Canon Raw Files...

[Sinister_kid]

Well i shot some pictures for the school using their canon cameras.. and i shot in raw like i usually do.

Well photoshop on my computer says it cant open up the files? They are in CR2 format i believe..

Any help?

 

[JerryPH]

Update your Photoshop.

 

[Sinister_kid]

Where could i get an update at?
I went under the Help button on the toolbar in CS3 and updates isnt darkened.. like i cant select it.

 

[JerryPH]

Goto www.adobe.com If you cannot do updates from the help section... are you sure your version is "legal"?

 

[table1349]

Goto www.adobe.com If you cannot do updates from the help section... are you sure your version is "legal"?

Define legal....... :mrgreen: :lmao: :smileys:

 

[Garbz]

Download Adobe CameraRAW for your version of photoshop.

 

[table1349]

Download Adobe CameraRAW for your version of photoshop.

If that is possible it would be the best option, however Adobe is bad about not supporting older versions once a new one is out and they do not make their camera raw plugins backwards compatible. Thus the $169.00 upgrade fee every time a new version comes out.

If that turns out to be the case you Canon should have come with DPP, a capable enough program to make minor tweaks and convert to another format to finish up in Photoshop.

 

[Dwig]

Well i shot some pictures for the school using their canon cameras.. and i shot in raw like i usually do.

Well photoshop on my computer says it cant open up the files? They are in CR2 format i believe..

Any help?

Since the cameras were the school's cameras, the suggestion that you use the Canon software that came with the cameras won't fly. The school owns that software not you.

You fail to say what version of Photoshop you are using so specific answers to what you should do are not possible. In general, when your PS doesn't handle some new flavor of RAW, do the following:

1. Update the Camera RAW plugin (ACR) for your version of PS to the newest available for your version.
2. If the newest version of ACR your PS handles still doesn't handle the files you need to either:
a. Download and install the newest version of Adobe's DNG Converter.
b. Upgrade your PS to the newest version, updating or replacing your computer if necessary.

Since issues with these Canon files are likely to be a one time or limited occurance, I would suggest option #2a if #1 fails. As long as your PS is at least PS/CS (or PS Elements v4, I believe) and you've upgraded its ACR to at least v2.2, using the DNG Converter is an excellent sollution.

The DNG Converter is a free download. Its Adobe's way of "updating" old versions of PS to handle newer RAW files. Its an external app that converts camera specific RAW flavors into the "universal" DNG RAW flavor. The converted files are still RAW files and will still open in PS throught the ACR plugin. Its an additional step, but the price is right and, if you aren't doing it too many times, reasonably painless. The DNG Converter is a batch converter so it can do a whole folder of files in one operation.

 

[JerryPH]

Define legal....... :mrgreen: :lmao:

LOL... I put it in quotes and that is as far as I am every going to go!

 

[Dwig]

Where could i get an update at?
I went under the Help button on the toolbar in CS3 and updates isnt darkened.. like i cant select it.

I'm not that familiar with the internal workings of Adobe's "update" options found in their applications. It could be that this only checks for core application updates and your version may be the newest dot release.

What you need to update is NOT necessarily Photoshop CS3. You need to update the Camera RAW (ACR) plugin. Try going to Adobe's site manually and navigating through the Photoshop section to the downloads for ACR. Download both the newest ACR for CS3 and the newest DNG Converter.

If the Canons are newer than the introduction of CS4 you may find that the last pluging for CS3 isn't new enough. If so, install the newest DNG Converter in addition to the newest CS3 compatible ACR. Use the DNG Converter, as I mentioned in my earlier post, to convert the Canon CR2 RAW files to the Adobe DNG RAW format. Your CS3 will be able to open the resulting DNG files in its ACR giving you the full RAW conversion control set you are used to in CS3.

Adobe keeps updating the DNG Converter evey time the update the newest family of ACR. Its generally a decent way to get access to newer RAW flavors in older applications provided the old app supports DNG. Photoshop first got full standard DNG support in PS/CS with ACR v2.2. It and all newer versions of ACR, whether used in PS or PS/Elements support DNG. Lightroom and many other apps also support DNG RAW images.

 

[table1349]

Since the cameras were the school's cameras, the suggestion that you use the Canon software that came with the cameras won't fly. The school owns that software not you.

You fail to say what version of Photoshop you are using so specific answers to what you should do are not possible. In general, when your PS doesn't handle some new flavor of RAW, do the following:

1. Update the Camera RAW plugin (ACR) for your version of PS to the newest available for your version.
2. If the newest version of ACR your PS handles still doesn't handle the files you need to either:
a. Download and install the newest version of Adobe's DNG Converter.
b. Upgrade your PS to the newest version, updating or replacing your computer if necessary.

Since issues with these Canon files are likely to be a one time or limit occurance, I would suggest option #2a if #1 fails. As long as you PS is at least PS/CS (or PS Elements v4, I believe) and you've upgraded its ACR to at least v2.2, using the DNG Converter is an excellent sollution.

The DNG Converter is a free download. Its Adobe's way of "updating" old versions of PS to handle newer RAW files. Its an external app that converts camera specific RAW flavors into the "universal" DNG RAW flavor. The converted files are still RAW files and will still open in PS throught the ACR plugin. Its an additional step, but the price is right and, if you aren't doing it too many times, reasonably painless. The DNG Converter is a batch converter so it can do a whole folder of files in one operation.

Agreed, but since the photos were for the school, maybe using the schools computer would be a good option.

 

[table1349]

LOL... I put it in quotes and that is as far as I am every going to go!

Me neither, I just wanted to see where that one went. It could have been real entertaining. :lmao: