.
Click wise, it’s not 1, 2, 3.
It’s
Click 1 – Open the program
Click 2 – select a source location
Click 3+ – select images or directories
Click 4+ and maybe 5+ and 6+ — select a target file format for conversion to
Click 5+ through 20+ or more — select options, and [ Start ]
3 click would only be AFTER opening the program, and AFTER selecting a location in the left panel, then
Click 1 – select ONE something in the right panel, ONE picture or ONE directory of pictures,
Click 2 – select a file conversion from the primary possible conversions ( not from the extended list, that would require additional clicks )
Click 3 – go ahead with defaults, hope they are satisfactory and land where you can find them.
Time wise,
I took ~600 JPEG images in ~2.3 GB ( ~3.8 MB each )
to 1 PDF in ~439 MB
in ~21 minutes ( ~2 seconds per source image file )
2260 MHx 2-core 4 GB RAM Windows 7-64 all source and destinations on the same SATA hard drive
The program failed to show the output results at the completion of the task.
Attempting to open the results, I got a “Format error: not a PDF or corrupted”, ouch!
If I had the 10,000 “old” DNGs ( seriously ? ), as suggested, at ~2 seconds per file, it might take 5 1/2 hours … to find the results in error and corrupted.
The resulting batch file of the same command reads:
__________
chcp 65001
“C:\Program Files (x86)\CoolUtils\TotalImageConverter\ImageConverter32.exe” “C:\DCIM\” “C:\DCIM\2018-11.20.pdf” -logmode o -threads 1 -combine -c PDF -cimt onefile -s “3264 x 2448” -bkgnd black -cl true -pclm gray -tc JPEG -tiffpi rgb -tjq 80 -TM 0.3 -LM 0.3 -BM 0.3 -RM 0.3 -po Landscape -ps Letter -jq 80 -autosize False -fitpage -pc Maximum -pvm normal -PDFAuthor “CoolUtils Total Image Converter” -PDFProducer Softplicity -pdfzoom default -pdflimit 0 -pci LZW -wmf [Tahoma,8,black] -wmh Left -wmv Top -wmm [10,10,10,10] -r
__________
or, for easy differentiations of the program’s command line options:
__________
chcp 65001
“C:\Program Files (x86)\CoolUtils\TotalImageConverter\ImageConverter32.exe”
“C:\DCIM\”
“C:\DCIM\2018-11.20.pdf”
-logmode o
-threads 1
-combine
-c PDF
-cimt onefile
-s “3264 x 2448”
-bkgnd black
-cl true
-pclm gray
-tc JPEG
-tiffpi rgb
-tjq 80
-TM 0.3
-LM 0.3
-BM 0.3
-RM 0.3
-po Landscape
-ps Letter
-jq 80
-autosize False
-fitpage
-pc Maximum
-pvm normal
-PDFAuthor “CoolUtils Total Image Converter”
-PDFProducer Softplicity
-pdfzoom default
-pdflimit 0
-pci LZW
-wmf [Tahoma,8,black]
-wmh Left
-wmv Top
-wmm [10,10,10,10]
-r
__________
IrfanView on my system takes ~20 seconds per picture to convert the same JPGs to PDF BUT also auto adjusts exposure, contrast, gamma, saturation, and sharpness in the process … yes, that would be 55 hours, but it would also be a different task AND it would be successful.
I cannot imagine converting ANY raw, let alone 10,000 raw, to JPG WITHOUT auto exposure, auto contrast, auto color, auto sharpen, at least.
Also, when I convert raw to JPG using IrfanView, I first measure the JPG that is already inside the raw file, the thumbnail that the camera used to present an image on the display on the back of the camera, and I “ask” for a conversion from raw to exactly that size JPG, and, viola, IrfanView grabs exactly that already-created thumbnail instantly, no waiting, and it already has all the camera-maker adjustments for best JPG presentation of exposure, contrast, color, and sharpness.
I don’t do DNg, but I’ve read a great deal on it, and it also may contain a JPG preview ( optional ), so conversion of DNg to JPG ought to quick and easy and pretty, too, if we accept the inbuilt JPG preview image as our goal.
Sometimes we convert when we don’t need to, if we only look to see if what we want is already there.
Hence my hunger for smart programs that know the content of the files they are working on, not just merely the format of those files.
My speed comparison is not scientific nor intelligently chosen as a real test, but was based on a few ( 600 ! ) local images, not on my network images, which included my 10+ years of raw files ( well more than 10,000, sometimes in just a few day’s worth of photography ), which I declined to test because CoolUtils Total Image Converter was painfully slow reading and writing across my network.
I use free Picasa to convert raw to occasional presentation / print JPGs because free Picasa allows me to quickly view through an entire suite of images and optimize them manually for shadow and highlights and color and straightening and occasional cropping, before applying auto adjustments of exposure, color, and sharpening, and then exporting to whatever size JPG is appropriate for any particular need.
And I have the software that came free with the camera to explore total control of raw conversions.
Thanks, CoolUtils, for a sort-of-workable tool for mass conversions if ever I need such a tool, though I’m hard pressed to think of when it would be better than what I’ve already got for what I need.
.