Bulk Raw to Jpeg Converter

[Doctor]

I had a quick look, but couldnt find any advice on here relating to a Bulk Raw to Jpeg converter, i use CS3 to edit images, but im looking for a program that can convert a large number into a folder so that if i dont need to put them through PS, i dont have to, and then shots from events like my ski trip that really have no need for PP i can just distribute to my mates.

At this stage i cant shoot in both formats straight from the camera due to not having enough memory cards at the moment, until then, this is the basic solution!

Cheers

Chris

[Biggzie]

I dont use it, but I think Picaso can do this.

[phillipb]

So I guess what you want is a free (or close to it) program, otherwise buying memory cards would be cheaper.

Try Faststone image viewer, it's free. You can find it here http://www.faststone.org/

[DVEous]

... Obsolete ...

[gstark]

What Adam said, and I think that View NX = Nikon's free tool - will also do this.

Cano? Look in their free tools for batch functionality.

[rflower]

What Adam said, and I think that View NX = Nikon's free tool - will also do this.

Cano? Look in their free tools for batch functionality.

Yep View NX will do this (slowly) and it is free.
Programs like Bibble do this also (but it costs).

[aim54x]

I love the batch converter of Capture NX, but if you shoot canon then I have no idea how to help you. I have never been able to get PS to batch and save stuff properly without making a droplet that runs imageready, but then again i dont use PS for raw much.

good tip to look in the freebie software.

[Doctor]

I knew there was something i forgot when i posted that....

I use Canon gear, in particular 400d at this stage

I use Adobe Bridge to view the photos and decide what i want to use edit etc, so i dont need something to view them, just convert them in large amounts, will fastone do it? or picaso? or do i need to pay for this sort of service, if thats the case, im off to my card supplier to get more cards

Thanks guys

[DVEous]

... Obsolete ...

[Viz]

Is there a reason you don't want to batch automate a JPG conversion in CS3?

In the past I have used the 'image processor' command from bridge with a set of actions that do a resize, some auto exposure compensations stuff, remove noise, sharpen, convert to SRGB, perhaps also a high pass filter for definition. I am not a big fan of this function in bridge, but I think it will do what you want, and you already have and use the software. Just because it is PS, doesn't mean you have to be running it by hand.

I am happy to help with a basic action if you are keen on this tangent. The more people automate their repetitive tasks, the more braincells will be available to fix the world.

If this is exactly what you wished to avoid, then please disregard.

[Doctor]

...if thats the case, im off to my card supplier to get more cards...

More cards?
That's twice you've made reference to that Doc, and I'm puzzled...
I don't think we've identified the real issue here.

Are you concerned about the file size of a RAW file whilst you are out shooting, and the possibility of running out of space?
Or, are you concerned about HDD space being gobbled up with storing your RAW images, hence wanting to "downsize" them to smaller JPGs.

If storage space is a problem, then bigger cards, and more of them is the easy answer.
I was in JB HiFi the other day, (who would have thought 10 years ago you'd be looking at photography gear in a JB, eh?), anyway, I noticed than Sandisk Ultra III 4GB CF cards were only $65 or something ridiculous.
To think we were paying $85 for a 256Mb CF card 4 years ago.

And to overcome storage limitations on my own PC, I purchased a LaCie 500GB external drive for $142 a few weeks ago.
Storage is cheaper than chips these days.

Its not the file size of raw when im shooting, i like shooting in raw and the possibilities to "save" an image at home if its not perfect on the camera, its more so running out of space when i am shooting, i find that the screens on the back of the camera are only so good for deciding if i want to keep an image or not, if there is only a slight blur and the image isnt intended for printing or large viewing sizes, i will keep and see what i i can make of it with some PP. Im paying about $36 for a Kingston CF card for my camera, and already have a 500gig external, which is almost full, but there are a few more coming, along with CF cards, and JB, well, If it wasnt for a good mate working there, i wouldnt have my camera, gotta love a little bit of mates rates here and there!

My main reason for wanting a bulk converter, is that i took a whole bunch of photos on my ski trip last week, that a few people are asking for and i dont really want to put them through PS, just convert and give to them to do with what they want.

Is there a reason you don't want to batch automate a JPG conversion in CS3?

In the past I have used the 'image processor' command from bridge with a set of actions that do a resize, some auto exposure compensations stuff, remove noise, sharpen, convert to SRGB, perhaps also a high pass filter for definition. I am not a big fan of this function in bridge, but I think it will do what you want, and you already have and use the software. Just because it is PS, doesn't mean you have to be running it by hand.

I am happy to help with a basic action if you are keen on this tangent. The more people automate their repetitive tasks, the more braincells will be available to fix the world.

If this is exactly what you wished to avoid, then please disregard.

I had no idea i could do this!!!

Ill definatly look into this route and go from there!

Thanks!

[Oneputt]

What Viz said. Create an action in PS, not difficult if I can do it

[Aussie Dave]

I second creating an action (or several actions) using CS3.
You could then create one master action that runs all your individual actions (resize, USM, borders, convert 16bit to 8bit, etc.).

Once this has been done, you can create a "droplet" which is an exe that you can save onto your desktop. You tell this droplet to run the master action and where you want the files saved.

Then, it's simply a matter of dragging your NEF's out of the folder and onto the droplet icon on your desktop. This will automatically open CS3 and begin running the action against all the NEF's you have dragged onto the icon.

I have used this a few times in the past and it works a treat - and it's free (if you already own Photoshop).

Also see my previous post about actions & droplets HERE (almost 2 years ago now....geez time goes fast !)

[Reschsmooth]

The very basic process in Bridge is:

1. Buy a Nikon.
2. Select your RAW images you want to convert in Bridge.
3. Go (I think): Tools/Photoshop/Image Processor
4. Run through the dialogue box - you will have the option of converting to jpg, resizing and saving as a quality suitable for web use/email (such as quality .
5. Select where you want save the files (it creates a specific and unambiguously labelled folder called "JPEG" or something similar).
6. Select 1 action you want to run (which could be placing your watermark, sharpening, adding a frame, etc).
7. Make a cup of coffee, but make sure you don't use instant coffee or Vittoria.

This is very basic as you can only run 1 action, I believe.

I use this frequently when I just want to convert NEF & PSD files to jpeg for uploading to our smugmug site.

[PiroStitch]

get a program called irfanview and the associated plugins. It's a free download.

You can view all the raws in thumbnail mode though I'm unsure if it reads the WB - pretty sure it does as it renders out my 5D raws fine.

It's small in size and quick as well.

[Doctor]

The very basic process in Bridge is:

1. Buy a Nikon.
2. Select your RAW images you want to convert in Bridge.
3. Go (I think): Tools/Photoshop/Image Processor
4. Run through the dialogue box - you will have the option of converting to jpg, resizing and saving as a quality suitable for web use/email (such as quality .
5. Select where you want save the files (it creates a specific and unambiguously labelled folder called "JPEG" or something similar).
6. Select 1 action you want to run (which could be placing your watermark, sharpening, adding a frame, etc).
7. Make a cup of coffee, but make sure you don't use instant coffee or Vittoria.

This is very basic as you can only run 1 action, I believe.

I use this frequently when I just want to convert NEF & PSD files to jpeg for uploading to our smugmug site.

Thats perfect for what im doing, everything bar number one is exactly what i needed, (if i had used more nikon back when i first started, and DSLR's were more a part of photography, i might have been a nikon boy, but alas, im Canon, although when the time comes to upgrade, i may just look into some Nikon gear)

Once i get the hang of it all, ill start with the more specific parts of watermarks and borders etc, until then, its just converting so my wingeing mates will stop asking for the photos!

Thanks guys !!!

[Doctor]

The very basic process in Bridge is:

1. Buy a Nikon.
2. Select your RAW images you want to convert in Bridge.
3. Go (I think): Tools/Photoshop/Image Processor
4. Run through the dialogue box - you will have the option of converting to jpg, resizing and saving as a quality suitable for web use/email (such as quality .
5. Select where you want save the files (it creates a specific and unambiguously labelled folder called "JPEG" or something similar).
6. Select 1 action you want to run (which could be placing your watermark, sharpening, adding a frame, etc).
7. Make a cup of coffee, but make sure you don't use instant coffee or Vittoria.

This is very basic as you can only run 1 action, I believe.

I use this frequently when I just want to convert NEF & PSD files to jpeg for uploading to our smugmug site.

A quick question regarding this.... I have used it to convert raw to jpeg, its done it perfectly, exactly what i wanted, now i want it to place my watermark on the image as well, but i cannot for the life of me work out how to make it do it, the options that you are given in the action area, are the default ones, and i dont know how to create a new one so it can place my watermark!

Can anyone shed some light on this, i have a whole lot of photos that im happy with, straight from the camera i dont feel the need to change levels etc with them, but i dont really want to sit there and place my watermark and resize all the photos individually.

Thanks in advance guys!

Doc (Chris)

[DaveB]

Bridge's Image Processor is a nice tool for doing a mass RAW->JPEG conversion, but there are other options.


You can script an action within Photoshop, and simply use File->Automate->Batch to get Photoshop to traverse a folder of images and run the action on each.


If you select all your RAW files (in Bridge, or just in Finder/Explorer) pass them either to ACR (from Bridge) or to Photoshop (which will open up the ACR plug-in for you). In ACR, press the "Select All" at the top of the images in the left panel, then select "Save As" at the bottom of the screen. You can tell it to save them all out as JPEG. You get to specify the quality/compression, but that's it. You don't get the resize/etc options of Image Processor, but it is a function that's built in to ACR. It does all this from the plug-in, without opening the images up into Photoshop itself.


If you use Lightroom for managing your files, simply select them all and invoke Export. You can specify JPEG, the colour profile, resize the images, rename them, emboss your copyright on them (although with limited controls), etc, and in LR2 you get to sharpen them, etc as well. As someone who works in a LR world, this seems the simplest and most natural way forward to me. ("Bulk Raw to Jpeg Converter? Just save the files as JPEG!"...)

[Doctor]

Bridge's Image Processor is a nice tool for doing a mass RAW->JPEG conversion, but there are other options.


You can script an action within Photoshop, and simply use File->Automate->Batch to get Photoshop to traverse a folder of images and run the action on each.


If you select all your RAW files (in Bridge, or just in Finder/Explorer) pass them either to ACR (from Bridge) or to Photoshop (which will open up the ACR plug-in for you). In ACR, press the "Select All" at the top of the images in the left panel, then select "Save As" at the bottom of the screen. You can tell it to save them all out as JPEG. You get to specify the quality/compression, but that's it. You don't get the resize/etc options of Image Processor, but it is a function that's built in to ACR. It does all this from the plug-in, without opening the images up into Photoshop itself.


If you use Lightroom for managing your files, simply select them all and invoke Export. You can specify JPEG, the colour profile, resize the images, rename them, emboss your copyright on them (although with limited controls), etc, and in LR2 you get to sharpen them, etc as well. As someone who works in a LR world, this seems the simplest and most natural way forward to me. ("Bulk Raw to Jpeg Converter? Just save the files as JPEG!"...)

Thanks mate, ill look into lightroom now to do what i want. Will it place a watermark on the image automatically? Say a vector image that i have created that i put on all my images? Or just a small amount of text indicating whom the owner of the image is etc?

As for converting a lot of photos to jpeg from raw, its only due to the fact that i was shooting in raw in the snow as practice, and all my friends decided that they wanted copies of the images, good or bad, but have no way of viewing raw files. I shoot mainly in raw for the editing capabilities that the files have once removed from the camera, although id much rather get the image right on the camera than through the computer, i still find the need to edit some photos to get the colours etc right......

Cheers

Chris

[DaveB]

Thanks mate, ill look into lightroom now to do what i want. Will it place a watermark on the image automatically? Say a vector image that i have created that i put on all my images? Or just a small amount of text indicating whom the owner of the image is etc?

One of the first things you should do when importing your images to the Lightroom database is populate the metadata (creator contact details, copyright strings, location information, etc). Defining a Metadata Preset with some of this info and assigning it as part of the import process is the easiest way, then you can fine-tune the info in the Library module.
When it's time to export images, there's a simple function to emboss the copyright info onto the bottom left of the image. You don't get to control the font/size/placement, but it will use the individual copyright string you've set on each image. It's a convenient size for web JPEGs, but larger exports can end up with just a smudge across the lower left corner...



There is no built-in function to emboss other images, but in LR 2 this can be done through an Export Plug-in. If you start searching I'm sure someone's already written one to do what you want.

As for converting a lot of photos to jpeg from raw, its only due to the fact that i was shooting in raw in the snow as practice, and all my friends decided that they wanted copies of the images, good or bad, but have no way of viewing raw files. I shoot mainly in raw for the editing capabilities that the files have once removed from the camera, although id much rather get the image right on the camera than through the computer, i still find the need to edit some photos to get the colours etc right......

Once you start using something like Lightroom that processes RAW files and JPEGs side-by-side, it becomes simple to just shoot everything in RAW. Tweak the WB/exposure/etc of those images that need a little tweaking, but otherwise you can just use it as a tool for organising your images..

As an analogy, when shooting C41 film you wouldn't give your friends copies of the negatives: you'd just run a set of prints off for them. Here we just export a set of JPEGs for them.