Adobe has announced updates to Photoshop Lightroom and the Photoshop Camera Raw plugin. The updates are immediately available as free downloads for existing Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 users, and provide improvements to Photoshop integration, as well as new raw file support for 15 digital cameras including the Nikon D90, Nikon D700, Canon EOS 50D and Canon EOS 1000D.

According to the San Jose, California-based software company best known for its Flash player, the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.1 update includes two major enhancements. Those are:

 - additional camera support for the Canon 50D, Canon 1000D (Digital Rebel XS/EOS Kiss F), Nikon D700, Nikon D90, Sony A900 and more;
 - Several corrections for issues introduced by the Lightroom 2 release.

To install the new version, download the Lightroom 2.1 update, open the folder, double-click the updater file, and follow the onscreen instructions. Lightroom 2.1 will automatically replace Lightroom 2.0 in your Applications folder, as any update does.

As noted, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.1 is a free update to existing Lightroom users, and can be acquired using the download link below.

Download Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.1

The new version of the Camera Raw plugin replaces the original Camera Raw plugin that was installed with Adobe Creative Suite 4, Adobe Photoshop CS4, and Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 software, according to Adobe. The company notes that an incorrect installation of the updated Camera Raw plugin will prevent Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw 5.1 from reading raw images correctly. Therefore, users must read the installation instructions carefully. They can be found here.

As for what the update brings, Adobe has added support for the following cameras: Canon 1000D (Digital Rebel XS/EOS Kiss F); Canon 50D; Fuji FinePix IS Pro; Kodak EasyShare Kodak Z1015 IS; Leaf AFi II 6; Leaf AFi II 7; Leaf Aptus II 6; Leaf Aptus II 7; Nikon D700; Nikon D90; Nikon Coolpix P6000; Olympus SP-565 UZ; Pentax K2000 (K-m); Sigma DP1; Sony A900.

Users must also note that the Camera Raw 5.1 plugin is not compatible with versions of Photoshop earlier than Photoshop CS4, or with versions of Photoshop Elements earlier than Photoshop Elements 6.0.

Download Adobe Camera RAW 5.1