How to I edit RAW files in CS on Mac?

paulg1979 · May 28, 2007

Hi all,

I've been trying to edit photos in RAW on my Mac but photoshop says its not compatible. I'm using a 400D. What am I doing wrong?

Big Mike · May 28, 2007

Photoshop uses a sub program to open/edit RAW files...it's called Adobe Camera RAW. Each camera's RAW files are different and you have to have a compatible version of A.C.R. for the specific camera that you use.

Updated versions of A.C.R. are avaliable on the Adobe web site, for free.

I'm not certain, but you may run into a problem in that the 400D is only compatible with versions of A.C.R. that are avaliable for Photoshop CS2 or CS3 (not CS)...in which case, you will not be able to open your RAW files with Photoshop unless you update to CS2 or CS3.

Your camera will have come with software for opening your RAW files. Just open them, make your basic adjustments then save the files in a standard graphics format like JPEG or TIFF. Then open them in Photoshop.

There are even better options for working with RAW files. Adobe Lightroom or Apple's Aperture, for example.

paulg1979 · May 28, 2007

Cheers Mike. I heard CS might be a problem. I think i'll purchase Aperture then. Can you do alot of editing with Apeture or just altering colours and tones etc...

Big Mike · May 28, 2007

I haven't used Aperture or Lightroom but I'm pretty sure that you can do a lot of the things that you can with Photoshop. Photoshop is still a more in-depth image editing program...but if it's just minor adjustment...then Aperture should be fine.

These programs are great because they were designed to help with your workflow...dealing with a lot of files. Also, I think they are lossless editing programs...essentially, they show you the image and let you edit it...but don't actually change or save over the original RAW file...it just saves the changes/edits that you make. When you are done, and want to output the image file...that's when the software applies the edits and creates the output. This way, you can edit and change all you want, without actually degrading the image file.