PS Elements 2.0 and Camera Raw 2.4 plug-in

Hi folks,

Like everyone else who bought a 20D, I got a new camera with an outdated software: PS Elements 2.0. I've been shooting mostly in jpeg, and a fried with a 10D who has a lot more experience has convinced me to start fooling around with RAW. I was able to install the Camera Raw 2.4 plug-in for CS (after finally figuring out that 3.1 is apparantly designed only for CS2) on my work computer, and it works. Now I'd like to have RAW support at home and tried first with PSE2, so I looked carefully at the Adobe website to find the compatible version. They clearly say that Camera Raw 2.4 is the correct plug-in for PSE2, and supports the 20D raw format.

After installing it, PSE2 finds the CR2 files (from an EOS 20D), but produces an error when trying to open them: "Unable to use the Camera Raw plug-in. It is not compatible with this version of Photoshop Elements." I realize I'm not telling you anything new, since after a search I found a couple of threads that assert that PSE2 doesn't support raw format. However, since Adobe claims on their site that it does, I thought I'd ask around whether something may have changed in terms of backward compatibility with the newer version of the Camera Raw plug-in. (Rather than write Adobe and wait a couple weeks to decide they're not writing back -- like the last time I wrote them -- I thought I'd ask here.)

Anyone know what the story is? Is there a plug-in for Elements 2.0 that can read the 20D raw format? If not, I'll look into some of the other threads here about RAW workflow.

Cheers,
Mike

The system requirements [edit: for ACR 2.4] clearly say otherwise:

System requirements
Adobe® Photoshop® CS for Windows®

Mike, you don't have to go the whole way to CS. You can go to Elements 3. That, with the proper plugin -- even 3.1, will work with all of Canon's raw formats. So far . . . . .

With the ACR 3.1 download you can get Adobe DNG, a stand alone program that will work with any editor, or you can use the software supplied by Canon with your camera and then edit in whatever editing program you choose.

Jim

Yes, upgrade to Photoshop Elements 3. If you run Windows you'll get a lot of new goddies too... the Adobe Photo Album software is bundles with Elements 3 and it's a really nice app actually!

Photoshop Elements 2.0 does not work with Adobe Camera Raw (whatever version) at all. You can't open RAW files with PS Elements 2.0.

If you don't want to upgrade your Photoshop Elements 2.0 to Elements 3.0, CS or CS2 but you still want to use RAW: there are lots of other programs to convert RAW images to a standard format like TIFF or JPEG; you got Canon Digital Photo Professional with your 20D, and another good (and free) program is RawShooter essentials.

Thanks for the clear answers, everyone.

You're right, it's not as I thought. The page I linked is categorized as follows:

The Updates/Programs refers to the version numbers of the Camera Raw updates, not the version numbers of PS Elements. The layout just misled me, since the version numbers coincide.

It's all Adobe's fault!

michapma wrote:
Thanks for the clear answers, everyone.

You're right, it's not as I thought. The page I linked is categorized as follows:


The Updates/Programs refers to the version numbers of the Camera Raw updates, not the version numbers of PS Elements. The layout just misled me, since the version numbers coincide.

It's all Adobe's fault!

I will agree with you that they support SO many updates for so many products, their site can be confusing. That you didn't get the right info from their site, is actually their fault. Go for the PSE 3.0 version, it looks pretty good.