Managing images and the real reason for photography

Have your say on issues related to using a DSLR camera.

Moderator: Moderators

Forum rules
Please ensure that you have a meaningful location included in your profile. Please refer to the FAQ for details of what "meaningful" is.

Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Wink on Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:36 pm

How the catalog functions is up to you. You could have a catalog for each shoot or just one catalog for everything and any other option in between.

Just set LR to write the changes to the XMP sidecar file is you're worried about it.
Adam.
MY PHOTOS
Allows Image Editing
User avatar
Wink
Senior Member
 
Posts: 911
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2009 4:23 pm
Location: Seymour, VIC

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Chaase on Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:51 pm

My two bobs worth now I am a LR expert after a 2 day course :biglaugh:

biggerry wrote:how do you organise your images and adjust your workflow to punch out and publish images which are more memories then the perfect picture? how do you host them? do you just catalogue them on you computer or do you publish them to smugmug etc?


I have been fiddling with Lightroom the last few weeks and after the course I did at the weekend I am now 100% Lightroom. It also uploads direct to Smugmug. It can also easily web sized files and bloody quick for doing proof sheats.

The thing that really blew me away was the photo editing options and the import options.

surenj wrote:Yes! I have changed my default profile recently and I am happy. the noise reduction and lens corrections in LR 3 is pretty impressive (and very very useful for me :wink: )


The lens correction alone is amazing, my 20-200 f2.8 II vingettes noticibly at full zoom and like magic LR corrects it.

surenj wrote:Actually, why don't you convert to DNG from CX then use LR exclusively?
Oh wait...the DNG won't carry your edits through. Perhaps someone might write a plugin for this conversion?


It also will not carry Camera & Lens data thru like RAW, thanks to Nikon & Hasselblad not wanting to release some of their IP to Adobe as their camera data is encoded.

I now love the way LR works, it's very intuitive once you get your head around the basics.
Cheers, Bruce
Canon Eos 5D MKII, 16-35mm f2.8L II USM, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, EF 50mm f1.4 USM.
Edit photos OK.
http://bruceybaby66.smugmug.com/
User avatar
Chaase
Member
 
Posts: 261
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:31 pm
Location: Hallam, Victoria.

Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby chrisk on Wed Jun 01, 2011 11:28 pm

ATJ wrote:The other major benefit (for me at least) with NOT updating the .nef file with updates is backup. I only ever have to back up my .nef files once (well, OK, I do back them up multiple times but that's for redundancy and they are all the same). Each time you make a change with NX2 (no matter how small the change may be) you have to back up the whole .nef again. You may end up having to back up the same file 10 or 20 times - at 10-20MB per file, that's a lot of backing up.

With LR, you only have to back it up once and you just back up the catalog on a regular basis and it is reasonably small.



I dont understand this. Why do you need to back up the nef so many times if you edit it ?
EM1 l 7.5 l 12-40 l 14 l 17 l 25 l 45 l 60 l 75 l AW1 l V3
User avatar
chrisk
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3317
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:50 pm
Location: Oyster Bay, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby ATJ on Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:09 am

Rooz wrote:I dont understand this. Why do you need to back up the nef so many times if you edit it ?

I don't know how you do your backups, but mine are based on date/time of files and whether a file has been updated. I don't look at each and every file to decide to back up or not, I just let my backup program backup new and changed files.

If the nef was updated, it would be backed up at the next backup. Depending on when and how often you do edits, that file may be backed up many times over its life. Further, I would want to have it backed up so I have the latest edits backed up.

For me, the nef files are never changed so I only ever back them up once when they are new.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Mr Darcy on Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:13 am

ATJ wrote:
Rooz wrote:I dont understand this. Why do you need to back up the nef so many times if you edit it ?

I don't know how you do your backups, but mine are based on date/time of files and whether a file has been updated. I don't look at each and every file to decide to back up or not, I just let my backup program backup new and changed files.

If the nef was updated, it would be backed up at the next backup. Depending on when and how often you do edits, that file may be backed up many times over its life. Further, I would want to have it backed up so I have the latest edits backed up.

For me, the nef files are never changed so I only ever back them up once when they are new.


Or, to put it another way, you will lose your edits if you don't.
NX2 rewrites the original NEF file on edit, so the original file has changed. If you don't back it up again, you lose the changes. If you backup on an hourly basis - I do - then you will end up with lots of versions of the one NEF file in the backup.

ATJ if you use rsynch for the backup, it has the capability of backing up only the portion of the file that has changed, so the situation is not quite as bad as 20x 30Mb files.

BG It puzzles me that you are keen to preserve the edited version (print), but do not care if you throw away the original (negative) You can always do the edits again. It is a bit hard to take the photograph again. Especially if it is your daughter's first birthday party.

On thinking about this, I would do the following:
Use LightRoom for my files to take advantage of the DAM facilties it offers.
Import my back catalogue of NEFs into LR.
Write, or in my case get someone to write, a script that detected whether the file has been edited. If it has, fire up NX2, and get it to save a JPG of the final image.
Import all the JPGs created into LR and stack these with the NEF (jpg on top) Keyword all of these with √EditedInNX2 as an extra indicator.
Continue to use NX2 for editing if that is what you are comfortable with but export the jpg of the final edit to stack in LR. Incidentally this is effectively what happens when you edit in CS5, only it uses a TIFF and does it all automagically. Personally I would make the transition to the LR editing facilities.
Greg
It's easy to be good... when there is nothing else to do
User avatar
Mr Darcy
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3414
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:35 pm
Location: The somewhat singed and blackened Blue Mountains

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby ATJ on Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:32 am

Mr Darcy wrote:ATJ if you use rsynch for the backup, it has the capability of backing up only the portion of the file that has changed, so the situation is not quite as bad as 20x 30Mb files.

I don't use rsync.

I should add that part of my back up process is on a monthly basis (which means I needed to do it yesterday), I back up all the images I took in the previous month to DVD - 2 sets, one on site, one off site. If I made a change to an image taken in one month in a following month, that process would be messed up.
Last edited by ATJ on Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby ATJ on Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:36 am

biggerry wrote:The other turn off for me from a catalogue point is the reliance on LR3, you are essentially locked into that DAM for good, other issues including possible corruption of catalogues whilst not necessarily a risk still play on my mind. I really like the fact that I can take my nef file and put it on any computer (obviously with the raw codec installed for windows explorer or viewNX or CNX2) and with no other effort besides emailing a single file it is viewable and editable.

No matter what DAM you choose, you will be locked into it to the same level as with any other DAM. As in your current process, you are locked in to NX2. I don't see the difference.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Mr Darcy on Thu Jun 02, 2011 11:03 am

ATJ wrote:
biggerry wrote:The other turn off for me from a catalogue point is the reliance on LR3, you are essentially locked into that DAM for good, other issues including possible corruption of catalogues whilst not necessarily a risk still play on my mind. I really like the fact that I can take my nef file and put it on any computer (obviously with the raw codec installed for windows explorer or viewNX or CNX2) and with no other effort besides emailing a single file it is viewable and editable.

No matter what DAM you choose, you will be locked into it to the same level as with any other DAM. As in your current process, you are locked in to NX2. I don't see the difference.


Actually, no I don't think you are locked in to using LR as your DAM.
It uses the standard metadata for finding a specific image. Be that keyword, IPTC title or Lens data.
If you want to change to a different DAM, you simply use the same data.

Yes edits are stored in the catalogue by default, but they can be written to an industry standard sidecar, or Adobe's open standard DNG file if you prefer. And anyway edits are not part of Digital Asset Management. You can also do a bulk export of ALL your photos at any time to any format with about three keystrokes. This will allow you to quickly and easily migrate to a different DAM in the future.

Compare this to NX2 where there is no DAM whatsoever, and the edits are stored in a proprietary format that no one else can utilise. so you lose them all if you move to any kind of DAM that is worth the name. You even lose them if you decide to use a different editor in the future. It strikes me that you are fighting this battle simply because you ARE locked into a system already. To complain that you don't want to move to LR because that would lock you in to a (better) system appears to be hypocrisy, or self delusion at best.
Greg
It's easy to be good... when there is nothing else to do
User avatar
Mr Darcy
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3414
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:35 pm
Location: The somewhat singed and blackened Blue Mountains

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby biggerry on Thu Jun 02, 2011 12:28 pm

Mr Darcy wrote:BG It puzzles me that you are keen to preserve the edited version (print), but do not care if you throw away the original (negative) You can always do the edits again. It is a bit hard to take the photograph again. Especially if it is your daughter's first birthday party.


With the nef files you do not throw away the original, its still there with the edited version, my point is, if something happens and you lose the edits - whilst you can do the edits again, that would be a huge amount of work to complete even on just 1000 images. nefs are non destructive - you can at any point have the original, edited and versions all in the single file, no sidecars no catalogue.

if you lost all the edits from your daughters bday party (100 images) would you revisit them and edit them exactly the same 10 years down the track?

Mr Darcy wrote:ATJ if you use rsynch for the backup, it has the capability of backing up only the portion of the file that has changed, so the situation is not quite as bad as 20x 30Mb files.


agreed, incrementally backing up a catalogue is more efficient than backing up modified nef files.


ATJ wrote:No matter what DAM you choose, you will be locked into it to the same level as with any other DAM. As in your current process, you are locked in to NX2. I don't see the difference.


I am not locked into the CNX DAM, i am locked into the nikon NEF raw file format, just as any other nikon user is.

Mr Darcy wrote:Actually, no I don't think you are locked in to using LR as your DAM.
It uses the standard metadata for finding a specific image. Be that keyword, IPTC title or Lens data.
If you want to change to a different DAM, you simply use the same data.


nefs do that already. I can use win7 search to find iptc tags etc. LR3 would give the advantage of all the neat stuff like lens/focal statistics etc.

Mr Darcy wrote:Compare this to NX2 where there is no DAM whatsoever, and the edits are stored in a proprietary format that no one else can utilise. so you lose them all if you move to any kind of DAM that is worth the name. You even lose them if you decide to use a different editor in the future.


how is the catalogue or DNG any different to a propriety nef format? Why is that windows explorer (for example) can display my edited nefs (with the codec installed obviously) but LR cant - put aside any editing issues of LR could merely display my edited nefs I would be happy.

Mr Darcy wrote:It strikes me that you are fighting this battle simply because you ARE locked into a system already. To complain that you don't want to move to LR because that would lock you in to a (better) system appears to be hypocrisy, or self delusion at best.


just because LR is the bees knees for you does not mean it is for me, that does not mean i am self delusion. I am not locked in, as mentioned in this thread there are 101 ways I can get my images into lightroom or any other DAM its whether that is gonna suit me and the amount of time I have. The only thing i see myself as being locked into is the nikon nef format, which as a concept and file format I do not mind, as mentioned I really really like the idea of a single file for one photo, not sidecar, no catalogue.
gerry's photography journey
No amount of processing will fix bad composition - trust me i have tried.
User avatar
biggerry
Senior Member
 
Posts: 5930
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:40 am
Location: Under the flight path, Newtown, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby ATJ on Thu Jun 02, 2011 12:50 pm

biggerry wrote:I am not locked into the CNX DAM, i am locked into the nikon NEF raw file format, just as any other nikon user is.

Based on your statements in this thread, you are locked into NX2 for your edits. NX2 is the ONLY tool that will let you get at the edits you have done with NX2 and make changes. Yes, ViewNX will let you display them, but you can't change the edits. Yes, Windows Explorer will let you display the JPEG representation of the edits (see below) but you can't edit without NX2.

biggerry wrote:Why is that windows explorer (for example) can display my edited nefs (with the codec installed obviously) but LR cant - put aside any editing issues of LR could merely display my edited nefs I would be happy.

The windows codec is merely displaying the JPEG embedded in the .nef file and little else. For it to be able to actually display the raw contents, convert it and the edits to something the same as what the Nikon apps do would require Nikon to make the propriety information available - which they won't.

Lightroom could display the JPEG data instead of the converted raw data but very few users would want that. As I have already mentioned, you could easily display your final version by creating JPEGs using NX2 and importing them into LR.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby biggerry on Thu Jun 02, 2011 1:51 pm

ATJ wrote:Based on your statements in this thread, you are locked into NX2 for your edits. NX2 is the ONLY tool that will let you get at the edits you have done with NX2 and make changes.


*sigh* I do not want to use another program for editing, I like and am capable with CNX2 - referring to the OP its about management of files, NOT editing the files. I am not locked into the CNX2 DAM, because it is non existent/useless.

ATJ wrote:The windows codec is merely displaying the JPEG embedded in the .nef file and little else. For it to be able to actually display the raw contents, convert it and the edits to something the same as what the Nikon apps do would require Nikon to make the propriety information available - which they won't.


sure about that? whilst i agree there are no other programs that allow you to edit the nef the way CNX2 does. However using the codec installed and MS windows gallery I can view the nef files at full resolution, resize and email a jpeg from the program. No does not allow editing, but thats not surprising, it does allow you to add the usual descriptive tags etc. I don't think it is displaying just a embedded jpeg - if it is, its a mighty fine looking jpeg.
gerry's photography journey
No amount of processing will fix bad composition - trust me i have tried.
User avatar
biggerry
Senior Member
 
Posts: 5930
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:40 am
Location: Under the flight path, Newtown, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby ATJ on Thu Jun 02, 2011 1:59 pm

biggerry wrote:sure about that?

YES!
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Wink on Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:00 pm

Switch to Canon. It would solve all these problems. Lol!
Adam.
MY PHOTOS
Allows Image Editing
User avatar
Wink
Senior Member
 
Posts: 911
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2009 4:23 pm
Location: Seymour, VIC

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby ATJ on Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:13 pm

biggerry wrote:*sigh* I do not want to use another program for editing, I like and am capable with CNX2 - referring to the OP its about management of files, NOT editing the files. I am not locked into the CNX2 DAM, because it is non existent/useless.

* double sigh! *

You have completely and utterly missed the point. You go on and on about LR locking you in but you aren't prepared to admit that you are locked into CX2 for editing.

You know what? I was going to go to a lot of trouble to explain things but I realised it is just a waste of my time (and everyone else). It is clear from your comments that you aren't interested.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby biggerry on Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:18 pm

ATJ wrote:
biggerry wrote:sure about that?

YES!


please explain to me then how I can open the nef in windows photo gallery and save a full res jpeg? is the the full res jpeg embbed?
gerry's photography journey
No amount of processing will fix bad composition - trust me i have tried.
User avatar
biggerry
Senior Member
 
Posts: 5930
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:40 am
Location: Under the flight path, Newtown, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby biggerry on Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:26 pm

ATJ wrote:
biggerry wrote:*sigh* I do not want to use another program for editing, I like and am capable with CNX2 - referring to the OP its about management of files, NOT editing the files. I am not locked into the CNX2 DAM, because it is non existent/useless.

* double sigh! *

You have completely and utterly missed the point. You go on and on about LR locking you in but you aren't prepared to admit that you are locked into CX2 for editing.

You know what? I was going to go to a lot of trouble to explain things but I realised it is just a waste of my time (and everyone else). It is clear from your comments that you aren't interested.


Andrew, the whole thread is about image management, NOT editing. I know by editing nefs I am locked into EDITING with CNX2, there is nothing to admit. Just because I do not agree with you does not mean:

ATJ wrote: It is clear from your comments that you aren't interested.


Since this is apparently a waste of your time and apparently everyone elses - lets do the mature thing and leave it there.
gerry's photography journey
No amount of processing will fix bad composition - trust me i have tried.
User avatar
biggerry
Senior Member
 
Posts: 5930
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:40 am
Location: Under the flight path, Newtown, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Mr Darcy on Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:47 pm

As this thread has been going on for some time now, and is beginning to get a little acrimonious, I thought I would go back to the original post & refresh my memory of what was asked in the first place
biggerry wrote:especially you crusty old demons out there

You havin' a dig at me man???
biggerry wrote:how do you organise your images and adjust your workflow to punch out and publish images which are more memories then the perfect picture?

I use LightRoom 3 for all my current photos. I occasionally publish to Flickr, and even more rarely print them. I am currently looking at printer options as I have deemed my current printer less than adequate. Sometimes I set up slide shows on CD/DVD to mail to friends and relatives. I have basically draw a line in the sand under my old photos as it is just too difficult to find a particular photo that I half remember. My old photos include thousands of slides stored out in the shed, Prints - ditto, and electronic photos that I have failed to label adequately.
biggerry wrote:how do you host them?

(Electronic media)I store them on several external drives. Again this is proving more than slightly inadequate, and I am moving to a NAS storage system that I hope will be a. big enough and b. robust enough to serve my needs into the future. In the past I have used a directory structure to track the photos. This has proved inadequate as I move photos around, and where do I put the photo of Pam that was taken at Muriel's Wedding? I am moving to keywording and LR3 to address this issue more successfully. But it does rely on doing the keywording in the first place.
(Solid media) In a rack in the back shed - this is an insulated shipping container - water, air, light and vermin proof. Stored by date order. But jumbled by frequent moves. The boxes are labelled, but still...
biggerry wrote:are you diligent in processing and publishing them have you been able to maintain this over the years

I wish.
biggerry wrote:are you forever tracking down images of the kids to put into slide shows every couple of years

I can't actually remember when I last looked at all the photos, other than the electronic copies that flash up on my screen saver. I tend to only look at the more recent ones. This is partly because I can't find the older ones.

As stated before, I am now using Lightroom to track my photos. It is proving by far the best solution for my needs that I have discovered so far, but it also relies on my due diligence too, so will probably fail in time. Among other things, it can track by date, camera, lens, keyword, location - Geotag or IPTC, and rating. It is not the best editor out there, but that was not your question. It is usually good enough for my purposes though, and can be extended at need. Photos appear to be imported into a catalogue, but that is not really true. Photos are simply stored on disk where you tell LR to do so. The catalogue is simply a container of pointers that tell LR where the photo is. It also contains a copy of the metadata for the photo, and a list of any edits you may have applied from within LR. There is an optional second catalogue that contains thumbnails of the images as processed so that LR does not need to go back to the original all the time. The "thumbnails" can be as large as full size, or can be smaller based on your needs. This means you can take your photos with you on a trip while leaving the originals safely at home. It will also generate slide shows for me when I need them, and manage my Flickr photos as well.

In summary, if you want a way of tracking ALL your photos and being able to find a particular one years down the track, then LightRoom is the best answer I have found. This addresses the question in your original post. If you want the best editor out there, and you have found that CNX2 rocks your boat, and you don't really care about finding photos in your back catalogue, then by all means continue to use it, but this does NOT address your original question.
Greg
It's easy to be good... when there is nothing else to do
User avatar
Mr Darcy
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3414
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:35 pm
Location: The somewhat singed and blackened Blue Mountains

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby ATJ on Thu Jun 02, 2011 3:19 pm

biggerry wrote:please explain to me then how I can open the nef in windows photo gallery and save a full res jpeg? is the the full res jpeg embbed?

Yes, the full res JPEG is embedded. On my D300 the sensor is 4288x2848. The embedded JPEG is 4288x2848.

I can do the same thing on my Mac using Preview app and I haven't installed any codecs. There are also numerous programs out there that will extract this JPEG from the .NEF file. Even Exiftool will do this. If you don't believe me, download a copy of Exiftool and use the -jpgfromraw flag on one of your .nef files and look at the resulting .jpg.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Mr Darcy on Thu Jun 02, 2011 5:07 pm

how is the catalogue or DNG any different to a propriety nef format?

NEF is proprietary. While the basic image itself has been made available to all, there are secrets in there. No one but Nikon can use them. This is Nikon playing a marketing game, not assisting you in your search for a better solution for your photos. Further, you run a real risk into the future that Nikon will stop supporting NEF for the Dxxx camera. There is precedent for this. Both Kodak and Canon have dropped support for some of their proprietary formats. Nikon has a much better track record for old tech support, but the G series lenses are an indicator that this may not continue. There is also the F3 AF system that sank without a trace.

DNG, while developed by Adobe, is open standard. Everything within it is available to all.
LR Catalogue is NOT a photo format. It is a way of storing information ABOUT a photo, but not the photo itself.

biggerry wrote:Andrew, the whole thread is about image management, NOT editing.

Then why do you keep banging on that LR is no good as it doesn't support your editing system.
Yes in the ideal, non corporate world it would, but the fault here is Nikon's not Adobe's
You have been offered several workarounds. Why not try them. Or write to Nikon and ask them to add an even better DAM than LR to CNX3, and make you their Alpha tester so you get it early.
Greg
It's easy to be good... when there is nothing else to do
User avatar
Mr Darcy
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3414
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:35 pm
Location: The somewhat singed and blackened Blue Mountains

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby chrisk on Thu Jun 02, 2011 7:46 pm

i still dont understand andrew. i have 2 backup locations runnign 2 different programs. genie timeline and WD backup premium. both back up "on the fly" so as im doing whatever im doing it backs up. then if i come back and edit that nef file next week it backs up the modified nef file again over itself, it doesn't duplicate it. so how is that backing up 20 nef files ? :?: then if i modify it again in a years time, again, it backs up to the one nef file. cos its a raw file i can strip it back to raw of all the adjustments anytime i want to without any loss to the original RAW. i hope im not mistaken here... :?

i think this whole thing of being safe from harm and having untouched files and the rest of that stuff is a bit of a beat up to be honest. we are getting a little paranoid here. this is just about preference. i personally hated LR, i recently gave it another try and i just dont like it. that doesn't mean NX2 is better, all it means is that i prefer it personally. for me its quick, easy and it doesn't fail to do anything i want. LR may and probably is the better program but i could care less cos i dont like it.
EM1 l 7.5 l 12-40 l 14 l 17 l 25 l 45 l 60 l 75 l AW1 l V3
User avatar
chrisk
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3317
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:50 pm
Location: Oyster Bay, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Mr Darcy on Thu Jun 02, 2011 8:14 pm

Rooz wrote:then if i come back and edit that nef file next week it backs up the modified nef file again over itself, it doesn't duplicate it.

It depends on how you set up your backup strategy. In my case, I have hourly backups which backup to a new location, so If I edit a NEF once an hour over two days I will end up with 24 copies of the NEF file in my backup folder. This allows me to recover from OOPS! moments. These backups are thrown away after a week as a rolling system to I am not overwhelmed by data. I also run a weekly backup that is kept indefinitely.

Rooz wrote: that doesn't mean NX2 is better, all it means is that i prefer it personally.

Fair enough, but keep in mind they are designed for different uses. LR is primarily a photo managing system. It has some editing capability, but it is limited. Adobe sell another program if you mainly want editing. That is a much more powerful editor. You may have heard of it. It is called Photoshop :wink: NX2 is primarily an editing tool. As such, it should be compared with Photoshop rather than Lightroom. While not as powerful, it does have capabilities that PS does not.
Rooz wrote:i think this whole thing of being safe from harm and having untouched files and the rest of that stuff is a bit of a beat up to be honest.

Agreed. That doesn't mean I want to lose any of my photos. But I am known as a hoarder.
Greg
It's easy to be good... when there is nothing else to do
User avatar
Mr Darcy
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3414
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:35 pm
Location: The somewhat singed and blackened Blue Mountains

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby biggerry on Thu Jun 02, 2011 8:35 pm

ATJ wrote:Yes, the full res JPEG is embedded. On my D300 the sensor is 4288x2848. The embedded JPEG is 4288x2848.


than makes sense and explains why i can view, export and change iptc stuff thru windows explorer or photo gallery.


Mr Darcy wrote:As this thread has been going on for some time now, and is beginning to get a little acrimonious, I thought I would go back to the original post & refresh my memory of what was asked in the first place

snip

In summary, if you want a way of tracking ALL your photos and being able to find a particular one years down the track, then LightRoom is the best answer I have found. This addresses the question in your original post. If you want the best editor out there, and you have found that CNX2 rocks your boat, and you don't really care about finding photos in your back catalogue, then by all means continue to use it, but this does NOT address your original question.


Mr Darcy wrote:how is the catalogue or

snip

Alpha tester so you get it early.


Greg, I appreciate your comments and the time taken to write them.

Mr Darcy wrote: Why not try them. Or write to Nikon and ask them to add an even better DAM than LR to CNX3, and make you their Alpha tester so you get it early.


biggerry wrote: ATJ wrote:Maybe put the past on hold for a bit and think about the future. Give Lightroom a go for a few weeks with new images only
thats exactly what I have been doing for the last few days.
Last edited by biggerry on Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
gerry's photography journey
No amount of processing will fix bad composition - trust me i have tried.
User avatar
biggerry
Senior Member
 
Posts: 5930
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:40 am
Location: Under the flight path, Newtown, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Remorhaz on Thu Jun 02, 2011 8:40 pm

Rooz wrote:i still dont understand andrew. i have 2 backup locations runnign 2 different programs. genie timeline and WD backup premium. both back up "on the fly"....


It depends on your backup system
- one method is the Mirrored scenario which replicates folder A to folder B
- the other is an Incremental system which keeps all the incremental versions up to a certain specified time period usually

The advantage of the second and disadvantage of the first is that you get multiple timed snapshots of the folder/files so you can go back to any point in time and get that version (for files which change over time - take a word document for example where you might add and remove stuff over time - you might not want to get back the most recent copy but one from three weeks ago that had that genius paragraph in it that you removed and just can't remember). This leads to another pitfall with the mirrored scenario that a file gets corrupted or just plain not what you want (and you don't notice straight away) and the backup just writes this "unwanted" version as the backup and you've now lost the "good" version (because all the copies are now of the bad file) - with incremental you can hopefully go back past the bad copies and get a good.

I use the builtin Time Machine on Mac and it basically does the second - the Time Machine backup has multiple versions of files which have changed over time up till the backup drive starts getting full and it starts throwing away older versions.

Obviously the downside of an incremental backup system is:
- backup takes much more space - especially with large files which change often
- backup software has to be smart enough to find and only backup changed files - here Mac's journaled filesystem helps because a record of changed files is constantly kept by the OS so when time machine goes to do it's thing it doesn't have to traverse the entire filesystem and work out what to back up
- in worst case scenario of a recovery of the whole filesystem can take longer because you have to restore the full backup and then all the intervening incrementals - this isn't a problem with Time Machine because of the way it works with a hard linked filesystem but for many "normal" enterprise tape backup systems it is a time consuming issue
D600, D7000, Nikon/Sigma/Tamron Lenses, Nikon Flashes, Sirui/Manfrotto/Benro Sticks
Rodney - My Photo Blog
Want: Fast Wide (14|20|24)
User avatar
Remorhaz
Senior Member
 
Posts: 2547
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:14 pm
Location: Sydney - Lower North Shore - D600

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby chrisk on Thu Jun 02, 2011 9:52 pm

thanks for trying to explain guys, i appreciate it. but i must be just plain dense when it comes to this stuff cos i'm completely lost. it actually pisses me off a bit that i'm lost cos i thought i knew what i was doing, obviously not. my NAS is working perfectly, my secondary WD is working perfectly but i dont want to be living in a fools paradise either. i'm sorry i ever walked into this damn thread. lol
EM1 l 7.5 l 12-40 l 14 l 17 l 25 l 45 l 60 l 75 l AW1 l V3
User avatar
chrisk
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3317
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:50 pm
Location: Oyster Bay, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby ATJ on Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:33 pm

And if you backup to DVD-R, you can't update the files already written so you'd have to back them up again.

Further, the DVD part of my backup process relies on the .nef files never changing. I backup all the images taken in the last month and don't back those files up to DVD again.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Mr Darcy on Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:01 am

Gerry,
I just came across this tool which supposedly manages the disconnect between Capture NX2 and Lightroom.
I haven't tried it myself as I have walked away from NX2, but you may find it of interest.
http://www.robcole.com/Rob/ProductsAndServices/NxTooeyLrPlugin/
Greg
It's easy to be good... when there is nothing else to do
User avatar
Mr Darcy
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3414
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:35 pm
Location: The somewhat singed and blackened Blue Mountains

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby biggerry on Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:27 am

Mr Darcy wrote:Gerry,
I just came across this tool which supposedly manages the disconnect between Capture NX2 and Lightroom.
I haven't tried it myself as I have walked away from NX2, but you may find it of interest.
http://www.robcole.com/Rob/ProductsAndServices/NxTooeyLrPlugin/


In the interim I have been using/previewing Photo Mechanic which has the ability to view edited nefs (albeit the embedded jpeg) and apply tags and ratings. It also is really, really fast for previewing images (much quicker than windows) and allows a one click to edit the file with then drops me into CNX2.

At this point this fills a nice hole for me, however I have also done a few photo sessions exclusively in LR3 which as a program is heaps better than Photo Mechanic (on the surface anyway).

At the end of the day all other factors aside, if I can view the edited nefs (even just the embedded jpeg) in LR3 and apply tags and ratings that would suit me fine as a device to catalogue and preview images.

That plugin you have referenced looks promising, i will have a crack at it in the coming days. Cheers for the heads up.
gerry's photography journey
No amount of processing will fix bad composition - trust me i have tried.
User avatar
biggerry
Senior Member
 
Posts: 5930
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:40 am
Location: Under the flight path, Newtown, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby Mr Darcy on Thu Aug 04, 2011 2:04 pm

Hi Gerry,
Just wondering where you are in this journey?
Have you embraced/rejected LR?
Have you found a better alternative?
Or gone back to ViewNX/CNX?
Greg
It's easy to be good... when there is nothing else to do
User avatar
Mr Darcy
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3414
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:35 pm
Location: The somewhat singed and blackened Blue Mountains

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby biggerry on Tue Aug 09, 2011 9:53 pm

Mr Darcy wrote:Have you embraced/rejected LR?


niether, i have used it for a number of sessions and found it quite good, which is no surprise, i know how good it is as a management and publishing tool. The ability to review images across the catalogue against any set of variables, ie lens, rating tag etc is invaluable.

Mr Darcy wrote:Or gone back to ViewNX/CNX?


I never left them. I also have never used viewNX.

Mr Darcy wrote:Hi Gerry,
Just wondering where you are in this journey?


I have trialled a number of options, including phase ones captureone, fastpicture viewer and photomechanic these are all quite good programs and I particularly found photomechanic quite good to use since it utilised CNX as an editor and displayed the embedded jpeg, it also allowed me to add tags and ratings, however there are some issues with teh ratings between cnx2 and this program.

I have had numerous issues with CNX2 recently which I suspect are mostly related to hardare requirements, so for me taking on board a DAM application (which i currently do not have exluding windows explorer + tags + ratings) will wait until i upgrade my hardware.

There is a fairly vocal number of people across various forums that have similiar problems to me relating to LR3 and how to deal with previous edited nefs. One pretty straighforward solution which would probably make alot of people happy is to simply have a LR3 option to display the embedded jpeg rather than the raw image for the library side of things. As it is LR3 does display this as an interim whilst the program loads the raw file, ie I briefly see my edited nef file pop up before its replaced by the original raw view, So i guess the functionality is there - I am sure its probably not as straightforward as a check box option from the LR3 developers POV of view but..

I did try the LR3 plugin previously mentioned but did not have any luck with getting it to work, if anyone else has used it sucessfully let me know.
gerry's photography journey
No amount of processing will fix bad composition - trust me i have tried.
User avatar
biggerry
Senior Member
 
Posts: 5930
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 12:40 am
Location: Under the flight path, Newtown, Sydney

Re: Managing images and the real reason for photography

Postby ATJ on Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:25 pm

biggerry wrote:One pretty straighforward solution which would probably make alot of people happy is to simply have a LR3 option to display the embedded jpeg rather than the raw image for the library side of things.

Suggest that here: http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop ... as/popular and get the other people that want it to support it (if it hasn't already been suggested, I didn't check).

This is close: http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop ... ed_preview

Add your vote and or comment.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Previous

Return to General Discussion