Saving and Renaming in one step

Submitted by tstoddard on Sun, 06/02/2024 - 11:54
Forums: 
General discussion

Hi, I'm new to FastRawViewer. I don't see a way to search the forum so I apologize if I'm asking questions that have already been answered.
Since I'd like to use this software to cull my images before I import them from a memory card into a local hard drive, I would like to select the keepers (usually by rejecting the ones I don't want to keep), save them to file folders, creating the folders dynamically and renaming the files in the process. Is this possible?
I'd like to be able to import a batch of files and put them into a file structure using the photo dates. For example, if I have a group of files that were shot over a period of time and I want to import them all at once but put them into subfolders based on the date they were shot, how could I do that?
I just want to put them into a folder structure that looks like: yyyy/mm/yyyy-mm-dd
I'm really hoping this is possible. If not, I'm afraid is a deal breaker for me. I often travel and come home with memory cards filled with photos taken over a period of 2 to 3 weeks. I don't want to have to filter by day first, manually create folders, import the files to those folders, and then rename them. Frankly, I'll be surprised if this software can't do what I'm asking.
Any help or suggestions would be appretiated.
Thanks!

LibRaw

Sun, 06/02/2024 - 14:26

Dear Sir:
We don't consider such a workflow to be even remotely safe (here are a couple of reasons why: writing to cards out of camera isn't safe, working with images before ensuring that one has a verified backup isn't safe), and thus it is not within our good conscience to support it.

We have much safer mechanisms for culling, for example selecting files, copying selected files to a new destination, saving lists of selected files, loading and appending such lists, please see
https://updates.fastrawviewer.com/data/FastRawViewer2-Manual-ENG.pdf#pag...
https://updates.fastrawviewer.com/data/FastRawViewer2-Manual-ENG.pdf#pag...

For your convenience, the FastRawViewer Manual comes with the application (FastRawViewer main menu -> 'Help' -> 'PDF Manual') and is a fully searchable standard PDF file; or you can download the manual separately from FastRawViewer download page,
https://www.fastrawviewer.com/download

Direct link to the manual is:
https://updates.fastrawviewer.com/data/FastRawViewer2-Manual-ENG.pdf

tstoddard

Sun, 06/02/2024 - 18:05

I think you may have misinterpreted what I am trying to do. I do not ever write to a memory card. What I would like to do is to import only the images that I want to keep. So, what I'm looking for is a way to examine the images that are on my memory card, select only the ones I want to keep, and then import those onto my hard drive, placing them into a defined folder structure and renaming them in the process.
This is a common workflow for most raw processing programs. There is nothing dangerous about it. In fact, I could do it easily in Lightroom but I don't like using Lightroom because it forces me to import everything into its catalog. I use a different program for cataloging my images but it doesn't do a great job culling, like Fast Raw Viewer does. I was using FastPictureViewer but have built a new PC and am unable to get it working again because I don't have my license key.
Essentially, I just want to replace FastPictureViewer in my workflow with Fast Raw Viewer. What I was hoping is that it would allow me to put my memory card into my memory card reader, select the images I want to keep, and put them in folders based on the dates they were taken with new filenames.
I have referred to the manual several times but wasn't able to find a way to do this so I thought I'd try the forum.

Tom Stoddard

LibRaw

Mon, 06/03/2024 - 08:45

> What I would like to do is to import only the images that I want to keep.
As we suggested, please select the images you want to copy from a memory card to a more permanent storage and copy them in a single action.

> I don't have my license key
Please use https://www.fastrawviewer.com/customer/recovery or contact us at support@fastrawviewer.com

tstoddard

Mon, 06/03/2024 - 11:54

>As we suggested, please select the images you want to copy from a memory card to a more permanent storage and copy them in a single action.
 
That's exactly what I want to do but I want to use Fast Raw Viewer to select the images that I want to keep and to copy them to my hard drive renamed and organized into folders based on the dates that the photos were taken. Based on your responses, I assume that Fast Raw Viewer does not currently have that functionality.
 
Please forgive my stubborness and desire to get FRV to behave according to my preferred workflow. The program seems to be a great tool for culling photos and I will probably continue using it.
 
To clarify, what I believe you are suggesting is for me to either copy all images to a location on a hard drive or use some other means to "select" the images I want to keep and copy only those images to a location on my hard drive. Either way, that's an additional step. I would also need to manually create a folder and subfolder structure to copy them into. That's another tedious step. Finally, I could use Fast Raw Viewer.
 
Since Fast Raw Viewer is capable of copying files to different locations, I would assume it's capable of creating folders as well. Why not enable that functionality? There's nothing dangerous about doing that if you do it correctly and don't overwrite existing folders.

Tom Stoddard

Tom Stoddard (not verified)

Wed, 06/05/2024 - 10:56

I'd like to close out this thread with a few comments. I've spent the last two days reading and/or scanning the manual from start to finish. I now realize that my initial response to your software was due partially to the name given to this program. I believe FastRawViewer is a misnomer. This program is way more than a fast viewer. The processing functionality is very impressive not to mention the ability to customize so much of the interface and functionality. I appreciate what this program can do and will definitely purchase it and continue to use it.
 
With that said, I would still prefer to have a lighter version of this software dedicated to the purpose of importing and culling raw images. A version that does not allow any changes to the image files themselves. One that strictly allows viewing, analysis, and comparison of raw files with the ability to select keepers and/or reject unwanted files, and then rename and move the files to locations on hard drives into folders and subfolders created and named based on file metadata. Essentially, this would be a small subset of the functionality already existing in FastRawViewer with only a few minor additions/modifications (I know it's easy for me to say) for specifying the destinations to which files could be moved.
 
Thank you for you replies to my questions and for all of the work that's been put into this program. It truly is great software.

LibRaw

Wed, 06/05/2024 - 15:08

> A version that does not allow any changes to the image files themselves.
Please be sure: FastRawViewer never changes raw files; raw files are opened in FastRawViewer as read-only.

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