Sharing RAW Files/Converting to JPEG

[Crazysah]

Hello,

What's the best way to share RAW files over the internet? Is there an easy way of doing it?

Or is the best thing to do, converting the RAW Files into JPEG and then sending them? If so, what's the best way of converting them without losing that much detail?

Thanks,

Crazysah

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Your best bet would be to use a service like Dropbox to share RAW image files, but obviously the file sizes could be absolutely anything. If you can deal with some quality loss, you could convert the images into JPEG or PNG image files... Most image editing software allows you to select the quality of the image before you save it... and if you're able to view RAW image files you probably already have the software you need.

[Crazysah]

So, what is the best free image editing software out there? And what's the best file format to convert it into?

[Buttus]

i think Irfanview has a good RAW converter plug-in... been a while since i used it tho.

convert to PNG or JPG, either one is fine for just looking at pics on a computer

[Crazysah]

Any other good conversion softwares out there?

[Buttus]

oh yea, ThumbsPlus is cool too, but it's not free

[Titoist]

I use Lightroom 4. Paid $140 for it but so far it has been worth it.

My opinion is that anything good is not free. Programs such as Lightroom definetly maintain quality and give editing flexibility as well as sharing options (Faceboom, Flickr, HDD, etc) hence the price.

[moloko]

Well if you mean share photos just resize them and share. if you mean RAW files them selves then you need to put on Dropbox or something since those files are huge.

Now for me, I use lightroom, I convert to Jpeg and compress down to 100kb at a size of 800px on the long side. If I did full size Jpeg it is still 14Mb.

[threetonesun]

Picassa and iPhoto will do it for free. Also, most cameras allow for some RAW + jpg mode if you're looking for a faster way to share the pictures without processing, although either of the aforementioned programs will allow for batch exporting of jpgs.

[Argote]

The software that came with your camera should be able to do the conversion.