Camera Raw Preferences

Preferences

Navigating to Camera RAW's tool palette, click the Open preferences dialog button (command + K).

Preferences Dialog

This is the dialog that will appear. Starting out, take a look under the General section and the Save image settings in settings. The Sidecar ".xmp" files selection will put a little sidecar file next to your raw file when saved. The Camera Raw database builds up in Photoshop, and will start to build up in your cache if you start to use this option. Most photographers recommend the sidecar file option, just make sure that the sidecar file stays with the raw file. Again, sidecar files are abbreviated as .xmp.

Apply sharpening

This can usually be set to All images. Only set this to Preview images only if you only want to sharpen in the output stage of your files.

Default Image Settings

The Default Image Settings will preset to as shown here. These can be changed according to the user's preference. For example, if you want to have an auto tone adjustment applied automatically to your image, have that checked. If you rather have control of your auto tone adjustments, then leave it at it's default unchecked position. The rest of these are similar preferences and are completly up to you.

Camera Raw Cache

At school this will need to stay at it's default. Really the only time you would need to change this is at home if you are using camera raw images alot. You could bump up the GB's a tiny bit to compensate for a lot of Raw images.

DNG File Handling

This is the default settings for DNG File Handling. You could speed things up by changing the Update embedded JPEG previews to the Medium Size instead of Full Size. The Ignore sidecar ".xmp" files means that it is going to start off fresh when you open your Raw file and ignore any previous date that you already had. Most people like to use the previous data and leave it un-checked.

JPEG and TIFF Handling

This section can be left at it's default, with the TIFF selection checked.

That concludes this tutorial on Camera Raw Preferences.