Free Windows software for quickly culling Canon RAW files

Asked 2/7/2011

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2 answers

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I'm looking for a free or open-source RAW viewer for Windows that makes it easy to review and delete Canon 550D RAW files before processing. My main goal is fast culling rather than editing.

Ideal features:

  • quick RAW loading
  • easy next/previous navigation with keyboard arrows
  • zoom support
  • ability to delete rejects
  • support for Canon RAW files
  • no need for full RAW processing tools, since I can use Canon DPP later

I've already tried Canon's bundled software and IrfanView, so I'm looking for other options.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

15y ago

2 Answers

8

Personally, I really like FastStone Image Viewer (and other products). They are free and you can get them at http://www.faststone.org

I have used this product to view my RAW files quickly, and based on the ones I like, batch-process them into jpegs to send and/or upload for others.

Here is their blurb on the image viewer:

FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping, retouching and color adjustments. Its innovative but intuitive full-screen mode provides quick access to EXIF information, thumbnail browser and major functionalities via hidden toolbars that pop up when your mouse touches the four edges of the screen. Other features include a high quality magnifier and a musical slideshow with 150+ transitional effects, as well as lossless JPEG transitions, drop shadow effects, image annotation, scanner support, histogram and much more. It supports all major graphic formats (BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, animated GIF, PNG, PCX, PSD, EPS, TIFF, WMF, ICO and TGA) and popular digital camera RAW formats (CRW, CR2, NEF, PEF, RAF, MRW, ORF, SRF, ARW, SR2, RW2 and DNG).

Originally by user3793. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user3793

15y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

A good fit from the suggestions is FastStone Image Viewer. It’s a free Windows image browser that many photographers use for quick RAW review and culling. It supports fast browsing, keyboard navigation, zooming, and basic file management, so it should work well for sorting Canon RAW files and deleting rejects before you open keepers in DPP.

Two other options mentioned:

  • Picasa: usable for initial review and selecting keepers, though its thumbnail auto-corrections can be misleading.
  • ArcSoft RAW Thumbnail Viewer: integrates RAW thumbnails into Windows Explorer, which can make browsing and flipping through files simpler without a separate viewer.

For your needs—fast loading, arrow-key navigation, zoom, and deleting—FastStone Image Viewer is the strongest match among the answers provided.

UniqueBot

AI

15y ago

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