Options

Input & Output

The easiest way to run PPRC is within a directory full of .raw files — an out/ directory will be created automatically. But you can specify input and output directories with these options:

--dir [dir]

Process a specific directory of .raw files instead of the current directory.

--dir-out [dir]

Specify the output directory. Defaults to out/ inside the input directory. Supports the DIR_NAME placeholder which is replaced with the input folder's name.

If the output directory already exists, PPRC auto-increments the name (out, out_2, out_3, etc.).

Start with ../ to place the output beside the input folder. Absolute paths are used as-is; if an absolute output directory already exists, PPRC stops with an error instead of auto-incrementing it.

pprc --dir-out DIR_NAME_inverted
pprc --dir-out ../DIR_NAME_pprc_out
pprc --dir-out /path/to/output

Processing Mode

By default, PPRC assumes color negative film: it analyzes the roll to compute a shared color profile, removes the orange mask, inverts the negative, and applies a contrast stretch. Use --mode to change this behavior for other film types or workflows.

--mode <mode>

Processing mode. Choices:

• negative — Invert color negative, remove orange mask (default)
• raw — Output unconverted TIFFs for processing with another tool (Negative Lab Pro, ColorPerfect, Vuescan, etc.)
• e6 — Slide film — no inversion, apply auto-level
• bw — Black & white — invert, auto-level, greyscale output
• bw-rgb — Black & white — invert, auto-level, RGB output

Tuning

--clip <percent>

Clip both black and white ends by N% during contrast stretch (default: 0.1). For example, --clip 1 gives more contrast by clipping 1% on each end. Sets both --clip-black and --clip-white at once.

--clip-black <percent>

Clip the darkest N% of pixels to black (default: 0.1).

--clip-white <percent>

Clip the brightest N% of pixels to white (default: 0.1).

--gamma <value>

Gamma correction applied during negative inversion (default: 2.15).

--no-stretch

Disable contrast stretch entirely.

--border-exclude <percent>

Exclude the outer N% of each image from profiling and contrast stretch (default: 2). Helps eliminate film holder and rebate artifacts.

--pixel-rejection-percentage <percent>

Ignore the brightest/darkest N% of pixels within a frame when computing the profile (default: 0.1). Prevents dust spots and specular highlights from skewing results.

Image Analysis

--per-image-balancing

Compute a separate inversion profile for each image instead of sharing one across the roll.

--no-frame-rejection

Include all frames in the shared profile, even outliers that would normally be excluded.

Profiles

--save-profile <name>

Analyze input files, save the computed inversion profile, then exit without processing. Profiles are stored in ~/.pprc/<name>.json.

--profile <name>

Use a previously saved inversion profile instead of analyzing the current batch. Useful for consistent results across multiple rolls of the same film stock. PPRC reads these profiles from ~/.pprc/<name>.json.

Utility

--save-config

Save the current CLI options as global defaults to ~/.pprc/config.json and exit. See Global Config for details.

--install-quick-action / --uninstall-quick-action

Install or remove the macOS Finder Quick Action.

--examples

Show usage examples.

Deprecated

These flags still work but will show a warning pointing to their replacement.

--no-negfix

Use --mode raw instead.

--e6 / --bw / --bw-rgb

Use --mode e6, --mode bw, or --mode bw-rgb instead.

--dimensions [width]x[height]

Manually specify pixel dimensions for headerless raw files. Not needed when "Add File Header" is enabled in TLXClientDemo, or if your dimensions are standard sizes and you did not rotate images within TLXClientDemo.