A review of Photoshop Elements 3 on dpreview.com suggested that the Camera Raw plug-in in Elements was feature-limited relative to Camera Raw 2.3 as shipped with Photoshop CS. Since, however, Photoshop CS2 has been released as has Camera Raw 3.1, which requires either CS2 or Elements 3. So if it's the same plug-in, does it have the same functionality when used with Elements as it does with CS2?
Once my Nikon D70 arrives I plan to start shooting raw images. Unfortunately Adobe's Camera Raw 3.1 plug-in is not compatible with my older Photoshop version 7. However, Adobe offer a 30-day trial of Photoshop CS2 here. Using a sample raw file I resolved to determine if the options available to the user differed between the two programs.
Photoshop 7
Firstly, here's what dear old Photoshop 7 makes of NEF (Nikon raw):
Adobe did sell a US$99 add-on raw plug-in for Photoshop 7. However, you can download a Nikon NEF Plugin for PS7 as part of Nikon View. This offers very limited adjustment options (sample NEF here) but does open the image in 16-bit mode:
Another option for older versions of Photoshop is PictureProject, described by Nikon as "next generation" software (superseding Nikon View?):
When installing PictureProject, the Nikon NEF Plug-in is also installed. The Nikon NEF Plug-in allows raw images captured with Nikon digital cameras to be opened in 8-bit image data in Adobe Photoshop 6.0 or later. To open raw images in 16-bit image data, please use Nikon Capture 4 version 4.1 or later.
Interestingly, the Nikon NEF LE Plugin installed by PictureProject presents the same interface as above, but as noted opens the image in 8-bit mode rather than 16-bit mode as per Nikon View. So the "next generation" plug-in is actually more limited than what it replaces; I guess Nikon is trying to force users who want to work in 16-bit mode to fork out more money for Nikon Capture...
Photoshop Elements 3 + ACR 3.1
Raw converter settings available are:
- white balance;
- exposure;
- shadows;
- brightness;
- contrast;
- saturation;
- sharpness;
- luminance smoothing;
- colour noise reduction.
Photoshop CS2 + ACR 3.1
Raw converter settings available are:
Adjust tab:
- white balance;
- exposure;
- shadows;
- brightness;
- contrast;
- saturation.
Detail tab:
- sharpness;
- luminance smoothing;
- colour noise reduction.
Lens tab:
- chromatic aberration;
- vignetting.
Curve tab:
- a curve for adjusting contrast.
Calibrate tab:
- sliders for adjusting camera profile, tint, hue, and saturation.
What about 16 bits per channel support?
dpreview states:
After the raw conversion, Photoshop Elements 3 offers limited support to continue working in 16 Bits/Channel mode. The limitations are similar to Photoshop 7, but one key difference is that the marquee and lasso tools still works in 16 Bits/Channel mode in Elements 3 Editor.
For example, if you choose 16 bits per channel and open the converted raw file in Elements, you cannot use the Healing Brush or most of the other tools. You can still adjust levels, colours and contrast; many of the filters are no longer available (although the useful ones are). All the "missing" options are available if you choose to edit with 8 bits per channel instead. In Photoshop CS2 all the Tools, including the wonderful Healing Brush, are available using 16 bits per channel. More on the differences between Elements and CS2 here.
Conclusion
Photoshop Elements 3, using the same raw plug-in as it's professional CS2 stablemate, has significant but not necessarily insurmountable limitations if you plan on saving your adjusted images as JPEGs (24-bit; 8 bits per channel).
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