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Camera Raw version 12.1 Compatibility

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
January 1, 2020
4 replies
5925 views

I have the latest version of Windows 10 64 bit and Photoshop Elements 9 (a little old I know). I just got a Canon 5D mk iv and found that PSE 9 wont open the CR2 files from this camera. In my haste to get things going I downloaded and installed Adobe Camera Raw 12.1. The install completed in a few minutes with no error but did not solve the problem. I now have learned that PSE 9 is not compatible with ACR 12.1 so I'm a little mystified as to why ACR installed without error. The computer appears to be working fine after the installation of Adobe Camera Raw 12.1 in spite of the stated lack of compatibility (see: https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-compatible-applications.html). I'm wondering if I should just leave things as they are since all seems to be working or if I should take some steps to avoid any troubles going forwards. I probably will update to the latest version of Elements to solve the problem but in the meantime I'd like to know what if anything I should do about having installed an incompatible Camera Raw version. I can't find any uninstaller for Camera Raw or the location of the ACR installed files. Thanks for any suggestions/help.

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Correct answer Jeff Arola

The camera raw 12.1 plugin should have installed in

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CC\File Formats

The big part of the install are the camera profiles and lens profiles in

C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CameraRaw

However, if you want to use the adobe dng converter to convert your Canon 5D mk iv cr2 files to dng copies that pse 9 will open, then the dng converter will install those same camera and lens profiles as will photoshop elements 2020 if you decide to go that route. I would probably just leave things the way they are.

link to the 12.1 dng converter

https://supportdownloads.adobe.com/detail.jsp?ftpID=6811

ssprengel

Inspiring

Unless your computer is too old, why not:

Upgrade your Elements to 2020 for $100 (US) on sale for $70? https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

or

Buy a subscription to PS and LR for $120/yr (US)? https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html

I have the four-year-old PSE14 installed and I can see the version of Camera Raw it has by doing Help / About Plug-in / Camera Raw. If that shows something older than 12.1 then you should be ok, as the ACR 12.1 install didn't affect Elements.

As Jim says, to work with your camera's raw data, besides updating to the current version of PSE, would be to use the current version of the DNG Converter to create DNGs from your camera's CR2s and then those DNGs but not the CR2s will open in your older PSE's ACR.

Download links for the latest DNG Converter can be found at the bottom of this page. It converts a folder at a time:

https://supportdownloads.adobe.com/support/downloads/new.jsp

F

fix92Author

Participating Frequently

My thanks to all three who contributed above. I do not plan on changing/deleting anything and will be migrating to PSE 2020 while its still on sale. I did as ssprengle suggested and verified that PSE 9 is using camera raw version 6.5 so it doesn't seem to be affected by my having installed ver 12.1. Thats good. I guess the only question that remains is wether to uninstall PSE 9 before installing PSE 2020 or let 2020 deal with that. Let me know if there is a preferred method?

Thanks again for all the good help!!

ssprengel

Inspiring

I would leave the old PSE until after you have the new PSE 2020 running to your liking. You might try the trial of it, first, to make sure it is compatible with your hardware.

Jeff Arola

Correct answer

Community Expert

The camera raw 12.1 plugin should have installed in

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CC\File Formats

The big part of the install are the camera profiles and lens profiles in

C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CameraRaw

However, if you want to use the adobe dng converter to convert your Canon 5D mk iv cr2 files to dng copies that pse 9 will open, then the dng converter will install those same camera and lens profiles as will photoshop elements 2020 if you decide to go that route. I would probably just leave things the way they are.

link to the 12.1 dng converter

https://supportdownloads.adobe.com/detail.jsp?ftpID=6811

JP Hess

Inspiring

You could use File Explorer to do a search for Camera Raw.8bi and compare the dates. The newer date would be the 12.1 version that you would want to remove. Or, since you still seem to be able to open the older raw files, maybe you should just leave things as they are until you upgrade Photoshop Elements. I don't know. I probably am not the one to give you good advice on that because it isn't good advice. I only used Photoshop Elements for a brief period way back when version 2 was the current version. Haven't even looked at it since then.

F

fix92Author

Participating Frequently

That sounds reasonable.

I found two Camera Raw.8bi files. One is in the location below.

The parent-directories up to the “Plug-Ins” directory were all created on 12/31/2019 10:45pm when I installed CameraRaw version 12.1. However these are Common Files so I suspect there are lots of other files having to do with the ACR 12.1 installation.

The other file location is seen below but in this case all the parent-directories have older dates suggesting it was not part of the CamerRaw 12.1 installation. It probably came with my PSE 9:

I'm inclined to leave things as they are since everything seems to be working okay. Sometime soon I'll likely migrate to PSE 2020 which will support the newer raw formats. Hopefully the lingering ACR 12.1 installation won't cause any difficulties with that migration (its also said to be uncompatible with PSE 2020) and maybe before that someone who understands this stuff better than you and I will chime in with a suggestion. I suppose I can trash some of these folders after uninstalling PSE 9 and before upgrading to PSE2020 but I'll probably leave them alone since I don't like fixing something that isn't broken. Thanks for the help!

JP Hess

Inspiring

PSE 9 is only compatible with up to Camera Raw 6.5. You need to locate the Camera Raw folder on your computer and see if there are two versions installed. If there are then you should remove 12.1 because it will not work with your version. You can download the free DNG converter and create digital negative copies that will work with what you have now. Or you can upgrade to the latest version of Photoshop Elements. Those are your choices. In the meantime you can shoot JPEG images with your new camera. The JPEG capabilities of the new cameras are really quite good.

F

fix92Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for this information JimHess. I've located two CameraRaw folders but neither are providing any clear insight as to the versions. One is located here:

C:\Users\fix92\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CameraRaw

and the other here:

C:\ProgramData\Adobe\CameraRaw

The first one only contains files and subfolders that were created years ago so that must be what came with PSE9.

The second CameraRaw directory was created long ago but it contains some subfolders and files that were created at the time I installed version 12.1 mixed with others of older create dates. Again I don't see any version information.

Any ideas?

Would it be safe to leave these folders as they are (PSE 9 is still opening the older CR2 files without error)?

If I update to PSE 2020 would any of this matter?

Would the ver 12.1 of CameraRaw be removed when PSE 9 is uninstalled?

Thanks for the help.

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