FastRawViewer 1.2.0

Download links

Download from main download page.

Windows users: there is no separate OpenGL/DirectX installers anymore, you can switch graphics subsystem used within same version. See What's new section below for details.

FastRawViewer 1.2 will work with same activation/license key.

Testing reports

Please report all problems and minor requests:

• In this forum thread (in comments)
• Or via Contact form
• Or via E-mail to: support@fastrawviewer.com

What's new and fixed in FastRawViewer 1.2

What's new

Windows: The graphics subsystem can be switched between DirectX and OpenGL without installing a different version

A technicality, but an important one, so it's first on the list. There are no separate DirectX/OpenGL Windows installers anymore; the graphics subsystem (DirectX/OpenGL) can be chosen without re-installing the program:

1. During the first launch of FastRawViewer, the graphics subsystem is selected automatically.
2. If the automatic choice was unsuccessful for some reason, the program:
   • will switch to another graphics type and suggest a relaunch
   • will suggest preforming the switch manually; this is done in the case of a non-functioning OpenGL (an automatic switch to DX9 is undesirable as it may result in an endless loop of switching between DX9 - OpenGL - DX9... in the case of completely incompatible graphics)
3. Manual selection of the type of graphics subsystem can be done by launching the Registry script from Windows Start - All Programs - LibRaw LLC - FastRawViewer - Set Graphics Mode to...
4. When FastRawViewer is launched successfully, the graphics subsystem can be changed through FastRawViewer Preferences - GPU Processing - Graphics Engine

Filtering the file list by the XMP ratings and labels

This can be turned on through Menu - File - Filter Files by rating/label or through the funnel icon on the preview panel bar.

• The necessary rating/label values should be selected in the dialog that appears (the filter rules work on the logical 'AND' basis, meaning that if both ratings and labels are given, only those files that conform to both conditions are displayed).
• The first time the filter is turned on for a given folder/catalog, it reads all of the XMP files, with the progress indication displayed in the bottom bar of the program (the running 'reading metadata' message).

If the XMP data is changed by an external program while FastRawViewer is open, refresh the ratings and labels in FastRawViewer the standard way: by using the 'gear' icon in the preview panel - choose 'Refresh thumbnails/ratings.'

'Favorite Folders' Panel

This panel allows one to keep a list of often-used folders, and lets one readily access them. A click on an item (folder) in this list opens the chosen folder in the Thumbnail.. A double-click opens it in the Thumbnails, and loads the first file in the main window.

To add a folder: use the context menu in the Folder tree gear icon in the panel header, and choose 'Add current folder to favorites'

When you attempt to add a folder that is already in the list, it is moved to the top of the list

To clean up the list: the context menu on an element (right-click) allows one to delete that element; or, to clear the entire list, use Menu panel -> 'Clear favorites list'.

Sorting the file list by the EXIF Timestamp

(For this sorting mode, DateTimeOriginal and SubSecTimeOriginal EXIF tags are used)

Can be turned on through Preferences - File Handling - File sort order

• if this sorting mode is turned on, the first time a folder containing image files is accessed, FastRawViewer will read the EXIF data from all of the files in the folder, and XMP blocks in the files and XMP sidecar files will be analyzed. On slow discs/cards, this reading and analisys might take a while.
• Files with EXIF timestamps differing by less than a second will be sorted alphabetically.

New action Menu - View - Toggle Zoom (default key Z)

The zoom level for Toggle Zoom can be set through Preferences - Zoom - Toggle Zoom zoom to; the default value is 100%. Something similar had been implemented in Lightroom, but we did it slightly differently - see manual for details.

Minor improvements

• (OS X): New setting: Preferences - Interface - Zoom - Use Logical pixels for zoom calculation
  • If turned on (default, legacy behavior), then the pixel in the screen is considered to be the "logical pixel" (in the case of Retina, it's a block of 2x2 physical pixels) and the calculation of the zoom size is done in these units.
  • If turned off, the zoom value is calculated in physical pixels, so for Retina screens the displayed zoom value will now be doubled, and at 100% zoom the image will be half the size compared to legacy behavior.
• New folder panel setting: Shorten long folder names
  
  In the folder tree, long names (more than 12 characters) will be displayed as '5FirstCharacters...5LastCharacters', while the full name of the folder will be displayed as a tooltip.
• New setting in the XMP Preferences - 'Read ratings/labels from XMP blocks embedded into RAW files' enables the reading of XMP ratings and labels everywhere they are used:
  • XMP rating/label of the current file (XMP Metadata panel, status bar)
  • Filmstrip/Thumbnails panel's rating and label display
  • filtering files by rating and label.

  If the setting is turned off (default state, for higher filtration speed), then ratings/labels are read only from sidecar files, ignoring data in the XMP block even if it is present in the RAW file.

  If the setting is turned on, then the default rule for reading other XMP data is used: when embedded and an external XMP blocks both exist, the more recent variant will be used.

  The 'XMP - Read XMP data embedded into RAW files' item has been removed from the Preferences; the behavior of the program in regards to embedded XMP blocks is now controlled only by the new setting.

• Windows: new checkbox in the installation program: 'Add FastRawViewer to Open With right click menu for raw/jpeg files'
• New option for displaying EXIF data: size of the file in megabytes
• Filmstrip: new hidden (not shown in the Preferences) behavior settings accessible via registry/defaults scripts.
  
  (See User Manual - 'Program Settings' - 'Additional settings' for details on using hidden settings)

What's changed

• Working with white balance
  1. Color Temperature/Color Tint (CCT/Tint) values set through the white balance adjustment dialog are now not calculated twice (first, to white balance coefficients, and then back, to CCT/Tint) when displaying the values for the current WB on the button and when recording those to an XMP file compliant to the Adobe format: the values displayed (and recorded to XMP file) are exact.
     
     Note: values that are "set manually" are not kept forever, so if after setting them manually (resulting in Custom white balance) you choose one of the presets, and then go back to the Custom, a recalculation will occur.
  2. CCT/Tint calculations for DNG and RAW files from Canon, Fuji, Olympus, Samsung, Sony now take into account the particular camera calibration. The calculated values for these formats/cameras should be practically identical to those in Adobe programs
  3. The calculation of CCT/Tint when the color temperature is out of the standard Ill.A - D65 range (2850-6500K CCT) is improved, the calculated CCT values should be practically identical to those in Adobe programs.
  4. Reading white balance presets from a RAW file (if those presets are present in the RAW file) Note: if two "neighboring" files from one camera have different sets of presets (for example, the second one is a DNG file not containing any WB presets; in this case FRV will use presets from an internal table), and white balance must be preserved as instructed by the "same camera" setting in Preferences, then
     
     a) if possible, a preset with the same type of lighting (name) is used
     
     b) if none exists, then a WB that is set as the default "for another camera" is used.
• Settings for the Global/Local rejected folder were improved in terms of ergonomics.
• Hidden (not included in the Preferences) settings of folder monitoring for showing/deleting files
  
  (See User Manual - 'Program Settings' - 'Additional settings' for details on using hidden settings).
• New XMP setting - 'Warn about XMP writing errors'.
  
  If turned on (default), the program will warn of any errors during XMP file recording
• Preview panel: XMP sidecar files are read for JPEG files (if they exist), ratings and labels are shown in the panel.
• Menu options which change XMP files (rotation, white balance, exposure correction) have been moved from View to a separate Adjust menu.
• If the currently opened file is deleted from the folder with an external program, FRV will automatically move to the next file (same as if the file was deleted or moved in FRV)
• MS Surface/Surface Pro: no additional activation is required after updating the Firmware version (BIOS).
  
  You need to re-activate just once again for the new activation scheme to take hold (this re-activation can be done without waiting for the firmware update).
• Right/Left arrows in Filmstrip/Thumbnails panel always navigate to the next/previous file, even if the current file is in the rightmost/leftmost column of the light table view
• The number of external programs a user can launch is increased to 10
• The setting 'External Programs - Check external program presence on startup' (in Preferences), if on (default), causes FastRawViewer to check the availability of all external programs listed in the pane.

File format support

• DNG with a floating point, DNG with Deflate compression, DNG panoramas composed in Lightroom/Camera Raw Support are supported through Adobe DNG SDK.
• Support for non-compressed NEF format for Nikon Series 1 cameras is added.
• Support for Pentax K3-II 4-shot mode is added.
  
  Can be turned on/off through Preferences - Performance - 'Use all subframes' for Pentax K3-II 4-shot files. Support for 4-shot mode works fairly slowly (since there is now four times as much data), use only if extremely necessary.
• Support for the un-compressed format of the Sony A7* II cameras is added.
• Support for Samsung NX1/NX500 12-bit/Normal compression mode is added.
• More effective support for the .EIP format: thumbnails are loaded much quicker, and significantly less memory is used.

Camera Support

• BlackMagic URSA
• Canon EOS M10, PowerShot G5 X, G9 X
• Leica SL (Typ 601)

Bugs fixed

• When sorting by the time of file creation, files with identical (to the second) time of creation are sorted alphabetically and in the proper order.
• If the program is in the process of switching from the display of the current file to the display of the next file, and command to navigate to yet another file was given through the thumbnails, then the Copy, Move, and Delete Current File actions are not preformed until the transition to the next file is finished.
• When changing the current folder through the Folders panel, the new file list was not "scrolled back to the beginning", fixed.
• "Remember last opened file in folder" now works as it should if used together with navigation through Folders/Favorite folders
• For Windows 10 at HiDPI screens: buttons size in Keyboard Editor is increased
• After the Keyboard Editor was launched, Menu - File - Run contained Program1 .. ProgramN instead of the names of the actual programs, fixed.