Recommendation for software to download RAW files (but no actual conversion required)

I use an Apple Mac, and have several cameras from different manufacturers.

I need recommendations for a piece of software which JUST downloads files from the cameras and organises them into folders etc. RAW conversion and editing will be done later by other software.

Ideally the software would have quite sophisticated and flexible file and folder renaming facilities.

The product you are looking for is PhotoMechanic by Camera Bits (www.camerabits.com). It is available for both Mac and Windows. I have been using Lightroom extensively over the years, but I now use PhotoMechanic to import my RAW images -- it is extremely fast. I do my photo selection there, and then I work in Lightroom and Photoshop like I did in the past.
Nick

Have a look here.

http://www.breezesys.com/downloads.htm
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Denis de Gannes

Freeware:
Digital Image Mover: http://www.alanlight.com/dim/Dim.htm

Paid Software:
ImageIngester: http://imageingester.com/ii-info.php
Breeze Systems Downloader Pro: http://www.breezesys.com/Downloader/

I've used Downloader Pro for at least 6 years now but ImageIngester was initially designed for Macs and works especially well.

NikonUser123 said:

I use an Apple Mac, and have several cameras from different manufacturers.

I need recommendations for a piece of software which JUST downloads files from the cameras and organises them into folders etc. RAW conversion and editing will be done later by other software.

Ideally the software would have quite sophisticated and flexible file and folder renaming facilities.

Click to expand...

Doesn't "Image Capture" do that already? It is in the Utilities folder in your Mac.

You can set it up to open every time you insert a specific SD card or connect a specific camera. It lets you review the images and select the ones you want to copy.

Dear Nikonuser, I don't get it. Why do you need software? I plug my SD card into a card reader connected to a USB port. My PC reads the files on the card. I tell it to copy and past the image folders to whatever file I choose to create.

Simple.
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jamesza

R Ortiz said:

Doesn't "Image Capture" do that already? It is in the Utilities folder in your Mac.

You can set it up to open every time you insert a specific SD card or connect a specific camera. It lets you review the images and select the ones you want to copy.

Click to expand...

Does Image Capture read EXIF metadata and sort into date-based folders? Can it rename files using specified criteria?

james laubscher said:

Dear Nikonuser, I don't get it. Why do you need software? I plug my SD card into a card reader connected to a USB port. My PC reads the files on the card. I tell it to copy and past the image folders to whatever file I choose to create.

Simple.

Click to expand...

james laubscher said:

jamesza

Click to expand...

If you don't shoot large amounts you wouldn't understand. Downloading software is able to check your files while they are being transferred to ensure none of them become corrupted.

The software can also sort files based on any specified user preferences like date created, ISO, shutter speed etc.. It will automatically insert job codes, bulk metadata like copyright and contact information, and geotag your images. A simple file transfer using a card reader cannot do any of those things.

Also, you can run multiples instances of download software while allow you to download multiple card simultaneously while ensuring the arrive at the correct destinations.

Why Use Downloader Pro?

• Gives you a fast and simple way to transfer and store digital photos from your camera to PC

• Automatically rename and organize photos in a meaningful way as they are downloaded

• Save time locating images by assigning them recognizable and clear names and folders

• Supports the downloading of JPEGs from all camera makes and raw files from most camera makes including Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Fuji, Sony , Kodak, Leica, Sigma and Hasselblad

• Avoid duplicating images on your PC; Downloader Pro identifies duplicate images and only downloads them once. Particularly useful when downloading from mass storage devices

• Simplify workflow by automating the creation of sets of related directories for each download directory e.g. Vacation2009\originals, Vacation2009\working, JobXYZ\final (using the new Directory Maker plug-in)

• Time saving automatic rotation of JPEG’s from cameras with orientation sensors
• Specify download path using shooting data

• Store caption and location information in image IPTC/XMP data as images are downloaded

• Automatically geo-tag images using GPS data from devices like the Sony GPS-CS1 tracker, Garmin eTrex Venture CX etc.
• Ease reorganization of existing photos held on PC
• Integrated with BreezeBrowser Pro

• Photoshop users can automatically adjust dpi of JPEGs to their preferred value during download

• Photoshop users can automatically tag JPEGs with colour profile according to camera model

For those who don't understand why you'd need such software to download images; here's a brief example using Downloader Pro from Breeze Systems. ImageIngester works similar to DLP so the illustration is applicable to it also.

Lets assume I have an 8 GB card filled with Raw files to download. Using my Canon 1D Mark III that would be approximately 550 CR2 files.

In step 1, I've configured DLP using "tokens" to automatically move these files to the New Folder on my E:\ drive. The (m) and (D) tokens instruct the software to read the EXIF metadata of each file and sort them into date based folders according to the date the photo was shot.

In step 2, DLP is configured to automatically rename each file according to my preferred naming format JAN_YYYYMMDD_unique sequence #. That format is my initials, the date the photo was taken in ISO standard format_ and a unique sequence number. This naming scheme ensures that I can never have duplicate file names even when my camera counter resets at 10,000. Since a date can only occur once and its followed by a numeric sequence number; a file name is never repeated.

Step 3 illustrates the entire download path specified by the tokens:



Finally this is how the folders created by DLP appear in Windows Explorer. None of this requires any intervention on my part other than the initial configuration. I can simply plug in any card and do something else while they are downloading and know they will be sorted and renamed correctly.

I should point out that Lightroom and Adobe Bridge have similar download capability but they aren't as powerful as dedicated download software like DLP or ImageIngester.

suddie1215 said:

R Ortiz said:

Doesn't "Image Capture" do that already? It is in the Utilities folder in your Mac.

You can set it up to open every time you insert a specific SD card or connect a specific camera. It lets you review the images and select the ones you want to copy.

Click to expand...

Does Image Capture read EXIF metadata and sort into date-based folders? Can it rename files using specified criteria?

Click to expand...

Actually it can with a little help from Automator.

Thanks Suddie..., that's useful info.
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jamesza

Looking at the Downloader Pro website, it looks like this is Windows only (I am an Apple Mac user). Is this correct?

I second the recommendation for photo mechanic. It's awesome for downloading and organizing, renaming, iptc data, etc, etc. It's blazing fast at rendering photos too.

I have LR too and still find Photo Mechanic a lot easier and faster to use for downloading and for making editing decisions.

--
Pete Springer
http://www.petespringer.com