Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Beginner's Questions => Topic started by: MiguelMorales on July 15, 2010, 03:57:41 pm

Title: Do I need to convert Raw files?
Post by: MiguelMorales on July 15, 2010, 03:57:41 pm

I'm new to using raw files, so new that I haven't been able to decide which camera to buy though I'm leaning towards a Panasonic LX3 or a 4/3.

Here's my question.....Can all Raw files be used in Lightroom 3 or does some need to be converted first. Please fill me in on this subject as much as possible to get me heading in the right direction.

Thanks

Miguel

Title: Do I need to convert Raw files?
Post by: Wayne Fox on July 15, 2010, 04:37:56 pm

Quote from: MiguelMorales

I'm new to using raw files, so new that I haven't been able to decide which camera to buy though I'm leaning towards a Panasonic LX3 or a 4/3.

Here's my question.....Can all Raw files be used in Lightroom 3 or does some need to be converted first. Please fill me in on this subject as much as possible to get me heading in the right direction.

Thanks

Miguel

LR (and Adobe Camera Raw) support most raw formats, and Adobe adds new cameras as they come to market.  To see if it supports the ones you want you can check here ...

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html)

Title: Do I need to convert Raw files?
Post by: digitaldog on July 15, 2010, 05:09:16 pm

Quote from: MiguelMorales

Here's my question.....Can all Raw files be used in Lightroom 3 or does some need to be converted first. Please fill me in on this subject as much as possible to get me heading in the right direction.

Raw files are just that, raw so the need is to have a raw converter that renders the data into something you can use elsewhere like Photoshop. Lightroom, Camera Raw, Bibble, C1 etc all are differing raw converters used for this task.

This may help:
http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/p...renderprint.pdf (http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/family/prophotographer/pdfs/pscs3_renderprint.pdf)

Title: Do I need to convert Raw files?
Post by: feppe on July 15, 2010, 07:30:05 pm

To add to the above, many RAW converters allow you to view and work with the RAW files themselves, and you only really need to convert the file to JPEG (or TIFF or PSD) if you put it online or send to your granny.

Title: Do I need to convert Raw files?
Post by: ejmartin on July 20, 2010, 12:42:11 am

What you might have heard is that when Adobe releases a new version of LightRoom or Photoshop, they immediately stop issuing updates to support new cameras with previous versions of these products.  In such a situation, you can use Adobe DNG Converter to convert the newer raw files to a form (a .dng file) that can be read by older Adobe raw conversion software.  However, LR3, being the current release, supports existing cameras, including the ones you mention.