X6 Camera RAW Lab changes don't appear in edit view

[DFredd]

I am new to RAW files. I am working in X6 with .NEF files from a Nikon D90. When I open a .NEF file in the Edit workspace, Camera RAW Lab opens. I make changes to the image, and hit the "Edit" button. Camera RAW Lab closes, and the image reopens in the Edit workspace. The image that opens does not include the adjustments I made in Camera RAW Lab. Is this normal? If so, how do I save an adjusted .jpg that includes the changes I made to the RAW file? If not normal, any idea what is going on? I feel I am missing something very basic, but the user manual seems, to me, to imply that the changes will stay with the image when it reopens. Thanks.

[Jean-Luc]

Hi DFredd,
I think the changes are stored in a separate file in a proprietary format only readable from the software wich created it.
But I'm perhaps wrong.
An image modified in Camera Raw may be saved in JPEG, PSD, TIFF or DNG format.

Best regards,
Jean-Luc

[DFredd]

Hello Jean-Luc,
Thanks for responding. Yes, it is my understanding that any changes made to a raw file are stored separately from the file itself, which remains unchanged. My problem is that once I close Camera RAW Lab, I never see these changes again. I want to save the modified image as a .jpg, but if I hit the "Apply" button, Camera RAW Lab simply closes. If I hit "Edit", Camera RAW Lab closes, and the image reopens in the Edit space. I can save it as a .jpg from there, but the changes I made to the raw file are not present. Do you know how I can save a modified raw file as a .jpg?

To state it differently, if I open a .NEF file in Camera Lab Raw, and pull the "tint" slider all the way to the right, I get a very purple version of the original image. If I wanted to save this very purple version of the image as a .jpg, how would I do that?

Best Regards,
DFredd

[Jean-Luc]

Hi DFredd,
Check the "Save image settings" and click OK (see screen capture made with X7).
Your changes will be saved.
Camera RAW Lab will close and your image will be displayed, modified, in the Edit mode.
Best regards,
Jean-Luc

[DFredd]

Hello Jean-Luc
The "Save image settings" box is checked. I tried, again, for confirmation that I am seeing what I think I'm seeing, and I made extreme changes to a file in Camera RAW Lab. The "Save image settings" box is checked. I unchecked it, and rechecked it to be sure. I hit the "Edit" button, Camera RAW Lab closed, and the image opened in the Edit workspace, but without any of the changes I had made. The appearance of the image is the same as the original file.
Might there be another setting somewhere that is set wrong, and is causing this problem? I have looked, but so far have not come up with anything.
Best Regards,
DFredd

[Jean-Luc]

Do you click on OK after you did your changes ?
Jean-Luc

[hartpaul]

THere is no OK button in the Raw lab for PSPX6 only an Apply button.
Re earlier posts about saved settings if you Click the Help button it opens the help section for the Raw lab where at the bottom it says:

"Image settings for RAW images are saved to a database. Changes to the file name or file location can be tracked in the database only if you make the changes in Corel PaintShop Pro"

I have just tested in PSP X6 on Desktop XP windows.
Loaded a CR2 raw file (Canon) and applied changes to give it an over warm color (saturation increase, tint and color far right) then clicked Edit and the changed image appeared in the edit space.
Clicking Apply just closed the Raw lab and apparently saved the settings and showed the thum in Manage mode with those settings applied. By selecting that image and then switching to Edit mode the Raw lab was opened again .

I do not have a NEF image from a D90 to test, but it works with teh Canon 5DII raw files, however I do not use PSP for processing Raw files instead going direct to the Camera Manufactureres program and settings as they would know whet is best to promote the images from their cameras.

If I wanted to do more than a conversion to a Jpg (as is done in camera) then I would use Aftershoy Pro or Lightroom.

[MarkZ]

I just tried editing a Pentax RAW file with X6 and everything worked as expected.

The "Save image settings" box made no difference whether it was selected or not in what was visible. I think the box is used to invoke saving to a database.

After making changes clicking on Apply changes the appearance of the thumb and closes Raw Lab.

After making changes when I selected Edit the image opened in Edit mode, all the changes I had made were visible and from there normal editing was possible.

My only suggestion is to reset the program. I have used that to correct many ills. Save your workspace, close X6, wait a while (trying to reopen too quickly it will not start and you have to go into Task Manager to end PSP) and then start PSP while holding the shift key. You will be asked for confirmation that you want to reset the program. Let us know if that fixed the problem.

[DFredd]

Hello MarkZ,

Thank you for responding, and for the suggestion. I shut down my PC, restarted, and then started X6 with the shift key down. It did reset to default settings (custom toolbars are gone, and several other changes appeared). I repeated my test on a .NEF file, making a drastic change, so as to be clearly visible, and hitting the "Edit" button in Camera RAW Lab. Unfortunately, the results were the same. The image that opens in the Edit workspace is identical to the original file with no changes. I tried saving it as a .jpg, in hopes the changes would appear in the saved file, but no.

Any other ideas?

Best Regards,
DFredd

[DFredd]

I was wondering if this was a problem only with Nikon .NEF files, so I also tried Camera RAW Lab with a .CR2 file from a Canon S100. The results were the same, all changes made go away when Camera RAW Lab closes. I welcome any further ideas as to what the problem might be. Thanks to all who have offered suggestions.

Because I am new to RAW, I also would welcome any advice as to preferred RAW converters, if you are not using PSP. I have been told by some that Lightroom does all you need, but I would consider others.

[hartpaul]

I use the Canon Digital Photo Professional for my CR2 files even thoough I have both Aftershot Pro and Lightroom available.
I prefer its simplicity , can only change about 5 things . With too many options at once I have trouble mmaking decisions on improvements as doing one thing seems to chang another so I keep it simple to start with.
One thing you could do is download a trial o Aftershop Pro and Lightroom and test them out with your Nef files
Does Nikon have its own free Nef processor?
I think others have mentioned some free Raw converters as well.

[photodrawken]

Because I am new to RAW, I also would welcome any advice as to preferred RAW converters, if you are not using PSP. I have been told by some that Lightroom does all you need, but I would consider others.

I'm really impressed with the results from the free RawTherapee:
http://www.rawtherapee.com/
My camera is a Panasonic LF1, and although its sensor is large for a compact camera, in the general scheme of things it's still a small sensor. Even so, the images achieved from RawTherapee are stunning. Be forewarned, though -- RT has what seems like several million tools and options, so it will require some significant time devoted to trial-and-error experimenting to become comfortable with its features.

I also switched from using PSP to using PhotoLine as my image editor of choice. One of the nice things about PL is that it doesn't bother with a cheesy separate little "RAW editing Lab window". All RAW image processing and editing is simply done directly in its main editing window, just like any other image. Its RAW processing results are very, very good -- I put them just a shade below the results I can get with RT.

[MarkZ]

I was wondering if this was a problem only with Nikon .NEF files, so I also tried Camera RAW Lab with a .CR2 file from a Canon S100. The results were the same, all changes made go away when Camera RAW Lab closes. I welcome any further ideas as to what the problem might be. Thanks to all who have offered suggestions.

Because I am new to RAW, I also would welcome any advice as to preferred RAW converters, if you are not using PSP. I have been told by some that Lightroom does all you need, but I would consider others.

It appears your version of the program is corrupt in some way. I'm not sure how the RAW Lab is incorporated into the program but it may be a separate "unit" that has been corrupted.

I use Corel AfterShot Pro for my RAW processing. The interface is quite good, there is much flexibility for editing RAW files, it is fast and the quality is quite good. From my experimenting it is much better than PSP. I have not tried Lightroom, did not want to spend the money, tried Raw Therapee a long time ago when it was quite flaky and did not like it. ASP also has image organization and batch processing capabilities that may not be at a "professional" level but far ahead of PSP. I like the fact that I can access thumbs of image I store off-line at a any time.

Here is something else to consider with PSP X6 - go to File/Preferences/File Format Preferences/General and untick the box "start RAW images in Camera RAW Lab". Open you raw image in Edit and proceed to make changes to your heart's content. You can save the result in any of the available formats - your RAW format is not available so the RAW file is preserved.

[DFredd]

Again, thanks to all who have responded.

MarkZ, I see that ASP is available on Amazon for $29.99, which is attractive. Can you tell me, does it offer a keystone alignment type tool? As I recall, there was such a tool in a much earlier version of PaintShop, but I don't find it in X6. I'd like to be able to make some small changes that are different than barrel or pincushion type distortion. Or, perhaps it is present in X6, and I'm just not seeing it. If I remember correctly, my older PaintShop version allowed me to push or pull on just one side, or corner, of the photo, to make adjustments that were, in effect, trapezoidal. Not something needed very often, but I have one photo now that is bugging me, and I was surprised when I couldn't find such an adjustment in X6.

[MarkZ]

There is a plugin (zPerspective ?) for ASP that does perspective correction. I haven't used the 32 bit version for a long time and don't know if it is available in ASP2, certainly was in ASP.

In X6, select the Perspective Correction Tool which is lumped together with Straighten Tool - click on the little arrow to the right to reveal it. Experiment to see what it does. If you wish to skew the whole image, use the pick tool and move the nodes. Press the ctrl and shift keys for alternatives of how the image can be modified using the nodes.