Comments I get a myriad of questions about camera support in Photoshop and Lightroom so I thought I’d try and answer them in this blog post.
I just got a new camera and Photoshop CS5, or Lightroom 3, does not recognize the raw files. What do I do?
First, make sure you have the latest updates for Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop. (The process to update Lightroom is similar. Launch Lightroom and choose Help>Check for Updates…) It’s always a good idea to have the latest updates installed.
Second, if updating to the latest version doesn’t give you joy and let you open your camera raw files, verify your camera make and model is on the list of supported cameras. If you want to see a more comprehensive list which lists what version added support for each specific camera, check out this Knowledge Base document.
Third, if your camera isn’t on the list of supported cameras check on Adobe Labs for a release candidates of the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in or Adobe Lightroom. A release candidate is a very close to done version of the plug-in that Adobe shares with the community prior to full release for additional testing.
Finally, if your camera came out within the past 90 days, be patient, as you may need to wait for the new camera support. Adobe goes through a rigorous process of adding support for and testing of each new camera raw format. Adobe generally releases updates of the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in and Lightroom to provide new camera support about once a quarter, or about every 90 days. Feel free to drop us request or vote for specific camera support on our Feedback Site.
What if I own an older version of Photoshop like CS2, CS3 or CS4? Or Lightroom 1 or 2?
A lot of people ask, “Why do I have to buy a new version of Photoshop or Lightroom just to get the latest camera support?”
The answer: You don’t have to. Adobe provides backwards compatibility for the latest cameras for FREE in Photoshop CS2, CS3 and CS4, as well as Lightroom 1 and 2, through the Adobe DNG Converter.
Download it here:
Win: Adobe DNG Converter 6.6
Mac: Adobe DNG Converter 6.6
What are the benefits of using DNG?
There are other benefits to using DNG besides backward compatibility if you haven’t explored those:
- The metadata, keywords and raw adjustments are stored in the file – along with a processed preview of the image. This makes the file portable and keeps your metadata safe and secure.
- DNG files are smaller than the original raw file, which will save you disk space and time in the long run.
- DNG is an openly specified file format which means the file format isn’t going away. If you use another raw processor that supports DNG, you don’t have to worry about compatibility or portability of your metadata.
Julieanne Kost has created a video on Adobe TV outlining the benefits of DNG in your everyday workflow and how to use the Adobe DNG Converter:
Note: Julieanne goes through the process of converting your raw files to DNG using the Adobe DNG Converter around the 7:12-9:44 point of the video.
You suck, I still want an update for the the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in for Photoshop CS2, CS3, CS4 or Lightroom 1 & 2
The problem with supporting Adobe Camera Raw plug-in updates for legacy version of Photoshop and Lightroom is camera manufacturers insist on creating a new proprietary raw format each time they come out with a new camera – and new cameras are coming out faster and in greater volume. If camera manufactures either settled on a single raw format for their brand of cameras or just used DNG it would make compatibility a non-issue.
It’s untenable to keep updating previous versions of the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in going back to CS2 to support new cameras/raw formats in a timely fashion. Using the DNG converter is the fastest way to deliver backwards compatibility to ALL users (CS2, CS3, CS4, Lightroom 1 & 2, as well as 3rd party apps that support DNG). This allows us to support the greatest number of customers and cameras as possible.
Additional Resources:
Product Pages
- Camera support for Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3
- Digital Negative (DNG) – The public archival format for digital camera raw data
Support Pages
- Camera Raw plug-in | Supported cameras
- Install | Adobe Camera Raw plug-in update
- Camera Raw-compatible Adobe applications
- Camera raw files appear as generic icons | Adobe Bridge
- Can’t open Camera Raw file | Photoshop, Photoshop Elements
- Lens profile support | Lightroom 3, Photoshop CS5, Camera Raw 6
Having just gotten a Fujifilm Finepix Real 3D W3, I was surprised and disappointed to learn that Lightroom doesn’t even see mpo files. It’s bad enough that Lightroom can’t manipulate that format, but for it not even to be able to recognize the file is bewildering, especially since Adobe Bridge can. (Though Bridge sees the file, it can’t display a thumbnail. That’s something that Cerious’s ThumbsPlus is able to manage just fine.)
To echo Rob’s comment; the 3D MPO (Multi Picture Object) file format has been around long enough. Rather disappointed Lightroom can’t even interrogate the basic meta-data values within the file (considering Bridge can). I figure if enough people ask then maybe one afternoon I’ll flip on Lightroom and whoosh I can avoid that thing FujiFilm put out to manage these files…
And one can check when support was added for a given camera in Camera Raw (substract 3 to the camera raw version to find the Lightroom version) in this document: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/407/kb407111.html
I totally agree with Michael. It is a shame that a company (and its application) that claims to be on the edge of image manipulation does not recognize the most popular 3D camera around. Come on, Adobe, it is not that difficult, is it?
Feel free to request support here: http://phtshp.us/Feature_Request
Other users can vote up and comment on your idea.
What I’d like to know is why it took so long to get D7000 tethering support, given how quickly its RAW format was supported? That said, I’m incredibly grateful that it’s finally in there!
My guess is there were issues or changes required in the SDK we use from Nikon for D7000 support.
So, the Camera RAW plugin is created anew for each version of Photoshop? I don’t get why so many other plugins work across multiple versions of Photoshop, but the Camera RAW plugin does not. Also, I thought DNG support was added to Camera RAW plugin version 2.4 which is the last version supported for Photoshop CS. Is DNG not supported in CS?
One more question: How does DNG get to be smaller than the original RAW file? Does it throw data away or use compression?
Yes. Camera Raw is more tightly integrated with Photoshop and Bridge than most other plug-ins/filters. Also, there are a lot of changes needed that are platform specific. For example, for CS5, Camera Raw needed to be written in Cocoa and made 64bit for the Mac version. This type of change is pretty radical. Even a lot of other plug-ins/filters needed to be rewritten for compatibility for this.
I have a Fuji S200EXR and Lightroom 3.4.1 cannot read RAF files! The camera has been out around 3 years. I did download DNG Converter but still no good. I have to download into Picasa, (reads files perfectly) the export a folder, then import into LR. But then they are jpeg files. Why is this?
Dave
To be honest, I don’t know in this particular camera’s case.
You can request it here: http://phtshp.us/Feature_Request
I would be great if adobe would have a camera raw plugin
For the highest end of cameras, Sinar. Adobe don’t forget
About us pro’s out there.
You can put in a request Sinar support here: http://phtshp.us/Feature_Request
It seems Adobe being the center of our image processing universe has offered the use of the DNG format to all, yet the manufacturers wish to keep their raw process to themselves. Unless they are proactive and get the conversion info to Adobe before the new cameras hit the showroom we will always be a step behind. It would be nice if DNG were offered as an alternative right out of the box just like RAW + JPEG or TIFF in some cases. As it stands only about 32 cameras create a DNG file at the point of capture.
It would certainly simplify things. Support would be immediate to all applications that support DNG.
If locked down to a particular format, manufacturers could not add anything as new developments come along. Just like if all auto companies had to produce the same car so we could all use the same parts…
Do you have any examples of innovations to come out of any of the proprietary raw formats for the past 10 years?
Hi Jeffrey,
Thank you for the info on the blog. I do have a question related to the DNG backward compatibility workaround. It is camera specific so you may not be able to give me an answer but I am hoping you can point me in the right direction.
Some background: I currently have LR2 (updated to the last released version, I think 2.7) and have Raw files from the Canon 1D Mark IV that I wanted to edit. As the Mark IV came out after LR3, I converted the files to DNG and brought them into LR to edit. What I noticed when viewing at 1 to 1 was a lot of noise (both Luminance and Color) at relatively low ISO’s (400, 800, 1600), even in midtone areas. Given this camera model is supposed to have very good signal to noise performance, even at 3200 ISO and higher, I wouldn’t have expected to see this.
Is it possible that this is a result of the ACR engine in LR2 not being fine-tuned to demosaic this camera’s Raw files (as it doesn’t support it natively) and that the rendered images would have less visible noise using LR3 or is this an issue that I would need to look to Canon for help on? Thanks
Certainly, Lightroom 3′s noise reduction is much improved over Lightroom 2:
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/features/?view=topnew
There may be something else in play, but if you’re interested in getting the best NR, Lightroom 3 would certainly be a good upgrade for you.
Your camera in on the supported list, you sure you’re using Camera Raw 6.4 or Lightroom 3.4.1?
My camera’s RAW files are supported, but my camera (Nikon D2X) is not profiled in the lens corrections. Why is that? It’s not that long ago that this was Nikon’s flagship pro camera.
Which lens do you have specifically?
I have a link to a list of available lenses here:
What camera lenses are supported through Photoshop (Camera Raw and Lens Corrections) and Lightroom?
Along with details about creating your own profiles or downloading profiles from others.
Somehow I don’t quite buy that last answer.
Even if it were a technical issue, it’s not major and you have the resources to do it easily.
What’s wrong with admitting that it’s part of the strategy to thwart piracy through “inconvenience” (which I can’t say I blame you), and also to force upgrade adoption lessen support fragmentation.
It’s the truth. Like everyone else, we have limited resources. As I state in the article, out goal is to support to the greatest number of customers and cameras as possible.
I am told that the only way that Adobe will support RAW work from my Canon G12 is if I update from my current CS3 to CS5 and presumably also download the relevant plug-in. Is this correct?
And will I then be able to work with RAW captures from my Panasonic DMC-LX3?
I find all this complication predatory on the consumer.
The blog post answers both your questions. Both the DMC-LX3 and G12 are supported in Photoshop CS3 through the use of the FREE Adobe DNG Converter.
Jeffery, thanks for the posting. I’ve been preaching about the free DNG Converter for older versions for a while, but many people seem to think Adobe needs to update their 3 releases ago version for free because it’s inconvenient for them. Another much cheaper way to get integrated RAW support is to purchase the latest version Photoshop Elements which will meet most users needs.
Hi everybody, thanks for article, but it didnt work for me
Is there really one expert who can solve my problem please ?
I tried to write and make previews into jpg in keep it simple style, but if any question to my problem, please ask….. iam being really desperate and this problem stoped me to release any photos
http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/3447/nikonrawintolrproblem.jpg
I red many many forums and nobody is able to solve this problem properly.
It looks that Nikon using his own recipes, which is able to view properly only at Nikon softwares (ViewNX). For example function “Active D-lightning”.
Thanks A LOT for any inputs
Hey Jeffrey,
I am having problems getting lightroom 3.4 to recognize .cr2 files from the canon Eos 1000d. I verified that the camera is on the supported list for lightroom and camera raw.
On import I get the message “The files are from a camera which is not recognized by the raw support in lightroom” and prompts me to check for updates. When I check I am told “Your software is up to date. No updates are available at this time.”
What should I do to get lightroom to recognize the files?
That’s strange. Are the files damaged? Can any other software open them?
Need Samsung NX200 support, got few files, and now waiting for my camera.
Hope you will add ASAP this camera.
Hello, I have an older Power PC Mac G5 (OS X 10.5.8). I recently bought a Leica D-5 and installed the Lightroom software (2.7, as my older MAC does not have the Intel chip) and I’m having trouble importing RAW files.
I can see thumbnails of both the RAW and Jpeg files in the Lightroom import window – but when I hit the import button, only the Jpegs download. I tried to import the DNG converter 6.5 hoping that might help, but a window informs me that the application (DNG) is not supported by my architecture.
Is my chip too old to work with RAW or???
Camera Raw and DNG Converter 6.4 are the last versions to support PPC architectures:
http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2011/03/dng-converter-6-4-last-to-support-powerpc-mac-systems.html
Adobe DNG Converter 6.4 does support the D-Lux 5 and PPC Macs, so download that and you should be in business:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5023
Hi Jeffrey:
Thanks for the quick response. I installed DNG 6.4.
Unfortunately the problem persists. When I attempt to import RAW files into Lightroom from my card reader, I get an error message in the Import Results window informing me “Some import operations were not informed.” Thus, no RAW files import.
If I open DNG 6.4, and try to convert the RAW to .dng, I can see the RAW files (with their preview) as black rectangles on the card reader disk, – but they will not highlight and I cannot select them. It’s as though my computer doesn’t recognize RAW files. Is there something I need to download in order for my MAC to see these files? Thanks, J
Might be better to troubleshoot over at our forum: http://phtshp.us/AskAQuestion
My edits done in the DNG converter and saved to DNG do no show in Picassa. Is there a way to fix this?
Thanks,
Gordon
Hi Gordon, we can help answer that question here: http://phtshp.us/AskAQuestion
I need tethering support for my FujiFilm S5pro and ISpro cameras. They might have some mileage on them but, they are great bodies
Here’s our official feature request area: http://feedback.photoshop.com/
Nearly eight months, the first commenter asked about support for the MPO files created by the Fujifilm Finepix Real 3D W3. I do not know if Adobe is working on this, but I want to add my voice to those who would be extremely happy if the MPO format were supported.
Photos are saved to my hard drive as DNG lightroom will not let me open these files. Is there a simple way to chang them back to JPG if so please send me this information. I am shooting in raw, photos are coming out as JPG. they were saved as DNG and the sersion of lightroom will not let me open them. They want me to buy a software deal for 30.00 more. I cant afford it. HELP
Any version of Lightroom should be able to open a file in the DNG format – so there’s something else going wrong. Post questions like this here and we can help you: http://phtshp.us/AskAQuestion
I want to download a trial version of CS5.5. It downloads and goes thorugh all of the motions of loading but doesn’t.
I get the following message: “DW 065 – display requirements not met for (53CF3920-648B-4F99-8DOS-6A6C5298F57B)
I’m on a Sony VAIO with the 64 bit Windows 7
What is the resolution of your monitor set to? Does it fit the minimum requirements?
http://www.video2brain.com/en/videos-5351.htm
I recently downloaded the CS 5.5 30 day eval to my machine. Everything works perfect. On last day of trial I removed it from my machine using the uninstall program. Immediately after Lightroom 3.5 which I own no longer sees my Compact Flash cards shot from either my Canon MK5D or Canon MKIV D. In addtion to that, the cards are now corrupted and can’t be seen in any machine. LR 3.5 crashes everytime I try a new card.
Everything else on my system is good. I’ve done deep virus scans tried different CF readers. The second my card touches lightroom, it’s corrupted. Any thoughts?
Please post more details over here:
http://phtshp.us/AskAQuestion
We can help there. Thanks.
Man, talk about a great post! I’ve stumbled across your blog a few times inside the past, but I usually forgot to save it. But absolutely not again! Thanks for writing the way you do, I truly appreciate seeing somebody who actually has a viewpoint and is not just regurgitating junk like the majority of other writers today. Keep it up!
I’m stumped! I have a Sony Vaio (VGN-S2791N) that does not show the photos I have imported! On the library mode you can see an outline, and when I select several and go to slide show they do work. Nothing is visible in Develop of Print. Presumably the latest driver is loaded (OS is Windows 7 Ultimate). What is going on?
Everything is up-to-date? Post more details here: http://phtshp.us/AskAQuestion
Okay. Im getting wicked confused here. I have a Canon Rebel T3. Just got it like a week ago. I take a photography class in my highschool so i would say i have a good amount of experience in photography. But this RAW file format is like alien technology to me! I have no idea what it was! So i decided to shoot in it for a couple of shots. Forgot to change it back. Went to an actual photoshoot took a couple hundred pictures and i thought i was shooting in a Jpeg. Opened up my Adobe Lightroom 2 (version 2.7) and it doesnt recognize the .CR2 files. So i decided to research and your blog here tells me to download Camera Raw 6.6 and Adobe DNG Converter. Done. But… same problem. My lightroom doesnt recognize the RAW files!!!!! Help?
Also when i downloaded the Camera Raw stuff, its all compressed. Am i supposed to install this thing? Because in the compressed file, idk what to click on to install it.
Sounds like you are you trying to open the raw files instead of the DNG files after you convert them. You haven’t said what OS you are on, so I’m not sure how to answer your question about the files being compressed. On a Mac, you should have a DMG file to double click to unexpand and run the installer. On windows, you should have a zip file you expand and then install. If you have more questions, I’d post them with more details about your system and the types of files you’re having trouble with. http://phtshp.us/AskAQuestion
I have an issue with opening RAW files.
I have download a trail version of PS 5.1 with a raw version 6.3.
I cannot upload the latest RAW plug in 6.6. A popup appears: close Bridge 5.1 while it is closed already.
Can anyone tell me what to do?
Try this document: Error “Installation cannot continue until… Adobe Bridge is closed” | Installation | CS5
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/506/cpsid_50680.html
I have been trying to download the Adobe DNG Converter to my Mac. It ends up in the applications folder but when I double click on it nothing happens. It doesn’t open. I have tried downloading several versions of the DNG Converter from old to newest with the same results. I have a dual-core Intel Xeon running Mac OS X 10.4.11 and I am using Photoshop CS3. I need the converter to open RAW files from a Canon S95. Can you help me?
Hmm. It should run on 10.4. Can you post more details here and we can help: http://phtshp.us/AskAQuestion
Hi,
I have Adobe CS4 and an iMac G5 version 10.4.11 and cannot update ACR any further than what I have at present. As I am buying a new camera and will shoot RAW if I was to download the latest version of the DNG Converter suitable for my current operating system and convert the raw files to .dng will I then be able to open them in my version of Camera Raw 5.7.
Thanks
Hi Ian,
Adobe DNG Converter version 6.5 is the last version that will work on PPC (G5) macs. Grab it here:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5257
Your blog does not show up correctly on my android – you might wanna try and repair that
Thanks. I’ll take a look. What version of Android are running for reference?
I took a look on my G2 (android 2.3.4) and didn’t see any glaring rendering issues. If you give me more details I’ll try and track down a device to debug.
I downloaded 50 photos on Adobe Photoshop – Starter Ediotion web site and erased photos off my camera before I found out that you had cancelled the program. I have called Adobe offices 4 or 5 times and people keep giving me web sites to go to that haven’t produced any results. I think there is some simple way for me to retrieve my pictures which I sincerely want and cherish, and would appreciate a mrthod of retrieving the pictures that is simple and straight forward, Please help ! ! John Hurst
Hi John,
Starter Edition simply catalogs the image files that are on your system. This document explains how to find where the files are on your system: http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/what_happened_to_adobe_photoshop_album_starter_edition
I am very interested in purchasing Lightroom 3. I am apprehensive though because I plan to buy a new Canon D-SLR this year (like a 5D MKIII or equivalent). I am worried that if Lightroom 4 comes out before the camera body, that LR3 will not release a camera profile for my new camera. Does anyone know if Lightroom 4 will use the same ACR as LR3? Or is using the DNG workflow just as good?
Hi Timothy. I would probably wait a short bit for Lightroom 4 to be released if you’re not in a huge hurry. You can download the either the Lightroom 3 trial or the Lightroom 4 public beta to start learning the program.