Help me make my pictures pictures again!

December 13, 2006 2:35 PM

[Digital Camera N00b Filter] I took a bunch of photos on my new camera (Canon Rebel) in RAW, but when I use the software that came with the camera it uploads them onto the computer as .avi files that I can't open. At one point I managed to upload them through another program as .crw files, but I still didn't know what to open them with (photoshop didn't work). How do I make them pictures again?
posted by elr to Technology (8 answers total)

My experience with Canon RAW files is that Photoshop will open them. Just guessing here but are you sure the settings on the camera aren't saving in the wrong format?

If you put the memory card in a card reader and just try to browse the files, can you see the file format?
posted by Bael'Gar at 2:40 PM on December 13, 2006

If you have Photoshop, Adobe Camera Raw is the way to go. It's free. Otherwise coerce your Canon software to save JPGs, or get rawshooter.
posted by Nelson at 2:41 PM on December 13, 2006

First make sure that the files are saved as the correct format on your computer (.crw). You can reassign the extension for the .avi files by turning off the "hide known file extensions" option in Windows Explorer.

Then you'll need the Adobe Camera RAW Plug-in to work with the RAW files in Photoshop.
posted by roomwithaview at 2:42 PM on December 13, 2006

Rawshooter Rocks.

Photoshop CS1 cannot use the latest RAW Importer that works with the Digital Rebel XT. If you have the Rebel (as you say you do, but I think you mean XT or XTi) then you can open your raw images in CS1 + Raw Import Plugin

The Microsoft Raw Preview for Windows XP is nice too (for previewing).
posted by SirStan at 3:16 PM on December 13, 2006

Btw.. my Rebel XT saves raw images as '.CR2' files, not .CRW.
posted by SirStan at 3:17 PM on December 13, 2006

Did you actually install the Canon software? I ask because I had a similar problem with my Macintosh where none of my programs would properly import the RAW files off my 30d. Irritated and confused, I finally broke down and installed the Canon utilities. Worked great. Also allowed for a bunch of functionality I didn't know the camera had. (Like using the computer as a timed remote shutter release).

Normally I try to avoid the crappy software that comes with my electronics. Especially if I can just plug it in and make it work, but in this case the Canon software was well worth it.
posted by quin at 5:47 PM on December 13, 2006

My favorite program for converting raw files is BreezeBrowser. You can demo it for a month for free, and it's not super expensive to buy. If you're using windows! (otherwise: Lightroom? iPhoto? I dunno).

If you have an new model rebel, and want to use photoshop, make sure you get the latest version of the Adobe Camera Raw plugin.

As for downloading, you should be able to use any number of tools just fine. The Microsoft Camera & Scanner wizard might do it for you. The fastest (and easiest IMO) way to get images off a camera is to just get a USB or firewire CF reader and use that. The card will show up as a drive full of CRW or CR2 of JPG or whatever files. Easy and fast.
posted by aubilenon at 7:36 PM on December 13, 2006

There are a number of programs, as mentioned above, that will do this for you, but not all versions of photoshop will. Also, if you are new to digital SLRs, you might want to shoot JPEG or Raw+JPEG while you learn what you can do with your camera. DSLRs are great cameras but do require some work to get the most out of them.

To add to aubilenon's answer, iPhoto does handle .CR2 files.
posted by TedW at 6:07 AM on December 14, 2006