I have two separate questions relating to a transfer from Lightroom (LR) to Photolab; forgive me asking them in the same post but the background is pertinent to both.
Background. I have used Aperture and then LR from its inception, with Macs for about the last decade. A couple of years ago I decided to simplify my photography and get rid of all my Fuji kit apart from an IR-modified X100T, and now use it and a Leica Q3 as my everyday cameras. I nearly changed to PL6 two years ago, and have now trialled and downloaded PL8 with pleasing results. I see no point in staying with LR, particularly as I have only used its DAM facilities for downloading and basic file management to a simple chronological system. I have never used keywords or metadata searches, and with the exception of a few competitions and exhibitions have hardly touched Collections. After a significant cull of my LR images I have only about 5K in the catalogue, and have every expectation that a second cull could bring real keepers down to about half the present number.
So to the questions:
Firstly, I am tempted to just use a Finder-based file system using Preview for culling. John M was kind enough to suggest this when I was exploring moving to PL6, and I have seen suggestions from Joanna that this approach would suit someone else with a not dissimilar situation to my own. Given the inevitable advances that take place, would this still be a suggested approach or is there now an even simpler (ie foolproof!) methodology for downloading and organising images? I know that I could use LR as a DAM with PL8 even if stopping the subscription, but in my new found quest for simplicity I suspect that I would be happier to forego Adobe in its entirety, including deleting the LR catalogue, once the question below has been addressed.
Secondly, I would like to move my LR keepers into the same file system that I hope to use for PL8, but seem to come across various recommendations both as to which LR command to use (ie either âedit inâ or via the plug in route) and as to which format. In the relatively old days it would just be export with 16 bit TIFFs, but DNGs do, of course, now come into the reckoning. I would be willing to re develop images from LR in PL8 but would like to minimise any incompatibilities (eg the greying out of lens sharpness adjustability that has been reported).
I know that there are numerous solutions of varying complexity to both these questions, but any practical advice would be gratefully received.
PhotoLab 8 Mac) does read and react to some information that comes along in .xmp (sidecars). If you donât want to start from scratch, have LR store metadata to XMP, then, back up the LR catalog with Lrâs own command - and store that backup in a safe place.
Leave PhotoLab in these/its default settings: automatic r/w sidecars and donât sync metadata.
Then, open PhotoLab and let it index your folder structure, wherever it might be. This should not take longer than 5 to 10 minutes. Manually read metadata by using the respective command from the file menu.
That would be my way to migrate under the conditions you mention.
IMPORTANT: Keep your options open to return/redo things in Lightroom. Check if things work as expected in PhotoLab, BEFORE you delete any of your image files, sidecars or Lr by-files. Re-test if necessary. If things work out as expected, and only then, move on.
Note, also, that while you see no value in keeping LR around, you can hang onto it until you are sure youâre happy with your new setup. So long as you keep your Adobe account â no payment method needed â it will continue to function perfectly as a DAM, including the ability to export.
I still use LR as a front end DAM without a subscription - it still works fine, just with a popup asking you to subscribe.
Of course you cannot use the LR develop module.
I normally donât use export to LR from PL as it creates annoying collections on both sides which have to be deleted. I normally just export JPEG to a sub folder below the raw images and then import to LR to keep a catalog of up to date images.
For culling I use Fast Raw Viewer - it works fine on Mac.
From PL8 onwards Iâve had no problems with using the keywords, etc that LR writes into the sidecar files, so Iâm pretty close to exporting the whole LR library to Jpeg which bakes in all the old adjustments and then using PL as the DAM moving forward.
I guess you donât use hierarchies. I have extensive ones and PL only sees the leaf keywords. This is why I have a special export preset in LR called âKeyword proxyâ. It exports a low-res JPEG with a special filename suffix. I then have Hazel watching the folder and it uses ExifTool to copy the keywords from the proxy to the DxO-exported one before deleting the proxy.
But even aside from this issue, I find keyword entry in LR to be vastly superior to that in PL. The hierarchy-aware auto-complete and ability to create new keywords â including in the hierarchy â on the fly is a huge efficiency boost for me.
Iâm glad it works for you, but I do not foresee PL ever getting good enough to let me ditch LR.
It works for me because I donât use PhotoLabâs keywording, and yes, DPL isnât good enough (from asset management and reliability points of view) for me to make it a potential replacement for LrC.
I kind of understand DxOâs eagerness to get even further into the low-return area of 80/20 of image quality, but its house keeps standing on weak foundations.
Thank you very much all for your replies, which have been helpful.
I have been getting to grips with PL8/FP and by and large enjoying it, and although after years of LR there are certainly methodology differences, but none that seem too difficult to overcome. I will continue to use LR for its DAM abilities for the present, before finalising the decision as to whether to continue to use it in parallel with PL8.
I do however have one significant problem, in that the âTransfer to DxO Photolab 8â command in LR doesnât work as intended, neither opening PL8, even when it is already open in the background, nor transferring the chosen image even when I manually open PL8.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled both LR and PL8, checked the LR Plug In manager which showed both PL8 plug ins to be present and enabled, and confirmed that the LR Preferences settings are for PL8 to be an external editor with an attendant preset. Concerned by Robin Whalleyâs mention that this may not be the whole answer, I then checked that the PL8 plug ins were present in the Mac OS Library Modules folder, only to find modules for PR3 (which I had previously trialled) but none for PL8. Removing those and installing the PL8 ones brought temporary relief, with things working as intended in both opening PL8 and transferring LR images to it. However, despite making no further changes, I am now back to square one, with the transfer command visibly achieving precisely nothing. I am probably doing something extremely silly or left something in LR unchecked, but before contacting DxO support, which does not seem to have many friends on the forum, wondered if anyone had any other suggestions to try.
There are two ways to make PhotoLab work on images from Lightroom.
In Lightroom, select images and hand them over to PhotoLab by using the respective module action from Lrâs File menu. Doing this should launch PL which will then show the images in a new project. Edit to taste in PL and export customised images in Lr. Note that this way, DPL will see unedited RAW files without any edits you might have made in Lr. Some of the edits done in Lr can be applied by Lr again, if a .xmp sidecar is present. But some features are excluded or neutered.
In Lightroom, select images and hand them over to PhotoLab by using the respective action from Lrâs Foto menu. Doing this should launch PL etc. Note that this way, DPL will be able to work on already edited images, but the files will be exported by Lightroom according to the options you set im Lrâs settings. PL can therefore not use some of its key features.
One might think that, maybe, re-applying the settings (manually in PL) as they were in Lr should produce similar results. Well, if they are similar, you can be happy. Lr and PL use quite different machines with different notions of how a RAW image should look. This is not specific to PL or Lr, most RAW developers implement whatever their colour specialists might have considered to be âthe bestâ. Because of this, I consider switching something that implies the following steps
export edited images (if wanted or needed) with the âoldâ app
start from scratch in the ânewâ app - and learn
No switching apps is lossless. Better be prepared for some frustration too.
As for plugins not working as expected: Get in touch with support.dxo.com, after all, you paid for your license. And RTFM (read the friendly manual) even though it looks like a description of features rather than a how-to imo.
Thanks for your thoughts Platypus. I must admit that although being aware of the âEdit inâŚâ command I had purposefully not tried it given that âTransfer toâŚâ is of course the method of choice for minimising LR effects being loaded to PL8.
I had rather hoped that my problem might have been one which was widely recognised and for which there was a simple solution, rather than having to invoke DxO support, which does appear to have more than its fair share of detractors within the forum.
I do like your description of RTFM; I had only previously come across the more traditional Anglo-Saxon version. Must remember yours for use in polite society!
Well, then, hereâs another data point for you. I just filed a ticket with DxO and found the interaction with DxO support to be speedy, friendly, pleasant, and effective.