cull

The fastest way to pick your keepers.
Browse thousands of RAW photos in under a second. Pick, reject, hand off to Lightroom or Capture One.
4.5 MB native app. ~3,000 lines of Rust.

Website · Shortcuts · LR / C1 Integration

---

Why cull?

Every RAW file already contains a full-resolution JPEG preview baked in by your camera. Most software ignores this and decodes the entire RAW file. cull extracts these embedded previews directly — no decoding, no rendering pipeline, no waiting.

No catalog. No import. No subscription. Point at a folder and go.

What makes it fast

• Instant RAW preview — extracts embedded JPEG previews, no RAW decoding needed
• Sub-second folder loading — browse thousands of images the moment you open a folder
• 4.5 MB binary — smaller than a single RAW file
• Native Rust + GPU rendering — not Electron, not a web wrapper

Professional culling workflow

• Pick / Reject / Unmark — keyboard-driven (P, X, U) for rapid image selection
• XMP sidecar output — writes industry-standard XMP that Lightroom and Capture One read on import
• Export picks — copy selections to a _picks/ subfolder with one shortcut
• Send to editor — open images directly in Lightroom, Capture One, Photoshop, or any editor
• Grid and loupe views — filmstrip grid for overview, full-resolution loupe for detail
• EXIF at a glance — camera body, lens, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, ISO
• Camera and lens filters — filter by body or lens to compare setups

Supported RAW formats

Format	Camera
CR2, CR3	Canon
NEF	Nikon
ARW	Sony
RAF	Fujifilm
DNG	Adobe, Leica, others
ORF	Olympus / OM System
RW2	Panasonic
PEF	Pentax
SRW	Samsung
JPEG	Universal

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
Left / Right	Previous / next image
Up / Down	Previous / next row (grid mode)
P or Space	Pick (mark as keeper)
X	Reject
U	Unmark (clear pick/reject)
R	Rotate 90 CCW
Shift+R	Rotate 90 CW
Shift+Arrow	Extend selection
Cmd+click	Toggle individual selection
Cmd+B	Toggle file browser
Cmd+E	Open in external editor
Cmd+Shift+E	Export picks to _picks/

Lightroom and Capture One integration

XMP sidecars are written the instant you pick or reject. Import your folder and everything is already tagged.

Action	XMP written	Lightroom	Capture One
Pick (P)	xmp:Label = "Green"	Green color label	Green color tag
Reject (X)	xmp:Rating = -1, xmp:Label = "Red"	Reject flag + Red label	Red color tag
Unmark (U)	xmp:Rating = 0, no label	Unflagged, no label	No tag
Rotate (R)	tiff:Orientation	Correct rotation on import	Correct rotation

Why this mapping:

• Star ratings (1-5) are untouched — reserved for your own grading within picks
• Lightroom's native Reject flag is Rating = -1 in XMP — rejects show up correctly
• Green label is the standard visual proxy for picks (LR's Pick flag is catalog-only)

Workflow:

1. Open your folder in cull — press P for keepers, X for rejects
2. Import into Lightroom or Capture One
3. Picks have green labels. Rejects are flagged. Stars are at 0 — ready for grading.

Get cull

Download a pre-built binary from the website, or build from source:

cargo build --release
./target/release/cull

CLI

cull                        # Open empty (pick a folder in the UI)
cull ~/Photos/wedding       # Open a specific folder
cull stats ~/Photos/wedding # Show pick/reject/unrated counts
cull picks ~/Photos/wedding # List picked files
cull export ~/Photos/wedding # Copy picks to _picks/
cull mark IMG_001.RAF pick  # Mark a single file

When installed from the .app bundle, cull is automatically added to your PATH.

How it works

cull extracts embedded JPEG previews from RAW files on background threads — the same previews your camera bakes into every file. EXIF metadata is parsed asynchronously. XMP sidecars are written as simple XML with no library dependencies.

Built with egui. The entire application compiles to a single 4.5 MB binary with no runtime dependencies.

License

MIT