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Question

Camera RAW works from windows but not from LightRoom, please help!

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
January 2, 2018
2 replies
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Hello,

I have Light Room v5.7.1 and Photoshop CS5 extended edition.

I am able to load up a RAW file from my hard drive into CS5 via the Camera RAW plug-in without any problems (double click on the raw image file in windows explorer, the photo opens automatically in Camera RAW, I make some edits, then proceed into CS5 for further editing)

However when I try and open the exact same file from the Light Room application (right click, Edit In > Edit In Adobe Photoshop CS5) I get the following message:

This version of Lightroom may require the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in version 8.7.1. for full compatibility. Please update the Camera Raw plug-in using the update tool in the photoshop hjelp menu.

I have tried to update the plug-in via photoshop. I have also tried manually downloading the latest plug-ins direct from the Adobe website.

- I have successfully managed to manually update to Camera Raw v6.7 via the direct download, however this does not seem to be recent enough to work with my version of Lightroom (at least, I am getting the same error message as above)

- I have succesfully downloaded the Camera Raw v7.1 installer, however I have failed to get this update to install (I get an error message saying: Updates could not be applied. This patch is not applicable for you)

- I have not been able to find a v8.7.1 update for Camera Raw on the Adobe website (only DNG converter, and I dont know what that is)

Either way, it seems that the Camera Raw plug-in isn't really the issue because I can open all of my RAW files across a number of different camera formats directly from my hard-drive, so the Camera Raw plug-in must be of a sufficient update version to cope with all the file formats I use. The problem is with Lightroom.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.

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richardplondon

Community Expert

Your Photoshop CS5 supports only an associated generation of ACR. Your Lightroom 5.x also embodies a particular generation of processing, which matches that of a newer generation of ACR and Photoshop. So there is a mismatch (the version numbers for CS and for LR did not match up with each other).

This means you need Lightroom to "render" and save a working file, which PS will then open for your further editing. That is the same method as can be used with any external editing program. This working file is also imported straight away by LR; and whenever you Save any further changes to that file from your editor program, these changes are then noticed and displayed by LR.

Even when you DO have version inter-compatibility, you will still not see the ACR window anyway, coming from LR into PS.

Lightroom's conversion settings / adjustments as they currently stand, are the ones which will get applied to the brand new working document.

The principal effective difference when you don't have a fully compatible partnership of PS and LR, is that the image first seen in PS is necessarily an already saved file, and is already imported to LR. The other way, until it is Saved there is no file yet present on disk, hence nothing of this new image version is as yet imported to the Catalog.

Also, some special means of opening images into PS are disabled - Smart Object, and As Layers / HDR / Photomerge.

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Rocket.1978Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you.

When you say there is a mis-match between my versions of LR and CS5, do you really mean that there is a mis-match between LR and Camera Raw?

Because I clearly have a version of Camera Raw on my laptop that is capable of opening and editing all of the different RAW files that I have on my hard drive. And this works fine with the version of Photoshop that I have. If I by-passed the LR stage of my workflow, I would be fine.

The reason why I am confused by this is because of the error message that LR gives me - which seems to suggest that updating my version of Adobe Camera Raw will solve the compatibility issues. However, you are suggesting that its actually LR that is causing the compatibility problems, as it is not of a sufficiently recent version to cope with the newer format. Is that right?

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Rocket.1978Author

Participating Frequently

Lightroom 5.7.1 can be "fully" compatible with all versions off Camera Raw to and including Camera Raw 8.7.1. But you cannot install that version of Camera Raw in Photoshop CS5. But Lightroom detects that you have an older version of Camera Raw installed and is programmed to alert you that there is a possible incompatibility situation. You are given choices, and one of those choices is to open anyway. You can also check an option box to not show that message again. So here are the possible results of your choices:

1. If you choose the option to open anyway, Lightroom will pass the raw data to Photoshop and the version of Camera Raw that you have installed will interpret as much of your changes as it can. Anything that is newer will be ignored and you will have to make up the difference using Photoshop.

2. The other option is to render a copy with Lightroom adjustments. This is probably the better choice because all of the adjustments you have made using Lightroom and the more advanced raw editing tools that you have will be included in that copy. Then that copy will be sent to Photoshop where you can finish your adjustments. You choose whether that copy is a PSD or TIF file in the Lightroom preferences on the External Editing tab.

With Photoshop CS5, the most recent version of Camera Raw that you can use is version 6.7. That is why you are getting this incompatibility dialogue whenever you send an image from Lightroom to Photoshop.

Lightroom 5.7.1 can be "fully" compatible with all versions off Camera Raw to and including Camera Raw 8.7.1. But you cannot install that version of Camera Raw in Photoshop CS5.

So this brings me back to my original confusion... which is that I can open a RAW file directly from my hard drive into ACR, make the refinements I need, and then transfer the edited file into Photoshop to make further edits as needed. But I cant do the same thing from Lightroom, even though, as you say, my version should be compatible with all versions of ACR.

Whatever the version of ACR I have - it is sufficient for my needs and always has been. And it works with my version of Photoshop.

So I understand the rationale behind incompatible versions of Adobe products. But putting all of the above together, this is what I have:

- A version of Lightroom that is compatible with all versions of ACR

- A version of ACR that does what I need it to do

- A version of Photoshop that works with the version of ACR I have

Yet I cant seem to get them all to work together in one seamless workflow!!

One workaround I can use is to (1) Lightroom to locate file I need (2) Lightroom to show me where that file is in windows explorer (3) open file in windows explorer into ACR (4) make edits in ACR (5) open file from ACR into Photoshop for further edits and saving.

It just seems a bit strange that I need to have step (2) in there.

Akash Sharma

Legend

Hi Rocket1978,

Thanks for the detailed post. As you've mentioned that whenever you open Photoshop from Lightroom you get an prompt saying " This version of Lightroom may require the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in version 8.7.1".

Have you tried selecting the option Open Anyway to edit your image with full compatibility and still see the error message the next time you open an image in Photoshop from Lightroom?

Also, Which camera have you used to capture the edited image in Lightroom that you're also trying to open into Photoshop CS5?

Note that Photoshop CS5 does not support camera raw version 8.7.1(if the camera needs it).

Let us know the outcome.

Thanks,

Akash

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Rocket.1978Author

Participating Frequently

Hello Akash,

Thanks for replying so quickly.

1. Yes, I usually choose the option to "open anyway", however this simply opens the file directly into CS5 interface, it does not open via Adobe Camera Raw plug-in. So if I need to make any changes to the RAW file using Camera Raw (which I usually do) before CS5 it is unfortunately not a very helpful option. The only way I can get the file(s) to open into Camera Raw first is if I open them directly via Windows Explorer.

2. The files I have on my hard drive are a variety of RAW file formats.

- CR2 files from a series of Canon 5D models (original 5d, mk2 and mk3)

- RW2 files from a Panasonic lumix GF3

- Also some older Nikon raw files cant remember the Nikon camera model number off-hand but the extension is .NEF

One thing that has just occurred to me is that I have used Lightroom for a number of years and when I first started using it I was able to open some (but perhaps not all) RAW files into Camera Raw. However I have just test-opened a number of files, going back many years and across all of the different RAW formats mentioned above, and none of them are opening in Camera Raw, even the older formats which I would expect to work with LR5/CS5.

Thanks for your advice

Just Shoot Me

Legend

Rocket.1978 wrote
Hello Akash,
Thanks for replying so quickly.
1. Yes, I usually choose the option to "open anyway", however this simply opens the file directly into CS5 interface, it does not open via Adobe Camera Raw plug-in. So if I need to make any changes to the RAW file using Camera Raw (which I usually do) before CS5 it is unfortunately not a very helpful option. The only way I can get the file(s) to open into Camera Raw first is if I open them directly via Windows Explorer.

Never does the ACR plugin open when sending a file from LR to PS. All the RAW processing is done in LR, even it you didn't do any additional processing/editing in LR, and then sent to PS. If the first thing you do in PS is Save the file it will turn from being listed as a RAW file to the file type you have chosen in the External Editing tab of the LR preferences.

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