GWBELL345 Loc: Allentown PA

I bought Photoshop CS5 as a close out just before Adobe went to a subscription service. CS5 met all of my needs until but I bought a Canon 5D Mark 4 which produces RAW files as CR2. This format is not compatible with CS5. I do not want to go to PS subscription since CS5 does everything except RAW files for me. I can use the software from Canon to process the files, but I was wondering if there is a work around that can be used with PS CR5 - I cannot update the program from Adobe. Any thoughts?

bleirer

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/adobe-dng-converter.html

Might be worth a try.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

The Adobe DNG converter that bleirer noted is one solution and it's free. Here's another: https://thepluginsite.com/products/metaraw/

Joe

MarcusTitus Loc: Dallas

DNG Converter from Adobe is your answer. I just downloaded version 12.2.1.417 to convert the CR3 files from a RP for use in PS6. Yes, I have an old version of PS................

GWBELL345 Loc: Allentown PA

I tried your suggestion and it works. Thanks for the tip

tramsey Loc: Texas

There you seem you just joined the forum and all ready you've learned something,
Great way to start with questions. Welcome to the forum now ask questions oh you've all ready done that so start posting photos and having fun,

Welcome

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

If you use the DNG converter as the tool to transfer CR2 files from your card to your computer it will be (almost!) seamless. You have to transfer the files anyway so you can transfer and convert in one batch step.

twice_shooter

Have you tried updating Camera Raw? Version 6.7 will work with CR2. That was the last update for CS5.

bleirer

It varies by camera model, not all cr2 is the same. 5div needs camera raw version 9.7.

https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Yes it certainly is, because CR2 files are being used by Canon cameras for about 20 years, your CS5 is just not able to adjust to the Mark IV. 6.7 I think is the latest version of ACR that can be upgloaded into CS5 and thats just way to old to handle newer cameras.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

First of all, the final licensed version of Photoshop, prior to their going to the subscription service only, was CS6, which was first introduced in May, 2012 (not CS5, which is a couple years older, intro'd in April 2010 and updated to CS5.5 in mid 2011).

But, even CS6 won't help with 5DIV CR2 files.... The last CS6 updates was v13.something (2016) and the last Adobe Camera RAW it supports is v9.1.1(.something ?). That's unable to work with 5DIV CR2 too.

As noted in other responses, one possibility is to download and install Adobe DNG Converter and run your camera's CR2 files through that first, converting the CR2s into Adobe's "Universal RAW" DNG file format. The DNG then could be worked in CS5 (or CS6). To be sure you are okay with this, search online for "DNG problems" before doing it (and even then, might want to archive your CR2 files, not trash them after conversion to DNGs).

Another possibility would be to use Lightroom 6, which continued to be licensed and updated for a couple years longer than Photoshop. As a result, later versions of LR6 (the last being v6.14) are able to work with 5DIV CR2 files... which can then be exported converted to CS5/CS6 as 16-bit TIFF for further work. I am doing that now (LR6.14 and PSCS6.13) with Canon M5 CR2 files.... circumventing the same issue. I've never done it, but I believe it's also possible for Lightroom to export the files as DNG and, perhaps, PSD that are workable in CS6 (and CS5?).

The problem with LR6 is that it's also no longer officially sold and no longer supported by Adobe. It's hard to find a copy to buy and won't be further updated.

There are other organizers with RAW converters available that you could use in a similar way, to first convert the 5DIV CR2 into a 16-bit TIFF that's then worked in PSCS5. There's not much (any?) loss of quality doing this, though the TIFF files are pretty big. As a result, when done making adjustments and tweaks in PSCS5, you may want to save the finished image file as an 8-bit JPEG.... that will be much smaller and more than enough quality for most purposes, including printing, online sharing, etc. Some alternatives to LR6 that come to mind are Capture One (pricey, but powerful), or more affordable On1 or Alien Skin/Exposure X (the latter has changed names, I think).

Of course, the other option is to simply subscribe to the LR/PS CC plan for $10 a month.. Ultimately that may work out to be more expensive, of course. Depends upon what you've used and how often you updated. For me, it's about the same cost either way. I found that my periodic updating of LR and PS averaged pretty close to the same $120 a year. Others who updated more often than me (all but one versions of LR since introduction, and approx. every other version of PS since the mid-1990s), will realize some savings with the subscription, while anyone who updates less frequently than me would end up spending more on the subscription.

A final alternative would be to just buy Adobe Elements 2020 and use that instead. It is sort of like a "lite" version of both PS and LR combined, has a lot of built in and aftermarket support for users, and can do most (all?) of what many people need to do to their images. There are some minor limitations on more advanced processes (such as you need to convert image to 8-bit before you can work in layers & masks). But it's more than enough software for a lot of people and only costs $100 (or less if on sale) for a permanent subscription. Current 2020 version will have no problem handling 5DIV CR2 files. I don't know how the functionality of Elements 2020 compares with PSCS5, but wouldn't be surprised if today's Elements is more powerful than a a ten year old version of PSCS5.

Note: The latest Canon cameras, the ones with Digic 8 processors and ability to shoot 4K video, are now producing CR3 files. As far as I can tell, the primary difference between CR2 and CR3 is that the latter have some lossless compress-ability. I don't know the details, except that only the most up-to-date software can work with the CR3 files.

dannac Loc: 60 miles SW of New Orleans

Not free, but this should also work.

http://thepluginsite.com/products/metaraw/index.htm

http://thepluginsite.com/products/metaraw/compatibility.htm

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

Download the Adobe DNG converter. Convert the CR2's to DNG and then you will be able to process them in Adobe Camera RAW. The converter will batcgh convert all CR2 files in a single folder.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Yes, this converter will batch convert all your cr2’s to dog’s which is Adobe’s design.

GWBELL345 Loc: Allentown PA

Thank you for the detailed information. At this time I want to stay with CS5 and I have downloaded the DNG converter. I tried the converter with one CR2 file and it seemed to take a long time to make the conversion, but it did work. As others have said in the great RAW/JPEG debate that I have read, I will probably only convert some RAW files whereof I need to improve shadows and other problems. As I get more familiar with RAW, I might move to use this format more often.

I take RAW-Jpeg photos, download the Jpeg and keep the RAW files on the disk. With 64 Gb disks in the camera, one can record a lot of RAW files. Thanks again for the advice.