You got that fancy new camera during an after-Christmas sale, and you're ready to go out and photograph! But when you get back and endeavor to import photos, you suddenly find yourself unable to do then in Lightroom or Lightroom Classic.

Then, what gives? Why can't you open up your files? At that place are three reasons why this might happen.

Your camera is too new

If you are 1 of the lucky first few to get a new photographic camera, congrats! But forth with that comes lack of support from some software. Adobe ordinarily updates its photography software on a monthly basis, so chances are, that camera will be supported with the next update.

Until and so … your all-time selection is to use the software that your camera manufacturer provides, or to apply Adobe DNG Converter (Mac / Windows). You tin can utilise this for free to convert your files to the Adobe standard DNG format, which you'll then be able to import into Lightroom.

And if you desire an easier workflow until the point Lightroom supports your photographic camera, try shooting in RAW+JPEG. This will allow you to import your JPEG files — just be certain to save your RAW files manually to your figurer.

You lot need a newer version of Lightroom

If you've been property off as long as possible to invest in the Creative Cloud ecosystem … you'll soon realize that y'all might not have much of a choice. If you lot're on Lightroom version 6 (the last perpetual version of Lightroom), your camera might exist newer to where it'due south not supported. For a complete list of supported cameras, visit the Adobe website.

And if you are a Creative Cloud subscriber, you yet might not have the most recent version of your Lightroom software. If you lot're having problem, bank check for updates in the Creative Deject app on your reckoner. Or, in Lightroom, go to Aid > Updates …

If you're gear up to upgrade, you can get the Artistic Cloud Photography Programme, which comes with Lightroom, Lightroom Archetype and Photoshop, for just $9.99/month. That also comes with 20GB of cloud storage for any photos you want to sync to your account.

Past subscribing to Creative Deject, you non only ensure back up for your camera, but you lot'll become new features as before long as they're released.

Your file format might not exist supported

Depending on what you're photographing, the format your camera generates might not be supported by Lightroom or Lightroom Archetype. For example, when I turn on Tripod or Handheld High Res on my Olympus OM-D E-M1X, I always get an error that states it can't import the .ORI files (which, as Bob points out in the comments, are the standard resolution version of the photograph). In this instance though, the camera too creates a .ORF file, which is supported by Adobe fully (and in this case, the high-resolution version I want).

While this can exist confusing, you shouldn't worry about this mistake. It'due south best to cheque your camera's manual to see what file formats it saves special types of photographs in, then you can be prepared.