Upcoming Compatibity

[KeithR]

Hello all! New to the group but not to LR. Started with PS 5.5 and moved through CS3 and LR. I haven't tried LR 2.' yet, but hope to soon. But I started to have a thought(it happens on occasion) as to backward compatibility the CS3 and a released version of LR 2.'. CS3(w/ACR 4) and LR 1 debuted about the same time with the caveat that LR and ACR 4 were compatible, but with earlier versions(ACR 3.x). In order to work seamlessly LR and ACR had to match. We now have another beta of a new version of LR which means that in all likelihood, there will be another version of CS(4?) and thus ACR 5. The timing of the end of the LR beta almost coincides with the 18 month cycle of Photoshop. Didn't CS3 come out in Feb/March ''7? This now makes sense a statement that Jeff Schewe made on another forum (when asked about attending this years Photokina) when he posted on March 28th:

"Actually, I'll be going through "book hell" and will be avoiding travel and trade shows. That's the thing about Adobe–they let their engineers keep making changes to their (well, my) applications so that means a constant crush to keep books reved".

That last part, "to keep books reved", could in reference to his book "ACR w/CS3" which is his most recent(only?) book.

As of now, the beta has to be compatible with CS3/ACR4, but what of the future? In order for LR and ACR to stay in lock step, there will have to be a new version of CS/ACR to go with a new LR. Am I wrong in this thinking?

 

[rcannonp]

Actually the new features in the LR2 beta aren't compatible with ACR4. Things like the localized develop settings are ignored when you open raw files as smart objects into PSCS3. I imagine that ACR5 will have to be released with or before LR2. There were previews of Photoshop CS4 at Photoshop World.

Video: Photoshop CS4 Sneak Peak @ Digital Video Confidential

 

[Victoria Bampton]

As it stands, LR 2.' is basically compatible with ACR 4.4.1 (not available yet but mentioned in the release notes I believe), with the exception that the new tools (local corrections etc) are ignored.

If you go backwards, as long as you're using sliders that existed as far back as 3.7 (plus highlight recovery and fill light), and the the calibration profile is set to the older one (not 4.4), then they still convert almost identically. (I had to go back and check as I send my customers xmp files).

But yes, I would expect an ACR5, probably for CS4, for complete compatibility. And of course my tests above only work that way on the current release, so who knows what will change before the final release.