How Many Upgrades?

UPGRADES!

We all like them, don't we?

With photo gear, an upgrade doesn't always have to mean from old to new. It could be switching brands or models to something more suited to us. It can mean getting the higher quality option we passed on originally because of price. Such as that faster aperture or extended range lens. 

In this digital age, a camera upgrade often is to a newer model. Just part of how the market currently works. And when we upgrade, we often get a LOT more than we may have thought at first. Ending up with us needing to upgrade more than just our camera body.

For instance, if we upgraded from an entry level camera of a few years back to an intermediate, pro-sumer, or pro quality current camera, we will have a lot more image file. We need higher capacity, faster data cards. We may need extra storage, such as an external hard drive. And we may have found our trusty version of our image processing program hasn't kept up.

If we shoot RAW in our DSLRs, and to get the most out of them, we do that quite a bit, then our old program probably won't recognize our new image files. Even tho they have the same extension as before, the RAW data format of the newer cameras will be slightly different. An NEF from a D40x is not the same as an NEF from a D7100. Same thing happens with Canon, Sony, Pentax, Fuji, Olympus, etc...

The reason your program you used with RAW from your Rebel won't read the 70D RAW file is because the program has been updated to a new version and the support for the older one usually stops at the time the new one is made.

So, ACDSee, Photoshop, or whatever from 2009 won't read that new for 2013 camera's file. The only thing to do for many of thee issues is to bite the bullet and open that wallet for your new program. Check online in your current program's help section first, of course, before spending anything, just to make sure.

What's cool about this, tho, is that you will get a reward beyond merely seeing your RAW files. Image processing programs are getting both better AND easier with each new version.

If you only shoot in JPEG, not an issue. But you are missing out on your new camera's fullest potential if not  shooting RAW. More on that in a later post...