Error msg after downloading pics to pc

Question

I transferred photos from a canon camera and after which i clicked on the image, it says that "To make a JPEG copy of this photo that you can edit with photo gallery, Click Make Copy." and then the picture doesn't show up. Afterwards if I click on the exit sign, it reads, "Photo Gallery can't open this photo or video. The file format is not supported, or you do't have the latest updates to photo gallery. While downloading, I can see the pictures. But when it is finished and try to click on any of them, it will not show up. How can I save the pictures to my pc? I use windows, I downloaded the pictures thru card reader in my laptop as well as I tried via USB but both produced same results.

Answer 1

Apple includes the Camera RAW support directly in the operating system -- opening photos (even RAW formats) generally "just works" using any Apple software. They do this because they have several different apps that need to be able to open photos so it's easier to include the functionality once (at the OS level) rather than have to re-write the support for each individual app.
On Windows, however... RAW support isn't just included, but Microsoft does offer an optional (free) download called the "Microsoft Camera Codec Pack". See: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26829
RAW is more of a concept than a specific format. Each camera actually has a slightly different RAW format. This means that depending on which camera your sister-in-law happens to own, this may or may not support that camera. The last update to it was July of 2013. As I scan the list of supported models, the only camera I can see which is NOT on the list is the 70D (but that's the newest Canon model so it's probably just a matter of time before they add that one too.)
Most people on Windows don't need to install this because Windows users generally install a photo processing app that already maintains RAW support for various cameras... for example Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, or Photoshop Elements gets RAW support from Adobe. But those programs are not free (Photoshop Elements is generally less than $100).
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Tim Campbell
5D II, 5D III, 60Da