PM 4.6 - crop & save as using Nikon NEF files

[Darby]

Hey Guys,

I'm currently evaluating the demo version of PM 4.6 (great software btw!) as I need fast & reliable software for my expanding sports photography business & this product came highly recommended.

I've searched this forum and found some items that relate to this post, but nothing that deals with the new version of PM ... so I apologize for the redundant nature of my question.

I just injested a small handful of NEF files from my D300 (I'm also using a G5 iMac 10.4.7 OS) and applied a soft crop ... went to "save as" & received the pop up window that others have mentioned which stated that the image could not be saved in high resolution.  After reading Kirk's responses to similar questions, I realize that PM is not going to render NEF images but it was mentioned by Kirk in one of his responses, that the new version (4.6) would be able to address this issue.

In the preferences menu, I have enabled RAW rendering & am using jpeg preview for speed. 

I do shoot in RAW and if it's possible for me to quickly load the photos to the computer, cull them, add a soft crop & watermark & save them to a new folder for uploading to my website ... well, I'm sold.

Anyone know if I can shoot RAW, do the soft crop & then save as???  If it is possible ... what have I done wrong?

Thanks for your time,
Darby

[Darby]

Hey Guys,

PM does allow for the "save as" feature to work with RAW files (specifically on Macs) ... I found "extract jpeg previews from RAW files" option under the tools menu.  Selected all the photos & clicked on this option ... worked like a charm. 

Now to see if I can apply the soft crops, watermarks, new destination folder in a batch setting instead of doing each one individually ....

Gotta say I'm really liking this software.

Take care,
Darby

[Kirk Baker]

Darby,

PM does allow for the "save as" feature to work with RAW files (specifically on Macs) ... I found "extract jpeg previews from RAW files" option under the tools menu.  Selected all the photos & clicked on this option ... worked like a charm. 

Now to see if I can apply the soft crops, watermarks, new destination folder in a batch setting instead of doing each one individually...

Just select the NEFs you want to save.  Then select Save Photos as... from the File menu.  In the Save As dialog make sure you set the "Allow RAW previews to be used as source" checkbox.  This will allow the embedded JPEG preview to be used as the image for saving.  Your soft crop will be applied if you also set the "Cropping: Apply" checkbox.  You can also apply a watermark, scale, sharpen and convert the image's color space to sRGB at the same time.

HTH,

-Kirk

[Darby]

Darby,

Just select the NEFs you want to save.  Then select Save Photos as... from the File menu.  In the Save As dialog make sure you set the "Allow RAW previews to be used as source" checkbox.  This will allow the embedded JPEG preview to be used as the image for saving.  Your soft crop will be applied if you also set the "Cropping: Apply" checkbox.  You can also apply a watermark, scale, sharpen and convert the image's color space to sRGB at the same time.

HTH,

-Kirk

Hi Kirk,

Thank you for taking the time to help me out.  I've been playing around with the software for the past hour and I've been successful in getting the crop, watermark etc to work without any issues (after doing a "select all" followed by "extract jpeg ...." from the "tools" menu.  Worked great but was able to save one file at a time.

I tried your suggestion to select the RAW files that I wanted to save ... checked the box in the bottom right corner of each photo (in the regular window which displays all the photos), applied crops to the photos when necessary & went to file --> save photos as but this way greyed out.  I could access this command when in the preview window and one of 10 photos was saved but could not get the entire batch of 10 photos to be saved.  I had the "allow RAW previews to be used as a source" checked off.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again for your time ... I'm really impressed with the software.

Take care,
Darby

[Kirk Baker]

Darby,

Just select the NEFs you want to save.  Then select Save Photos as... from the File menu.  In the Save As dialog make sure you set the "Allow RAW previews to be used as source" checkbox.  This will allow the embedded JPEG preview to be used as the image for saving.  Your soft crop will be applied if you also set the "Cropping: Apply" checkbox.  You can also apply a watermark, scale, sharpen and convert the image's color space to sRGB at the same time.

Thank you for taking the time to help me out.  I've been playing around with the software for the past hour and I've been successful in getting the crop, watermark etc to work without any issues (after doing a "select all" followed by "extract jpeg ...." from the "tools" menu.  Worked great but was able to save one file at a time.

I tried your suggestion to select the RAW files that I wanted to save ... checked the box in the bottom right corner of each photo (in the regular window which displays all the photos), applied crops to the photos when necessary & went to file --> save photos as but this way greyed out.  I could access this command when in the preview window and one of 10 photos was saved but could not get the entire batch of 10 photos to be saved.  I had the "allow RAW previews to be used as a source" checked off.

You want that checkbox checked *on* not off.  You shouldn't need to extract the embedded previews from your NEFs.  Just select the NEFs, and then use Save Photos as... from the File menu when you're in the Contact Sheet window (the one showing all of the thumbnails in a grid.)  You can save directly from your NEFs.

-Kirk

[Darby]

Hi Kirk,

Yes, I had the checkbox *on*.  I did manage to use the Save Photos As option once I went into the preferences --> allow for RAW preview (I think that's the wording ... dont' have it available to me at the moment) and it worked great. 

I'm still trying to see if I can do a batch of "save photos as".  As I mentioned, I've checked *on* the box in the bottom right corner of each photo located in the contact sheet window thinking this was the way to select the ones I wanted to save.  Is this the correct approach?

Thanks again for your help.

Take care,
Darby

You want that checkbox checked *on* not off.  You shouldn't need to extract the embedded previews from your NEFs.  Just select the NEFs, and then use Save Photos as... from the File menu when you're in the Contact Sheet window (the one showing all of the thumbnails in a grid.)  You can save directly from your NEFs.

-Kirk

[/quote]

[Kirk Baker]

Darby,

Yes, I had the checkbox *on*.  I did manage to use the Save Photos As option once I went into the preferences --> allow for RAW preview (I think that's the wording ... dont' have it available to me at the moment) and it worked great. 

I'm still trying to see if I can do a batch of "save photos as".  As I mentioned, I've checked *on* the box in the bottom right corner of each photo located in the contact sheet window thinking this was the way to select the ones I wanted to save.  Is this the correct approach?

No, that just "tags" them.  You can select them by simply clicking on the photos.  Holding down the Shift key while clicking extends your selection.  Command-clicking allows you to make non-contiguous selections.  All batch operations operate on the selected photos.

-Kirk

[Darby]

Darby,

Yes, I had the checkbox *on*.  I did manage to use the Save Photos As option once I went into the preferences --> allow for RAW preview (I think that's the wording ... dont' have it available to me at the moment) and it worked great. 

I'm still trying to see if I can do a batch of "save photos as".  As I mentioned, I've checked *on* the box in the bottom right corner of each photo located in the contact sheet window thinking this was the way to select the ones I wanted to save.  Is this the correct approach?

No, that just "tags" them.  You can select them by simply clicking on the photos.  Holding down the Shift key while clicking extends your selection.  Command-clicking allows you to make non-contiguous selections.  All batch operations operate on the selected photos.

-Kirk

Ahhh, yes, the obvious ... tried it and it worked great. 

Thanks again,
Darby