K-7 Support in CS3?

Hi guys

Just a quick question with probably a very simple answer, but is the K-7 supported by Photoshop CS3 and ACR? Which version do I need to download? Also, does this version work for Lightroom too or will I need to update that as well? Not sure as I have only just aquired LR and currently working with a K100D, but looking to upgrade to a K-7 fairly soon. I don't want to go ahead and get the K-7 unless I know I can use it with my current software otherwise it will all become a bit prohibitively expensive.....

Cheers guys

John

Yes and no and yes and no and yes...

CS3 does not support the PEF of the K7 but it does support the DNG and the ACR is not directly linked to CS3 but the version you could use with CS3 does not support the Pef but does the DNG and the newest version of ACR that doesn't work with CS3 does support the K7 fully.

Lightroom 2 will also support the K7 fully since that can run on the new ACR, and lightroom can convert the PEF into a PSD file or you work with DNG. DNG would be the best solution in my eyes, no lost and the lest conversions.

Errr....WOW!! lol!

Ok, so CS3 can take the DNG files that the K7 with the ACR that is supports. But it ACR for CS3 can't take the PEF files? Is this correct? Sorry, was slightly confused by your explanation, but I think I get it....

hope this is the case!

Cheers Stefan

I'm using CS2 and have no problems with processing DNG RAW taken with K10D, K20D or K-7.
If you must shoot PEF RAW then you need to update (from the ADOBE web site) the RAW converter and there may not be an updtae which will support K-7 PEF RAW that is compatible with CS3 - there are several recent threads about this so I'm sure a forum search will lead to a thread that will tell you if K-7 PEF RAW can be handled by CS3.

The main objection to using DNG in the past has been the file size but on the K-7 the DNGs are compressed and pretty much the same size as PEFs.

Right, thanks Bob, I will probably stick with DNG then to be honest. I don't mind not having PEF files as I don't really want the extra satellite files that go with them for the exif data hanging onto the main data file....the DNG sounds like it will work perfectly for me. Does the DNG lose any data compared to a PEF and is it as manipulable as PEF is in CS3/LR etc.....?

I am pretty sure the ACR for CS3 doesn't carry the K7 files, hence I would need a DNG converter (which I know you can get from the Adobe website anyway), but if its easier to take out of the camera, then seems the most sensible thing...thanks Bob, appreciated!

I cannot recall ever seen any objective case put forward that PEF is better than DNG or vice versa.

Anything that can be done with PEF in Photoshop CS2 / Lightroom can also be done with DNG.

Excellent....like that kind of answer! Thanks Bob, much appreciated!

J

Oh I should have said that when using DNG in the photshop raw converter that you have to be sure to complete your RAW 'development' by opening into a copy of the DNG. Then the 'developed' imgpXXXX.dng apears in a normal photoshop window so you need to save as a PSD, TIF, JPG etc. If you just do SAVE then the save will be to a DNG with the same name as the original file and if you don't have a separate copy of it then you will overwrite the original.

Right oh, thanks again. Its sort of how it works with the PEF (as far as I can tell. I am rubbish with computers...) I think, but also worth knowing to make sure I set the defaults when saving in this way....much appreciated!

Yes that's it
Sorry for the confusion post

And there is nothing between DNG and PEF in terms of quality.
I even go so far saying that DNG is more handy with Adobe products since the support of that file is very good, there is so good as no limit what you can do with DNG.
With PEF and other RAWs you need to convert them sometimes to do some actions.

Brilliant Stefan....excellent info! Much appreciated!