Imagin RAW

A lightweight, native macOS application for browsing, culling, and organizing RAW photos - built as a more efficient alternative to Adobe Bridge.

Architecture

• UI: SwiftUI (macOS 14.6+, I might try to support even lower if people need it). AppKit/UIKit for the thumbnails list where SwiftUI performance was poor
• RAW decoding: LibRaw (C++), wrapped via Objective-C++ bridge. CoreImage also used for other formats and as a fallback
• Metadata: EXIF parsed directly from RAW/JPEG binary structures; XMP sidecars read/written for Lightroom/Bridge compatibility
• File system monitoring: FSEvents for real-time folder change detection
• Search: NSMetadataQuery (Spotlight engine) for indexed file/folder search
• Concurrency: Swift6 compliant, a mix of Tasks, OperationQueue, unchecked Sendables

Features

• Multi-root folder browsing - add any number of folders from local disks, external drives, or SD cards; no import step, no managed library
• Real-time file system monitoring - new photos, deletions, and folder structure changes are detected and reflected immediately
• Supported files - all the RAWs and images known to macOS, plus svg and Affinity
• Rating and color labeling - written to XMP sidecars (RAW) or embedded directly into the file without re-encoding (JPEG/HEIC), compatible with Adobe Bridge and Lightroom
• Rejection workflow - a session-scoped label (not persisted across folder changes) for marking photos to delete; batch-delete via right-click
• JPG/RAW pair deduplication - when a RAW+JPEG pair exists, only the RAW is shown in the grid
• Two grid layouts - compact grid (more room for preview) and large grid (more room for thumbnails)
• Spotlight-backed search - search across files and folder names using the macOS indexing engine
• SD card ingest - copy photos into date-based folder structures, with optional simultaneous backup to a second destination
• Duplicate/similar photo detection - Review mode for quickly resolving near-duplicate burst shots
• Instagram frame export - frame 2:3 images into a 3:4 canvas, exported as TIFF to avoid re-encoding loss (useful for Camera Raw edits which cannot add frames)
• Export video - select multiple photos from the same sequence and export a cool video
• Offline client proofing - export PDF -> client ticks some checkboxes to mark his favourites -> import the PDF back to filter the selected photos

Comparison with Adobe Bridge (2022 version)

Where Imagin RAW is better

Where Bridge is better

• Camera Raw–processed previews - Bridge renders thumbnails with ACR adjustments applied. Imagin RAW currently shows the embeded jpegs in a raw; replicating the ACR pipeline isn't feasible, although basic adjustments and crop will be explored.

Roadmap

• See the open Issues
• An iOS version as an alternative to the cluttered Photos app is in development.

Screenshots

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Arrow Keys - Navigate between photos
• CMD A - Select all photos
• CMD Click / Shift+Click - Multi-select photos
• CMD Del - Move photos to trash
• CMD Z - Undo photos moved to trash
• 1-5 - Set Star Rating
• 6-0 - Apply Labels
• - - Remove label
• A - Approve photos (same as the 8 key)
• X / Del - Reject photos
• OPT 1-5 - Filter by Star Rating
• OPT 6-0 - Filter by Labels
• OPT X - Filter by Rejected
• C - Toggle Sidebar
• G - Toggle Grid Type
• Z - Toggle Zoom
• Return - Open selected photo(s) in external editor

System Requirements

• macOS 14.6 or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel processor

Installation

• Buy from the AppStore if you want to support the project and receive updates automatically
• Download the latest release from Releases. The app does not update itself and does not announce you for updates either
• Compile from source code, there should be no surprises

Contributions

• Reporting issues and ideas are welcome.
• The code faces multiple random refactorings right now, not the best time to contribute with code.