How to open cr2 or Find solutions for working with the graphic format of Canon cameras for different OSes

Every year, more and morenumber of programs and applications for PCs and other platforms. Many users simply do not have time to follow the developments in the world of developers and often do not know which programs need to open this or that file format, which until then did not hear anything. In this article we will talk about how to open the CR2 - the format is not new, but still causing questions among a number of users.

Many professional photographers and amateur photographerswith experience know that the CR2 - is not nothing but a variety of popular graphics format RAW. It is used in many of Canon SLR cameras for a long time, but even today, not all users know what to open CR2. And you can do this in many ways and with several utilities for viewing and editing images. Let's take a closer look at each of the options.

Canon Raw Image File (this is the completethe name of the format we describe) is easiest to open with a free program called XnView. To do this, you need to download and install a suitable version of the program for your operating system on the PC, and then just start browsing the images of interest. The huge advantage of this utility is that with its help you can not only view several hundreds of graphic formats, but also convert files from one format to another. Thus, the "ill-fated" CR2 can easily be converted into any of the formats that you are accustomed to.

But sometimes it happens that the photos are needednot just to view, but also to edit. And all the tools available to the user, can not help to produce even the simplest manipulations with the problem called "format CR2". How to open and process images in this format in this case? The quickest solution is to use the Canon Digital Photo Professional application, which includes almost all Canon cameras. This software will not only allow you to view the captured files, but also to make their complete editing.

For those users who are used toprocessing photos with Photoshop, you can open CR2 and this program. The main thing is that its version should not be lower than CS2. If this graphics package still refuses to open CR2, then you must additionally install a plug-in called Adobe Camera Raw of the third or fourth version. However, to prevent any problems, it is advisable to use Photoshop CS4 or later, and ACR to install at least version 5.6. If you have these programs on your computer, you do not have to puzzle over what to open the CR2.

In addition to the methods described above, Windows users can open this format with other programs, for example, Google Picasa, ACDSee Photo Manager, IrfanView or Xara.

If the solution to this issue for users whose PCs are working with the Windows operating system is relatively simple, how to work with CR2, who has a different operating system installed on the computer?

There are a number of quality software thatwill help to fix this problem. On Apple OS X with the format of CR2 without the problems mentioned above, Google Picasa, Photoshop and native software package from Canon can work. Also this list can replenish Snap Converter and Apple iPhoto, but they lose in simplicity of work to their main competitors. But for a number of operating systems based on Linux, the users will not have much choice. If you still do not know how to open CR2 on this OS, then you have only one best option - Google Picasa. To date, this universal utility on this platform is still unmatched.

And, finally, do not forget that evolutiongraphics editors and image viewers do not stand still - maybe tomorrow you will be able to open photos from the Canon camera in the program that yesterday could not cope with this task.