Well there is a topic!!!!! You might find people have some strong views on this one.
Many people including experts like Jeff Schewe will say PS every time.
Personally I found C1's workflow too fiddly for my liking and the results while impressive, are for me not as good as Camera RAW.
I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion on this one on the ProDIG list (or did I miss it??).
I was very impressed with Camera Raw on PS7 and paid for several licenses. I was then even more pleased with CS and the fact that it would open Canon, Kodak and other formats straight off. I haven't played with the batch processing facilities in it to any great depth.
I had a major project last year with hundreds of images which were shot on a Canon 1Ds and I purchased a license for C1 having used the trial for a few days. I found the workflow options really good, but it was limited in several ways.
(1) You only had the facility for three output versions of a file and all to the same folder; this was useless, as I wanted a 16-bit TIF in one folder, a max-quality RGB JPG in another folder, a PowerPoint-sized JPG in another folder and then a thumbnail in a fourth folder. It therefore took me several go's to get the output files that I needed. On the latest PC version [1.3.1] this is still limited to three outputs in one folder although apparently they have now allowed more options for Mac users. Why? I'm not sure.
(2) There was no 180-degree rotation on an image; again this has now been fixed, but there is no fractional rotate-and-crop as there is in Photoshop. Apparently this is due in either the May or October 2004 release. Hmmm...
However, the results were just superb. I'm running a dual Xeon processor machine and can go through the images, cropping (with limitations), neutralising the colour, setting levels and then clicking to output and then proceeding straight to the next image while it batch-processes in the background. It is extremely quick and powerful. I end up with excellent 16-bit TIFs in a folder which I can then fine-tune (i.e. tweak the rotation) in Photoshop if necessary.
The colour management is fine; C1 uses your monitor profile and can import to Adobe 1998 or whatever else you specify. You set your output profiles. It works.
Using Camera Raw in Photoshop CS would presumbly give a slightly different workflow - you would be able to batch-import to 16-bit, all images with the same settings. If cropping and fractional rotation were needed, you'd have to do that in PS itself. To me, that's slightly more long-winded; I can do the vast majority of what's needed in C1 and then do final touch-ups in PS, but only on the few that need it. It really is swings and roundabouts... my feeling is that for large batch processing, C1 would win, but you'd need to go back to PS for fine-tuning of images. Camera Raw is very flexible but doesn't seem to be set up for the speed of workflow of C1; then again, it's part of PS so why pay extra...?
That's my mileage; I'd be interested in others' experiences. Simon
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Simon Brown
Director, Media Resources, UCL
+44 (0)20 7679 9257 (ext.09257)
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