Which Photoshop do I need for a Canon 550d?

[Louisa911]

Hello

I will soon be purchasing a 550d- I've ordered Cyberlink Powerdirector 8 ultra for the video editing, and now need to sort out Photoshop for the images. My CS2 was fine for my old 300D, but heard that the 550d is very specific regarding which editions of Photoshop will open the RAW files.

I've recently finished Uni so very lacking in funds- would be lovely to hear that CS2 could be updated or a patch could be downloaded to allow for 550d raw files but I'm guessing this isn't possible and I'll somehow have to get CS5?

Please someone shed some light!

Many thanks
Louisa

[MikeGTi]

The 550d appears to use Canon Raw 2.. which I'm tempted to say is only supported by CS5 - Although I'll wait for somebody to correct me..

[RobDickinson]

AFIC ACR needs version 5.7 for the 550D files.

This requires a minimum of CS4.

Though you can use the DNG convertor and export as tiff then edit in CS2.

[Dogsey]

Louisa911 said:

... I've recently finished Uni ...

Still got a valid Student ID card? If so you should be able to pick up a student copy of PS at a considerably better rate.

[central]

Louisa911 said:

I've recently finished Uni so very lacking in funds

http://www.gimp.org/

http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/

http://www.rawtherapee.com/

All free.

[DIW35]

MikeGTi said:

The 550d appears to use Canon Raw 2.. which I'm tempted to say is only supported by CS5 - Although I'll wait for somebody to correct me..

Most of Canon's cameras produce CR2 raw files, but they differ from camera to camera. The CR2 files from my 40D were OK in CS3, but I had to upgrade to CS4 to read the CR2 files from my 5DII.

[ian in lancs]

Dogsey said:

Louisa911 said:

... I've recently finished Uni ...

Still got a valid Student ID card? If so you should be able to pick up a student copy of PS at a considerably better rate.

Softwareforstudents quote £163 for PS CS5

[ian in lancs]

as an alternative use lightroom for all but intensive edits and when you do that export from LR as PSD for editing.

[BlueMR2]

Sounds like Elements 9 will work as well if you want a cheaper version.

[xrrr]

Dogsey said:

Still got a valid Student ID card? If so you should be able to pick up a student copy of PS at a considerably better rate.

Be aware that the student versions of PS have some restrictions. I don't think you can buy upgrade licences for them. Photoshop Elements is probably your best bet.

[Major Bloodnok]

xrrr said:

Be aware that the student versions of PS have some restrictions. I don't think you can buy upgrade licences for them. Photoshop Elements is probably your best bet.

It used to be the case, but not any more, I think. My student copy of CS5 has no restrictions that I can see and there's nothing in my registration info to suggest that it's a student version. Adobe even let me do a cross-platform swap to Mac with no quibbles.

I could be wrong, of course, but that's what I've heard, and I haven't seen anything to counter that.

[buymeabar]

Why not download the Photoshop Elements 9 trial and test it? It's completely free. I have a legit copy but to be honest I hate it - prefer to do simple adjustments in Aperture 3 (which also might have the correct RAW compatibility - again if you're on a Mac the trial of that is free).

[pernod]

Major Bloodnok said:

It used to be the case, but not any more, I think. My student copy of CS5 has no restrictions that I can see and there's nothing in my registration info to suggest that it's a student version. Adobe even let me do a cross-platform swap to Mac with no quibbles.

I could be wrong, of course, but that's what I've heard, and I haven't seen anything to counter that.

They actually sell both versions with the student discount. A 'student and teacher edition' which can't be upgraded, or, for a bit more, you can get the full version still with the student discount (it's a bit of a no brainer in my view).

[dickonclark]

Maybe CS5, do you have any friends who are teachers if so go to the Adobe education store for an 80% discount. Depending on your budget Capture One by Phase One ( free trial ) is the best Raw converter by a mile!

www.dickonclark.co.uk