All the modern digital photo cameras offer the possibility to shoot the photos into JPEG file format or RAW format. JPEG format is very flexible and offers a direct possibility to be shown on any kind of the computer.
But, the digital camera has to process the image and JPEG is a format, which is compressed and you can loose the details of the picture. Or definitely, the details in the photo are lost. Also, for successful shooting into JPEG, you need to be sure that exposure and white balance are set correctly.
With RAW file format you get what the camera really sees. But you have to make some post-processing in the computer. As the file format is not standardized and each digital camera manufacturer use its own file format, it is not that easy task.
On Mac OS X you can use several applications for post-processing of RAW file format. You can use Adobe Photoshop with the Digital RAW extension or you can use Aperture. Aperture is a great application, but it is pretty expensive. You can really do very complex adjustments in photos and you can repair or correct almost every single aspect of the picture taken.
When you are not a professional photographer, the pressure for your money is extreme. For Mac OS X you can use application Rawker to convert the images from the RAW file format to the format, which the computer can understand better.
Rawker does just one thing – it converts RAW file format. And it does it great. You can make a set up for the processing of photos and you can convert all the photos in one step. You can choose the destination file format to be sure, you do not loose the details of the pictures. So you can choose JPEG or TIFF file format.
You have no many options to change, but for basic converting – it is more than enough. Compared to Digital RAW included in Adobe Photoshop, it is better to user Rawker.
The possibility for very easy batch processing of images is really excellent. You just make a set up on the first picture in the folder and then – you just wait for Rawker to finish its work.
In case you do not have Adobe Photoshop or Aperture – then Rawker is a good alternative. And provided for free.
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iPhoto also converts RAW, just load the pics from the camera into iPhoto, and then select them and select an output format and convert them.
That is correct, but I do not know why, but iPhoto sometimes does not work with RAW files… at least for my Canon. The picture is corrupted. Maybe I do something wrong.
OSX handles RAW very well.
Simply drag and drop any Raw file on Preview and it will open the file and give you the option to save it as a Tiff, PNG, PDF or PS file.
Using Automator this could be used to batch convert a bundle of RAW files.
Gimp and Graphic Convertor (both free) also handle RAW files very well.