Problem with .CR2 files

[Kelbron]

Hi,
I'm new to photography but have been reading the tips and forums on DPS for a while now. This is my first post so apologies if it is in the wrong section.

I got my first DSLR last October and until recently have been shooting JPEG and mostly Full Auto mode as I wanted to be comfortable with the camera before moving on to Manual settings and RAW images. Just taking things one step at a time!

I have been given Photoshop Elements 5 by a colleague as he no longer uses it, having bought Photoshop CS5. I have started along pictures in RAW and wanted to see what editing I can do in PE5, but it doesn't seem to recognise the .CR2 file extension that these images are saved in. Is this a case of my camera (Canon EOS 1000D) being newer than PE5? Is there anything I can do to be able to get these images into PE5 so I can begin learning how to edit? I tried converting to TIFF but I got a message which said something along the lines of it not using the correct compression.

Some of you may say "get newer software" but I'm on a budget at the moment.

Thanks for any advice you can give a keen newbie.

Regards

Kevin

[Ambrosia76]

Have you tried going to Canon and downloading the codex for the raw files to your computer?

[Jim Bryant]

Photoshop Elements 9.0 is only about $99.00.

[oldwolf]

Your camera came with a CD that contains a program called Digital Photo Professional (DPP). That program can handle the RAW files and you can do some tweeking to color, exposure, white balance, etc in it. After you're done tinkering with it in DPP then you can convert it to a JPG or TIFF file so PE5 can work on it.

[UlpilotSC]

Originally Posted by oldwolf

Your camera came with a CD that contains a program called Digital Photo Professional (DPP). That program can handle the RAW files and you can do some tweeking to color, exposure, white balance, etc in it. After you're done tinkering with it in DPP then you can convert it to a JPG or TIFF file so PE5 can work on it.

+1 on that. I use digital photo pro and Photoshop cs2. Digital photo can save you some Photoshop work. And once you are satisfied with your DPP images, it will batch convert all the raw ones to jpgs for you.
Adobe has a free program that will convert your raw files to "digital negatives" that cs2 or above will recognize. Essentially it does the same thing digital photo pro does, so you don't really need it. DPP even has a "send to Photoshop" button, that will open Photoshop and drop the tiff file in it in one click.

[Kelbron]

Thanks for all your responses guys. I thought PE5 could work directly with RAW images.
I'll have a play with DPP now and then convert to TIFF before working in Photoshop.

Thanks again.

Kev.

[dlambert]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

Photoshop Elements 9.0 is only about $99.00.

... and I've seen it on sale for less (I think I paid $69 for mine w/ a $20 rebate on top of it).

In the meantime, check to see if there are any downloadable updates for it, especially Adobe Camera Raw. You might not be able to use the very latest & greatest ACR, but if you're lucky, there may be an update that gets you working.

[lputman]

Originally Posted by Kelbron

Thanks for all your responses guys. I thought PE5 could work directly with RAW images.
I'll have a play with DPP now and then convert to TIFF before working in Photoshop.

Thanks again.

Kev.

It can work with RAW files; however, that is probably not compatible with the version of your RAW files. They do change and Adobe does get to a point where they stop updating older versions versions of software for RAW compatibility.

Another option, if you want, you can freely download the Adobe DNG converter and should be able to work with the DNG file in PE5. Although like oldwolf says, the Canon software that came with the camera will handle RAW files fine.