A RAF file viewer for Fujifilm photographers on Windows
RAF is the raw format every Fujifilm X-series and GFX camera writes. Windows treats it as an unknown file, and the usual alternatives are a full photo editor that wants to import everything into a catalog first, or a codec that handles some cameras and not others. If you just want to see what is on the card, both are slow.
RAF Viewer is a RAF file viewer and nothing heavier. Point it at a file and the raw data is developed and on screen, with the rest of the folder one arrow key away. There is no library, no import and no sidecar folder created behind your back.
Because the raw data is developed by the LibRaw engine rather than by the camera, the colors are a neutral starting point, not your chosen film simulation. That is a plain picture of what the sensor recorded, which is what you want when judging exposure and focus.
Reviewing a Fujifilm shoot quickly
Open the first frame, then press T for the folder ribbon so every shot sits in a thumbnail strip along the bottom. The arrow keys move through the set, I opens the info panel with the camera, lens and exposure read from the file, and the Delete key sends a miss to the Recycle Bin after a confirmation.
Press 0 for 100% to check critical focus on an eye, then F to fit the frame again. The scroll wheel zooms around the point under the pointer, so you can push in on exactly the spot you care about.
Culling bursts with the Professional Pack
Fujifilm bodies shoot fast, and a single moment can leave twenty near-identical frames. The optional Professional Pack adds tools aimed at that:
- Focus & Keep groups frames taken close together into bursts, finds the sharpest of each, and lets you mark the rest with K to keep, X to reject or U to clear. Rejects can then be set aside into a Rejects folder; nothing is deleted.
- Compare, on C, shows up to four frames side by side, zoomed together.
- Ratings: 1 to 5 for stars and 6 to 9 for red, yellow, green and blue labels, kept in an XMP sidecar beside the RAF so other editors see them.
- Shutter count and Focus point (P) for files that record them, Map for geotagged frames, and Edit details for title, caption, copyright and keywords.
Convert RAF to JPG or TIFF
Click Convert on the command bar, set Format to JPG for sharing or TIFF for further editing elsewhere, and set Quality between 50 and 100. Switch Convert to Whole folder to process the full shoot into a folder you choose, skipping, keeping or replacing any files already there. The RAF files are only read, so the originals stay exactly as the camera wrote them.
