Skip to main content
O
OnTheOutside
Participating Frequently
December 9, 2016
Answered

CS4 Camera Raw Support for Sony A7R2?

  • December 9, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 3106 views

I have a Sony A7R2 and am using Photoshop and Bridge CS4, but my raw files (.ARW) cannot be shown as a thumbnail preview or opened in Photoshop. Can I install a driver so that I can use CS4? All the links I've found seem to want me to purchase the updated software to support the camera driver. Help?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Terri Stevens

    I am afraid you are out of luck with your camera as it is much newer than the CS4 software you are using. If you really want to use Camera Raw files then you have a few alternatives

    1) Subscribe to Creative Cloud Photography Plan at $10/month

    2) Buy a copy of Photoshop CS6 as it will recognise your camera, but at $999 it might be rather an expensive solution-and actually not advised

    3) Use the free Adobe DNG converter. This will recognise the camera output and convert the raw files losslessly into digital negatives that Photoshop can open.

    Adobe - Adobe Camera Raw and DNG Converter : For Windows https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html

    Adobe - Adobe Camera Raw and DNG Converter : For Macintosh

    3 replies

    O
    OnTheOutsideAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    December 10, 2016

    Thank you both for the helpful information. I updated the camera raw using the link R_Kelly sent and immediately the preview images show up in Bridge and open with Camera Raw. Thank you! And thank you Terri for all the scrrenshots and info for another workaround! So helpful!

    Success!

    Terri Stevens
    Terri Stevens
    Legend
    December 10, 2016

    very glad to hear that it is now working for you. There is not any great disadvantages to using the converter apart from the fact it takes a little time to work. On my system it did 3 conversions in batch mode in 45 seconds, so 15 minutes to do 60 exposures which isn't too bad.

    O
    OnTheOutsideAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    December 9, 2016

    I followed the steps above, downloaded DNG Converter 9.1.1 which supports the Sony A7R2 and when I try to open the DNG files it states "Cannot open file. Not the right kind of document"  Any idea what is going on? Also, no thumbnail preview shows up in Bridge.

    Jeff Arola
    Community Expert
    Jeff ArolaCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 10, 2016

    You most likely need to update the camera raw plugin for cs4 to camera raw 5.7

    or set the dng converter compatibility preferences to camera raw 4.6 and later.

    You can use newer versions of the dng converter than the one that first supported a particular camera, since camera support is cumulative and

    newer versions have bug fixes.

    windows

    Adobe - Photoshop : For Windows : Camera Raw 5.7 update

    mac

    Adobe - Photoshop : For Macintosh : Camera Raw 5.7 update

    sample images from

    Sony A7R II Review - Gallery

      Terri Stevens
      Terri Stevens
      Legend
      December 10, 2016

      I actually loaded DNG Converter 9.1.1 onto a virtual machine that doesn't have any other Adobe software on it. I also used imaging-resource.com to get a raw Sony AR7II image . I used this one

      Digital Cameras, Sony A7R II Digital Camera Test Image http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/sony-a7r-ii/sony-a7r-iiTHMB.HTM

      I set it up this way

      Processing starts

      and finishes after about 30 seconds.

      There is a 50% increase in file size, but the settings I used do incorporate a full sized jpeg preview.

      The DNG file shows as a preview in Bridge anmd when double clicked opens Camera Raw

      and after making adjustments you can 'open image' in Photoshop

      I did however see online that Sony introduced a firmware update in October 2015 that supported uncompressed 14 bit raw files and these don't seem to be supported. I can't test this without having the camera, but maybe it would be an idea to try conversions using compressed AR7II raw files-assuming that option is selectable on the camera.

      Sony a7r II uncompressed raw file support in Camera Raw and Lightroom

      Terri Stevens
      Terri StevensCorrect answer
      Legend
      December 9, 2016

      I am afraid you are out of luck with your camera as it is much newer than the CS4 software you are using. If you really want to use Camera Raw files then you have a few alternatives

      1) Subscribe to Creative Cloud Photography Plan at $10/month

      2) Buy a copy of Photoshop CS6 as it will recognise your camera, but at $999 it might be rather an expensive solution-and actually not advised

      3) Use the free Adobe DNG converter. This will recognise the camera output and convert the raw files losslessly into digital negatives that Photoshop can open.

      Adobe - Adobe Camera Raw and DNG Converter : For Windows https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html

      Adobe - Adobe Camera Raw and DNG Converter : For Macintosh

      O
      OnTheOutsideAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      December 9, 2016

      This is all very helpful, thank you. Do you know if I use the DNG converter, will I see thumbnail previews when browsing in Bridge?

      War Unicorn
      Community Expert
      War UnicornCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 9, 2016

      OnTheOutside wrote:

      This is all very helpful, thank you. Do you know if I use the DNG converter, will I see thumbnail previews when browsing in Bridge?

      Yep.

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices