Canon T1i

[stevendom57]

Canon is releasing a new camera next month. It is the Canon Rebel T1i. What version of Camera Raw is required to read raw files produced by this camera?

Stevendm

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

If the camera has not been released, it cannot be supported by any existing version of ACR.

Once the camera is released (actually on the shelves) you can count on the ACR Team doing its best to incorporate it in a future release of ACR, which is updated from three to four times per year.  Such a future release of ACR would be supported only in the current version of Photoshop.  The corresponding version of the stand-alone DNG Converter, which is always released in tandem with ACR, will also support the camera.  DNG files can be opened in ACR 2.4 and later versions.

[stevendom57]

Can I have two versions of Camera Raw installed on one computer? I will need the 4.x version for Photoshop CS3 and the upcoming 5.x for the DNG converter for the T1i?

[MadManChan2000]

Steven, support for the Canon 500D (i.e., T1i) is planned for the next dot release (i.e., free update) of Camera Raw and the DNG Converter. If you have CS3 only (not CS4), then you will only need the DNG Converter. It is a standalone application and does not require the Camera Raw 5.x plug-in to function.

[Dartmouth_Dan]

MadManChan2000,

I just got a Canon T1i but Adobe only has a new version (v5.4) of DNG Converter for the Mac OS.I use Windows.

So my old version of DNG Converter (v5.2) won't work with the CR2 files from the camera and the new Camera Raw.8bi converter for PhotoShop only work for PS4. I'm still using PS3 on Windows.

It's ver frustrating - I can't use the new camera's raw files with any Adobe product!

- Dan

[Dartmouth_Dan]

Um, MadManChan2000 yes there is a DNG Converter v5.4 for Widows. I don't know how I missed the first time! Sorry for the errant post.

- Dan

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

To emphasize what MadManChan (a most helpful member of the Adobe Camera Raw team) said, you need CS4 to run the upcoming release of (presumably) ACR 5.4, as CS3 cannot run anything later than ACR 4.6.

The DNG Converter is a stand-alone application you use to convert the raw files from the camera to DNG files first, and then open the converted DNG files in ACR 4.6 running under.  You will need the upcoming release of the DNG Converter (again presumably 5.4), not an earlier version.

[stevendom57]

Thanks for the info.

I also have Lightroom 2.3. What are the steps needed to use the raw files there? Will I still need to convert to dng then use these in LR?

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

Presumably there will be a dot release update for Lightroom 2.x—eventually, following the releasse of the ACR and DNG Converter versions that will support your camera.  If Lightroom takes a little longer, then, yes you could convert your raw files to DNGs with the yet-to-be dot release of the DNG Converter.

Congratulations on asking all these questions BEFORE you buy the camera.  

[stevendom57]

Thank you for all of your help.

If I ask my questions before I buy the camera I can only be mad at myself if everything doesn't work. Otherwise I might be mad at Adobe.

[Eggbox]

I'd just like to add that I received my 500d (T1i) yesterday and was extremely frustrated that the CR2 RAW files don't open in CS3 or the DNG converter. I'm using the supplied 'Digital Photo Professional' to open and convert the files but, after using Bridge and Photoshop for so long, it leaves a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to convert to another RAW format within the supplied software, only 8/16bit Tiff and Jpeg, but it is adequate for now.

Bizarrely, Bridge CS3 can read the metadata from the files just not show the actual images.

[MadManChan2000]

Unfortunately, 'tis the nature of the beast. Happens almost every time a new

camera comes out. We haven't seen the T1i ourselves yet so there's no way we

could've characterized it (e.g., for color, noise, white balance, etc.).

Eric

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

That's why I wrote in post #6 addressing the OP:

Congratulations on asking all these questions BEFORE you buy the camera.  

[Eggbox]

It doesn't stop you from using the camera though, or processing the RAW images, it just means that you have to do without Adobe's Camera Raw for a little while. I wouldn't have held off or bought a different camera if I'd known before hand, I'd rather have the extra time taking pics and videos than twiddling my thumbs.

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

Maybe; but in your other post you mentioned being "extremely frustrated" and sounded aggravated.

Due diligence research a little earlier on would have saved you the frustration and aggravation.  

[Mktgwizdotcom]

I am a new T1i owner and its bitter sweet to find this thread. I should have known when this happened to me when

I purchased my last Canon camera. However my question is this I own the latest version of Lightroom and CS3 if

and when they ACR is updated to include the T1i will I am assuming I will be able to open them in Lightroom, when

I then ask LR to open the file into Photoshop I am again assuming this will work without me having to upgrade

CS3? As the assumption is I would have to upgrade to CS4 wait til they update ACR for me to bring them directly

into CS4?

Successfully yours,

George

[MadManChan2000]

Lightroom and Photoshop/ACR are separate. Getting the latest ACR has no

impact on LR, and vice versa. If you're using LR to manage your images, you

will need a LR update (not an ACR update) to get support for the 500D. That

update is in progress, not out yet.

Eric

[Mktgwizdotcom]

Hello Eric

Thanks for the quick response, I knew they were seperate and you have pointed out they are even more separate than I thought. So when the update does happen with Lightroom will I be able to use the "Edit in Photosop CS3 Feature" transferring my photo over to PS CS3?

Successfully yours,

George

[MadManChan2000]

Hi George, correct, that should not be an issue. Note that when you do "Edit

in Photoshop CS3" what is really happening is that you are letting LR

perform the raw conversion, and the rendered result of the raw conversion is

then getting passed to PS. (That is, you are not passing the raw data over

to PS to let PS/ACR perform the raw conversion.)

Eric

[Mktgwizdotcom]

Hello Eric

Great that is what I thought was happening when using that feature but have learned not to assume : ) Any speculation

as of a date LR will have an update?

Successfully yours,

George

[genebromberg]

I'd also like to ask when we might see an update to Lightroom 2.3 that allows me to download RAW files from my brand-spankin' new T1i. And, would it expedite matters if I said "Please"? How about "Pretty Please"? I'm prepared to go all the way to "with sugar on top" if that's what it takes.

[Guest]

genebromberg wrote:

I'd also like to ask when we might see an update to Lightroom 2.3 that allows me to download RAW files from my brand-spankin' new T1i. And, would it expedite matters if I said "Please"? How about "Pretty Please"? I'm prepared to go all the way to "with sugar on top" if that's what it takes.

Look at it this way.  ACR and Lightroom teams are each working on an update cycle which is governed by their resources; and each update normally includes bug fixes, feature improvements and changes to accommodate new cameras on which they have sufficient data. At the same time a dozen or so camera manufacturers are beavering away at their latest and greatest model.

Do you really think it is feasible for the software teams to suddenly say "Hey look! There is a new Canon out – let's drop everything; buy and test the new camera; analyse the data, and whip out a new version of our software to process it."

Not really on is it?

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

JJ is right, but you can also look at it this way:

What would you do if the answer to your question was "within a year or two" ?  You have the camera already, presumably it came with software to convert its raw files.  Would you sell it and buy a different model which is already supported?

Continuing to ask "are we there yet" won't make ACR support for your camera materialize any sooner.  It'll be released when it's ready.

[genebromberg]

Well, I'm not whining "Are we there yet?", just if anyone knows approximately when we might expect an update. I've never bought a brand-new model before, hence my question. Are the updates released at set times during the year, or as they come available? I see there was an update for seven cameras in December, just wondering if there's a reasonable ballpark estimate as to when the new Rebel might be supported. Until then I'll use Canon's software and whistle a happy tune.

[Ramón_G_Castañeda]

There are three to four orderly releases of ACR and the DNG Converter per year.  The last one was in February.

There are no guarantees as to whether a given camera will make the next release or not.

Lightroom releases appear to have a release program of their own, usually very soon after ACR.  The LR release you linked to was not the latest one, by the way.

Are you any better off knowing this?