[rparmar]

The title says it all -- how do I do this? What I've found so far is that M$ has a plugin for Vista but not XP. Irfanview can read PEFs but it's thumbnail explorer seems not to. I'd prefer to see them directly in Explorere without needing to launch another app.

And yes I favour Open Source programmes.

P.S. Rawtherapee is rocking my socks off!

[Cloudy Wizzard]

If you prefer FOSS then you should install GNU/Linux with dcraw or ufraw installed the GNome default filemanager (nautilus) shows thumbnails of PEF files. And I guess same goes for KDE and Konqueror.

Anyways, I don't know of a way for this in Windows. I don't have this problem because I use Bridge to browse my still small collection of photos.

You could convert them to DNG (some people claim they have the same quality as the PEF but are a bit smaller) since IrfanView (the thumbnail tool) supports DNG files (I thought it also supported PEF). but that might not be an option for you.

[Reps]

I happily use their Community version for my K100/K10 thumbnail view in Windows XP explorer- works like a charm for me :-)
Get DpMagic Community one here...

Best and happy thumbnailing, JR

[rparmar]

If you prefer FOSS then you should install GNU/Linux

A lot of the pro audio tools I use (Reaktor, Samplitude) require a paid OS. I don't mind paying for good software when necessary, and in the audio world it is still necessary.

But I found the solution: dpMagic Community, which is free and lets me see PEF files. If I want to load up software, the best option is Picasa.

[Cloudy Wizzard]

A lot of the pro audio tools I use (Reaktor, Samplitude) require a paid OS. I don't mind paying for good software when necessary, and in the audio world it is still necessary..

So you're a Native Instruments customer ?

I've got Traktor 3 but moved towards OtsAV (just a bedroom DJ and Ots seems to suite my needs better since Traktor is more a club DJ kinda tool).

I agree on the "pay for good software" part. I would buy a Linux version of Ots if it was available just to be able to replace the Windows on my laptop with Debian (now I "need" a windows computer to use Ots and having 1 system for 1 program is overkill IMHO. Offcourse there is Dual-Boot but I have some negative experiences with that option).

I also hear a lot of Linux people telling that the Gimp is as good (or even better) as Photoshop but I never got any good with the Gimp where Photoshop gives me much better results (unfortunatly no way to run it on Linux).

[davemdsn]

There is a hack to the registry that lets XP show thumbnails for PEF. I got tired of having to "trick" Windows into being functional and switched to something else, but that is not the question. The hack can be found here. The page is actually for NEF files, but it creates a text file that is later turned into a registry item. Before adding it to the registry change the NEF to PEF. There is one for SP1 and one for SP2, also one for DNG.

[rparmar]

So you're a Native Instruments customer ?

I found a cheap copy of Reaktor in Dublin (of all places) and that got me hooked. Now I happily pay for the upgrades. I am a sound artist (see escalation 746) and this has become my number one tool. I love granular synthesis and also the ability to build my own performance setups.

I keep wanting to get into PD but never have the time for another all-consuming time-sucking application!

I also hear a lot of Linux people telling that the Gimp is as good (or even better) as Photoshop but I never got any good with the Gimp where Photoshop gives me much better results (unfortunatly no way to run it on Linux).

Me too. And the fact I cannot afford Photoshop means I'm stuck on an old version. But I imagine a lot of that is familiarity. 20 years in Photoshop versus dabbling in GIMP.

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Last edited by rparmar; 01-29-2010 at 06:09 PM.