# Viewing RAW - irfranview



## cloverx (Mar 17, 2012)

Before I needed to reformat my computer I was using irfanview for viewing/editing RAW files. I know it's probably not the best, but I could look quickly through my images, crop, re size, adjust contrast etc. It was easy and convenient. Now that I had to reinstall this program it's not working the same. The images load VERY slowly. Before the loading as quickly as a jpg. I have a Canon Rebel T2i, and I even tried the software that comes with it. I don't like that program. 

Does anyone know about irfanview that might know how to get it to not load slowly? If not, can you suggest other programs that I can use as a default photo viewer, and easily edit my CR2 files from there


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## 480sparky (Mar 17, 2012)

The images you're going to work on, or the thumbnails?

If the latter, you may have deleted or changed the reference to them somehow, and the program needs to rebuild them.


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## cloverx (Mar 17, 2012)

I could open the image, not the thumbnail. I could then crop, resize, adjust contrast/light, etc. Then save as jpg or whatever. It still does this now, however it takes 1-2 minutes to open ONE photo. It was never slow before, so I can't figure how what's going on with it. It's frustrating.


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## SCraig (Mar 17, 2012)

Try FastStone Image Viewer


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## cloverx (Mar 17, 2012)

SCraig said:


> Try FastStone Image Viewer



Thank you, I think I can get used to this one.


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## SCraig (Mar 17, 2012)

cloverx said:


> Thank you, I think I can get used to this one.


I've been using it for a couple of years with no problems whatsoever.  It's quick and does a great job.


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## cloverx (Mar 17, 2012)

SCraig said:


> cloverx said:
> 
> 
> > Thank you, I think I can get used to this one.
> ...



One thing - is there a way to get this program to show thumbnail preview when I view the images in the folder and not the program itself?


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## SCraig (Mar 17, 2012)

cloverx said:


> One thing - is there a way to get this program to show thumbnail preview when I view the images in the folder and not the program itself?


No.  Unless the program is running it's not going to show anything.  If you are using Windows it should do it for you.  You may have to install a codec for RAW files but the manufacturers usually provide them free of charge.


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## cloverx (Mar 17, 2012)

SCraig said:


> cloverx said:
> 
> 
> > One thing - is there a way to get this program to show thumbnail preview when I view the images in the folder and not the program itself?
> ...



Sorry I'm a little unsure what you mean here.


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## SCraig (Mar 17, 2012)

cloverx said:


> Sorry I'm a little unsure what you mean here.


Windows will display thumbnails of standard image files (JPG, TIF, GIF, etc.) however all RAW formats are different and Microsoft chose not to try and write the code to extract the JPEG thumbnails from them.  They left it up to the manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, etc.) to provide the software to decode their RAW files and allow the thumbnails to be displayed.  This software is called a "Codec" or "RAW Codec" and they can usually be downloaded from the manufacturer's web site.  You do not need the codec unless you are shooting RAW.  As I said, Windows will display the thumbnails of standard image formats without any additional software.


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## cloverx (Mar 18, 2012)

Thank you! I got the microsoft camera codec pack, and it shows thumbnails now.


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