Compatibility with Adobe software
I've been using Photoshop and Canon EOS cameras for years. Moved over to iMac about 5 years ago. So I'm reasonably conversant with the first two areas but by no means am I the world's expert on using Macs - I use it mainly for Photoshop and internet.
My question is more about how backward compatible these combinations are. I realise this is an Apple forum but it's hard to know who to approach on my problem and I'm going round in circles at present.
I have an iMac desktop running 10.6.8. with 2.8 Ghz processor and 4GB Ram - I know it's not the very latest but it does what I want it to and after all it's only just over 3 years old. I run Photoshop CS6 on it (i.e. not the cloud version). I also use a Macbook Air when going on photography trips, more as a hard drive for storage of RAW files. This runs on 10.7.5. and I have Photoshop CS5 on there (the difference is only because I haven't bothered to load the upgrade to CS6 yet). My cameras are EOS 1D Mk4 and newly acquired 7D Mk2. I like to shoot everything in RAW.
My EOS 1D works fine and I can open RAW images on both computers using Adobe Camera Raw. The 7D Mk 2 is the problem. Maybe Adobe hasn't issued the Adobe Camera Raw update yet but other forums seem to indicate it has (I believe it's 8.7.1) and clicking on the update tab in CS6 I'm told there are none to be downloaded.
A workaround is to use a DNG convertor but when I load the latest update for that (again 8.7.1) on to my iMac running 10.6.8. it says I need to have an operating system that's 10.7 or later. So my first question is - Does Apple not make these back compatible beyond a certain number of OS's - surely 10.6.8 isn't that ancient? I'm reluctant to upgrade to later versions like Mavericks or Yosemite simply because of all the bits of hardware (2 photo printers) and software. Also I've seen some scary stories on how Photoshop has been affected by these but maybe those issues have been resolved by now.
Tried to load the latest DNG update on to my Macbook Air which is 10.7 but that won't work either. The issue there might be because I haven't upgraded Photoshop CS5 to CS6 yet but I can do that. My second question is - before I upgrade the Photoshop software will the DNG convertor work and will Adobe Camera Raw work and open my EOS camera images using a 10.7 OS?
Bob
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)