NNUFRAW(1)

📦 version 0.43, in nixos 26.05

💖 nUFRaw — NNUFRAW(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the NNUFRAW(1) manual — the nUFRaw guide, part 1 💅 This one is giving “raw converter but make it cute” energy, and we are keeping every flag, default, range, and warning. No cap.

📛 NAME 📛

nUFRaw — convert camera RAW images to standard image files. Slay. ✨

🧾 SYNOPSIS 🧾

nufraw [OPTIONS] <rawfile(s)>
nufraw-batch [OPTIONS] <rawfile(s)>

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so the new Unidentified Flying Raw (nUFRaw) is a utility to read and manipulate raw images from digital cameras 💖. It reads raw images using Dave Coffin's raw conversion utility — DCRaw. nUFRaw supports basic color management using Little CMS, allowing the user to apply color profiles. For Nikon users, nUFRaw has the advantage that it can read the camera's tone curves. Even if you don't own a Nikon, you can still apply a Nikon curve to your images — borrowed curve realness, iykyk 😭.

By default, nufraw displays a preview window for each raw image, allowing the user to tweak the image parameters before saving. If no raw images are given at the command line, nUFRaw will display a file chooser dialog. To process the images with no questions asked (and no preview), use the command nufraw-batch. That's your “just do it” mode, fr fr.

The input files can be either raw images or nUFRaw ID-files. ID-files contain a raw image filename and the parameters for handling the image. Lil parameter bundles, iconic 🎀.

nUFRaw can also work as a GIMP plug-in. To activate it, simply open a raw image or a nUFRaw ID-file in the GIMP. Main character plug-in energy 👑.

⚙️ OPTIONS ⚙️

The options supplied on the command-line decide the starting-values for the GUI. The GUI will then allow you to tweak these values before saving the final image. It's giving “set the vibe, then fine-tune” 💅.

🎀 General Options 🎀

  • --version — display the version of nUFRaw and exit. Quick vibe check.
  • --help — display a brief description of how to use nUFRaw and exit.
  • --maximize-window — force the window to be maximized. Big main character window energy.
  • --silent — do not display any messages during conversion. This option is only valid with nufraw-batch. Quiet mode, lowkey mysterious.
  • --conf=<ID-filename> — load all parameters from an ID-file. This feature can be used to tweak the parameters for one file using the GUI and using those parameters as the starting point for other images as well. Reuse the vibe, bestie 🫶.

🖼️ Image Manipulation Options 🖼️

These command-line options override settings from the default configuration of nUFRaw and from any loaded ID-file. The best way to learn about how these parameters work is to experiment with the GUI. All parameters correspond exactly to a setting available in the GUI. Not all parameters in the GUI have corresponding command-line options. So yes, the GUI has lore the CLI doesn't 😭.

  • --wb=camera|auto — white balance setting.
    • camera means nUFRaw tries to read the color-temperature and green color component that the camera recorded in the meta-information in the raw-file. This does not work for all cameras. If nUFRaw fails to read the white-balance information from the meta-information, it falls back to auto.
    • auto means nUFRaw calculates the color-temperature and green color component automatically from the image data.
    • The white-balance can also be set manually with the --temperature and --green options.
  • --temperature=TEMP — manually set the color temperature in Kelvin.
  • --green=GREEN — green color component. Range 0.20 to 2.50.
  • --gamma=GAMMA — gamma adjustment of the base curve. Range 0.10 to 1.00. Default 0.45.
  • --linearity=LINEARITY — linearity of the base curve. Range 0.00 to 1.00. Default 0.10.
  • --exposure=auto|EXPOSURE — auto exposure or exposure correction in EV. Range -3.00 to 3.00. Default 0.
  • --restore=clip|lch|hsv — control how highlights are restored when applying negative EV.
    • clip restores nothing and is therefore safe from any artifacts.
    • lch restores in LCH space, resulting in restored highlights with soft details (good for clouds).
    • hsv restores in HSV space, resulting in restored highlights with sharp details.
    • The default is lch.
  • --clip=digital|film — control how highlights are clipped when applying positive EV.
    • digital corresponds to using a linear response, emulating the harsh behaviour of the digital sensor.
    • film emulates the soft film response.
    • The default is digital.
  • --saturation=SAT — adjust the color saturation. Range 0.00 to 8.00. Default 1.0; use 0 for black & white output.
  • --wavelet-denoising-threshold=THRESHOLD — wavelet denoising threshold (default 0.0).
  • --hotpixel-sensitivity=VALUE — sensitivity for detecting and shaving hot pixels (default 0.0). Hot pixels? Not today, bestie 🔥.
  • --base-curve=manual|linear|custom|camera|CURVE — type of tone curve to use. The base curve is a combination of the gamma curve corrected by the curve specified here. The base curve is applied to each channel of the raw data after the white balance and color matrix, but before the ICC transformation.
    • manual means that a manual tone curve is used. This is probably not very useful as a command-line option, since there is no way to specify what the curve should look like 😭.
    • linear means that no tone curve correction is performed.
    • custom means that nUFRaw shall use the curve supplied by the camera in the meta-information in the raw-file.
    • camera means that nUFRaw shall use the custom curve only if the camera was set to use it (according to the meta-information). Otherwise the linear curve is used.
    • CURVE can be the filename (without path) of any curve that was previously loaded in the GUI.
    • The default is camera if such a curve exists, linear otherwise.
  • --base-curve-file=<curve-file> — load the base curve from a file. The curve file format can be either nUFRaw's XML format or Nikon's NTC/NCV format.
  • --curve=manual|linear|CURVE — type of luminosity curve to use. This curve is applied in HSV space and therefore hue and saturation should not be affected by it.
    • manual means that a manual luminosity curve is used. This is probably not very useful as a command-line option, since there is no way to specify what the curve should look like 😭.
    • linear means that no luminosity correction is performed.
    • CURVE can be the filename (without path) of any curve that was previously loaded in the GUI.
    • The default is linear.
  • --curve-file=<curve-file> — load the luminosity curve from a file. The curve file format can be either nUFRaw's XML format or Nikon's NTC/NCV format.
  • --black-point=auto|BLACK — black-point value. Range 0.0 to 1.0, default 0.0.
  • --interpolation=ahd|vng|four-color|ppg|bilinear — interpolation algorithm to use when converting from the color filter array to normal RGB values. AHD (Adaptive Homogeneity Directed) interpolation is the best, but also the slowest. VNG (Variable Number Gradients) is second best and a bit faster. Bilinear is the simplest yet fastest interpolation.
    • four-color is a variation of the VNG interpolation that should only be used if you see strange square patterns in the VNG interpolation. See http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/.
    • AHD is the default interpolation. AHD interpolation is not supported for cameras with four color filters, such as the Sony-828 RGBE filter. In such cases, VNG interpolation will be used instead.
  • --color-smoothing — apply color smoothing.
  • --grayscale=none|lightness|luminance|value|mixer — grayscale conversion algorithm to use (default none).
  • --grayscale-mixer=RED,GREEN,BLUE — grayscale mixer values to use (default 1,1,1).
  • --darkframe=FILE — use FILE for raw darkframe subtraction.

📦 Output Options 📦

The options which are related to the final output are:

  • --shrink=FACTOR — shrink the image by FACTOR (default 1).
  • --size=SIZE — downsize max(height,width) to SIZE.
  • --rotate=camera|ANGLE|no — rotate the image to the camera's setting, by ANGLE degrees clockwise, or do not rotate the image (default camera).
  • --crop-(left|right|top|bottom)=PIXELS — crop the output to the given pixel range, relative to the raw image after rotation but before any scaling.
  • --auto-crop — crop the output automatically.
  • --aspect-ratio X:Y — set the crop area aspect ratio.
  • --lensfun=none|auto — do not apply lens correction, or try to apply correction by auto-detecting the lens (default auto).
  • --out-type=ppm|tiff|tif|png|jpeg|jpg|fits — output file-format to use. The default output file-format is ppm.
  • --out-depth=8|16 — output bit depth per channel. ppm, tiff, png and fits output formats can use either 8 bits or 16 bits to encode each of the Red, Green and Blue components of each pixel. The jpeg format only allows for 8 bits for each color component.
    • Raw-files contain more than eight bits of information for each color component. This means that by using an eight bit format, you are actually discarding some of the information supplied by the camera. This is not a problem if you only plan to view the image on screen. For prints you should consider a 16 bits workflow.
  • --compression=VALUE — JPEG quality factor. Range 0-100, with a higher number giving a higher quality at the cost of a larger file. Default 85. The --compression parameter is only relevant if the output file-format is jpeg.
  • --[no]exif — embed exif in output. Default is to embed exif. Exif is currently embedded in JPEG, PNG and TIFF output.
  • --[no]zip — enable [disable] TIFF zip compression. The zip-compression is loss-less. Default nozip. The --zip parameter is only relevant if the output file-format is tiff8 or tiff16.
  • --out-path=PATH — PATH for output file. In batch mode by default, output-files are placed in the same directory as the input-files. In interactive mode nUFRaw tries to “guess” if you have a favorite output directory.
  • --output=FILE — output file name to use. This is only relevant if a single raw-file is supplied on the command-line. Use - to output to stdout. The default is to name the output-file the same as the input-file but with the extension given by the output file-format.
  • --overwrite — overwrite existing files without asking. Default is to ask before deleting an existing file.
  • --create-id=no|also|only — control whether nUFRaw ID files are created for the output image. (Default is no).
  • --embedded-image — extract the preview image embedded in the raw file instead of converting the raw image. This option is only valid with nufraw-batch.

💅 Conversion Setting Priority 💅

Okay so this is the hierarchy, bestie — the order in which your conversion settings get applied. Read it like a group chat pecking order, because that is literally what it is:

  1. Command-line options
  2. Settings from the configuration file specified with --conf=<ID-file> (ignoring any filenames in the ID-file).
  3. Settings from an ID-file supplied as an input-file.
  4. Settings from $HOME/.nufrawrc
  5. nUFRaw's default settings.

The way this works is so clean honestly: an option you supply on the command-line always takes precedence over all other options. Always. No cap. 👑

And one more little treat: the conversion settings can be changed in the GUI before the resulting image is saved. So you're not locked in, you can still vibe-tweak it before it goes out into the world. 💖

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • $HOME/.nufrawrc or $HOME/.config/nufrawrc (depending on the system) — the nUFRaw resource file containing the user default settings. It's an XML file that can be modified with any text editor. Still, it is recommended not to edit this file. This file is updated from the GUI when you save an image, or when you explicitly ask to save this file in the 'Options' menu.
🙈 Yeah she's editable, but the manpage said don't, and we respect the manpage. Let the GUI handle her.
  • $HOME/.nufraw-gtkrc — an optional file for setting up a specific GTK theme for nUFRaw. Purely for the aesthetic. Iconic behavior, honestly. 🎨✨

🌈 ONLINE RESOURCES 🌈

Both links, right there, for your clicking pleasure. Go be curious. 🦋

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

Like, the whole reason you're probably here in the first place. 😌

and that's the page, bestie! This one is from the NUFRAW source/version, dated 2016-09-05 — go ahead and mentally file it under NNUFRAW(1) with a little bow on it. 🎀💜 Now go convert some raw files, you absolute main character. 📸👑

📦 where this page comes from