What programs do you use to batch process RAW images?

November 15, 2005 2:02 PM

What programs do you use to batch process RAW images?

I'm working with about 400, approximately 6 mb CRW images, produced by a Canon 300D, that all need the same processing. I'm using Photoshop Elements, but the batch processing is extremely limited. I am currently downloading a trial version of CS2, but I'd prefer to find a product that won't break my bank. The features I am looking for are:

1) The ability to set the white balance or at least temperature
2) The ability to allow the program to automatically set the exposure, shadows, brightness, and contrast
3) The ability to save as a JPEG with specific compression settings.
4) The ability to resize the image.
5) The ability to run fully automated.

I've used dcraw and dcraw in conjunction with InfranView with some success, but without additional programming to handle the automatic correction, it falls short of my specific need. The irony, of course, is that pretty much any program you suggest will use, at a basic level, dcraw.

posted by sequential to computers & internet (10 comments total)

I asked a similar question a while back.
posted by knave at 2:07 PM on November 15, 2005

I use Pixmantec Rawshooter, and it does at least most of what you need. The "essentials" version is free forever, and you can use the more powerful "Premium" version (which is new and still a bit buggy) for 15 days before buying.

YMMV, and most "automatic" solutions are not going to produce the quality of images you'll get by handling them yourself.
posted by selfnoise at 2:12 PM on November 15, 2005

selfnoise, I'm not going for production quality. I'm trying to make web versions of this series. Photoshop Elements does a great job at selecting the exposure and adjusting shadows, but it does a terrible job at guessing the contrast and brightness.
posted by sequential at 2:18 PM on November 15, 2005

Rawshooter rocks. It has completely saved images that I thought were unsalvageable. You can batch paste your settings from one pic to a bunch, then slideshow through the whole set for pics that need a bit further tweaking. I spent two hours the other night making individual tweaks to a set of 1500 photos to get ~110 that I thought were worth further consideration and work in Photoshop. You can set the output mode (tiff, jpeg) but the free version doesn't do de-rezzing.
posted by notsnot at 2:31 PM on November 15, 2005

Aperture?
posted by trevyn at 3:09 PM on November 15, 2005

XnView.. its great.
posted by cowmix at 3:17 PM on November 15, 2005

Aperture looks like it is going to seriously rock, but it is not inexpensive. Education price is "just" $249, though. Here is the first hands-on article I've seen so far.

Also, note Apertures system requirements:

• Dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 or faster


• 2GB of RAM


• One of the following graphics cards: ATI Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition; ATI Radeon 9800 XT or 9800 Pro; NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL or 6800 GT DDL; NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT; NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500


• 5GB of disk space for application, templates, and tutorial


• DVD drive for installation

posted by spock at 3:48 PM on November 15, 2005

Another vote for Rawshooter....even the free version is ridiculously powerful. And now they've just release a color pack plug-in for Premium that allows you to choose alternate color interpretation algorithms. Can't beat it for the money.
posted by spicynuts at 5:22 PM on November 15, 2005

After downloading, installing and using RawShooter, I can say, without a doubt, this is the program I was looking for. In fact, it is even better than I had imagined. Essentially, you mock up the changes you'd like to make to every picture and then execute all the changes in batch mode. Very impressive. Thank you all, very much.
posted by sequential at 6:59 PM on November 15, 2005

While we're on the topic, WTF does the color pack do?
posted by notsnot at 8:13 PM on November 15, 2005