crphoto8 Loc: Anaheim, California

I shoot both RAW (orf) and JPEGS with an Olympus E-M1 mk2 in both SD cards. The JPEGS allow me to transfer images to my iPhone for quick viewing and sharing. The second SD card is just for backup. I transfer the primary card to a PC and post-process the RAW images, both with LR Classic. Both cards get reformatted in camera once I'm sure the images have been transferred properly. I have no use for the transferred JPEGS, they just sit on a HD taking space.

So, the question is - can I transfer only RAW images? I have googled the issue and can't find a good answer. Yes, I can record only RAW in card 1 and only JPEGs in card 2 but this will not provide a backup of either file type and is more cumbersome to share. I can go to the HD, mark the JPEGs and delete them but this too is cumbersome and time intensive. Is there a way to tell LR to download just RAW files?

I appreciate any suggestions.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

You could import by file type and then delete the jpeg files but below is what the LR Help Manual says about the situation. Look in Lightroom Preferences to check your LR settings.

(Download)

Fred Harwood Loc: Sheffield, Mass.

I save my raw files in separate folders, immune to sundry editing mistakes. I organize my resultant JPGs in iPhoto, for shows, memories, etc.
I find that, after initial culling, one can bring new processes to aging raw files, be that in my realm, or in others'. The ability to go back to an original, quality file matters much, as time goes by.

Black Elk Peak

When I shoot RAW and JPEG, I separate the RAW files in to their own folder. I can then import the RAW only files in to Lightroom.

Angel Star Photography Loc: Tacoma, WA

I believe this is the solution. Under "Edit-->Preferences-->General", the check box titled, "Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos", if checked, will import both raw and JPEG. I had the opposite issue where the JPEG files I wanted to import would not. After checking this box, I was able to import both.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

My version of easy is to ""Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos".

Then it is easy to filter for JPEGs in a Folder view, select them and delete them.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

According to Adobe it is not necessary to import and delete, as per my earlier post, so if you do shoot RAW/JPEG you might consider just doing what Adobe says rather than the import/delete option.

Angel Star Photography Loc: Tacoma, WA

If you are importing both raw and JPEG, and you wish to move one or the other to another folder, drive, or simply delete, here's an easy way to accomplish the task in Lightroom.

1. Open Lightroom and go to the grid view of Library module.
2. Select the folder of which you wish to work or the parent folder of your photos.
3. At the top center of the grid view there are filter selections for "Text", "Attribute", "Metadata" and "None".

4. Select "Text".
5. Fields will appear below and to the right providing more granular choices for "Text".
6. Choose "Any Searchable Field" in the first field, "Contains" in the second field, and enter the file extension text you wish to isolate; e.g. jpg for JPEG, or in your case, orf.

7. Lightroom will then present you with only those photos matching your criteria.

From here, you can select all by any means you are accustomed to using such as Ctrl-A (Windows), CMD-A (Apple), or left-click the first photo, scroll the last photo in the grid and shift-left-click on the last photo. You can then press the "Delete" key or right-click and select "Remove Photo(s). You will given the choice to "Delete from disk", "Remove", or "Cancel". The "Delete from disk" will remove the photo from Lightroom's database and move the file to the recycle bin. The "Remove" selection will remove the photo from the database but the photo will remain on the disk in its folder. You can also drag-and-drop your selected photos to another location but you must add the location to Lightroom, at least temporarily, to perform this task in Lightroom.

Accomplishing these tasks through Lightroom eliminates the situation where Lightroom cannot find the file and asks you to update the location---can get to be a bit of a mess and confusing depending on quantity.

If you wish to continue with using the operating system file explorer:

1. Select the folder or parent folder of your photos.
2. In Windows, there is a search field to the right of the file explorer window. I'm not familiar with the Apple file explorer.

3. Enter, *.jpg or *.orf, in the search field.
4. Select all and then either delete or move as desired.

The problem with this approach, however, is that you will need to update Lightroom by either locating the files in their new location (if moved) or synchronizing the folder (if deleted) to keep Lightroom up-to-date with your photos.

I recommend the former method as I find it efficient and effective. I have used this method to reorganize my folder structure from the mess I created when I first started using Lightroom. I started with the latter method to reorganize and found myself in a bigger mess driving me to revert to my original mess and then use Lightroom to reorganize. Using Lightroom as I have outlined, I don't concern myself further with a mix of file types as Lightroom really is an excellent and powerful organizing tool.

C. R. Smith (Charles)
Angel Star Photography
www.angelstarphotography.com

traderjohn Loc: New York City

A lengthy and informative bit of information. If RAW is the standard, why even bother shooting in both modes??? Why waste the time?

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

i shoot raw only. When I need a JPG, tiff etc I export it as such then delete it from the export file. It remains as a raw in the catalog.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Yes. You can sort on file type when you bring up the first import screen. This is the easiest way I know to decide, before importing, which files are getting imported.

Alternately, you can always point to the folder on your computer where both jpegs and raw files reside, and, in the library module, just filter for jpegs, highlight them and delete them all.

But here is something for you to think about - in high contrast/wide dynamic range situations, your exposure choices will usually be very different for raw and for "shareable" jpegs. Your raw files could be considerably darker, as you shoot to retain highlight detail. In this situation, I would never be able to use a jpeg produced by the camera. So I standardize on one workflow - which does not include jpeg production.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

Can you designate one card for raw and the other for jpeg?

JTann Loc: North East, MD

I get the idea that you want to transfer your jpegs straight from camera to phone and assume that they then go to social media? However, I also agree with the comment that there's a lot of time wasted downloading both raw & jpeg once you're home at your computer. How about just downloading your raw files to 2 different locations as you're importing to LR. Did you know you have that option? When your import dialog comes up there is a box to check to 'Make A Second Copy To...'. select a backup location (external drive, Drobo, etc.) and you will have a duplicate set of raw files in that location with just a mouse click. I don't think you need to download the jpegs at all once you've chosen the few that you sent to your phone. Just reformat the card in your camera and process/work with the raw files. Then, once you've edited and processed them, export a copy of them with LR changes to a subfolder of the one with the unprocessed files on your b/u drive and delete the original unprocessed version since there's no reason to keep them. Keep in mind that your 'processed' set can still be taken back to the original unaltered state in LR with a mouse click if you decide to redo some of them. Or, control/' will make you a dupe to play with.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Canon and Nikon RAW files contain full embedded JPEGs which you can use to streamline your workflow. If you do not need to turn around a photo in the field, you do not need the JPEGs.
To do this expand the "File Handling" panel and choose "Embedded & Sidecar" from the "Build Previews" drop down. This will dramatically speed up your culling process in Library mode (once you jump to Develop mode you are calling on the full RAW file)