New to RAW w/ Paint Shop Pro

[JayHawk]

I'm using PSP v. 8.10, and I everytime I try to open a RAW file from my card reader, the program just shuts down. Do I have to do something to my files first before I can put them into PSP? The file extensions are .CR2 if that helps.

I'm pretty new to digital photography, so the simpler the explanation the better :D

Thanks in advance.

Jay

P.S. switching to Photoshop isn't an option.....don't want to drop any more $$$ at this time.

[Robert_Lay]

This is just a guess, but maybe PSP does not recognize CR2. I believe I have seen posts on POTN involving use of PSP for CRW files, but it may be that they don't support CR2.
I don't see any info about that version of PSP at Corel's Web site, but I do see that when you buy PSP X, that they throw in RAW Shooter Essentials. That suggests that if you just go get RSE as a free download, you have as good or better chance of getting the CR2 files to work.

Edit:
The version I have is 1.1.3, and I think that is the latest available for free from Pixmantec.

[Jack W.]

Version 8 of PSP does not support RAW files. That started with verson 9.
But the RAW converter in PSP 9 was/is pretty anemic.
Grab RawShooter Essentials free:
www.pixmantec.com

Jack

[Coach]

I have PSP X now, but my PSP 8 would also crash when browsing folders with .cr2 files. I finally deselected the file format association in PaintShop (under File/Preferences) and it just ignored the files instead of crashing.

[JayHawk]

Version 8 of PSP does not support RAW files. That started with verson 9.
But the RAW converter in PSP 9 was/is pretty anemic.
Grab RawShooter Essentials free:
www.pixmantec.com (http://www.pixmantec.com)

Jack

That seemed to work. I downloaded RSE for free, and it "batch processes" the RAW files into JPEG's and opens them in PSP. I guess what I need to figure out now is how much editing or what type of editing should I do in RSE vs. how much I should do is PSP?

[Jack W.]

That seemed to work. I downloaded RSE for free, and it "batch processes" the RAW files into JPEG's and opens them in PSP. I guess what I need to figure out now is how much editing or what type of editing should I do in RSE vs. how much I should do is PSP?

You can set RSE to convert to .jpg or .tif, and also designate a folder where you want the converted images to be saved. In my case, I have a folder labeled "RAW Shooter Converted" on my second hard drive.
You can also choose NOT to open the converted image in PSP (or another program). I prefer not to have it open when the conversion is done.
As for what you should do in RSE vs. PSP, I'd suggest experimenting. PSP has a noise reduction tool which isn't bad, but I've found that RSE is excellent (as are the other tools). I bought RAW Shooter Premium and their Color Engine, and I'm really pleased with the results I get.
Again, experiment and see what works for you.
That, to me, is half the fun!
Jack