Using RAW files

WHAT IS RAW? Most digital cameras these days can store the photographs in either RAW or JPEG format. JPEG is an 8-bit (still) compressed format, giving 256 values for each Red, Green and Blue values, making a total of around 16 million possible colors. The RAW format for most DSLR's these days store 12-bit information, rather than 8 bits. WHY USE RAW? The extra bits of RAW means more accuracy (4096 values per color instead of 256, or 12 bits instead of 8 bits, where modern cameras even can do 14 bits) which effectively means you can deal with under- and overexposed photographs a lot better in hindsight. Also, the image is lossless, so you get the best quality your camera's sensor can deliver. Ofcourse, this isn't a reason to ALWAYS shoot in RAW. RAW files take up more space and cost more time in post-production. So if you're not too concerned with quality (like when shooting at parties), JPEG may be all you need. ADOBE CAMERA RAW With Photoshop CS2 comes Camera Raw (3.1). For EOS 350D/400D cameras, you'll have to upgrade to get Camera Raw to recognize the formats. Visit Adobe's site for information on the upgrade (it's free). The 400D requires v3.6, the 350D is supported under v3.5. The update contains only the loading filter; 'Camera Raw.8bi'. Place this file in your Photoshop installation directory, i.e. C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Plug-Ins\File Formats. This will enable Photoshop to load .cr/.cr2/.nef files (NEF files are Nikon RAW files). ADOBE CAMERA RAW, ADOBE BRIDGE AND CR2 FILES This is specific to EOS 350D cameras, which produce .CR2 files. The default Camera Raw 3.1 for Photoshop CS2 must be upgraded to accept CR2 files. However, after upgrading, you might find that Adobe Bridge still only displays icons for CR2 files. Here's the fix: After having upgraded to Camera Raw v3.7 (or up), quit Photoshop/Camera Raw. Use Explorer to browse to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Plug-Ins\File Formats (the path may vary according depending on your Photoshop installation) Notice the 'Camera Raw.8bi' plugin, which deals with CR2 loading. Right-click the file and select 'Copy'. Browse to 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CS2\File Formats', which is where the Adobe Bridge RAW file format plugin lives. Right-click and select 'Paste'. Note that this directory seems fixed and cannot be changed during installation. Restart Photoshop and start Bridge. It now has the ability to display thumbnails for the CR2 files. However, you may notice that thumbnails of previously visited directories don't work yet. For that, use the menu item 'Tools | Cache | Purge cache for this folder' to recreate the thumbnails for any missing .cr2 files. THUMBNAILS OF RAW FILES (.CR2/.CRW etc) Getting thumbnails for .cr2 and .crw files in XP can be tricky these days. The older method which works for most cameras before 2007 is from Microsoft itself: Visit the Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer download page This works for cameras including my own Canon EOS 350D and 5D (mark I). For the EOS 50D and 5D mark II, you will have to look further, since Microsoft doesn't seem to update the above thumbnailer anymore. In that case, try: dpMagic - some commercial solutions are available, but also a free plugin to view RAW files for newer cameras such as the 50D. Just get the dpMagic Community download, which is free, to be able to view those thumbnails.

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