RAW questions

[Raymond J Barlow]

hey i just got my canon 350D and am very confused about downloading RAW images from camera to computer...

firstly i installed all the image programs that came with my 350D on cd, such as raw image task and image browser. so basically when i connect the camera to my computer, not little icon comes up saying CF card, i have to go to "image browser" then click on canon camera!

HOW DO I MAKE IT SO I DONT NEED TO OPEN THAT FIRST, SO THE ICON COMES UP ON THE DESTOP?

also once i run "raw image task" and make my adjustments, i can only save to tiff (then later once having been in photoshop i will need to resave as psd, is that ok to re save so many times without degrading the image?)

another thing i cannot get my head around is how to drag the raw files to photoshop. i save them to the desktop as raw files and they automatically have the extention CR2 (eg imagename.CR2) and then i drag to photoshop CS and it says that the file cannot be opened because it cannot be recognised!:x

what am i doing wrong can anyone please help?...

basically what i would like my work procedure to look like is:
CF icon on desktop, save contents to folder
go to photoshop, open image borwser, select folder
then open image in photoshop (and then i would like a menu to come up so i can edit RAW)
then save as tiff or whatever
then go and edit in photoshop.

can anyone suggest why thats not happening
i am so lost and help will be greatly appreciated!

thanx

you need to go to Adobe and download the appropriate raw software plug in for your ps cs.

 

[zedin]

I notice a lot of folks save as tiffs. Is there any benifit to this vs a psd file? With my nikon I tend to edit the NEFs (raws) and then open them in photoshop to make any other changes and save it as a psd.

 

[markc]

One of the big reasons is that it's more universal. PSD is an Adobe format.

 

[Digital Matt]

Tiffs use more compression than PSDs, thus they are smaller. The compression is lossless however, and tiffs can still save layers.