Fast RAW Photo Culling (Before Editing)

Fast RAW photo culling using the FastRAWViewer app for camera RAW files. This video is not sponsored and the makers of Fast RAW Viewer did not know about this video before it was published. FastRAWViewer is one of the better software programs I've used in a long time, and recommended if you deal with a large amount of Fujifilm uncompressed RAW files.

And yes, I also highly recommend Photo Mechanic, which is another one of my favorites. You can't go wrong with either one.

🌎 Resources

📔 Table of Contents
00:00 Intro
00:27 Welcome
00:34 Editing Fujifilm RAW Files
01:19 Photo Mechanic and Fast RAW Viewer
02:37 Importing RAW Files
03:12 Rating and Culling RAW Files
04:30 Setting Keyboard Shortcuts
06:10 RAW Histogram and Exposure Stats
06:36 Check Focus
07:23 Recommendations and Conclusion
08:21 Geariguana Ceremony
09:15 Goodbye and Outro

🧰 Discounts on Services and Tools

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🎬 Production Notes
Producer and Host: Chris Lee

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#fujifilm #pal2tech #photography

[jordangrobe]

Absolutely love FastRawViewer! Here's my additional culling hack - use a video game controller. Free programs like JoyKeyMapper allow you to map any keyboard combinations to buttons on any bluetooth game controller (Xbox, Playstation, even Nintendo Switch) and it's just such a breeze to sit back and use the natural ergonomics of the controller to your advantage, between the triggers for next and previous, d-pad for ratings, letter-pad for things like highlight / shadow check / auto exposure / changing between the RAW and the built-in JPEG, etc. If your controller has two levels of triggers you can even map the big ones for next and previous and the smaller ones for exposure up and exposure down. Oh and the joysticks can be used to move the mouse, to zoom in and out on the image, and to control the scroll function.

[Exercises]

Thanks, Chris, today you put a big smile on my face adding my name to the Geariguana Hall of Fame! I am a proud member of Pal2Tech. Today's video was very interesting on Photo Culling something I never do but you showed how it has great value in a photographer's workflow. Thanks again for the amazing work you do for all of us photographers!!

[bmeclipse]

Bottle up your enthusiasm for Fast RAW and sell it. Great stuff and timely as I have been slowly making my way through hundreds of RAW files this week. Thank you!

[keithesteban]

I've been using this software for almost a year and it's been so helpful in saving time and space. Lol, time and space... Anyway, I'm glad you did this! Ty!

[carlosdias]

Appreciated Chris!! Another great Fast Friday! It is indeed faster culling!! Cheers

[HikerFromVA]

Thanks so much for this. Just purchased the XT-4 and this will help my work flow so much.

[utekopka]

Great video Chris! This software is exactly was I have been looking for. Thank you so much for introducing it!

[benjorb]

Totally agree- I’ve had this software for a while and it’s awesome!

[scottgray]

Great video, i just dowloaded it, and damn….it works nice. Went right back and purchased it. I love your videos. Thanks.

[msandersen]

I use both Photo Mechanic and Fast Raw Viewer, they each have their strengths, so it's not a matter of one being better than the other overall, though if I could only have one, it would be Photo Mechanic. My import starts there, as I use it to not just rename all the files and put them in a folder hierarchy based on the metadata, I add templates of info on import; I've got a collection of templates depending on what I'm shooting, and later when editing each, I can batch process series with specific EXIF fields and it's metadata variables. Very powerful.
But if I've done a portrait shoot, after importing with Photo Mechanic to rename, sort and add metadata, I like to use Fast Raw Viewer as I can very quickly go through and check the RAW histogram that nothing is blown out and unrecoverable, something a JPG histogram can't, and to check critical focus on the face etc. I've customised the keymap to have the numbers set stars, and Cmd+number set colour labels, and the R key being the Adobe 'Reject' flag. Currently I have the Tilde key toggle Zoom because my hand is resting near the number keys already, it is quick to punch in to check focus. One thing I wish it had was face detect, so it could punch in on the face every time.
After an initial run, I select all Rejects and delete outright, and then select the 4 and 5 star shots for colour labels, a Prospect and Definite labels (I use green and purple, just because I like them). I keep the 3 star shots too, though likely won't need them. 2 is basically reject, but go back and make sure once done selecting in case I don't have a good shot but need something. This way I can process hundreds of shots very quickly. Only then will I import into Capture One.

[slingshot]

I discovered FastRawVIewer when I made the mistake of 'trying' to cull and edit a weekend's worth of pictures from roller derby using super slow Lumianr 4. Now FastRawVIewere is my only way to cull even if I'm editing with Exposure X7 or Lightroom, it is so quick and doesn't load the rejects on my hard drives. Great Video !

[vianilism]

Man love your content! I wish fujifilm community was bigger

[gelbebond]

I love FastRAWviewer been using it for years now and don’t know why people rave on about photomechanic for just culling images.
FRV does almost all of the same but misses the metadata which can be added in C1 or Lr. It is an absolute bargain and technically superior application without the bells-n-whistles. Thank you FRV!!!!

[KevinRusso]

I owe you one for this. I never heard of this program, now I've added it to my Lightroom workflow by using it to tether. It's super quick.

Thanks. If you're ever in the Philly, PA area look me up.

[fotografifun]

Thank you. I have been looking at Photo Mechanic, but for a hobbyist like me it's a little to much. I usually just import all to LR, then wait for the import to be done, but even on the M1 this is taking it's time. Will download and test Fast RAW... Think this will speed up the selection of files 😊👍

[richardallan]

Thanks Chris I was looking for something to replace my Nikon View which does more or less the same job. Just returned from Africa with 3000 photos from my new Fujifilm XT4. This program works even better than the Nikon one and I do love that it saves the rejects. Thanks again for all your setting up hints as well.

[RandyPollock]

I purchased both and found I use Fast RAW 100% of the time as it's lightweight, easy to learn and it's program icons don't look like it's from 1990.

[BoxingTunes]

Hey man thanks for this. I keep coming back to your page ever since I became the owner of an xt-4

Keep up the great content!

[cokeandtwirl]

I don’t really need a raw file culling/rating tool (well, not yet anyway!) but I watched this all the way through as you make finding out about things so entertaining - and who knows when I might need that knowledge!

[mamofoto]

Hi Chris, thanks for this great information. Will save me a lot of time :)