scg3 wrote:
Has anyone had any experience with Canon EOS 6D Mark IIs and its RAW downloads in Photoshop CS6? They don't open! Adobe's website says to install Adobe RAW 9.1.1 to solve the problem and although I tried that I either didn't do it right or it doesn't work. Very annoying! I called Canon and they walked me through Digital Photo Professional 4, which opens the RAW files but creates one more step that I'd rather avoid. The Canon guy also said that it's likely I'd have to upgrade to Photoshop CC, which has a monthly fee. This would be annoying since my CS6 still works well. Failing any of this, does anyone know if the current version of Photoshop Elements would work with my new camera?
Thanks in advance for anyone's informed advice! -- Spencer Grant
Has anyone had any experience with Canon EOS 6D Ma... (
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If you want to purchase a software, I'd highly recommend Lightroom 6 instead of Elements. Lightroom interfaces with Photoshop very well and the last version of LR (6.12) is compatible with 6D Mark II, according to the Adobe website.
Photoshop CS6 (which I use, too)
cannot be updated enough to work with 6D Mark II. Adobe Camera Raw 9.12 or later is required for your camera. The final update of ACR for PS CS6 was 9.1.1, which you've installed. You would have to get Photoshop CC via "cloud" subscription, in order to be able to use ACR 9.12 or later. You are probably aware the subscription costs $120 a year now (incl. both PS and LR).
Adobe stopped updates for CS6 a couple years earlier than LR6. Neither of them will be updated any further, so will not work with the most recently introduced cameras. But LR6 updates were only discontinued last year, so it's able to handle 6DII. LR6 is still widely available on DVD or by download, for about $150. Getting it would also provide you a powerful cataloger and image organizer, in addition to a relatively seamless interface with PS CS6 (the two are actually designed to work together).
A free alternative would be to download and use the free Adobe DNG Converter, as others have mentioned. If you do that, I recommend you archive both the DNG and the original CR2 files from your camera. Don't dispose of your CR2s! Some day you may want them to work with in another software. DNG works pretty darned well with Adobe products, but some users have noted "issues" when using other image editing & optimization programs to work with DNG, and regret not saving their original files. (Search for info about DNG problems online, if interested.)
P.S. I nearly forgot.... If you happen to have an older version of Lightroom (4 or 5, I think)... there was a cheaper $99 "upgrade" to LR6 available that I took advantage of. It's only available when bought directly from the Adobe website as a download and is very well hidden
! You have to put the regular version in your "cart" and start the checkout process, then look for a little pull-down menu, where Adobe has carefully hidden the upgrade. It's almost as if they don't want you to upgrade! When you buy a full version of LR, it's licensed to install and use on two or three computers. Supposedly the upgrade is limited to one computer... but I had no problem installing it on both my desktop and laptop (where I had LR5 on both previously).
Also, if you buy LR6 on disc... and possibly even some downloads from other than the Adobe site... you may get an earlier version and need to update it to get to the latest and greatest (and last) version 6.12, which will work with your camera. If downloaded direct from Adobe, I would expect it to be the latest (last) version.
P.S.S. I learned my lesson the hard way many years ago, so I always check software/camera compatibility before buying. About 10 years ago I upgraded from a Canon 30D cameras to a couple 50Ds. Turned out that my version of Photoshop (forget which, but it was before LR existed IIRC) wouldn't work with the new cameras. So I had to update Photoshop, too.... for an additional $250 or so at that time. But, it turned out that the latest Photoshop wouldn't work with my computer's operating system... and I was looking at another $150 for that! However, the latest and greatest PS really wouldn't run well on my old computer's CPU and RAM... I finally ended up buying & building a whole new computer instead... for an additional $1500 or so. That was a VERY expensive camera upgrade, in the end!