Best way to batch convert a ton of Raw Files to ..........

[Paul]

Calling all PS users. I usually convert my images one at a time for my favorite shots, but I want to go back and convert the others to JPG or Tiff so I can view easier and see if any others are worthy of saving. I found on way but it is slow. Any tips?

[mmeyer]

When I need to do that I select all of the images I want to convert in Bridge. Then go to Tools> Photoshop> Image Processor. When that opens you can save the files as Jpegs, Tiff or PSD and even apply actions to them. You can save them in the same location and it will make a new folder inside the original and save them there.

[Dbl]

I eliminate Bridge (because I detest this program to no end) and just open the files you want to convert in Photoshop. In the upper left you see the button labeled "Select All" Click on that and all the photos will now be selected. Here is the cool thing if you want to make the same adjustment to all the photos make your changes, levels, curves, exposure whatever you want to do. Now click on the "Synchronize" button and all the photos will receive that treatment.

You have just batch edited your first shots! Lets say you open 10 files and you want to make the same changes to 5 of those images. Make your selection of those 5 by holding the control key and select each shot with your mouse. Make your adjustments and now you can sync just those 5. Make changes to your other shots and save them.

The "Save" option allows you to save them as PSD, DNG, TIFF, or JPEG. Here is where you can save as 16 bit PSD, TIFF, DNG or 8 bit if saving as JPEG (look at the lower left corner for these options). I like PSD as a file format its half the size of TIFF with most of the data and it is the format that likely will be around a while. This is a very fast way to save and do some global editing on your shots. As a high volume shooter if I didn't have these types of options I would spend all of my time in front of a computer!

[Paul]

Thanks Dan, that is kinda what I have been doing but it just seemed slow. I guess when you are trying to do a couple hundred shots at once it can be a little resources hogging. making the old pentium quad core with 4 gig of ram work for its money.

[Dbl]

Yeah I hear ya Paul. Thats one of the reasons I shoot JPEG for all of my sports work. Even that little extra time and computer resources makes a big difference when you are looking at a large volume of shots.

[Dbl]

Forgot to add Paul I run a relatively fast machine and I never select more than 100 shots at a time for any batch processing. You are right it is a resource hog! When I have over a 1000 to process I usually am running three computers, a desktop and two laptops.

I am actually thinking of building a server and workstations to help with all this and storage concerns. I have had as many as 10,000 shots over two days of shooting to deal with. This may be a workable solution.