Bog standard RAW viewer...which one?

[TonyHetherington]

Hi chaps

I'm after a RAW viewer, but a very simple one. I have, for example, a big folder on my computer of RAW images. I want to scan through it (in a RAW viewer) and then say "oooo I like that" and then I'll open it in photoshop and do my worst.

However every one I've downloaded tries to do too much and either catalogues my whole flipping computer, or has shed loads of effects which I don't want and is difficult to use.

Any thoughts?!

Ta

[agent006]

Microsoft do a plugin that raw-enables the thumbnail thinger in XP.

[TonyHetherington]

fan bloody tastic!

Cheers

[TonyHetherington]

FYI anyone else that happens to read this....

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?fa...

[Dibble]

TonyHetherington said:

fan bloody tastic!

Cheers

^^^^What he said!

[TonyHetherington]

Bit of a bugger...it doesn't support files from 30D, only 20D (and other Canon/Nikon cameras).

Doh!

Thanks for pointing me there though. Very surprising, I'll have more of a look later.

[TrackDemon]

I'd also recommend Rawshooter, you can process whilst working on files or just browse full size images to help you decide whats a keeper.

[TonyHetherington]

Steve, is that an add-on to Photoshop, or is that a stand alone program?

Thanks!

[crmcatee]

Tony - you're not actually venturing into the world that is Raw are you ??

[TonyHetherington]

Hello matey

I am indeed. Mainly because on Saturday some bloke persuaded me RAW is best, so I now have 200 shots of girls that are in RAW

It was time, though, and so I wanted to force myself into doing it!

[furtive]

Faststone Image Viewer is pretty good

[V6GTO]

furtive said:

Faststone Image Viewer is pretty good

On the download screen there are 4 different file you can download...exe, exe (site2), zip and portable. Will I have to download all 4 to get it to work? If not, which ones do I need?

Martin...computer dunce.

[nick_bbb]

TonyHetherington said:

Bit of a bugger...it doesn't support files from 30D, only 20D (and other Canon/Nikon cameras).

Doh!

Thanks for pointing me there though. Very surprising, I'll have more of a look later.

Microsoft are no longer supporting RAW, there is no viewer for Vista as I found out when I got a new laptop but Canon have a download to do the same thing. This may support your 30D files as it works on my 5D files. Don't know if it will work with XP though.

http://www.hardcoreware.net/canon-raw-cr2-thumbnai...

[Shadytree]

On the same subject. Is anyone aware of a plugin for Canon .CR2 RAW files in Windows XP ?

Currently using the Canon tools or Photoshop CS3 to view, but would like a simpler Window way if poss ?

[TrackDemon]

TonyHetherington said:

Steve, is that an add-on to Photoshop, or is that a stand alone program?

Thanks!

Standalone programme, although its pretty straightforward & fast. Whats more there's a copy here if you want mate!!

http://www.trackdemon.co.uk/MISC/RawShooter 2006.exe 

[crmcatee]

Tony - Rawshooter is great. When I had a PC hat on - Rawshooter would be the tool of choice.

As has been said - queue up the images and do job lot conversions - excellent stuff..

[furtive]

V6GTO said:

furtive said:

Faststone Image Viewer is pretty good

On the download screen there are 4 different file you can download...exe, exe (site2), zip and portable. Will I have to download all 4 to get it to work? If not, which ones do I need?

Martin...computer dunce.

Download either exe or exe (site 2)
(it tells you all about the different download types at the bottom of the screen...

Faststone website said:

exe
A single executable file that installs the application in your computer. Recommended for most users.

zip
A zip (compressed) format of the exe file above. In some networks, downloading exe files is strictly prohibited. If you are using such networks, download the zip file instead. After the download, just unzip it to get the exe file (installer).

portable
A zip (compressed) file that includes all the required files to run the application independently from any folder you dump it in. Major advantage is that you can carry it around on a memory stick / USB flash drive, or copy / migrate from PC to PC via simple copying of files. No installation is necessary.

[Lotusespritforum]

I use either Zoombrowser which came with my camera, http://www.irfanview.com or Lightroom which saves a lot of time compared to PS and is a great digi asset manager.

When I first got my 400D with a 4GB car I though 'hello, 400 RAW or 5,000 small jpg's, I know what I'll shoot in!' Once I got my hands on Lightroom and realised what can be done with RAW images, I've never looked back

[V6GTO]

Thanks Furtive.

M.

[TonyHetherington]

Just a quick update. Thanks everyone for your help.

The reason was that Photoshop 7 (and all the other downloads I made) didn't recognise my 30D RAW files properly, they either needed a patch or simply didn't work with them.

So, frustrated at having old stuff and equally so at my 13" laptop screen that I was processing everything on I came to the only male conclusion possible...


BUY A BIG BRAND NEW COMPUTER WITH HUGE MONITOR GREAT GRAPHICS CARD AND SHED LOADS OF MEMORY/STORAGE.

...oh, and PS CS3

Admittedly it was quite a radical conclusion to an otherwise solveable problem, but I wanted to invest a little. With help from my IT guy at work I got this in bits and we then made it up (in the work server room )...



Ran Windows Vista for a couple of days, and as pretty and lovely as it is, it just wasn't stable enough for me. Maybe when the first service pack comes out (or even the 2nd) then I'll use Vista.

22" LG 16.7million colour screen. 400gb + 80gb SATA II 16mb Cache hard drives. 2gb DDR2 RAM etc. etc...I'll stop being geeky now.

Thanks all for the help chaps!
Tony