More about converting PEF to JPG
PEF (Pentax Electronic Format) is the RAW container written by every Pentax K-mount DSLR since the *ist D in 2003, including the K-1 II, KP, K-3 III, K-70, and the discontinued 645Z medium-format body. Landscape photographers who favor Pentax for the in-body weather sealing and Astrotracer GPS feature, plus a long tail of K-1000 film shooters who moved to digital K-bodies, generate PEF when not using the DNG option Pentax also provides. Convert to JPG for prints from Bay Photo, Mpix, or Whitewall, all of which accept JPG up to 200MB.
Pentax cameras uniquely let you toggle between PEF and DNG per shot via the RAW button, so many K-1 II shooters carry mixed cards. PEF compresses better (typically 20-30% smaller than the DNG equivalent) but only Pentax Digital Camera Utility (PDCU) and recent Adobe versions parse the Pentax Pixel Shift Resolution metadata. Astro shooters running the K-1 with Astrotracer geo-tagged shots through Pentax's GPS module need PDCU or Lightroom 7+ to preserve the embedded plate-solving data when exporting JPG.
Pixel Shift Resolution (PSR) on the K-1 II, K-3 III, and KP captures four sub-pixel-shifted frames and merges them in-camera, recording the merged result inside the PEF. Landscape photographers shooting the Smoky Mountains or Iceland with the 15-30mm f/2.8 convert PSR-enabled PEF files to JPG at full 36MP for fine-art prints. Without PSR enabled the K-1 still hits 36MP - enough for a 24x36-inch print at 300dpi without upscaling.
When you'd use this
Reasons to convert PEF to JPG usually come down to compatibility, file-size, or specific feature requirements. Common situations:
- An app or platform only accepts JPG uploads.
- You need a feature unique to JPG (e.g. transparency, vector scaling, animation, multi-page pages, etc.) that PEF doesn't provide.
- You're optimising file size — modern formats often produce smaller files than the older format you started with.
- You need a single archival format across a project so files behave consistently in the same viewer.
How to do it in jpg.now
- Open the PEF → JPG tool on jpg.now.
- Drag your PEF file onto the drop zone, or click Select files. You can drop a whole folder of files at once.
- The output is fixed to JPG. If the format supports extra options (page size, transparency background, quality, EXIF stripping), tweak them in the right-hand panel.
- Click Convert. The job runs on our server and finishes in a few seconds for typical photos.
- Download the result. Files stay in storage for 24 hours and are then permanently deleted.
The entire flow is free for the first 10 jobs per day with no signup required. A free account doubles that quota; a premium plan removes the limit entirely.
Tips and common pitfalls
- Toggle PEF vs DNG via the RAW button on K-1 II / K-3 III bodies - PEF saves card space, DNG saves headaches in legacy software.
- For Pixel Shift Resolution files, use Pentax Digital Camera Utility 5 to merge - Adobe handles the base frame but Pentax's algorithm includes motion correction Adobe lacks.
- K-1 II Astrotracer shots embed GPS and celestial coordinates - keep this metadata when exporting JPG if submitting to astrophotography sites like AstroBin.
- Match Pentax Custom Image (Bright, Natural, Reversal Film) by downloading the free DCP profiles from Ricoh's support site and loading them in Lightroom.
- Strip serial number and lens info from EXIF before forum uploads - Pentax bodies embed both, which lets bad actors fingerprint your gear in public posts.