FastRawViewer UsageTips
FastRawViewer UsageTips
Preferences
• Menu -> File -> Preferences
User Manual
• comes with the installation of FastRawViewer
• Menu -> Help -> Online manual
• http://www.fastrawviewer.com/usermanual (can be downloaded in .pdf format as well)
Customer Support
• [email protected]
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Preferences
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Preferences
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Examining Shortcuts
You can examine the default/current key/mouse control combinations and change them to your
preferred ones anytime:
• Press Ctrl+K or Menu -> File -> Keyboard Shortcuts
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Examining Shortcuts
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Adjusting Shortcuts
If you feel that some feature or shortcut is missing or inconvenient, please check the Keyboard
Shortcuts Editor and adjust as necessary, and if it is not there, please let us know.
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Interface Customization
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Interface Customization
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Interface Customization
To switch display of the Histogram and the Exposure Statistics for the selected image in Grid mode
“on” and “off” press a graph icon at the Raw Histogram Panel.
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Interface Customization
Arranging Panels
1. All panels can be placed anywhere on the screen or even other monitor — just drag-and-drop it
where you want it to be.
2. If the Filmstrip panel is outside the program window, it can be easily organized into a light-table.
3. The filmstrip can be docked at the top, bottom, or left side of the main window. All other panels
— at the right or left side. You can dock a panel to the most recent docking position by pressing
an arrow icon.
A little gear icon at the top right corner of a panel (or the top left corner of the filmstrip placed at
the bottom) allows customization of the panel or bar.
2. The Tab key toggles all presented on the screen panels hide and unhide together.
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Bottom Bar
Bottom Bar has both Information fields and Action fields with buttons. Given the total number of
possible fields and buttons they can’t be displayed all together, so the user should customize
Bottom Bar according to personal preferences by choosing which fields should be always visible,
which fields should be visible if fits (if the size of the window permits it), which fields to hide (please
see the the Bottom Bar Customisation for details). Of course all these choices are easily reversable.
Bottom Bar Information Fields
Open File navigation RAW / JPEGs Zoom ratio R - G - B - BW Screen Sharpening (USM), Exposure Control Overexposure /
File buttons (internal - i, and channel Focus Peaking (E,D), buttons Underexposure
button external - E) zoom buttons selector Shadow Boost (S), buttons
switch Highlight Inspection (H)
buttons
White balance White balance Contrast display Rotation XMP rating XMP Label Toggle Single file / Grid,
presets display and and control buttons buttons Fullscreen On/Off,
manual tune adjustments buttons Hide/show filmstrip
Hide/show inform. panels,
Customize FastRawViewer
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Bottom Bar
or through
• Menu -> File -> Customize -> Customize bottom bar
or through
• Menu -> File -> Preferences -> Customize -> Interface
press the button
Color Management
Menu -> File -> Preferences -> Color Management
If you use Custom monitor profile
Do not override if the system color profile is already the one you want to use; in this case
“Use color profile of display” is enough.
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: EXIF View
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Working with Removable Media
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Working with Folder Tree
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Favorite Folders
Navigating files
• Keyboard: arrowkeys in the
main window, PgUp/PgDn,
Home/End; customizable
shortcuts for Next File/Prev.
File and First/Last File in folder.
• Mouse: the wheel scrolls
through the contents of the
folder up and down.
Navigating files
• Keyboard: arrowkeys in the
Filmstrip, customized shortcuts for
Next File/Prev. File and
First/Last File in folder.
• Mouse: the wheel scrolls
through the contents of the Film-
strip left and right;
• Buttons for navigating through
the current folder:
previous file, number of file in the
file list and the length of the list,
next file;
• Menu -> File -> Customize -> Preferences -> Rating & labels
• Menu -> File -> Customize -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> XMP Rating
• Menu -> File -> Customize -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> XMP Labels
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Sorting and Filtering Files
The panel Sort & Filter controls the sorting and filtration of files.
The panel’s icons at the title bar are follows:
1. Filter files by name/mask
2. File Sorting
3. Re-reading the current folder
4. Panel Settings
5. Move back to dock area.
Sorting: the sorting order can be changed on the fly.
Filtration: chechboxes to the left of the sorting and filtering pa-
rameteres allows to define conditions , and only files that pass the
filtering conditions will be displayed.
• In XMP Rating/XMP Label groups, you can set the desired
combination of ratings and labels.
• In the Exif Timestamp group, you can select the necessary
ranges of dates. You can edit those ranges if necessary.
• Filtring files by name/mask allows several different options
to define files to be displayed.
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: Sorting and Filtering Files
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Getting familiar with the FRV Tools and Features: File Selection/Batch Operation
To fulfill Batch operations (such as copy, move, rotate, set rating and label etc.) with multiple files
you will first have to select those files.
File Selection
Batch Operations
Batch operations for selected files availible through:
• Menu -> Select/Batch or corresponding keyboard shortcuts
Of course the composition is a priority while sorting images. If the image you are viewing is com-
posed well next thing you want to know is: if the technical quality of the image good enough.
FastRawViewer offers essential Image Assessing Tools:
RAW Histogram
Over- and Underexposure Indication and Statistics
Focus Peaking
Screen Sharpening
Shadow Boost
Highlight Inspection
Exposure Compensation
White Balance
Contrast (Tone) Curve
Using these tools is super easy. They can be activated and deactivated through the Shortcuts, or
the Bottom Bar, or through the Menu. Parameters for the tools are set through the Preferences.
The detailed information about these tools can be found in FastRawViewer manual.
They also briefly covered in tips.
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Assessing the Image: Matching Image Display
3. At the Menu -> File -> Customize -> Preferences -> Exposure
3a. “Apply Adobe hidden exposure correction” is “on” (check the proper box)
3b. Choose No correction from the drop-down Exposure correction on file open
3a
3b
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Assessing the Image: Matching Image Display
Bottom Bar
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Assessing the Image: Over- and Underexposure
Bottom Bar
Toggle Overexposure Toggle Underexposure
To display Overexposure Statistics before and after applying exposure compensation, choose
Always display OE + Corr column in Exposure Stat panel settings (gear icon).
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Assessing the Image: Over- and Underexposure
• Menu -> File -> Customize -> Preferences -> Exposure -> Over/Underexposure Display
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Assessing the Image: In-Focus Areas
Focus Peaking
The Focus Peaking filter allows to assess the sharpness of the image and locate the areas
where the sharp edges (E) and/or fine details (D) exist.
To Control Focus Peaking Options
• Menu -> File -> Customize -> Preferences -> GPU Processing -> Focus Peaking Mode
• or Toggle Edges (E) and Details (D) buttons at the Bottom Bar
Bottom Bar
Toggle Edges option Toggle Details option
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Assessing the Image: Sharpness
While being processed in a RAW converter, RAW images generally have had some sort of sharpen-
ing algorithm applied to them. In FastRawViewer, the sharpening is applied only for display.
Screen Sharpening
Setting the Level of Sharpening
You can switch between two levels of sharpening:
• Menu -> File -> Customize -> Preferences -> Sharpening
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Assessing the Image: Shadows
For ETTR practitioners or those who need to explore the shadows of an image, we have a tool
ready for you - Shadow Boost; it lifts the shadows without clipping the highlights.
All you need to do is set the Shadow Boost amount, and apply it using Shift+S. This will allow you
to see the level of noise in the shadows and to check if they are preserving details and colors well.
Boosting Shadows
Bottom Bar
Toggle Shadow boost
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Assessing the Image: Highlights
Highlight Inspection mode does the “opposite” of the Shadow Boost mode: the brightness of
the shadows and midtones is decreased, thus the image looks darker; the contrast in the high-
lights is increased; white balance can be “canceled” by setting it to UniWB. As result it allows to
evaluate details in highlights and inspect which channels are clipped (if any) and where.
Highlights Inspection
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Assessing the Image: Exposure Correction
You can save a lot of time spent on adjusting images in Lr/ACR, Capture One, or RPP, if you select
and apply adjustments to Exposure, White Balance, and Orientation right in FastRawViewer,
while browsing and save the applied settings in sidecar XMP and/or RPPS files. Raw converter
program will be picking up those sidecar files prepared in FastRawViewer as the starting point for
conversions.
This technique works well in combination with Propagation (see the tip “Time-saver: Propagation”)
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Assessing the Image: Exposure Сorrection
Bottom Bar
Press to decrease Press to increase
Toggle Exposure Correction Value on/off
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Assessing the Image: White Balance Presets
Bottom Bar
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Assessing the Image: Custom White Balance
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Assessing the Image: White Balance Display
• Menu -> File -> Customize -> Preferences -> White Balance -> White Balance Display Mode
White Balance settings in the chosen mode will be displayed at the Bottom Bar:
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Assessing the Image: Tuning White Balance
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Assessing the Image: Contrast
If you want to add “bite” to the image display, or are opting for a flatter look for the scenes with
high dynamic range (which helps see maximum details), you need to play with the contrast.
FastRawViewer allows one to apply “standard” tone curves (sRGB, Gamma 1.8 and 2.2, L*),
but also offers the Variable Contrast mode for tone curves.
• Menu -> File -> Customize -> Preferences -> Image Display -> Contrast curve type
Adjusting Contrast
In Variable Contrast mode, the image contrast can be adjusted in “grades”:
• Menu -> Adjust -> Increase Contrast ( or K ) / Decrease Contrast ( or ⇧K )
• or Press vertical arrows at the Bottom Bar
Bottom Bar
Press to decrease contrast Press to increase contrast
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Time-saver: Getting Ready for RAW Conversion
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Time-saver: Getting Ready for RAW Conversion
1. Check the Settings for Sidecar Files .xmp/.rpps (please see the previous tip)
2. Set Image Orientation (if needed)
• Menu -> Adjust -> Rotate 900 CCW (or ⌘7 )/ Rotate 900 CW (or ⌘9 )
• or Press rotation arrows at the Bottom Bar
3. Tune White Balance and Adjust Exposure Correction (see tips for ‘Assessing the Image: White
Balance’ and ‘Assessing the Image: Exposure Correction’)
5. Adjust Contrast (if using Adobe raw converters) (see tips for ‘Assessing the Image: Contrast’)
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Time-saver: Propagation
It often happens that several files need the same adjustments to White Balance, Exposure
and Orientation. To do so, FastRawViewer offers Propagation Mode: in this mode adjustments
made to Exposure and White Balance are automatically applied to the next image you open
in FastRawViewer.
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Time-saver: Propagation to Sidecar Files
When using Propagation you may choose Forced Mode of recording sidecar files. In this case
even if no individual adjustments were applied to the image the sidecar file will be written
containing all the changes you’ve made last time within the session. Thus all RAW files will have
accompanying sidecar files with the parameter already set to be picked up by RAW converter.
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