Viewing Raw files in LR3 BEFORE import

[Marko]

Hi members,

Still figuring Lightroom 3 and I have a simple question.

What's the easiest/best way to EXAMINE the raw photos in folders sitting on my desktop that have not yet been imported into lightroom?

All I want to do is look at the photos BEFORE importing them.

Any tips on the best way to do this?

Thx!
Marko

[JAS_Photo]

Marko, do you mean you have folders on your hard drive that have not been imported to LR or something else? If it's just a case of the raw files sitting on your computer Nikon has a codec you can download from their website that will allow you to view raw files on your computer.

http://nikonimglib.com/nefcodec/

[Iguanasan]

Irfanview 32 is a great image viewer for Windows. It, IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide (http://www.irfanview.com/), also has many PlugIns (http://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm) which allow it to read just about any file format.

[edG]

I use the free View NX2 (from Nikon) and I am also able to view these in Windows Live Gallery (I believe because I updated my nef file formats from adobe)

[asnow]

Nikon codec or View NX2. Is there anything similar for Canon ???
I shoot in RAW + jpeg and the only reason I do the jpeg is so that I can view the pictures in Windows Exporer.

[Iguanasan]

Nikon codec or View NX2. Is there anything similar for Canon ???
I shoot in RAW + jpeg and the only reason I do the jpeg is so that I can view the pictures in Windows Exporer.

Not sure what you use to manage your files but I use Picasa and it lets me view .CR2 files without any problems and keeps them all nicely organized. You can get it from Google: Picasa 3: Free download from Google (http://www.google.com/picasa/) Also, as I mentioned above, IrfanView32 will let you view Canon RAW as well. It does both Nikon NEF and Canon CRW and CR2.

[Richard]

I did download a codec for canon a while back for viewing raw files in Windows explorer , I have a feeling it was only 32 bit though.

Canon RAW Codec (http://software.canon-europe.com/software/0039964.asp?model=)

[Marko]

This is correct Jas, i have folders on my desktop that i have not yet imported into lightroom....and now I cannot see the the raw files in lightroom without importing them. This means I cannot Trash the unwanted photos before importing and i need a SECOND program to see the files...this is stupid.

I'm blown away that u cannot do this from Lightroom itself. I was SURE you could, I figured I was just being lame.
MAJOR design flaw in the program as far as i am concerned. You can do this simply in Adobe Bridge which is the program i switched from....

So unless I'm missing something....the answer is no...........Thanks for the alternatives!
Marko

[Richard]

At the risk of sounding like an adobe fan boy :D

it's not that stupid, lightroom is fundamentally different to bridge because it is database driven, that means its faster to search, as well as storing all the non destructive edits in the database.

Another bonus of the database method is I have a 1TB network drive with all my images taken in 2009 and before, I have imported this drive into lightroom. I still get previews in lightroom of all the pictures on this drive, even when my laptop is out the house and not connected to the drive, thid safes a lot of space on my laptop HD.

You could goto the import module, and choose your desktop, this would then render previews of all the files there, and give you the opportunity to choose which files you would like to import. (you can change from grid view to loupe view if you want to get a close look at a single image before import.)

Hope that makes sense, still need to drink my morning coffee. :)