It´s HERE! (Lightroom 2.2, that is..)

[Per Ofverbeck]

http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2008/12/lightroom_22_now_available.html

Just installed it on my PB. Yes, it does handle G1 raws directly; haven´t had time to test details.

 

[Vivek]

I look forward to your take on it compared to the silkypix, Per.

 

[Per Ofverbeck]

I look forward to your take on it compared to the silkypix, Per.

If you mean workflow-wise, it is a great improvement for those who use Lightroom to manage their image library. Now, the raw files can be imported directly into LR and handled just like raw´s from any camera.

However, if you mean quality of rendering and conversion, I´m afraid I´ll have to pass. The reason is, since I knew Silkypix would be just a temporary solution, I never took the time to master its somewhat kludgy interface and manual; I just converted to 16-bit tiff´s with zeroed settings, and imported these into LR for further processing. And when Adobe´s DNG Converter was updated, I left Sikypix altogether.

I´m sure Silkypix is capable of excellent results if used correctly (see this:
http://www.outbackphoto.com/CONTENT...ras/20081119_Panasonic_G1/index.html#20081208 ). Trying to make a quick comparison without the expertise needed would be unfair to that software, and that´s why I must leave it to others.

 

[pgmj]

The Panasonic raw files don't seem to be entirely supported yet. See this note on the page you linked above:

**With the release of Camera Raw 5.2 (and upcoming Lightroom 2.2 release) there is an important exception in our DNG file handling for the Panasonic DMC LX3, Panasonic DMC FX150, Panasonic DMC FZ28, Panasonic DMC-G1 and Leica D-LUX 4. In this release the native, proprietary files from these cameras can only be converted to linear DNG files. A linear DNG file has gone through a demosaic process that converts a single mosaic layer of red, green and blue channel information into three distinct layers , one for each channel. The resulting linear DNG file is approximately three times the size of a mosaic DNG file or the original proprietary file format.

This exception is a temporary solution to ensure that Panasonic and Leica's intended image rendering from their proprietary raw file format is applied to an image when converted DNG files are viewed in third party software titles. The same image rendering process is applied automatically in Camera Raw 5.2 and in Lightroom 2.2 when viewing the original proprietary raw file format.

In a future release Adobe plans to update the DNG specification to include an option to embed metadata-based representations of the lens compensations in the DNG file, allowing a mosaic DNG conversion. In the interim Adobe recommends only converting these files to DNG to allow compatibility with third party raw converters, previous versions of the Camera Raw plug-in or previous versions of Lightroom.

 

[Per Ofverbeck]

The Panasonic raw files don't seem to be entirely supported yet. See this note on the page you linked above:

Well, in the sense that LR can read and render the files directly as imported from the camera, and that all development controls work just the way they do with files from any other supported camera, I´d say they ARE "entirely supported".

The one and only thing this note refers to is that you cannot EXPORT the G1 files as DNG files other than the big, linear ones that the DNG Converter would give you. Unless DNG conversion is part of one´s workflow, no problems.

 

[pgmj]

Perhaps I chose the wrong words there. Reading about "temporary solution" and only linear conversion left me with the impression that there might not be a camera specific profile included.

 

[Diane B]

I don't have a G1 but downloaded 9 RAW files from various sources today (one of which was Uwe's from Outbackphoto), primarily to process to my satisfaction in LR and print in 2 sizes. The RAWs processed very nicely though I would like to get my hands on some ISO 400 and 800 that have been shot in lower available light. The prints didn't exactly surprise me but still were a pleasant outcome. All of them were shot with the 2 Panasonic lenses and seem to need more agressive output sharpening than I'm used to (though I shoot primarily with a 5D). I also felt that some of the output may have been laid more at the feet of the photographer rather than the camera/lens but have no proof for that LOL.

I have not upgraded to CS4 (first time since PS3 that I haven't upgraded each year) so I couldn't do a 'round trip' without a tiff save from LR--however, I used the 'edit with photoshop.exe' since I still had it set up to open in CS3 from using it as a workaround until 2.1 came out. Worked fine.

Diane