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How do I convert Nikon images in a directory to Jpeg format.

Asked by rainer

I have 600 + .NEF files I'm trying to convert to .JPG format using Dolphin. I've selected the entire group and individual pictures. I select the [CONVERT] button and pick the JPG option. It looks like it is working, but then nothing happens at the end of the work. Any Ideas? Thanks.

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Tony Mugan
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Best Tony Mugan (tmugan) said : 		#1

ufraw is apparently quite good for camera image conversion (although I haven't used it myself)

http://www.digipedia.pl/man/ufraw-batch.1.html

You can install under Ubuntu with the following line in a terminal window (Applications menu, Accessories)

sudo apt-get install ufraw

From the Ubuntu description of this package...

"standalone importer for raw camera images
This is a standalone tool to import raw data from high-end digital cameras.

The Unidentified Flying Raw (UFRaw) is a utility for converting and
manipulating raw images from digital cameras. It can be used as a
stand-alone tool or as a Gimp plug-in, and images can be batch
processed using the command-line interface. UFRaw reads most existing
raw formats using Dave Coffin's raw conversion utility DCRaw, and it
supports basic color management using Little CMS, allowing the user to
apply color profiles.

 Homepage: http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/"

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rainer (rainer-heller) said : 		#2

Thanks Tony Mugan, that solved my question.

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Maria (mjvargas1971) said : 		#3

Hello, I am having this problem.
I need to convert my raw files to jpeg, but I have several hundreds of pictures, How can I do it? I already have the ufraw, but to be completely honest I am no sure how this works, Can you guys help me?
Thanks
Maria

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Eothred (ylevinsen) said : 		#4

One way to batch convert the raw files to jpeg is through the following two commands in the terminal:
dcraw -w -T *.NEF
mogrify -format jpg -quality 90 *.tiff

Option -w means to use the camera whitebalance, -T means to output in tiff. The second command converts from tiff to jpeg (if you don't like to work on tiff format?), with the given quality (in percentage, lower value means smaller file sizes). Finally you should then remove the tiff files I suppose...

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Maria (mjvargas1971) said : 		#5

i AM GOING TO TRY THIS, BUT i HAVE A QUESTION... WHERE DO I INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE FILES? SORRY i AM REALLY NOT VERY TECHNICAL
tHANKS FOR ANSWERING

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Eothred (ylevinsen) said : 		#6

Just for the future, please turn off caps lock (certain people dislike to read text with caps only).

In the example I gave above, *.NEF means all files that ends with .NEF. The same goes for *.tiff. You could replace this with specific filenames if you want.
On another note, I figured out that the previous suggestion was a better option, as ufraw can convert to jpeg directly (and it also conserves exif data which many likes, including myself). One example then is the one-liner:
ufraw-batch --exif --out-type=jpeg --compression=99 --wb=camera *.NEF
Another example could be
ufraw-batch --exposure=auto --overwrite --exif --out-type=jpeg --compression=99 --wb=auto *.NEF
In the latter, an automatic exposer compensation and white balance compensation is turned on (in the first one ufraw is told to use the cameras whitebalance. You can play around with options as you feel like. Try to google ufraw-batch or have a look at the link in the previous post. And again, *.NEF is the file name, meaning all files ending with *.NEF in the current folder. This is the filetype from Nikon cameras, for Canon I suppose it also works but you must change to the correct fileending. Or you can just write * (which means all)

On a final note, in dolphin (the filemanager in kde4) you can actually right click on the files and choose convert - jpeg, but I don't know which backend it uses and I don't think you get many options like white balance adjustment etc.