Have you encountered a Photoshop Error/Warning message: Could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document…?
Ok, if you are like me you don’t upgrade to the latest version of every software package that you might be using – sometimes you simply don’t need all the new bells & whistles. If, however, you do get a new camera then you may need to find a work-around to get your new camera image files into a form that your old software can use.
One solution – only use a file format that your software supports (i.e. TIFF, JPEG, etc.) Of course the downside to this is you may lose some of the special data that your RAW files contain; you will also lose some flexibility in image editing since RAW files may provide more room for aggressive editing.
In most cases (for higher end cameras) vendor software is typically provided for editing RAW image files. If, however, you have Adobe Photoshop CS2 and RAW support for your camera is only available in Adobe Photoshop CS4 then what else can you do?
Enter a simple, portable solution from Adobe – Adobe DNG (digital negative) format. The DNG converter/reader is FREE – download, install, convert your new RAW files to DNG and then crank up your old version of Photoshop. The downside? Hmm, you may not be getting access to all of the information available in the RAW file – which could also be true for ACR…
Another solution is to use some other image application tool(s) to access the RAW files and then move converted files into your version of Photoshop. In my case I started using (purchased) Adobe Photoshop Lightroom – which does support the latest cameras AND also supports RAW to edit in CS2 (creates a copy of the converted file which you then edit.) I do all of my custom printing from Lightroom – I think that it is a wonderful tool – when purchasing, make sure to check for discounts, i.e. if you have an education connection.
Another tool that I have recently explored is Bibble 5. This tools is cross OS, provides a license for Windows/Linux, has a nice interface, incorporates a number of plugins – I will provide a better review later this year. In the meantime – it also provides support for RAW files so it could be used to resolve your RAW file dilemma…
