Raw - 550D - P/shop CS4 -

Hi chaps, newbie here - well pretty new to processing raw files, have just got started with my 550d and note that Camera Raw 6.3 supports it but I have P/shop CS4 and can't afford to upgrade to CS5 just to get CR 6.3 ... are there any drawbacks with using CR 5.3 ? (forgive my ignorance) regards Roger

No, not really. The noise reduction is better, I'm told, but ACR 5 in CS4 is still pretty damn good!

You'll just need to convert your raw files to DNG format - are you across that?

ACR 5.7 (latest for PSCS4) can read some adjustments made by LR3. Older versions can not.
Those adjustments are the differences:
http://www.lightroomqu​een.com …ion-of-acr-and-photoshop/

For instance, ACR 5.7 can apply "grain" or the new (usable) post-crop vignette setting, but there are no sliders to set it. You can workaround it though:
http://www.getcolorman​aged.com/lightroom/hac​king-acr/

I would not upgrade just for the ability to open a CR2 in ACR: You can use DNG for that.

Excellent, thanks both - I really didn't want to hand over more money to Adobe, good of you to take the time ... Roger