Technology marchs on. FastStone is free

[Mark L]

So I got a Canon 80D yesterday. Went and took some photos this morning, as you'd expect.
Came home and transferred photos to the computer. And that's when the fun begins.
The major problem is we are still running Vista (sad, but true). New computers where on the radar in the next month anyway and they are now a bloody priority.
I like to use PS CS6 for PPing. 80D RAW files will never work there so happy to use Adobe DNG converter and work on DNG files in CS6. Can't do that. To update the DNG converter to the one that includes the 80D RAW files means I need at least Windows 7 (fucista)
Okay then, lets update Canons DPP so that I can convert the new RAW files to TIFF to work on in PS. Need at least Windows 7 to do that.
mmm, what to do?
Let's see if FastStone recognises my RAW files. Sure enough it does. Convert files to TIFF and on our way.

I'll look this up tomorrow, but is there a way to batch convert files to TIFF in FastStone??

[John King]

Good old FSV ... .

I made a donation to the developer some years ago now. Bloody useful program!

Congrats on the new camera Mark .

[thegrump]

I only use Faststone. easy and does all I want it to ( almost ). Time to give them another donation....

[arthurking83]

Windows Vista! ...

Holy ancient(and unstable) operating systems Batman! .. you should'a updated to W7 the day W7 was released to the world.

Anyhow, back to your question:

.....

I'll look this up tomorrow, but is there a way to batch convert files to TIFF in FastStone??

You have FSV open, and you have navigated to the folder where you have your images. This is important to have open in the FDV window, or you won't get the batch tool dialogue box!!

1/. Once you have that window pane open in FDV, in the toolbar, go to Tools->Batch Convert Selected Images(F3)
(note that F3 is the shortcut to the new windows to do the batch job)

2/. New batch tool opens up with the list of images in that directory. Choose images as required. It's pretty obvious how too. If you have clicked on one image in the folder, it'll already be selected(in the RH panel). Files on the LH panel are the other ones you wich to add to the batch job too. Select as needed, Holding Cntrl will allow individual multiple selections, hold Shift to select them all(as per normally using Windows). Hit the [add] button. They're all now on the RH panel for the batch job.

3/. Under the RH panel, are the two methods for choosing file types and other settings. In the file type you select tif, in the settings button, it allows you various tiff variables. I suggest just leave it to the default uncompressed setting.
It produces bigger files, but they're more compatible. Even tho you're using Ps which supports almost all tiff settings, just to be sure, and for the best quality file, just uncompressed!

4/. next setting to be mindful of .. advanced settings, just below file type settings. Best option is to open that and make sure resize isn't selected.

5/. should really be before step 4, but because you're converting from raw to tif, doesn't matter if the images are in the same folder .. they will become different files(ie. names), so don't overwrite each other in the process.
BUT! a good reason to use this option is that, if you have multiple drives to choose from, you can speed the process up a little(or maybe a lot) by choosing the fastest drive to write the new tif files too!
Tif files are big, uncompressed about as big as it gets. Your 30Mb raw files could be as large as 60-70Mb tifs .. all that takes time to write to a spinning HDD.
Reading from and writing too the same HDD is slower than reading from one drive(source HDD) and writing to another drive(destination HDD).

If you use SSDs, step 5/. is a wasted effort. Note for the future, or anyone else interested in FSV batch conversion; if you save the batch job to jpg files, step 5/. is also not significant. It only comes into the equation if you convert raw files into tiff files, simply due to the size of the tif files.


One last thing to be mindful/weary of with FastSone Viewer. Even tho it's a great program in itself, I really don't like it's ability to convert raw images. I have no idea what raw conversion engine it uses, or how it uses it, but what ever it is, I really don't care for it.
But the flipside of that is that(and what makes FSV so good) is that it allows you options to do so(and this is why this step is the most important of all the above).

FSV has a setting to allow viewing raw files from the embedded jpg files in the raw file. This is the default manner to view your raw files, and why the program is so quick/speedy. Look for this in Settings->Settings->(in the new window)RAW tab.
Two options here for raw file handling.
Top one for viewing .. pretty much self explanatory
Bottom one is also, but doesn't fully explain what it actually does.
While using the fastest setting for raw batch conversion is quicker by a good margin, it doesn't explain that the slower 'actual image' option uses it's own raw algorithm(this is the part I don't like).

Speed difference is say 1-2sec per raw file to tif conversion for the quickest setting, to about 5sec for each actual image conversion.
Quickest setting is best IMO. If you value your ability to shoot the way you do in camera, the quickest setting uses the embedded image rendering as the basis for how the tif file will end up looking. ie. what you saw in camera(or maybe have already edited) is how the tif file will render.
If you choose the actual image setting, the image is rendered totally flat, no matter how much contrast/colour/picture style you captured in the image, it turns out pretty much flat, and then needs a lot more PP.

With the quickest setting, because it uses the embedded data in the raw file, the rendered tif image turns out more WYSIWYG.
If you edit the raw file in DPP(as say I'd do in Nikon's ViewNX2) using the quick option results in a tif file that is rendered as per the edited image. If you use the actual image setting, the tif file is rendered totally flat.

In terms of quality, I see a very slight advantage in quickest setting, over the actual setting, files sizes are comparable(1-2% larger in the actual setting) but not a real difference as such. But because the quick setting uses the embedded settings(and ie. already with a small amount of sharpening and tone adjustment) the illusion is that the quickest setting is better overall.

Hope that helps.

[Mark L]

Thank you very much AK.
I looked almost everywhere except Tools.

This all means a new PPing regime until the new computer appears.
Good learn different ways maybe. mmm maybe.

[Gazza]

.........I like to use PS CS6 for PPing. 80D RAW files will never work there so happy to use............

Have tried updating CS6, ACR should update at the same time...most problems fixed.
Sounds like a new laptop is well overdue, whens ya birthday?

[Mark L]

Have tried updating CS6, ACR should update at the same time...most problems fixed.

Yeah, updated ACR but Adobe won't backdate their stuff for newer cameras. They'd prefer I pay to live in a cloud.
Not sure whether to do that and stay with the PPing regime I've become used or to learn other ways before new computer let's me do DNG.

[John King]

Mark, MetaRaw is your friend. At minimal cost (about $56A for two computers), it allows you to directly open RAWs that CS6 will not open - e.g. the ones from my E-M1 MkII.

It is a plugin for CS6. You need to download Bridge CC (free) to browse thumbnails. You cannot open RAWs from Bridge directly. You have to open them in PS6, which brings up the MetaRaw/ACR development window. Runs under any version of Windows, but Bridge CC requires at least Windows 7.

Adobe is not getting another cent of my money ...

[Hawthy]

Yeah, updated ACR but Adobe won't backdate their stuff for newer cameras. They'd prefer I pay to live in a cloud.

Adobe Creative Cloud and Windows 10 work fine for me. (braces to be howled down)

[Ross M]

I think FastStone viewer is one of the best general purpose photo apps for Windows around, at least for jpegs. I still use it as my default viewer in conjunction with Lightroom and PS Elements. Good to see you now have a detailed instruction from Arthurking83 regarding batch conversions.

[Mary Anne]

Adobe Creative Cloud and Windows 10 work fine for me. (braces to be howled down)

You won't be howled down by me.
Realize one day my paid for CS6 may not work when I have to upgrade past Win 10 maybe, and then I will gladly pay for Adobe CC if I need it.

[swifty]

I've had the chance to review a few new cameras in the last year or two and all I can say is, I feel your pain and I had less issues than you'd experienced.

Since I'm not a frequent upgrader (except maybe on the lens front), I've come to accept that when I do, the whole lot probably needs to be upgraded.
Ie. with my next camera purchase, it'll be a new laptop, new memory cards, new card readers, new storage drives, new DAM and PP software.
Probably the reason why I'm so reluctant to upgrade my camera