Shooting/Editing in RAW...could use some help.

papajay

First time shooting RAW...

I recently bought a new camera (Leica V-Lux1) which supports RAW, and it came with Adobe Elements software.

After taking some photos with the RAW setting, I downloaded them to my PC after loading the Elements software which (no surprise) put itself in the "pole position" as the default picture editor.

When the "get photos" command launched, what shows up are JPG images and RAW files (one of each for each photo I shot). The initial icon in the Elements Organizer for the RAW files is a graphic that looks like a fractured postage stamp, and I get a message saying the RAW files are not supported (even though Elements documentation tells me RAW is supported), so the files are not imported.

I tried to open the RAW files directly from my SD card using Windows Explorer and chose Adobe Elements also tried Corel Paint Shop with no luck. The RAW files are there, but I don't get a picture to edit....the "picture" just looks like a piece of gray cloth.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Richard

papajay wrote:

First time shooting RAW...

I recently bought a new camera (Leica V-Lux1) which supports RAW, and it came with Adobe Elements software.

After taking some photos with the RAW setting, I downloaded them to my PC after loading the Elements software which (no surprise) put itself in the "pole position" as the default picture editor.

When the "get photos" command launched, what shows up are JPG images and RAW files (one of each for each photo I shot). The initial icon in the Elements Organizer for the RAW files is a graphic that looks like a fractured postage stamp, and I get a message saying the RAW files are not supported (even though Elements documentation tells me RAW is supported), so the files are not imported.

I tried to open the RAW files directly from my SD card using Windows Explorer and chose Adobe Elements also tried Corel Paint Shop with no luck. The RAW files are there, but I don't get a picture to edit....the "picture" just looks like a piece of gray cloth.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Every manufacturer's RAW format is different. It might be that the software you tried does not support Leica's format. You might also want to see whether the camera itself has an option to produce PNG files, which are in an Adobe sponsored interchangeable format. I'm guessing that Elements might work with that, but I don't know for sure. Also, check Adobe's web site to see whether there is specific plugin for your camera.

Elaine

I agree...check out Adobe's site to see if there has been an update for Elements to support your camera. When I first got my 40D, my images looked broken in Elements too. An update fixed that.

papajay

Richard and Elaine:
Thank you both....your suggestions pointed me in the right direction. The problem did turn out to be an "update" plug-in for the Camera RAW was needed that included my particular make/model of camera. The need for it was "hidden in plain sight" in the fine print in the camera's user manual (but it was hidden really well).
Adobe's convoluted site was also no cake-walk for me either, but I finally was able to download the correct file.
Wow...and I just became a "convert" to RAW...so much easier/better than trying to post process JPG files!