Opening Kodak PCD files into PS CS3

[patflynn]

I have some old Kodak CDs which I want to import into Photoshop for editing. I

am using Photoshop CS3, but I cannot get this software to read the PCD files or

open them in any way for conversion to TIFF or another usable format. Can

anyone point me to a plugin for CS3, or else some alternate software

altogether, for conversion of these PCD files to TIFF or (if no alternative)

JPEG format? A Google search offered as its top hit a plugin for PS4 from ten

years ago! Anything more recent out there?

[michael_bradtke]

Try

 

Irfanview

 

It will open most any file type and its free

[User_503771]

In my CS2 installation (XP), under Plug-Ins\File Formats, I find "Photo CD.8BI" which would cover it. If you don't have that (or its equivalent) installed with CS3, that's probably your problem.

[ken allen]

Yes, the PCD plugin has not been updated to run on the new Intel based Macs. I assume that you're on a Mac, but I don't know if there is a similar problem on Windows based machines.

 

I also received a message that asks me to reboot my mac under a different mode then try again. I didn't look into it, I just moved the job to a machine with CS2. Earlier versions would work to. I would do this now while it's still easy to find those machines.

 

There are other shareware apps that can read the PCD files, but I've found that the PS plug-in does the best job. Make sure you have the old Kodak PCD profiles installed can can select the proper input profile when you're doing the conversion and that will help you get good color. Then select 16 bit tiff and you should get an unclipped file.

 

Good Luck.

 

Ken

[joseph_nolan]

<p>The installer for CS3 does not automatically install the Kodak Photo CD plugin.  You have to install it afterwards.  The plugin is located on the "Goodies Disk"  you will find it under the photoshop folder and optional plugins.</p>

[monica_barber]

<p>Whoever gave the advice regarding IrfanView for opening Kodak Photo cd, thank you very much. I do not have the Adobe Photoshop CS3 plugin cd so I had to find an alternate solution for opening the Kodak photos. I downloaded IrfanView easily and was able to view the photos but not save them in the PCD format. Not saving in the PCD format wasn't a problem because IrfanView gives you a "save as" option and you can save the photo in almost any other format you need like jpg, bmp etc. Photo.net has been a good resource and the free program IrfanView was a lifesaver. Google "IrfanView" to find their link. Thats how I found it. Thanks again.</p>

[monica_barber]

<p>Whoever gave the advice regarding IrfanView for opening Kodak Photo cd, thank you very much. I do not have the Adobe Photoshop CS3 plugin cd so I had to find an alternate solution for opening the Kodak photos. I downloaded IrfanView easily and was able to view the photos but not save them in the PCD format. Not saving in the PCD format wasn't a problem because IrfanView gives you a "save as" option and you can save the photo in almost any other format you need like jpg, bmp etc. Photo.net has been a good resource and the free program IrfanView was a lifesaver. Google "IrfanView" to find their link. Thats how I found it. Thanks again.</p>

[paulthephotographer_wilson]

<p>Might be a little late, and more Mac related, but I too had this problem with some older Kodak Photo CDs.<br>

I read somewhere that the free (or on the cheap iLife disk) iPhoto will import the Photo CDs.<br>

And it worked. I had to start iPhoto first and then put the disk in and import the photos. It took a while to read and start but after a while it brought all of them in in the highest resolution available, for the Standard Kodak Photo CD, 3072 × 2048 pixels. I do have one PRO disk an iPhoto would NOT import the higher resolution from that disk. It imported the same as the Standard Disk.<br>

I then exported back out of iPhoto. Pretty easy. BTW: iMac 27 i7 quad core.<br>

PaulThePhotographer</p>

[will_galloway]

I also was using CS3 (Windows) with the plugin from the install disc, but I've now found that many programs including Photoshop clip the highlights on a lot of PCD images. On the other hand, PS does a better job of color conversion on some images. My recent archive solution was to save the complete contents of each PhotoCD to a folder on a hard drive, then use IrfanView with a modified DLL file to open and save each PCD to a TIFF. The modified DLL is from http://www.tedfelix.com/SupaSoft/PCDLib.html. Your mileage may vary. He has a lot of info on the PhotoCD format also.

 

IrfanView has a batch conversion/save mode that's very easy to use. If you're only getting small images, check the properties under JPG/PCD/GIF and set to 16Base. Then I use PS to generate a new contact sheet image from the converted TIFFs. The only hiccup with this is that the file numbers are in alphanumeric order; i.e. 1, 10, 11, 12, 2, 20, 21, etc.

 

It's especially important to save all the files from the Pro PhotoCD, because the Level 6 (4096 x 6144) resolution depends on some extra files in a different folder from the PCD files. If you miss those, you'll only get Level 5. Irfan only opens Level 5 resolution, but ImageMagick will open/convert Level 6. However, it's complicated to use and has the same highlight clipping problem.

[will_galloway]

<p>I also was using CS3 (Windows) with the plugin from the install disc, but I've now found that many programs including Photoshop clip the highlights on a lot of PCD images. On the other hand, PS does a better job of color conversion on some images. My recent archive solution was to save the complete contents of each PhotoCD to a folder on a hard drive, then use IrfanView with a modified DLL file to open and save each PCD to a TIFF. The modified DLL is from http://www.tedfelix.com/SupaSoft/PCDLib.html. Your mileage may vary. He has a lot of info on the PhotoCD format also. <br /><br />IrfanView has a batch conversion/save mode that's very easy to use. If you're only getting small images, check the properties under JPG/PCD/GIF and set to 16Base. Then I use PS to generate a new contact sheet image from the converted TIFFs. The only hiccup with this is that the file numbers are in alphanumeric order; i.e. 1, 10, 11, 12, 2, 20, 21, etc.<br /><br />It's especially important to save all the files from the Pro PhotoCD, because the Level 6 (4096 x 6144) resolution depends on some extra files in a different folder from the PCD files. If you miss those, you'll only get Level 5. Irfan only opens Level 5 resolution, but ImageMagick will open/convert Level 6. However, it's complicated to use and has the same highlight clipping problem.</p>

[roger_smith4]

<p>PCD to Jpeg seems well-regarded and is also at that tedfelix page. Try http://pcdtojpeg.sourceforge.net/Home.html</p>