Adobe embraces latest Canon, Nikon, Sony SLRs

Now supported by Adobe: Sony's new top-end Alpha A900 SLR.

(Credit: Sony)

Adobe Systems has updated Photoshop's ability to deal with raw-format images from several of the latest SLR cameras with its new version 4.6 of the Camera Raw plug-in. Adobe's John Nack has the download links.

Less than a month after beginning beta testing, the final version is out with support for Canon's newer entry-level EOS Rebel XS, its brand-new midrange EOS 50D, Nikon's freshly released midrange D90 and full-frame D700, Pentax's newest entry-level model, the K2000, and Sony's ambitious 24-megapixel full-frame Alpha A900.

Also released is a new version of the DNG Converter software, which can help out people with older, more limited, or slower-moving software handle the newer file formats by converting them into Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) format. Raw files, which are taken directly from camera image sensors with no in-camera processing such as sharpening or color balance, preserve more detail than JPEG but require manual processing. And keeping up with the numerous proprietary raw formats is a lot of work for software companies.

In more rarefied realms, the new software supports several medium-format products from Leaf, the Aptus II 6 and 7 digital backs and AFi II 6 and 7 camera bodies. Also on the list is the more unusual Fujifilm FinePix IS Pro, an SLR that can be used to take infrared and ultraviolet light photos.

The software also supports some higher-end compact cameras that can produce raw images, including the Sigma DP1, the Olympus SP-565 UZ, and the Nikon Coolpix P6000.

The new cameras are also supported in Lightroom 2.1, currently in beta. And if the fleeting lag between the Camera Raw plug-in beta and the Lightroom 2.1 beta is anything to judge by, the final version of Lightroom 2.1 should arrive soon.