RAW images are an uncompressed image format (as they include all the data regarding the tone, color or brightness of each graphic file), that allow us to obtain high-quality files to be later edited with any tool after developing them. Adobe Camera Raw is Adobe's official plug-in to work with RAW files in Photoshop.

This plug-in offers compatibility with almost all cameras available on the market that can produce this peculiar format.

Once we have installed this plug-in we'll be able to adapt the image (configure the color levels, brightness, tone depth, contrast, photo output size,...) to our own liking, so we can touch it up with the editor however we want: apply filters, crop elements or export it to any format of our choice.

Among the cameras that are compatible with Camera Raw we'll find the following models: Canon EOS-1D, PowerShot 600 or EOS 450D (Digital Rebel XSi/EOS Kiss X2), Kodak DSC 14n, Olympus E-1, Epson R-D1, Nikon D3S, ...

Thanks to Camera Raw you won't need any other application to prepare the image files from your camera before being able to edit and retouch them in Adobe Photoshop.