for Christmas. Can someone tell me how to install camera raw on a MAC & do I have to DL any software from my camera to use camera raw on the computer. (I just upgraded to PS CS4)

Linda,

Not MAC and not CS4 - I have Win XP and CS3 - have you tried the update facility in CS?

Based on CS3, it is in Help, Updates. This will go out and search for updates, download and install them.

Congrats on the D700 - excellent camera.

You obviously need to select RAW format on your camera but don't need to DL anything else from it.

Go to http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4621 to find the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw.

DL your pictures as normal but when you select a NEF image to open it will take you into the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) plug-in. Not a lot to learn there, you'll soon get the hang of it through trial and error. Click on Open Image when you're done with basic processing and the NEF will create an XMP file (known as the sidecar file) which contains all the things you've done to the image in ACR. You will also be opening the NEF in CS4 - be aware that if you selected 16-bit in ACR then some CS4 functions will not be available.
Do your editing - but you cannot save as a NEF (only your camera can do that) so save the NEF as a TIFF or PSD if you want to retain all the quality that you've captured by using RAW. Some people immediately save as a JPG - totally pointless, you might as well have let the camera save as a JPG for you. Keep the TIFF or PSD file as your "Master" - just make JPGs for particular tasks (email or web). Some people then keep backups of all their Master files, like keeping your negatives safe.

Installation of ACR

To open a DMG file:
Double-click the file. This will open Disk Copy, which mounts the image on your desktop.

To install with Adobe Creative Suite 4 or Photoshop CS4:

Automated installation on Mac or Windows®:
1. Select Updates... from the Help menu
2. Follow the on-screen dialogs to download and install the latest available Camera Raw update

Manual installation on Mac:
1. Exit Photoshop CS4 and Adobe Bridge.
2. Open the download file and double-click Setup, and follow the on-screen instructions.
3. Launch Photoshop CS4 or Adobe Bridge.

Geoff,
Thank you very much!

Here's something you might want to review:
http://www.dpmag.com/how-to/image-proce ... -file.html

It's pretty detailed; might be best to print off each of the pages so you can review, on paper, the various steps while trying to work your image.

Rusty

All this really helpd a lot, Thank you all.

Now, if anyone has a mac, can they tell me is there anyway to access camera raw (jpegs's also, not only raw files) in CS4 without going through bridge.

In CS3 I would go to file>open as. There is no "open as" in CS4.

Linda,

As per my original post on this issue, If you want to open ALL jpegs with ACR, do a Photosop, Preferences, File Handling and check Use ACR for jpegs - based on CS3 of course, but if they have changed that, sounds like Adobe is up to their old tricks.

John, It's not there.

O.K., - hope someone with CS4 and a MAC can help out here. Sounds kind of strange, but . . . . it is from ADOBE.

Edit:

Linda - I did a search or two and it does seem like Adobe has changed things in CS4 so that the only way you can open jpeg via CS4 is thru Bridge - and I seem to recall that you don't want to use Bridge.

So, . . . ?

Thank you, John.
Iv'e been searching for a few days now & bridge is the only way I have found to do it. I was hoping someone would have been to give me an alternative way. I'm thinking not.
I guess the bridge & I should get acquainted. Thank you again!