topic Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

rkulkarni — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 15:22:51 GMT

I have a bunch of raw files and I am not sure how to convert them to JPEG. I sure would appreciate some help with this. Thank you

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

Skirball — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 15:57:56 GMT

I think Lightroom is the best all around program for general workflow, but there are many options out there.

If you're looking for a free program I've had good luck with Picasa's standalone editor. I'm sure there are dozens of other free choices that will work fine. What camera are they from?

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

Harv — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 16:10:50 GMT

As you are posting on the Canon forum, I will assume you are using a Canon camera. Your camera came with the software you need. It's called Digital Photo Professional. It will also have the user manual for the software.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

hsbn — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 16:11:37 GMT

If it is just a one time thing, you can use Irfanview. It's fast, free, light but doesn't have a lot of adjustments.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

ebiggs1 — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 21:08:14 GMT

"I think Lightroom is the best ..." (Boy this is getting scary!)

DPP comes with the camera for free and it certainly works. Even does batch processing. But as was mentioned Lightroom 5.2 is the best.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

TCampbell — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 13:15:49 GMT

Unless you're on a Mac... in which case I usually recommend Aperture instead. Lightroom was developed to compete with Aperture (not the other way around.) Aperture costs about half the price.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

JoeN — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 20:21:21 GMT

When you purchased your camera you should have received a disc with Digital Photo Professional, DPP, on it. Install DPP and open the program. Select one of your raw files and click on it to highlight it. At the top of the page click on FILE and you will get a dropdown box. Now click on CONVERT AND SAVE. A new window will open and you should see the file name of the image you selected in the box labeled FILE NAME. In the box below that you should see JPEG in the box labeled SAVE AS TYPE. Click on save and the raw file will be converted to jpeg and saved along side the raw file.

Lightroom is a great program and I use it but DPP is a good program to use especially if you don't have any other processing software. You can do a lot of basic editing in DP and you may find that it is all you need. Before you spend any money on photo editing software spend some time using DPP to get a feel for what editing is all about and then begin to look at other programs.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

JoeN — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 20:48:44 GMT

When you bought your camera you should have received a disc with Digital Photo Professiona, DPP, on it. Install DPP on your computer and then open the program. You should see a list of all your files on the left side of the window. Select a raw file and click on it. Now, click on FILE and you should get a drop down window. Scroll down and click on CONVERT AND SAVE. A new window should open and in the box labeled FILE NAME you should see the name of the file you selected. Below that you should see SAVE AS TYPE and in that box you should see Exif-JPEG. Click on the save button to the right and DPP will convert the file to JPEG and save it along side the raw file.

I would suggest that you use DPP for a while for basic editing and file conversion before you purchase any photo editing software. It is a good program and will do most of what you need to do at least while you are learning. Like many others I use Lightroom but I used DPP for a long time before I felt I needed something more powerful.

The instructions I gave are for a Windows computer. I am not sure how much difference there will be if you're using a Mac.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

ChristopherAdam — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 12:39:44 GMT

How about fist exporting your raw files out from the camera, and loading and embedding raw files into a image converting tool that supports to convert and render raw files into jpeg image or any other raster image file?

[Mod note - Removed link per FORUM GUIDELINES]

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

alxkohn — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 19:21:32 GMT

I have also used picasa,, think I'll try it again. I just got annother canon (50D) and am trying to "stick to" raw format.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

alxkohn — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 19:22:32 GMT

50D,, had the SAME issue with my 60D

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 12:44:00 GMT

"I have also used picasa,, think I'll try it again. I just got annother canon (50D) and am trying to "stick to" raw format."

If your goal is to use on the web, RAW will not help.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 15:02:34 GMT

@ebiggs1 wrote:
"I have also used picasa,, think I'll try it again. I just got annother canon (50D) and am trying to "stick to" raw format."

If your goal is to use on the web, RAW will not help.

If you're good enough to shoot JPEGs with just the right exposure level, tone quality, and white balance every time, then I suppose you don't gain that much by using RAW. I'm not that good, and I'll bet there are many in this forum who aren't either. My experience, with the editors I've used, is that editing a JPEG is more difficult, and the result less satisfactory, than editing a RAW file. So even when I'm creating images for use on the Web, I find that RAW definitely does help.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 19:57:26 GMT

" I'm not that good, and I'll bet there are many in this forum who aren't either."

And neither is the internet. That is the point. Do you really think Fakebook benefits from RAW conversion?

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

TCampbell — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 20:11:20 GMT

BTW -- Canon Digital Photo Professional (aka DPP) has a "batch" mode in which you can point it at a whole directory full of RAW images and let it churn. I believe you get the choice of converting either to TIFF (larger, but non-lossy) or JPEG (for more compressed, but lossy).

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 20:38:51 GMT

@TCampbell wrote:
BTW -- Canon Digital Photo Professional (aka DPP) has a "batch" mode in which you can point it at a whole directory full of RAW images and let it churn. I believe you get the choice of converting either to TIFF (larger, but non-lossy) or JPEG (for more compressed, but lossy).

You can choose TIFF (huge) or any of ten quality levels of JPEG. What you can't do (but I wish you could) is tell the program how large a JPEG file you can tolerate, and/or the minimum number of pixels in either dimension, and have it determine the highest quality level that will work. I don't care how long it takes to do the calculation; it's bound to be faster than iterating like one has to do now.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 20:47:41 GMT

@ebiggs1 wrote:
" I'm not that good, and I'll bet there are many in this forum who aren't either."

And neither is the internet. That is the point. Do you really think Fakebook benefits from RAW conversion?

I guess that is what I'm saying. I'm not a great fan of mediocrity, as it happens. I can't remember when, if ever, I looked at a picture on Facebook. But in general, anyone who can't see the difference between correct and incorrect exposure and color values on the Web needs to find a good optometrist.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

alxkohn — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 00:35:37 GMT

They are from my new canon 50D. I am trying to STICK to RAW format,, I did take you advice and downloaded the picasa program. IO have had THAT program before. also ONE-Drive will also allow me to view the raw images,, but,, I just am not "warm and fuzzy" with having to use hotmail log-in to gain access to one drive.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

ebiggs1 — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 15:45:05 GMT

"... correct and incorrect exposure and color values on the Web needs to find a good optometrist."

And if they can tell the diffrence between a jpg or RAW edit on Fakebook, they are truly gifted.

Re: How to convert RAW files to JPEG?

Skirball — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 18:03:31 GMT

@ebiggs1 wrote:
"... correct and incorrect exposure and color values on the Web needs to find a good optometrist."

And if they can tell the diffrence between a jpg or RAW edit on Fakebook, they are truly gifted.

You can only push/pull the shadows/highlights so much in a jpg. A person's skill in PS will allow more manipulation without too much noise, but you can't manipulate data that are not there. RAW files have access to data that aren't there in the JPG. Cleaning up shadow noise is one thing, but blown highlights on a JPG are nothing more than white pixels; with RAW there's often still data there.

I also prefer to adjust my exposure, if needed, during RAW conversion because it's cleaner. But I agree with your overall point - that you can 'bend' the exposure of a JPG in photoshop (a reasonable amount) without being noticeable in a web-sized picture.

I also find color manipulation, particularly skin tone for glamour/portrature, to be much easier and smoother in RAW. But I do posses the ability in Photoshop to make similar changes. Though if Facebook has taught me anything, it's that the majority of people out there do not possess this ability.