This is where Ian Burley, DPNow's editor and founder, shares his unique thoughts and impressions on subjects that he hopes will be of interest to others on the subjects of digital photography and other related or loosely related topics! You can follow DPNow Editor's blog on Facebook and Twitter, too.
RAW support for earlier versions of Photoshop
Posted 19-03-09 at 12:59 PM by Ian
Tags acr, adobe camera raw, compatibility, conversion, cs2, cs3, cs4, dng converter, earlier, early, raw, versions
I see a lot of disgruntled posters on the Internet complaining that they have been abandoned by Adobe because they won't or can't afford to upgrade to the latest version of Photoshop and, so, their new camera's RAW format is not supported by earlier versions of Photoshop, or, more specifically, Adobe Camera RAW.
We had a recent case where someone had just upgraded to a Canon EOS-5D Mark II, but they were using Photoshop CS3. Adobe Camera RAW for CS3 does not and will never support 5D Mark II RAW files natively.
But there is a work around!
Adobe has its own, universal, RAW image file format, called DNG (Digital NeGative). Some cameras, like selected Pentax DSLRs, can save directly to a DNG format RAW file. But even if your camera can't do that, its native RAW file can probably be converted to DNG format using Adobe's free DNG Converter utility.
You can find the latest version of the Adobe DNG Converter to download and general information about DNG here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/
Once you have installed the DNG Converter, you can batch convert as many proprietary RAW format files as you like in one simple operation. The resulting DNG RAW files will then be compatible with earlier versions of Photoshop, all the way back to version CS, though ensure that you have updated to the latest version of Adobe Camera RAW for that version of Photoshop.
It's a similar message to Adobe Photoshop Elements Users. The earliest version of PS Elements to support RAW import was version 3, and you should be able to import the DNG converted RAW files from the latest supported cameras.
Using Adobe's DNG converter does mean a little extra work, but it does work if you don't have the very latest version of Photoshop, or - indeed - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
Is there a difference between the quality potential of a native RAW files and its DNG converted version - possibly, but the difference is likely to be marginal. But that's for another update!
We had a recent case where someone had just upgraded to a Canon EOS-5D Mark II, but they were using Photoshop CS3. Adobe Camera RAW for CS3 does not and will never support 5D Mark II RAW files natively.
But there is a work around!
Adobe has its own, universal, RAW image file format, called DNG (Digital NeGative). Some cameras, like selected Pentax DSLRs, can save directly to a DNG format RAW file. But even if your camera can't do that, its native RAW file can probably be converted to DNG format using Adobe's free DNG Converter utility.
You can find the latest version of the Adobe DNG Converter to download and general information about DNG here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/
Once you have installed the DNG Converter, you can batch convert as many proprietary RAW format files as you like in one simple operation. The resulting DNG RAW files will then be compatible with earlier versions of Photoshop, all the way back to version CS, though ensure that you have updated to the latest version of Adobe Camera RAW for that version of Photoshop.
It's a similar message to Adobe Photoshop Elements Users. The earliest version of PS Elements to support RAW import was version 3, and you should be able to import the DNG converted RAW files from the latest supported cameras.
Using Adobe's DNG converter does mean a little extra work, but it does work if you don't have the very latest version of Photoshop, or - indeed - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
Is there a difference between the quality potential of a native RAW files and its DNG converted version - possibly, but the difference is likely to be marginal. But that's for another update!
Total Comments 4
Comments
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Yes, I think the benefits of converting to DNG and being able to use Adobe Camera Raw and others for that matter, will far outweigh any potential loss of quality. I have never noticed any difference whatsoever. Its also worth emphasising that Lightroom users can convert to DNG on importing their images from the memory card to the HD, therefore saving an extra process.Posted 19-03-09 at 01:22 PM by Stephen 
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Since Lightroom is integrated with Photoshop, i use it for my volume work and edit a converted raw in an older version of Photoshop. basically what i'm saying is, i use Light instead of Bridge and Camera Raw when handling raw files.
Posted 19-03-09 at 07:37 PM by kennykodak
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A point worth making is that Ligthroom uses core Adobe Camera RAW code for RAW conversion. Already, Lightroom 1.x is now 'obsolete' as its commonality is with ACR 4.x. Now we are well into LR 2.3 and ACR 5.3, Lightroom 1 users are beginning to find that their newer cameras are no longe natively supported, so using the Adobe DNG converter will be the obvious solution.
Posted 20-03-09 at 10:21 AM by Ian
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I'm pleased to say that our Google ranking for this blog entry is good. Using key words 'raw earlier versions photoshop' this blog entry comes top in Google search
Posted 20-03-09 at 10:23 AM by Ian
