Lightroom is a complete stand alone software package and does not need any other Adobe software for it to function. It uses the same raw conversion engine as ACR but you cannot install / uninstall ACR within Lightroom. ACR is a plugin for Photoshop CS and Elements.

At present LR 4.1 is using the equivalent of ACR 7.1, while the latest version of ACR for PS CS5 is ACR 6.7 and they both provide support for the D800 NEF files.

To obtain 100% full functional capability between LR and Photoshop you would need PS CS 6. with ACR 7.1. There is an article on the Lightroom Journal website which gives more detailed info on this, posted a couple months ago. See the link below.

http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/

If you wish to continue with your existing software i.e LR 4.1 and PS CS 5 you can do so and just use LR for all the inital process of your raw files and send a rendered tiff or psd to PS CS for further advanced processing if necessary. Each time ACR 7.x is updated there will be an appropriate update for Lightroom 4.x this happens approximately every three months for additional camera support and for bug fixes and minor improvements.

I am a lifelong Mac user. When I download images from any camera I use iPhoto to capture them. Afterwards I EXPORT them to the hard drive folder which LR 4.1 uses to house its catalog. I then perform an import on the newest images and add them to a collection. Works flawlessly!

It's this.

ssprengel wrote:

 

If the NEFs don’t work in LR 4.1 then they are corrupted, probably by an obsolete version of Nikon Transfer.  You should use View NX 2.3.2 or Finder to transfer your images:

Eric Vann wrote:

 

I am a lifelong Mac user. When I download images from any camera I use iPhoto to capture them. Afterwards I EXPORT them to the hard drive folder which LR 4.1 uses to house its catalog. I then perform an import on the newest images and add them to a collection. Works flawlessly!

Not that it's relevant, but last time I used a Mac it was a beige box with a monochrome CRT display in it! Back then they had the reputation of being easier than a PC, but reading your method above makes me start to wonder about that....

I put a memory card from the camera into a card reader at the computer. Lightroom opens up at the import dialog, showing thumbnails. I click to select all, click Import and - ummm - that's it. Works flawlessly! (grin)

In a little more detail: Lightroom is importing the images after copying them into their final permanent location on disk, where it will have classified them into automatically-made subfolders to the specification saved in my import preset (the selection of which is remembered from the previous occasion). Then Lightroom starts generating previews in the background while I start in on the keywords and collections etc - or else go and fetch a tasty beverage.

Butch wrote:

"It can work exactly in this manner on a Mac as well ... nothing unique between the platforms concerning this method."

Quite true. I offered the method as a surefire way to get images out of a camera on a Mac that (provided you have the latest and greatest iPhoto version) should prove to work. I have read several threads here and elsewhere that indicate that there are a fair number of pieces of software that are providing less than correct imports.