2 beginner questions

[tokumeino]

Hi, it is my fisrt post. Following a dpreview thread, I'm here, looking for an adequate DAM to compliment DXO.

I have 2 questions :

• having an UHD screen and shooting RAW on various cameras, it happens that embedded previews lack resolution to fill a 3980p screen (a lot). So I tried with toggling off "use embedded preview", specifying a 100% image size (3980 minimum) and increasing the cache size to 200Gb. But the previews don't update (for full screen culling)
  
• 
  as a DXO user, I'd like to know the easiest way to open selected pictures in DXO from iMatch. The "openwith" is not convenient and if I select 5 images, not only the 5 images are opened, but the whole folder. I'd prefer to open selected images (even across folders) as a DXO project
  

[Mario]

1. If you changed the cache options, did you re-create the cache for the files?
Changes made to cache settings does not cause IMatch to delete all existing cache files.
To re-create cache files, select some files in the File Window and then press <Shift>+<Ctrl>+<F5>. Then re-create cache.
This re-creates the cache for the selected files using your current settings.

The "openwith" is not convenient

Why not? It is the fastest way. Just press <Ctrl>+<Enter> to open all selected files (!) with their associated applications.

You can also use drag & drop from the file window to the application icon or application window.
If you drag some files to DxO and it opens the entire folder, then this is a feature of DxO. IMatch only uses the selected files.

You can also open files via <Shift>+<Ctrl>+<Return> ("Open with...") or the Windows Context menu available in the File Window context menu in the Additional Functions sub-menu.

[JohnZeman]

I'm not a DXO user but my preferred method to open selected images in Photoshop is with a Favorite.

Select images, press my "Send to Photoshop" favorite button, and those images are opened in Photoshop.

[sinus]

I use drag & drop, works fine.

[herman]

[...] if I select 5 images, not only the 5 images are opened, but the whole folder. I'd prefer to open selected images (even across folders) as a DXO project

As a long time DxO user I can say all you need is to have a shortcut to DxO in the IMatch favorites panel. Just drag the DxO shortcut from your desktop to the panel, and that is it.
Select the images you want to open in DxO (even when they are in multiple folders), click the shortcut in IMatch and that is all there is to it.
I recall there was a DxO version that required to have DxO open before the magic would work.
In the current incarnation that is not the case.
See attached screenshot.....

[Arthur]

Yes, this is how I use it also with DxO. Just drag the DxO link from desktop to application favorite panel. Because I do not want to see the application favorite panel, I have given the Dxo link in the applications panel the shortkey "1" via context menu. All I have to do to start working in DxO is:

1) Select the relevant raws
2) Press F3 followed by 1

And yes, this opens only the selected files and not the whole directory.

[tokumeino]

Thanks a lot. So there is not one solution, but several ! back home, I'll check if these solutions permit to open ONLY selected files in DXO, and not a full folder.

[tokumeino]

<Ctrl>+<Enter> is not an option because I don't want to associate RAW files with DXO by default.

Drag'n drop of images on DXO Photolab's taskbar icon doesn't work. It worked once but not completely because actually, all the files in the folder appeared on the film view below, while I want DXO to open files as an "External Selection". No I try to repeat but nothing happens.

Herman's favorite technique (plus Arthur's shortcut) work, however, and open only the selected files, as an external selection. Great.

But I don't get why, on my otherwise fully funtionnal and up-to-date Windows 10 installation, drag'n drop don't work.

[Arthur]

But I don't get why, on my otherwise fully funtionnal and up-to-date Windows 10 installation, drag'n drop don't work.

Maybe bug in DxO or intended behavior change? Cannot tell that, because PhotoLab is my first DxO version. For me it was always the case that after drag and drop the whole folder content was displayed in the DxO filmstrip, what I never liked.

[tokumeino]

1. If you changed the cache options, did you re-create the cache for the files?
Changes made to cache settings does not cause IMatch to delete all existing cache files.
To re-create cache files, select some files in the File Window and then press <Shift>+<Ctrl>+<F5>. Then re-create cache.
This re-creates the cache for the selected files using your current settings.

I'm afraid that it doesn't work. I select 16MPix images, then recreate the cache using any of the 4 "Rescan options" but in the "culling" window, pictures remain low res (I selected 100% to get sure)

My settings are :

• Working mode : Default
• Use embedded preview : No
• Image size in % : 100
• Quality : 75
• Minimal size : 1200
• Purge : No
• Max cache size (GB) : 200
• Max file size : 0

[Mario]

Please select one of your files in the File Window and then do Help menu > Support > WIC Diagnosis.
Attach the results to your reply.
This will tell us if the RAW format you use is supported, which WIC codecs are installed etc.
You can also upload a sample file somewhere so we can check how your RAW files behave.

Since you have disabled the option to use the embedded preview, IMatch is forced to do a full RAW development. This is 5 to 100 times slower than using the embedded preview. An option that should only be used if the embedded preview in the RAW is unusable.

[tokumeino]

Here you are ... whatever it means...

List of installed codecs:
   Codec 'BMP Decoder' for extensions .bmp,.dib,.rle
   Codec 'GIF Decoder' for extensions .gif
   Codec 'ICO Decoder' for extensions .ico,.icon
   Codec 'JPEG Decoder' for extensions .jpeg,.jpe,.jpg,.jfif,.exif
   Codec 'PNG Decoder' for extensions .png
   Codec 'TIFF Decoder' for extensions .tiff,.tif
   Codec 'DNG Decoder' for extensions .dng
   Codec 'WMPhoto Decoder' for extensions .wdp,.jxr
   Codec 'DDS Decoder' for extensions .dds
   Codec 'Google SketchUp Thumbnail Provider (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .skp,.skm
   Codec 'Adobe XMP-Based PDF Thumbnail Provider (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .pdf
   Codec 'Fuji Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .raf
   Codec 'JPEG Decorator (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .jpg,.jpeg,.jpe,.jfif,.exif,.jps,.mpo,.npo
   Codec 'Adobe Lightroom® Preview Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .lrprev,.noindex
   Codec 'Samsung Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .srw
   Codec 'Radiance HDR Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .hdr,.pic,.rgbe,.xyze
   Codec 'PNM Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .ppm,.pgm,.pbm,.pnm
   Codec 'OpenEXR Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .exr
   Codec 'Hasselblad Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .3fr,.fff
   Codec 'Adobe DNG Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .dng
   Codec 'TGA Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .tga
   Codec 'PhotoLine Thumbnail Provider (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .pld
   Codec 'Canon Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .cr2,.crw
   Codec 'Epson Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .erf
   Codec 'Microsoft Camera Raw Decoder' for extensions .ARW,.CR2,.CRW,.ERF,.KDC,.MRW,.NEF,.NRW,.ORF,.PEF,.RAF,.RAW,.RW2,.RWL,.SR2,.SRW,.DNG
   Codec 'Panasonic Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .rw2
   Codec 'Adobe XMP-Based Thumbnail Provider (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .eps,.ai,.indd
   Codec 'Nikon Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .nef,.nrw
   Codec 'Leica Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .raw,.rwl
   Codec 'Sony Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .sr2,.srf,.arw
   Codec 'JPEG Derivative Handler (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .jps,.mpo,.npo
   Codec 'Mamiya Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .mef
   Codec 'Autodesk Maya IFF Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .iff,.tdi
   Codec 'Minolta Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .mrw
   Codec 'Rawzor Compressed Raw Format Previewer (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .rwz
   Codec 'Pentax Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .pef
   Codec 'Sinar Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .cs1
   Codec 'Kodak Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .dcr,.kdc
   Codec 'DDS Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .dds
   Codec 'Softimage PIC Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .pic
   Codec 'Adobe Photoshop® Document Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .psd,.pdd
   Codec 'JPEG 2000 Baseline Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .jpf,.jpx,.jp2,.j2c,.j2k,.jpc
   Codec 'Olympus Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .orf
   Codec 'Sigma X3F Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .x3f
   Codec 'Valve Texture Format Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .vtf
   Codec 'Silicon Graphics RGB Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)' for extensions .sgi,.rgb


Testing file 'D:\Pellicules\2014\14-08 DIVERS\14-08-31 16401303.rw2'
   Thumbnail: Codec 'Panasonic Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)'
      (GetThumbnail failed (88982F44 Le codec de bitmap ne prend pas en charge une miniature.).) 0x0 pixel in 0 ms.
   Preview: Codec 'Panasonic Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)'
      (GetPreview failed (88982F81 L'opération n'est pas prise en charge.).) 0x0 pixel in 0 ms.
   Full resolution: Codec 'Panasonic Raw Decoder (FastPictureViewer Codec Pack)'
      () 1920x1440 pixel in 0 ms.

[Mario]

This looks dated. Noi info about the embedded RAW in IMatch.
Which version of IMatch are you using? Check: Help > About IMatch.
Please always use the latest version.

The WIC diagnosis explain your result.

You are using the Fast Picture Viewer WIC codces.
They cannot find an embedded preview and extract the full RAW only in HD size (1920 pixel).
Please try to update your FPV codec pack. Later versions may support your specific RAW format better.
If this works, don't forget to reset the cache settings in IMatch to use the embedded preview for best performance.

If no update of FPV is available that supports your camera model, problem.
This is one of the dangers of relying on undocumented and proprietary RAW formats.
Contact your camera vendor about an up-to-date WIC codec that supports your camera. You've paid for your camera, after all. You should get proper support for it, right?

You can also force IMatch to ignore WIC codecs and use its internal RAW processing based on LibRaw.
By default IMatch prefers WIC because I assume that camera vendors knows best how to get a proper rendition of their RAW files and hence their WIC codec should produce the best result.

Go to Edit > Preferences > Application and search for Raw.
Enable the option to "Prefer photools.com RAW" and then do a <Shift>+<Ctrl>+<F5> and force update of your file.

[tokumeino]

Version : IMatch 2017.9.5 (64-bit) 30-day

Nice that you use the system codecs. So I'll investigate about that. Indeed, I didn't update FPV codec for years.

I can't find the option "Prefer photools.com". I'll try to search again when I'l less tired

[Arthur]

You won't find it before you install at least 2017.11.4

[tokumeino]

I've just updated. The option is there and it works. I actually prefer dcraw with no attempt to improve the image. For culling, I find it better to see the actual exposure. After culling, I'll develop anyway and get a buddy JPEG that I hope will replace the dcraw preview.

Thanks a lot.