Where do you process your RAW files?

[snowfalldesigns]

I shot my first wedding last weekend and I decided to buy more cards and shoot in RAW - which I had never done before. I really like what I can do with the RAW images but I'm running into a problem with my software.
I'm using Canon Digital Photo Professional to process the images but I can't get through more than one file without my computer freezing up or the program saying "not responding". Is it the software, the fact that I have 2500 photos in one folder that I'm working from, or the size of the images?
So where do you process your RAW images? Should I just stick with PS?

[kirbinster]

Where? I take them to the local Photoshack drive up window to have them developed. They have them back in three to four days! Just kidding, I don't understand what you mean by where.

Anyway, you might want to tell us what the specs are of your computer, maybe you don't have enough horsepower. I highly recommend using Adobe Lightroom, you can download the full program as a 30 day trial free of charge from Adobe. Once you try it there is no going back to anything else - IMHO.

[LeeR]

You may need to increase your virtual memory. If you computer runs out of RAM it can 'borrow' some memory from your hraddrive and this is a setting you can control. Usually you set it to about 3x you RAM. Also, try shutting down all the programs that aren't essential while your are processing images. I friend of mine was complaining that he was having to shrink images before stitching them together. I looked at his system tray in the lower righthand side of his desktop and he had about twenty useless programs running in the background! No wonder he was having a problem.
I have to admit I've not tried the tools Canon provides for processing RAW images because I LOVE ACR. However, it is probably best to work with the tools you are most familiar with.

[snowfalldesigns]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

Where? I take them to the local Photoshack drive up window to have them developed. They have them back in three to four days! Just kidding, I don't understand what you mean by where.

"Where" as in what program do you use...

Specs (I think...)
2 GB RAM
1.73 GHz (no idea if that means much...)
I have pretty much every file saved on a 1.5TB external hard drive.

I want to get a desktop because the laptop just isn't working for me anymore. But, at this point, when I have the money, it's a choice between a new computer or a new lens...tough choice for me!

The good news, things seem to be running a little faster now - I think that having the photos open in another program was slowing things down...or I was being impatient...which would not be a shocker...

[jdepould]

If it's a USB hard drive, that's probably your biggest bottleneck, though the 2 GB of RAM is also a limiting factor.

[Michael_2010]

I have a relatively new desktop maxed out with 8 gigabytes of ram. I never run into a problem processing the RAW files, but the editing software I use will lockup during multiple edits. The program is writing soooooooo much "undo" information with each command that it will overload on occasion. I just save frequently and especially after a major edit.

Anyway, the cheapest and best thing you can do for the performance of your computer is to max out the ram.

[NicoleScraps]

Sorry, I don't mean to hijjack your thread, but I am thinking about getting the 30 day trial of Lightroom and switching my camera over to take a few RAWs, just to see what it is like.
I have 4gigs of RAM, is that good enough? I download the pics to my computer first, then when I am finished editing them, I move them to an EHD.

[ShantDotMe]

Are you using to read the files from the External USB? if so try to more the filles to the Hard disk, work on them & when done move them back to the external. I'm sure there will be alot of improvements.

Also, a spyware/malware/adware... can slow down your computer a lot!! update your antivirus & do a complete scan. You might want to te some spyware removal tools too (depends what your AV is) but be sure not to fall into fake AV/Spyware/adware/... removal tools, which are the spyeare/adware themselves!

Nicole, its pretty good enough. when you decide to keep using lightroom, you can incease the RAMs more (be sure your Operating System) will utelize the ram first.

[Michael_2010]

Originally Posted by NicoleScraps

Sorry, I don't mean to hijjack your thread, but I am thinking about getting the 30 day trial of Lightroom and switching my camera over to take a few RAWs, just to see what it is like.
I have 4gigs of RAM, is that good enough? I download the pics to my computer first, then when I am finished editing them, I move them to an EHD.

Go to Crucial and let it scan your computer. It may want to download a very small program first. That little program has never given me any problems. It will then tell you how much memory your computer can handle and make some paired recommendations.

RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, flash cards, SSD at Crucial.com

But, 4 gig should allow you to easily process the RAW files. Check the specs on Lightroom and see what the recommended minimum requirements are and what is preferred.

[Swisstony10]

I used to do my initial RAW conversion (along with any minor tweaks, sharpening and de-noising) in Digital Photo Pro, because the batch editing was so easy to do, and I could go away and do something else while it processed a whole folder of images. It never caused any memory-shortage issues, because it only ever looked at one file at a time.

I've switched to Lightroom now on my laptop, but I still use DPP on my desktop at home, because it's 7 years old, has a similar spec to yours, and refuses to run Lightroom. That said, it has no issues with DPP..