Camera RAW 4.1 Blur Issue

Question

I updated to the new version of Camera RAW as soon as I learned it was available. I am running Windows Vista Business, and Photoshop Extended. My RAW files are generated by a Canon 20D camera. Right away I noticed that, even with sharpening Amount turned to Zero, I am getting a weird rippling effect in the areas where my images go out of focus. It's almost like the effect you would get with the Glass filter with a small amount of distorion. The areas where the image is in focus, there doesn't seem to be a problem, it's in the transition to blur where I really see the effect. I reverted back to my previous version of Camera RAW and the problem goes away. This effect, whatever it is, is unacceptable, and I certainly hope it is a bug, not a feature. Has anyone else seen this or have a comment?

Answer 1

> "I am getting a weird rippling effect in the areas where my images go out of focus".
I downloaded the TIFF image http://www.eclecticimagery.com/composite.tif
and superimposed the ACR 4.0 and ACR 4.1 versions as separate layers on top of one-another, pixel-aligned. I then spent some time clicking the visibility of the top layer.
Even at 200% and 400%, all I can see it that ACR 4.1 appears to be very slightly sharper, and has slightly less noise.
I can't detect the "weird rippling effect" that the original poster mentioned. I think there was a very slight amount of small-scale posterisation in the ACR 4.1 image, perhaps resulting from a reduction in the amount of "dither" that was present in ACR 4.1 because of the reduced amount of noise.
I converted the ACR 4.1 layer ready for Smart Filters, and applied Noise at 1 (I would have prefered less) and Gaussian Blur at 0.3, to try to get a match between them (Noise below Gaussian Blur). When I toggle between them, the effect is far less, although not exactly the same.
But this does suggest that one way of making ACR 4.1 look like ACR 4.0 is to add a combination of noise & blur!