questions about using RAW format...

Hi all,

So I use digikam since a couple of years, and I never got to play with RAW files until now with my Canon Rebel XTi (or EOS 400D) witch save .CR2 files.

I just wanted to do a simple crop and then save the file just like I do with JPG's but no no no, can't do that.

1- So, is this a bug or everybody does something else?

2- Is this a technical limitation of digikam or should I put this on the wish list? (I know it's dcdraw who is reading the RAW files...)

3- Is editing in RAW and saving back in RAW a bad practice? Why?


So many questions, so little time! :)

Currently I just used irfanview (with Wine) to convert them to JPG, but I have no intention du put Photophop on my Linux/GNU/Ubuntu box.

Thanks for all your feedback :)




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[Daniel Bauer-2]

On Monday 17 November 2008 19.17:47, Alexandre Racine wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> So I use digikam since a couple of years, and I never got to play with RAW
> files until now with my Canon Rebel XTi (or EOS 400D) witch save .CR2
> files.
>
> I just wanted to do a simple crop and then save the file just like I do
> with JPG's but no no no, can't do that.
>
> 1- So, is this a bug or everybody does something else?
>
> 2- Is this a technical limitation of digikam or should I put this on the
> wish list? (I know it's dcdraw who is reading the RAW files...)
>
> 3- Is editing in RAW and saving back in RAW a bad practice? Why?
>

1, 2, 3: no no yes :-)

Look at RAW files as Negatives. Would you crop them?
Safe as .png (=lossless) or as .tiff, if you prefer.
Work with those files, not with the RAW ones.
Save the final file to jpg if you need small files (for web purposes,
e-mail...) only.
>
> So many questions, so little time! :)
>
> Currently I just used irfanview (with Wine) to convert them to JPG, but I
> have no intention du put Photophop on my Linux/GNU/Ubuntu box.

You wouldn't need to. Digikam is good for 90 (or 99?) % of all you want to do
with digital photos. Converting to other file-formats is as simple as "save
as". There are also batch jobs you can use. Or directly imageMagick on the
command line (fast, easy, good). Just for montages and some special tricks
you'll need Gimp. Photoshop is sleeping on my HD since.... can't remember ;-)

> Thanks for all your feedback :)

regards

Daniel

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[gerlos]

Hi!

Alexandre Racine ha scritto:
> Currently I just used irfanview (with Wine) to convert them to JPG,

But... isn't it extremely slow and clumsy?
Isn't it a lot easier using "save as" or that tools in the batch menu of
Digikam to do just this thing? Or, even better, shouldn't be easier use
some bash black magic ;-) together with ImageMagick?

For example, to convert to jpg every png image in the current directory
you just need something like:
for image in `ls *.png`
do
    convert $image $image.jpg
done

Just put these lines in a script, and conversions won't be a problem any
more. Ok, it's a stupid example, but believe me, you can do a lot
smarter things!


And also you can do a lot of interesting things using *.desktop files in
KDE and/or konqueror (so, once setup, without the terminal!).
For example, put these lines in a text file, let's say, "resize.desktop":
|[Desktop Entry]
Comment=Resize images to 1024 px, and put a copy on the Desktop
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec[$e]=convert -size 1024x1024 %f -resize 1024x1024 `basename %f `
GenericName=Resize images for the Web
Icon=filter
Name=||Resize images for the Web|
|Path[$e]=$HOME/Desktop
Type=Application|

When you drag any image or any group of images from any program like
Digikam or konqueror or dolphin on the icon of "resize.desktop", after a
while you will get on you Desktop a copy of each image, rescaled so that
the larger border will be 1024 px. Just drag and drop. Easy!

Another example? This one convert any dropped image to jpg and put it on
the Desktop:
|[Desktop Entry]
Comment=Convert image to jpg, and put a copy on the Desktop
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec[$e]=convert %f `basename %f `.jpg
GenericName=||Convert image to jpg|
|Icon=filter
Name=Convert image to jpg|||
| Path[$e]=$HOME/Desktop
Type=Application|

Obviously, to make things easy (sorry, I can't know if you know the
command line) I didn't add some more interesting features, like
manipulating the base name of the image or changing the jpg quality, or
just play a sound notification when processing end! Once you work with
the command line for a while you'll figure how to do these "esoteric"
things! ;-)

Jus ask google about "KDE service menu" for more.

> but I
> have no intention du put Photophop on my Linux/GNU/Ubuntu box.
>  

I think that once you know a little more gnu/linux you won't feel the
need to use Photoshop any more. You can do almost everything with
Digikam, and if it isn't sufficient for you, there's always Gimp! (Now
it is starting to support 32 bit image processing, great!) or Krita!

regards
gerlos

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On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 7:38 PM, gerlos <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi!

Alexandre Racine ha scritto:

> Currently I just used irfanview (with Wine) to convert them to JPG,

But... isn't it extremely slow and clumsy?
Isn't it a lot easier using "save as" or that tools in the batch menu of
Digikam to do just this thing? Or, even better, shouldn't be easier use
some bash black magic ;-) together with ImageMagick?

Hi,

Yeah it is kind of slow with irfanview, but for JPGS it is fast. So I'll try the batch mode in digikam.

There is just one problem. When I select a picture or multiple pictures, there is nothing in the batch menu. No menu...  I am using the 0.9.4 version in Ubuntu 8.10.

Is there something I do wrong???


I love batch commands for servers, but I'll stick to graphic when I am playing with graphics ;)


Thanks all for the other suggestions.



 

For example, to convert to jpg every png image in the current directory
you just need something like:
for image in `ls *.png`
do
   convert $image $image.jpg
done

Just put these lines in a script, and conversions won't be a problem any
more. Ok, it's a stupid example, but believe me, you can do a lot
smarter things!


And also you can do a lot of interesting things using *.desktop files in
KDE and/or konqueror (so, once setup, without the terminal!).
For example, put these lines in a text file, let's say, "resize.desktop":
|[Desktop Entry]
Comment=Resize images to 1024 px, and put a copy on the Desktop
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec[$e]=convert -size 1024x1024 %f -resize 1024x1024 `basename %f `
GenericName=Resize images for the Web
Icon=filter
Name=||Resize images for the Web|
|Path[$e]=$HOME/Desktop
Type=Application|

When you drag any image or any group of images from any program like
Digikam or konqueror or dolphin on the icon of "resize.desktop", after a
while you will get on you Desktop a copy of each image, rescaled so that
the larger border will be 1024 px. Just drag and drop. Easy!

Another example? This one convert any dropped image to jpg and put it on
the Desktop:
|[Desktop Entry]
Comment=Convert image to jpg, and put a copy on the Desktop
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec[$e]=convert %f `basename %f `.jpg
GenericName=||Convert image to jpg|
|Icon=filter
Name=Convert image to jpg|||
| Path[$e]=$HOME/Desktop
Type=Application|

Obviously, to make things easy (sorry, I can't know if you know the
command line) I didn't add some more interesting features, like
manipulating the base name of the image or changing the jpg quality, or
just play a sound notification when processing end! Once you work with
the command line for a while you'll figure how to do these "esoteric"
things! ;-)

Jus ask google about "KDE service menu" for more.

> but I
> have no intention du put Photophop on my Linux/GNU/Ubuntu box.
>

I think that once you know a little more gnu/linux you won't feel the
need to use Photoshop any more. You can do almost everything with
Digikam, and if it isn't sufficient for you, there's always Gimp! (Now
it is starting to support 32 bit image processing, great!) or Krita!

regards
gerlos

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www.salsamontreal.com - La référence Salsa!
www.alexandreracine.com - Site perso.

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Dnia Sunday 23 November 2008, gerlos napisał:
> Hi!
>
> Alexandre Racine ha scritto:
> > Currently I just used irfanview (with Wine) to convert them to JPG,
>
> But... isn't it extremely slow and clumsy?
> Isn't it a lot easier using "save as" or that tools in the batch menu of
> Digikam to do just this thing? Or, even better, shouldn't be easier use
> some bash black magic ;-) together with ImageMagick?

Decoding of RAW files is a bit more complicated. You don't really want
it fully automated.

m.

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2008/11/23 Mikolaj Machowski <[hidden email]>

Dnia Sunday 23 November 2008, gerlos napisał:

> Hi!
>
> Alexandre Racine ha scritto:
> > Currently I just used irfanview (with Wine) to convert them to JPG,
>
> But... isn't it extremely slow and clumsy?
> Isn't it a lot easier using "save as" or that tools in the batch menu of
> Digikam to do just this thing? Or, even better, shouldn't be easier use
> some bash black magic ;-) together with ImageMagick?

Decoding of RAW files is a bit more complicated. You don't really want
it fully automated.

Yep, it seems that I'll switch back to JPG for now and search for something automated for the long term.

The weird part is that I can't get the batch functions in digikam to work at all. There is simply no menu!!!






 

m.

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www.salsamontreal.com - La référence Salsa!
www.alexandreracine.com - Site perso.

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