Anyone Migrated from LR to Capture One or DXO?

[NEF Said]

What would you do with your LR archives?

Can I access the LR DNG files from these other applications?
Could I import them into another apps catalog?

I do have Bridge, but don't really use it.

Once I've processed files and posted them on the web, I usually don't go back into the catalog, unless I want to pull some "best of images" for printing or want to reference some shot I took.

 

[Butlerkid]

Hi Walther,

From going through all the heartburn with LR recently (unable to start up and had to reinstall LR6 and CS6), having it crash repeatedly last year, and issues with other Adobe products, there is a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth with Adobe.

I thought that now may be the time to consider upgrading to the subscription based services (my option A in my original post) - though I'm not a fan of subscriptions.

However, it is also an opportunity to look into other solutions, and see if they are (subjectively) better. So I listed option B) Capture One, and C) DXO. There is even an option D) migrate to B or C, while continuing to use LR6/PS6 as needed.

Make sense?

With all respect....LR 6 and CS6 are very, very old products. Not a fair comparison to today's versions..................

 

[NEF Said]

With all respect....LR 6 and CS6 are very, very old products. Not a fair comparison to today's versions..................

Yeah, which is part of the reason to look into upgrading and possibly switching.

 

[Walter Rowe]

Can I access the LR DNG files from these other applications?
Could I import them into another apps catalog?

I do have Bridge, but don't really use it.

Once I've processed files and posted them on the web, I usually don't go back into the catalog, unless I want to pull some "best of images" for printing or want to reference some shot I took.

No other application will be able to use your LR adjustments. Capture One will import the catalogs and make a best effort to “translate” the LR adjustments into Capture One adjustments. It isn’t perfect so you will have to retune them in Capture One.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

It never hurts to explore other applications. I would try to address the immediate stability challenge by upgrading to the latest Adobe suite. Once you have a stable environment, then you can explore other options.

I created a tutorial for migrating from Lightroom to Capture One.

Are you running Windows or macOS?

 

[NEF Said]

No other application will be able to use your LR adjustments. Capture One will import some of them and make a best effort to “translate” them into Capture One adjustments. It isn’t perfect.

View attachment 1665301

It never hurts to explore other applications. I would try to address the immediate stability challenge by upgrading to the latest Adobe suite. Once you have a stable environment, then you can explore other options.

Are you running Windows or macOS?

MacOS. I'm at Mojave, and don't plan up upgrading to Catalina for a while.

I looks like LR is OK now, and I'm staying the #$%! away from Acrobat (which seems to have caused some of the issues). So I have some time to explore other options. I can still access my library with LR, and I do have both DNGs and the exports to JPG for everything.

Good to know though, about the translation. Thanks!

 

[Mike Buckley]

Make sense?

It makes sense to me if you enjoy evaluating competing software products and then, once choosing one, also enjoy going through the learning curve. If you dislike all that stuff as much as I do, it makes more sense to simply subscribe to the Adobe offering.

 

[gchappel]

This thread got me thinking- which is a bad dangerous thing. I think I like capture one for my black and white because it gives me so much control- and I know where I want my black and white images to go. I am much weaker in color, having only shot black and white for 30++ years. I think capture one gives me too much control in color, and I am not sure how I want to use it, or where I want the color spectrum to go. Dxo, at least in my hands, is a little more automatic, and gets me into a reasonable range pretty much on its own. In color, I am happy with that.
We each will approach this differently.
gary

 

[NEF Said]

I'm still browsing at DXO and Capture One (haven't downloaded trials yet), but had some more questions for folks...

Clearly, one option (A) is to get LR CC and just learn the new features from LR 6. It's the easiest path, and I may do that as an initial cut.

As mentioned, though, I'd like to look at other options. Especially since I get the feeling that DXO and Capture One may have better performance in dealing with processing photos.

I could use LR6 for old photos (or a new subscription for LR CC), which I really don't go back to that often, mostly because I publish my "keepers" on a web site, and then use Capture One or DXO for all new photos, if it turns out that I prefer these new tools.

But I'm also wondering if there is a hybrid approach, where I use LR and another product, either as an interim step or as a permanent process. To that end, I had some questions about workflow and combining products... hoping folks can chime in with some experiences...

Related to Capture 1

• It looks like I could import existing photos from LR6. Would I then be able to access things from either C1 or LR, or is it a one way import and then I'd stop using LR?
• How is C1 DAM as compared to LR for basic use (few keywords, star ranking, color rating, ability to group images/stack, exporting)?
• For newly imported pictures, do you import them in camera format (NEF or JPEG), or convert to DNG or other, for use in Capture One?

Related to DXO

• How is DAM for DXO compared to LR for basic use? I got an impression that it was maybe weaker in DXO.
• If it is weaker, do folks use a different product for DAM?
• Can DXO be used for processing and LR (or Bridge, as I have that) for DAM?
• If so, how are photos handled going between the two? IOW do I need to treat them as TIFFs, use DNGs (sounded like the two apps handle differently), or something else?
• If I want to access existing photos that were processed in LR, I could clearly access the JPEGs that I exported and saved. Can I access the DNGs? Will they be essentially unprocessed, and I'd need to reapply corrections (crop, WB, exposure, saturation, clarity, lens correction)? Not a big deal, as I don't need to do this much.
• Would there be some process I could perform from LR6 to "export" my library for use by DXO? Export DNGs as TIFFs or something?
• For newly imported photos, do you import them using camera format, DNG, or other, for use in DXO?

As you can see, I'm trying to figure out how one would migrate from one tool to another, if tools could work together, or if I have to make a clean split, if I switch to a new tool.

Suggestions appreciated!

 

[Palouse]

DXO has no DAM.
I'm a DAM lacker, and "rely" on a very simplistic file finder system. Maybe someday when I grow up . . .
I've used Bridge inn the past to ingest files. Now I use Nikon Transfer.
I bring them in as NEFs, work on them in DXO, and if I need to send them to Affinity of NIK I convert to TIFF.
Never tried DNG.

 

[Walter Rowe]

Related to Capture 1

• It looks like I could import existing photos from LR6. Would I then be able to access things from either C1 or LR, or is it a one way import and then I'd stop using LR?
• How is C1 DAM as compared to LR for basic use (few keywords, star ranking, color rating, ability to group images/stack, exporting)?
• For newly imported pictures, do you import them in camera format (NEF or JPEG), or convert to DNG or other, for use in

I will take a crack at these:

C1 and LR can reference the same image files. If you plan to “import” your LR catalogs into C1, that is a 1-way, 1-time process. There is no synchronization between C1 and LR.

C1 DAM features will be fine for what you mention, with the exception of “stacks”. LR can stack separate images. C1 can only stack “virtual copies” of the same image (C1 calls them variants).

Always save your camera native raw files. Import your NEF, CR2, ARW, RAF, etc, directly into C1. The DNG format will not provide you all the benefits Adobe tells you unless you work entirely in the Adobe ecosystem. Few other packages deal well with DNG files that are derivatives of other camera native formats (eg. NEF to DNG). C1 doesn’t handle DNG derivatives of an NEF as well as it handles the native NEF files.

If you have the NEFs that became your DNG files, I recommend you use a tool like John Beardworth’s Syncomatic plugin for LR to sync all your DNG data and edits back to your NEF files. Super reliable and trustworthy plugin for LR. When I found DVDs that had original NEF files, I loaded them up and synced the DNGs to NEFs using this plugin. It was fast and easy and worth every penny.

Hope that helps.

 

[Pa]

DXO has no DAM.

That's not strictly true. While not nearly as complete (or intrusive) as Lightroom, DxO does allow you to keyword your photos and search by keyword. I think it may do more than that, but I don't use those features so I'll have to suggest that you do a little research at the DxO website.

I'm a DAM lacker, and "rely" on a very simplistic file finder system. Maybe someday when I grow up . . .
I've used Bridge inn the past to ingest files. Now I use Nikon Transfer.
I bring them in as NEFs, work on them in DXO, and if I need to send them to Affinity of NIK I convert to TIFF.
Never tried DNG.

I'm similar to Nick on those points, but I don't use any file transfer program except "Finder" on the Mac. I catalogue by year/month/day and have been doing so for 15 years. I can usually find what I want but I certainly would agree that it would be a lot easier if I had used some cataloguing system with keywords, etc., from the get-go. Too late now.

 

[Palouse]

That's not strictly true. While not nearly as complete (or intrusive) as Lightroom, DxO does allow you to keyword your photos and search by keyword. I think it may do more than that, but I don't use those features so I'll have to suggest that you do a little research at the DxO website.

OK, your are right on that, Jim. But it came too late in my "career" to of use. It is largely a search utility. I do have a few pictures keyworded, but that's about it.

 

[Mike Buckley]

In my mind, if the software doesn't have a database, it isn't DAM software.

 

[Pa]

In my mind, if the software doesn't have a database, it isn't DAM software.

What constitutes a database?

 

[Pa]

Here's what the DxO website says:

If you have a large image library you’ll know how difficult it can be to find the image you’re looking for. Thankfully, DxO PhotoLab 3 makes searching for photos much easier thanks to the new DxO PhotoLibrary new features.

Keywords now pop up as tooltips whenever you hover your mouse pointer over images in the File Explorer tab. Keywords are also displayed directly in the Metadata palette, plus you can directly add, delete,rename keywords or assign them to a batch of images.

If you’re importing images into DxO PhotoLab 3 that already have keywords attached, including data written by other XMP-format software, these will be imported automatically. With its new and improved PhotoLibrary feature, DxO PhotoLab 3 is seamlessly compatible with other photo-editing packages on the market and makes for a faster and more efficient workflow.

DxO PhotoLab 3 rounds out the software’s existing filters and image processing tools with the new PhotoLibrary feature.
The PhotoLibrary makes sorting and organizing images a cinch. Instantly locate the photos you’re searching for thanks to the dynamic interpretation search function, which suggests relevant results on the fly.

 

[Mike Buckley]

What constitutes a database?

Heck if I know other than that a database has at least one database file; I'm not a technical guy, so I don't even know what constitutes a database file. The DAM software I use has two database files, one that stores the thumbnail images of the image files and one that stores the metadata.

 

[Terri French]

I've used Lightroom since it's beginning and have tried to keep myself updated on all the new features as they come out. I'm comfortable with it and don't mind the subscription fee. I like to learn new things but feel happy with the results I can get from Lightroom, so I haven't felt much need to change. Maybe I don't know what I am missing......

 

[Palouse]

Speaking of DXO-PL: have you been bothered by the annoying pop-up of Exif data etc., every time you hover your cursor over a thumbnail? If so, here is the fix:

Simply change that second last entry to what is shown below.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Clix Pix]

Ah, thank you, Nick, for that tip!!! Yes, I have been frequently annoyed by that darned popup when I'm just trying to look through the images and accidentally hover over a thumbnail and it promptly covers what I'm trying to see! I shall take care of that first thing tomorrow!

ETA: did make the change today when I opened DXO and, oh, what a relief! That popup is just too, too annoying! It is great having it gone now! MANY thanks!

 

[NEF Said]

I will take a crack at these:

C1 and LR can reference the same image files. If you plan to “import” your LR catalogs into C1, that is a 1-way, 1-time process. There is no synchronization between C1 and LR.

C1 DAM features will be fine for what you mention, with the exception of “stacks”. LR can stack separate images. C1 can only stack “virtual copies” of the same image (C1 calls them variants).

Always save your camera native raw files. Import your NEF, CR2, ARW, RAF, etc, directly into C1. The DNG format will not provide you all the benefits Adobe tells you unless you work entirely in the Adobe ecosystem. Few other packages deal well with DNG files that are derivatives of other camera native formats (eg. NEF to DNG). C1 doesn’t handle DNG derivatives of an NEF as well as it handles the native NEF files.

If you have the NEFs that became your DNG files, I recommend you use a tool like John Beardworth’s Syncomatic plugin for LR to sync all your DNG data and edits back to your NEF files. Super reliable and trustworthy plugin for LR. When I found DVDs that had original NEF files, I loaded them up and synced the DNGs to NEFs using this plugin. It was fast and easy and worth every penny.

Hope that helps.

Great info. I guess a long time ago I bought into the Koolaid of using DNGs as a "standard", and I've been importing all my NEFs to DNGs, saving those, and JPEGs of the final processed data.

It sounds like I should really be importing NEFs directly, to have the most compatibility with other tools.

For stacking, I mostly would use that to collect up photos to process for panos or HDRs. Not a big deal, and I suspect I could use other ways to tag such groups. Not something I do a lot, only occasionally do I play with those features.