I am running Photo Mechanic version 5, build 17338 on Windows 7x64.
I use VueScan from hamrick.com to scan images from a two scanners (ScanMaker X6EL and a Minolta DImage Elite negative scanner). VueScan optionally creates a raw tiff file which is the actual data from the scanner without white balance etc. and potentially with IR data from negative scanners, which I call file.rvs.tif (rvs=raw vuescan). It also outputs a JPG copy, I call it file.jpg, that I edit and correct and crop. My first thought in this matter was if two image files .JPG and .XYZ have the same base filename, they should be treated as a RAW+JPG pair and treated as a single image in the contact sheet. They are not, and are treated as two independent files. So I must edit metadata in both.
I asked about this before (see
http://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=10063.msg49413) and Kirk said that linking the two was not possible, as VueScan is not a camera.
I understand a real "camera" RAW file has special needs and must be demosaiced etc., but as VueScan converts visible images to a file, I contend it IS a digital camera. The format has intrinsic value, not only as TIFF, but a VueScan RAW image can be re-loaded into VueScan for further processing, so keeping it around and managing it has value. A registry hack in Windows makes .VSR preview just as it does now for .TIFF. PM pairing .JPG and .VSR/.RVS would be a real time-saver for me.
If PM was an open source project on GitHub I would be scouring source to try to make a pull request; since it is not, I can say that I would gladly pay $50 for a "plugin" for this feature. I suspect there are other VueScan users that would use this feature; RAW scanning is a great feature of VueScan and I have seen related questions in the PM support board.
Thank you for your consideration.
