Please HELP..ARW file

[wernew2cruising]

I have a Sony a200. I took pictures yesterday in raw and now I can't get them from the memory card to the computer. I have photoshop elements 6.0 and I downloaded a trial version of lightroom 2.x.

 

Can someone help me? Because this is me right now. :confused:

 

 

Lightroom's online forums are down through April 5.

[pierces]

I have a Sony a200. I took pictures yesterday in raw and now I can't get them from the memory card to the computer. I have photoshop elements 6.0 and I downloaded a trial version of lightroom 2.x.

 

Can someone help me? Because this is me right now. :confused:

 

 

Lightroom's online forums are down through April 5.

 

.ARW files are Sony's RAW file format. I use Elements 6.0 and it loads them just fine. I will add that I use Picasa to offload my cards and it also handles the RAW file format from my A700 on the rare occasion that I shoot RAW. Elements 6.0 Organizer should do it as well. If not, you may want to download and install the latest version of Adobe Camera RAW, just in case you have a version that was released before the A200. If you can't open them in Elements, this might be the case.

 

You can also transfer the files from the camera or card to a folder using Explorer just like any other file.

 

Is there a particular reason you need to shoot RAW instead of a high quality JPEG?

 

Dave

[wernew2cruising]

.

Is there a particular reason you need to shoot RAW instead of a high quality JPEG?

 

Dave

Well Dave, thanks for asking....LOL. I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!! :rolleyes:

 

I am in a photo class and the instructor said it would be better for post processing to shoot this way. He said you can do more things in photoshop with them shot in raw because of the layer thing.

 

Is this not true? Because I would much prefer not to do this but I would love to fix a picture if it is not quite right...and do cool things with backgrounds.

[pierces]

Well Dave, thanks for asking....LOL. I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!! :rolleyes:

 

I am in a photo class and the instructor said it would be better for post processing to shoot this way. He said you can do more things in photoshop with them shot in raw because of the layer thing.

 

Is this not true? Because I would much prefer not to do this but I would love to fix a picture if it is not quite right...and do cool things with backgrounds.

 

With only a few exceptions, you can process a JPEG the same as a RAW file. When you open the RAW file with ACR or another program and manipulate the base settings to correct white balance, contrast or some other camera setting and click "Done", the RAW converter applies the settings and opens it as a JPEG, PSD or TIFF bitmap so Elements can work with it. You can copy layers, create adjustment layers and generally mess with an out-of-the-camera JPEG the same as you can with one squeezed out of a RAW file. The excellent tools in Elements can even correct all but the worst white-balance errors in an otherwise properly exposed JPEG.

 

I typically shoot RAW in mixed or bad light or when switching quickly between multiple light sources (an event like a wedding) so if I forget to switch white balance, I can catch the faux pas later. In extensive side-by-side comparisons, I have found that a well-exposed X-fine in-camera JPEG produces quality prints indistinguishable from an image processed from a RAW file. You may notice some slight difference and loss of quality at 100% or more on you monitor, but I have a 40x60 print on my wall that I seldom view from 6" or less.;)

 

Besides, how many online galleries, sharing sites or print labs accept any of the hundred or so RAW formats?

 

My only caveat is to never save a manipulated JPEG to the original file. Always save it as a copy and leave the original untouched.

 

My article on resolution and memory use explains JPEG compression pretty well and is newbie-friendly: http://www.pptphoto.com/ArticlePages/VivaLaResolution.htm

 

Happy shooting!

 

Dave