Adobe Camera Raw is a good RAW image convertor that’s part of Photoshop. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to batch convert a whole directory of photos, with confusing “actions” and “droplets”. Then I learned it’s a lot simpler than that.

1. In Photoshop, choose File / Open.
2. In the open dialog select all your RAW files.
3. Click “open”. Don’t panic; it won’t chew up your RAM.
4. In the filmstrip on the left select all photos.
5. Choose your image settings. If you’re converting a lot of images, you probably want “Camera Raw Defaults”.
6. Click the “Save N Images...” button in the lower right.
7. Select format: JPEG. Adjust whatever else you want; file naming, JPEG quality, etc.
8. Click “Save”.
9. Click “Done” and wait patiently.

I’m doing this in Photoshop CS2, but I suspect it works in Elements just as well since really it’s the standalone RAW tool that’s doing the work.

Bonus tip: Microsoft has a RAW Image Thumbnailer PowerToy that lets the file browser make thumbnails of your RAW images, just like JPGs. Works great.