Find the keepers before Lightroom finishes importing.
Cull shows every photo instantly, even straight off the card, and lets you pick, reject and rate from the keyboard. Then it hands your picks to Lightroom or Capture One.
Or get all five apps in the Suite for $129.
Lightroom builds previews before you can judge a shoot properly. Cull shows the picture every camera already stores inside its RAW files, so the next photo is on screen as fast as you can press the arrow key.
How it works
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Download Cull
Free to download. Without a license, everything works on the first 25 photos of each shoot. Open the file and drag Cull into Applications. Needs macOS 14 or later.
Download Cull -
Open a shoot
A folder, a card, or the folder Offload copied to. RAW and JPEG pairs show as one photo, and frames shot within a second of each other are grouped as bursts.
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Pick from the keyboard
P picks, X rejects, 1 to 5 rates, 6 to 9 add a colour label, and Cull moves to the next photo. Double-click to check focus at 100%.
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Hand off
Your stars and colour labels go into sidecar files Lightroom and Capture One read, your picks can be copied to a folder with every copy checked, and rejects can be moved aside.
What's in it
Instant previews
Uses the picture the camera stored in each RAW file, and prepares the next photos while you look at this one.
Checks on your Mac
Flags soft photos and closed eyes and finds the best frame of each burst. Nothing is uploaded.
100% zoom that follows you
Double-click where you want to check focus, drag or pinch to look around, and use the navigator to jump.
Ratings Lightroom reads
Stars, colour labels and "Cull Pick" and "Cull Reject" keywords go into XMP sidecars, and a Lightroom Classic plug-in turns them into real flags. Edits Lightroom already saved there are kept.
Checked copies of your picks
Copy picks, or everything except rejects, to another folder or drive. Every copy is read back and compared.
Never deletes anything
Rejects can be moved into a Rejected folder and put back. Browsing never writes to the card.
Location removed on export
Optionally strip GPS from the JPEG and HEIC copies you share, without re-compressing them.
Ask an AI, with your own account
Ask Claude, ChatGPT or Grok for the best 30 for an album, or a set that tells the story. You see each choice and the reason for it. Off until you add your own key; when you ask, Cull sends small previews (about 768 pixels wide), not your originals, straight to that company.
Undo
⌘Z takes back the last rating, a whole "reject soft photos" pass, or the AI's picks.
Formats
CR2 CR3 NEF ARW RAF ORF RW2 PEF DNG JPEG HEIC
How it compares
Culling tools are fast, and mostly priced like a subscription to your own photos. Here's how Cull lines up.
| Shutterkit Cull | Photo Mechanic Plus | FastRawViewer | Narrative Select | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 one-time | $24.99/month, $249/year, or $399 one-time | $19.99 | $10 to $60/month |
| Try before buying | Every feature on 25 photos per shoot, no time limit | 14-day trial | 30-day trial | Not listed |
| Flags soft photos and closed eyes | Yes, on your Mac | Not listed | Not listed | Yes |
| Stars and labels to Lightroom via XMP sidecars | Yes | Yes | Yes | Sends picks to Lightroom directly |
| Checked copies of your picks | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Windows | No, Mac only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
From each company's website and documentation in October 2026. "Not listed" means we couldn't confirm it on their product page, not that it's missing. Spot something out of date? Tell us.
Questions
Can I try it first?
Yes. Without a license, Cull does everything on the first 25 photos of each shoot: rating, the checks, Ask an AI and handing off. There's no time limit, so try it on as many shoots as you like. A license, $49 once, covers every photo.
Does it change my photos?
No. Cull reads your photos and keeps your ratings in its own storage while you work, so browsing a card never writes to it. Files are only written when you hand off: sidecar files next to RAW files, copies in the folder you choose, and rejects moved into a Rejected folder if you ask. Cull never deletes anything.
Will Lightroom see my picks?
Your stars and colour labels, yes: Lightroom reads them from XMP sidecar files when it imports a folder, or when you choose Read Metadata from Files. Lightroom ignores pick and reject flags in files, so Cull also adds the keywords "Cull Pick" and "Cull Reject": filter by one and press P or X to flag them all. With Lightroom Classic, the Shutterkit Cull plug-in (beta, installed from Cull) sets the real flags in one step. Capture One reads the same sidecars and keywords.
How do the checks work? Are my photos uploaded?
Nothing is uploaded. Sharpness is measured from the picture itself, compared with the rest of the shoot, so a dim indoor set isn't judged against a sunny one. Faces and eyes are found with Apple's Vision framework, which runs on your Mac. The checks only suggest: bulk actions skip any photo you've already picked or rejected, and ⌘Z undoes them.
What does "Ask an AI" send, and what does it cost?
It's the one feature that sends anything off your Mac, and only when you ask. You connect your own Claude, ChatGPT or Grok account with an API key, kept in your Mac's Keychain. Cull then sends small previews, about 768 pixels wide, of the photos you choose, never the originals. The AI company bills your account for what you use; Cull adds nothing. Large shoots go in batches, with a final round to choose the overall best.
Why do some RAW photos look softer at 100% than others?
For quick viewing Cull shows the picture the camera stored inside the RAW file. Canon, Nikon and Pentax store it at full size; Sony, Panasonic and some others store a smaller one. At 100% Cull uses the full-size picture when there is one and otherwise decodes the RAW file itself, which takes about a second.
Does it work with my camera?
Cull reads RAW files from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, OM System and Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax and others, plus DNG, JPEG and HEIC. If macOS can open your camera's RAW files, Cull can.
Try it on any shoot. $49, once.
One license covers three Macs. Updates within the major version are free.
macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Apple silicon and Intel.