Imagin RAW
A lightweight, native macOS application for browsing, culling, and organizing RAW photos - built as a more efficient alternative to Adobe Bridge for read/rate/organize workflows.
An iOS companion app is in development, focused on a simple way to browse your library, cleanup, in field backup of your shots, and scouting.
Architecture
UI: SwiftUI (macOS 14.6+). 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) for indexed file/folder search
Concurrency: A mix of Tasks and OperationQueue
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
RAW format support - via LibRaw, covering a broad range of camera manufacturers and formats
Rating and color labeling - written to XMP sidecars (RAW) or embedded directly 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 browser
Two grid layouts - compact grid (more room for preview) and large grid (more room for browsing)
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 - fits 2:3 RAW images into a 3:4 canvas, exported as PNG to avoid re-encoding loss (useful for Camera Raw edits because it doesn't support framing)
Comparison with Adobe Bridge
Where Imagin RAW is better
Where Bridge is ahead
Camera Raw–processed previews - Bridge renders thumbnails with ACR adjustments applied. Imagin RAW currently shows unprocessed previews; replicating the ACR pipeline isn't feasible, though basic exposure/crop preview adjustments may be explored.
Roadmap
See the open Issues
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
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. Updates might not be on par with the AppStore and there's no update notification in app
Compile from source code
Contributions
Small straightforward fixes and issue/ideas reportings are welcome.