How to view RAW images in lightroom 3

[dawneeray]

I own lightroom 3. It used to work well and view and edit all of my pictures without a problem. However, we recently got a new computer. When I loaded lightroom onto the new computer the program will not view the RAW images from my Canon 7D camera. Is there a plug in I need to download or is there an option like that that will allow lightroom to view my RAW images?

[Per Berntsen]

The Canon 7D requires LR version 2.6 or later so LR 3 shoud work fine.

Please describe in detail what "will not view" means.

[dawneeray]

Hello, thanks for your reply to my question.
When I try to import my pictures it says "preview available for this file"
on the images and then says "the files are from a camera which is not
recognized by the raw format supported in lightroom."
It asks me to check for updates, but then I am not able to check for
updates on my computer. Any suggestions? Is there a plug in of some sort
I can download?

Thank you for your help,
Dawnee

[Per Berntsen]

First of all, let's establish exactly what version you are running.

Go to Help > About Lightroom (it might say About Adobe Photoshop Lightroom) to verify.

Also, please confirm if your camera is a 7D, or a 7D Mark II, which requires Lightroom version 5.7.

[dawneeray]

Hello,
I am using Lightroom 3. The Lightroom information says Lightroom 3, Camera
RAW 6.1
I do have a 7D Mark II.

Using the program I have, I have been able to view my camera's RAW images
in the past. I have had the same program and same camera for over 8 years
and have used them both during that time. The problem came up when I
installed the program on a new computer. I can't remember if I had to do
something to the program when installing it on old computer or not, but it
seems like I must have had to do something extra if you need Lightroom 5.7
to view RAW images from a 7D Mark II camera.

Again, thank you so much for your help.
Dawnee

[Per Berntsen]

You must have been using version 5.7 or later on the old computer.

My guess is that you installed LR 3, and at some point upgraded to LR 5.

The installer for the upgrade could have been on a CD, or it could have been a download.

If it was a CD, it would most likely have been version 5.0, that you later upgraded to 5.7 or 5.7.1, which was the final version.

Do you still have access to the old computer? Look for an installer for LR 5 (you will need 5.7 or 5.7.1.)

The installer will be named something like Lightroom_5_LS11_win_5_7.exe.

If you find the installer, you can upgrade, but you will need the serial numbers for both LR 3 and LR 5 to be able to install.

If you can't find the numbers, you should be able to find them in your Adobe account, but only if you registered both versions with Adobe. If you have version 5 installed on the old computer, it may be possible to retrieve the serial number for that version.

LR 5 can no longer be downloaded from Adobe, so if you don't have the installer, you're out of luck.

The only remaining option (apart from subscribing to the Photography plan) is to use the free Adobe DNG Converter to convert (copies of) the raw files to DNG files that can be read by LR 3.

[dawneeray]

Ok, thank you.
I do not have access to anything on the old computer unfortunately.
Is there no longer an option to buy the lightroom program? Is it only
available through a subscription plan?

I will look into the DNG converter option.

Thank you,
Dawnee

[Per Berntsen]

Lightroom Classic is only available by subscription.

The cheapest option, the Photography plan (20 GB) is 10 US dollars a month.

If you decide to go with the DNG converter, read the instructions on the page I linked to above carefully.

You will have to set Compatibility to Camera Raw 5.4 and later in the DNG converter preferences.