TiP to see if the raw files from your camera are supported in Lightroom, go to the Adobe Photoshop website at www. adobe.com/products/ photoshop/cameraraw.html. those cameras that are capable of capturing raw images using the digital negative (dng) format also can be supported by Lightroom. the dng format offers many benefits: it is a self-contained raw format that can incorporate externally edited XmP metadata (no need for .xmp sidecar files), and, because it is an open standard format, it offers better long-term support. What you need Lightroom is designed specifically for photographers working with digital capture files. Lightroom can process JPEGs, TIFFs, raw images, and video files. If your camera is capable of capturing raw images, I strongly advise you to shoot in raw mode whenever possible. Lightroom currently supports more than 350 different raw camera formats. You will require a computer that meets the minimal specifications listed below. Although it is possible to run Lightroom with a minimum of RAM, Lightroom will certainly benefit from having as much memory as possible. Therefore, it is recom- mended that you install at least 2 GB of RAM. Choosing a computer with a fast processor will help, of course. You don't need much hard disk space to install and run Lightroom, but you will need to give serious consideration to how you will store all the images in the catalog. Some people can easily shoot 10 GB worth of images or more in a day. If you export some of those files as rendered TIFFs or PSDs, you can see how your storage requirements can grow considerably in a short amount of time. For more information on computer systems and backup strategies, see Chapter 3 (and the Appendix). Here are the minimum requirements for Mac and PC systems. Note that Lightroom 4 no longer supports Windows XP or Mac 32-bit systems, but you can install 32-bit or 64-bit versions on a PC. Mac