DNG Converter 5.6 and Canon S90 RAW Images

Question

This has been an ongoing query with the Adobe Customer Support Centre since November 12 last year. Refer case no #0181279281. Although the documentation that accompanies DNG 5.6 states that the Canon S90 is a supported camera, the converted images come out far too saturated and are not usable. Has anyone been able to rectify this problem? I use Photoshop CS3.

Answer 1

Rob_Minter wrote:
…if I upgrade to ACR 5.6, will the image look the same (on my monitor) as when it is opened in ACR 4.6?
Rob,
Well, for starters, you cannot open the CR2 in ACR 4.6 directly.  You know that, of course, otherwise you wouldn't have to mess with the DNG Converter in the first place.  
If you use ACR 5.6 and if you have correctly installed the additional camera profiles that will get added to ACR 5.6 once you correctly install the DNG Converter 5.6, you will have a variety of choices to open your CR2 file or a DNG derived from that file.  Even the "Adobe Standard" profile for your particular will most likely improve the rendition, but you can choose the "Camera Faithful" or any of the other five profiles specifically provided for your camera model.
Note that the screen shot is a medium-resolution JPEG only.
This ACR rendition was generated in ACR 5.6 with the "Adobe Standard" profile
and an Exposure correction of +1.45.
Also note that only the profiles for the specific camera that generated the raw file will show in the profile menu of the Camera Calibration tab at any given time.  Other cameras will cause that profile menu to show different profiles.  In actuality, the installation of the DNG Converter adds a gazillion profiles for all supported cameras, so it's a good thing that only the camera-model-specific ones show. 
This ACR rendition was generated in ACR 5.6 with the "Camera Faithful" profile
and an Exposure correction of +1.45.
The rendition of the image will be different with each of the profiles (as you can see above), but even so, I doubt any of those profiles will match the rendition of the totally obsolete ACR 4.6.  The ACR 5.6 rendition is bound to be better.
Each new version of ACR includes improvements, enhancement and bug fixes that are not publicized or even admitted. 
If you have mastered the use of ACR, you can match the rendition of just about any raw converter and any other profile, especially if you calibrate your camera, which is extremely easy to do in ACR 5.6.  You can save as many presets as you want.
That's why I strongly recommend Jeff Schewe's book.  As far as I'm concerned, it's required reading.
Finally, there are many other reasons to upgrade to ACR 5.6, like the spot Adjustment Brush and the Targeted Adjustment Tool (TAT).
Don't take my word for it, download the CS4 trial version and update that to ACR 5.6 (it comes with 5.0, also very obsolete).  You can keep different versions of Photoshop on your disk.  On the Mac, you can even run different versions simultaneously by launching the older version(s) first.
Uninstalling CS4, though, may mangle your CS3 install, so keep that in mind.  My feeling is, though, that once you use CS4, you won't ant to look back at CS3.  DISCLAIMER:  I have no connection to Adobe whatsoever.
I cannot speak to Lightroom because I do not use it, for a number of reasons that are not relevant to your issue.
Respectfully,
Wo-Tai-Lao Wo-Tai-P'ang.