# Palomino > Palomino is a fast, focused RAW photo culling app for macOS. You rate the keepers, skip the rejects, and hand a tight selection to your editor. It does not edit, organize, or sync anything. It makes culling fast, and that is the whole job. Everything runs on your Mac, so your photos never leave the machine. Palomino is a native macOS app for photographers who need to get through a large RAW shoot quickly. It reads the JPEG preview embedded in each RAW file instead of decoding the full sensor data, which is much faster, and it prefetches the next photo in the background so navigation feels instant. Ratings and labels are written to standard XMP sidecar files, so they carry over to any editor that reads XMP. ## Pricing - Free to download and use. The free version exports up to 50 photos per session. - Palomino Pro removes the export limit for a one-time $29.99 purchase. No subscription, no recurring charges. Upgrade inside the app under Settings then Pro. ## Download and requirements - [Download Palomino on the Mac App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/palomino/id6779869483?mt=12): free, with Pro available as a one-time in-app purchase. - Requires macOS 15 Sequoia or later. - Runs on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs. ## Privacy Palomino the app runs on your Mac. It is sandboxed by macOS and uses no third-party SDKs or trackers. There are no accounts, no cloud, no analytics, and no tracking, and your photos, ratings, and folder names never leave the machine. The only data that can ever leave is a debug log, and only when you choose to save it and send it for a bug report. The Pro purchase is handled by Apple through StoreKit, not by a Palomino server, and never involves your photos. The palomino-app.com website separately uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to measure page views; see the privacy policy for details. ## Key features - Reads embedded JPEG previews from RAW files, which is 10 to 100 times faster than decoding the sensor data. - Keyboard-first workflow: 1 to 5 to rate, P to pick, X to reject, 6 to 9 for color labels, and each rating or flag advances to the next photo. - Batch selection in the grid view: Command-click, Shift-click, or Command-A selects several photos, and one keystroke applies a rating, flag, or color label to all of them with a single undo. - Background quality hints flag overexposed, underexposed, and soft photos, and group burst sequences with a best-of-burst suggestion. - Compare view puts two frames side by side, with one pane held as a reference while you browse the rest of a burst in the other, so picking a winner does not mean flipping back and forth. - Face detection adds a face-priority zoom on the V key and a closed-eye flag, running on the Neural Engine in the background. - Filters control what the arrow keys see: picks, rejects, star ratings, color labels, or capture days. - Standard XMP sidecar files for ratings and labels, so they carry into any XMP-aware editor. - Export by flag or minimum star rating, with named presets and an option to split high-ISO photos into a separate folder for denoising. - Copy, Clone, or Link export modes. Clone is a same-volume APFS copy-on-write clone and Link creates a hard link, so a same-drive export finishes in well under a second with no extra disk space; both fall back to Copy across volumes. - Session stats show total time, a photos-per-minute culling rate, and the rating breakdown. - Choose a light, dark, or system appearance. - Sessions reopen exactly where you left off. ## Supported formats ARW, DNG, NEF, CR3, RAF, ORF, HEIC, JPEG, and more than 20 other formats. ## Frequently asked questions - Is Palomino free? Yes, it is free to download and exports up to 50 photos per session. Pro removes the limit for a one-time $29.99 purchase. - Does Palomino edit my photos? No. It writes ratings and labels to XMP sidecar files and never alters the original image files. - Does Palomino send my photos anywhere? No. Your photos and ratings never leave your Mac, and the app itself has no analytics or trackers. The only thing that can leave is a debug log you save and send yourself. - How does Palomino make culling fast? It reads the embedded JPEG preview instead of decoding the full RAW, and prefetches the next photo in the background. ## For Hasselblad shooters Palomino reads Hasselblad 3FR and FFF files directly using the embedded JPEG preview, so you can cull thousands of frames fast and then hand your keepers to Phocus to develop. It complements Phocus rather than replacing it: cull in Palomino, export the keepers to a folder, open that folder in Phocus. With Phocus sidecars turned on in Settings, exporting a 3FR file also writes a Phocus sidecar so your star rating appears in Phocus. Details: [Cull Hasselblad shoots fast on your Mac](https://palomino-app.com/hasselblad/). ## For Fujifilm shooters Palomino reads Fujifilm RAF files directly using the embedded JPEG preview, which the camera renders with your film simulation, so you cull with the look you shot: Classic Chrome stays Classic Chrome. It handles X series and GFX files with the same speed; a 102 megapixel GFX frame browses as quickly as anything else because Palomino never decodes the sensor data. Cull before import so Lightroom or Capture One only ever builds previews for your keepers. Details: [Cull Fujifilm shoots fast, before Lightroom imports them](https://palomino-app.com/fuji/). ## For Photo Mechanic switchers Palomino covers the part of a Photo Mechanic workflow that carries over directly: cull before import, work from the keyboard, and write ratings to standard sidecar files. On a folder on a drive, ratings go to .xmp sidecars live as you work, the same as Photo Mechanic. On a camera card, Palomino writes nothing to the card; ratings are saved on your Mac while you cull, and the sidecars are written next to the copies when you copy your selects off the card. Details: [A Photo Mechanic alternative for the Mac](https://palomino-app.com/switching/). ## Manual Every page of the manual is listed below. - [The Palomino manual](https://palomino-app.com/manual/): the contents page for everything below. - [Getting started](https://palomino-app.com/manual/getting-started/): what Palomino does, opening a folder, and why previews load instantly. - [Rating and flagging](https://palomino-app.com/manual/rating-and-flagging/): picks, rejects, star ratings, color labels, and the WASD grip. - [Viewing and filtering](https://palomino-app.com/manual/viewing-and-filtering/): the grid, the info panel, sort order, and filtering by flag, rating, or label. - [Bursts and stacks](https://palomino-app.com/manual/bursts-and-stacks/): burst grouping, focus stacks, keeper crowns, and the compare view. - [Copying your selects](https://palomino-app.com/manual/exporting/): the Copy to Folder sheet, copy modes, file naming, and copy presets. - [Ratings and your editor](https://palomino-app.com/manual/ratings-and-your-editor/): how XMP sidecars carry your ratings into Lightroom, Capture One, and Phocus. - [Keyboard shortcuts](https://palomino-app.com/manual/keyboard-shortcuts/): every shortcut in the app, grouped by task. - [Troubleshooting](https://palomino-app.com/manual/troubleshooting/): fixes for the most common problems, from missing ratings to slow loading. ## Links - [Palomino homepage](https://palomino-app.com/): what the app is, what it costs, and how it works. - [Download Palomino on the Mac App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/palomino/id6779869483?mt=12): free to download, with Pro as a one-time purchase. - [Cull Hasselblad shoots fast on your Mac](https://palomino-app.com/hasselblad/): 3FR and FFF culling, and handing keepers to Phocus. - [Cull Fujifilm shoots fast, before Lightroom imports them](https://palomino-app.com/fuji/): RAF culling with your film simulation, on X series and GFX. - [A Photo Mechanic alternative for the Mac](https://palomino-app.com/switching/): what carries over, where ratings live, and why Palomino leaves your card alone. - [Privacy policy](https://palomino-app.com/privacy.html): what the app and the website do and do not collect. - [Palomino on Threads](https://www.threads.com/@palomino.photo): release notes and shots from people using the app. - [Palomino on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/palomino.photo): release notes and shots from people using the app. - [Palomino on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@palomino-photo): short videos showing the app in use.