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I shot .CR2 files on my Canon Rebel T7. Now I can't open the files in Lightroom 6. How can I convert the .CR2 files into a .RAW format?

Max
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    .CR2 files are a raw file format. What version of the Adobe Camera Raw plugin are you using with Lightroom? – Michael C Dec 01 '18 at 22:23
  • New to this and I don't have Adobe Camera Raw plugin. What should I do? – Max Dec 01 '18 at 22:27
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    Possible duplicate of How do I tell if ACR will work with my camera and how do I get the correct version for Photoshop? – inkista Dec 01 '18 at 22:47
  • I also tried the Adobe DNG Converter but it doesn't recognize any folders or CR2 files. – Max Dec 01 '18 at 22:51
  • @Max Lightroom requires the Adobe Camera Raw plugin to open any raw files from any camera. The version of ACR you have installed must have camera profiles for the camera from which the raw files came. The DNG convertor also depends on ACR for the information it needs about the raw files from each specific camera. All Adobe Products do. – Michael C Dec 01 '18 at 22:59
  • There should have been a version of ACR installed with LR, but it may need to be updated to recognize .CR2 files from a newer camera such as the Rebel T7. All .CR2 (Canon) or .NEF (Nikon) or raw files from other manufacturers are not the same. Each camera has specifics that the interpreting application needs to know in order to properly process the files. That's why you need the most current version of ACR. – Michael C Dec 01 '18 at 23:02
  • Thank you. I'll give it a shot. Appreciate your assistance. – Max Dec 01 '18 at 23:03
  • https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-in-installer.html – Michael C Dec 01 '18 at 23:06
  • @MichaelClark LR doesn't use the ACR plugin, it uses its own built in version. – ths Dec 02 '18 at 12:00
  • @ths LR uses files from ACR under the hood to do raw conversion. If you don't have a version of ACR that includes your camera model, LR can't open the raw files from that camera. – Michael C Dec 02 '18 at 19:39
  • @ths https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html#Canon – Michael C Dec 02 '18 at 19:41
  • notice that it says Lightroom CC, not 6. – ths Dec 02 '18 at 23:22
  • Downloaded Camera Raw 11.0 but I'm unable to add the plugin. Does that mean I have to spend another $100+ to get Lightroom CC instead of LR6? – Max Dec 03 '18 at 01:03
  • @ths LR6 is "perpetual" version 6.x covered in the last column. – Michael C Dec 16 '18 at 23:23
  • @Max, since there's no "perpetual" version of LR (i.e. LR6) that supports the newer T7, your most likely best option is to use the Adobe DNG converter, although that isn't without some penalty in terms of setting black point and not retaining all 'maker notes' in the EXIF info. Have you considered using Canon's DPP 4? It's what I use for much of my raw conversion (mostly because I like the finer control of color it allows). See also https://photo.stackexchange.com/q/99340/15871 and https://photo.stackexchange.com/q/65030/15871 – Michael C Dec 16 '18 at 23:27

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Adobe does not support the Canon Rebel T7 in LR6, only in the newer Lightroom CC/Lightroom Classic CC. If you'd like to, you can convert your .CR2 files to .DNG files using Adobe's DNG Converter (DNG is an open format created by Adboe meant as a replacement for proprietary camera RAW formats).

Lightroom 6 will then read the DNG files as you would expect.

As of December 2017, Lightroom 6 is no longer supported. Please see this Adobe blog post for more information: http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2017/12/6-14-now-available-last-perpetual-update-of-lightroom.html

Allen Howard
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