Out of Gas

Adobe calls time on Photoshop CS6

Adobe has said that the next Camera Raw update, v9.1.1, is to be the last one to support Photoshop CS6. Future updates will only apply to the Creative Cloud software. CS6 will of course continue to work but in future it won’t be possible to use it to edit raw images from newer cameras.

There is a possible workaround through Adobe’s DNG format, but this won’t support new lens profiles and undermines the basic concept of raw files being independent of particular software packages, essential if you still want to edit those files long after that software has been dropped from development.

Personally, I don’t think that this is such a big deal. Photoshop CS6 will still continue to be an excellent image editor and many of us have already switched to alternative raw converters, most of which can output .psd files suitable for further editing with Photoshop. But if you still want to work with raw files with Adobe software you’ll have to sign up for the Creative Cloud and hope Adobe doesn’t screw you on the pricing in future, or switch to Lightroom and hope Adobe maintains the standalone version.

Alternative raw editors include Capture One Pro and DxO Optics. Capture One can roundtrip .psd files so that they can be re-imported back to Capture One after editing in Photoshop, while Optics integrates nicely with Lightroom.


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