AAAAAGH!!! Raw files nightmare

[rocketandroll]

Hi all

I am almost literally tearing my hair out after about 4 hrs of trying to do the most simple thing.

I shot some Raw images on a Eos 350D last night... I no longer have the original utilities CD so have had to download a copy of Zoombrowser off the internet to even be able to view the .CRW files.

I've also downloaded DSS.

Windows has decided to associate .CRW files with 'imageready' now (which can't view them) and when I go and search for a link to zoombrowser to re-associate them, there is no visible program file for it on my computer... no .exe file anywhere.

Zoombrowser itself is the most counter-intuitive nightmare in the world, what the hell the whole 'database/library' thing is I don't know and there seems no way of actually viewing files. It asked me to download the files but then told me they were read only and couldn't be downloaded and is now stuck in some loop where every time I start it it asks me to create a new library, which it won't let me, and if I click cancel it shuts the program down so I can't even start the software.

All I want to do is be able to VIEW the damn .CRW files so I know which ones to import into DSS... but there now seems no way of me doing it.

Before I literally throw my desktop out of the window... please someone A: remind me why shooting in a manufacturer specific file format is a good idea and B: tell me how on earth I can get out of this nightmare!!!

Ben

[brianb]

Download Irfanview - it's free, works well and will allow you to browse your .CRW files effortlessly.

You can also download the Canon raw utilities (same as the ones that come on the CD with the product) from the Canon site, though it's not the easiest site in the world to navigate.

[Digz]

Can you not load them into DSS and view them there, just deleting the ones you dont need from the list?

[Demonperformer]

A: you keep all the data that you have captured, with no compression etc

B: see previous answers

[rocketandroll]

Thanks all :-)

I was having a real time of it! I have abandoned 'ZoomBrowser' altogether now. You are right, I can view them in DSS, didn't realise that :-)

That'll do for now... will worry about a converter later.

It has thrown up a new dilema, and that is that DSS seems to output 16bit TIFFS and if kept at 16bit my (antiquated) version of PS seems to be unable to do just about anything with it, 90% of the features are greyed out until you reduce it to 8bit.

doh.

Anyway, that's probably something I'll just need to deal with until I get an up to date copy of PS :-)

Ben (having a calmer day today :-)

[Psychobilly]

Have you got all the codecs installed properly if you have then you should be able to view the .cr2 files in explorer.... (as thumbnails) windows picture viewer... etc...

Canon RAW Codec

Billy...

[G2EWS]

Hi Ben,

If you have Photoshop you should be able to view them in that, assuming you have the 350D RAW viewer, if not download it from the Adobe web site.

Best regards

Chris

[Dreamsphere]

'A' has been answered and I'd agree that Adobe's RAW plugin is the best, especially if working in Photoshop (and it's free).

You might also consider Google's Picasa which is a very powerful cataloguing tool which offers good edit and print facilities considering it's free. It reads RAW files too!

[brianb]

You might also consider Google's Picasa which is a very powerful cataloguing tool

but unfortunately has a nasty habit of taking over the whole computer ...

[Psychobilly]

Doesnt it just....

[Parallax]

Although the Canon 1000d isn't listed on that Canon download site, I can confirm that it does seem to work with same.

However, try it at your own risk!

Steve

[dmahon]

I found FastPictureViewer Codec Pack very useful.

It costs $19.95 for the latest version, but you can get some of the older versions which are perfectly adequate for free.