Lightroom or Expression or PhotoMechanic or ImageIngester...What combination

[jwsm20]

Hi Peter and All

I am a serious amateur who shoots a lot of sport. (about 50%)

I have been reading through the forums for the last couple of weeks and I am absolutely stunned at how much I have learned from everybody. Thanks!

I am expecting my copy of the DAM Book to arrive any day now and I'm preparing to enter the world of DAM.....However I am a little confused and would love some clarification on a few things.

At the moment I have been using ADCSee Pro 2 but only to ingest and view ( Photoshop CS3 to edit) I haven't begun yet to use any of its cataloguing facilities or ratings etc. My collection is still folder based. But this will all change when my DAM book arrives.

I have used Lightroom but that was way back in version 1 and version 1.1 (not sure about its cataloguing abilties in the latest version)

I have also used a trial version of Photomechanic as it has been highly recommended by a lot of photographers as a great ingestion tool but so has ImageIngester which I have not tried.

I had a quick look at IView Pro and liked the interface but still a virgin in regards to its capabilities.



In a nutshell...I shoot, make a folder (shootname) and then make two folders inside this one called "keepers" and "edits", I then ingest, view and make quick edits with ACDSee. Photoshop CS3 is then used to for everything else.....primitive I know! But that’s why I bought the BOOK.

Now here are my questions!

I am using VISTA and my collection is well organised but as I said it is all folder based.  I have purchased the latest version of Lightroom and will be using a laptop in the field as well as on my desktop. As far as I can tell, without having the book, the only DAM principles that I have used is in my naming conventions  (ie 20080606_big_dogs) LOL. Anyway,  I don't need to take into account clients needs, cataloguing my collection is purely for me to streamline my collection and to be more efficient for the future.

When I start using DAM principles, what combination of software will I use,

INGEST: Photomechanic or ImageIngester

CATALOGUING: Lightroom or Expression

EDITING: Lightroom


How has Lightroom improved in regards to DAM principles.?........I am willing to give lightroom the flick altogether as a cataloguing tool, if it doesn't meet my needs.


ALL theories, suggestions, idea's or discussion most welcome

thank you ever so much for your time.

Joseph

[havezet]

Why not start with what you've got (ACDsee)? Give it some time, learn about DAM and then decide where your software lacks features (if any). Once you know what *you* need you can take it to a next level. The DAM Book is a great resource.

[Marc Sabatella]

FWIW, here's a writeup I did on adapting Peter's DAM principles to ACDSee Pro 2:

http://blog.acdsee.com/2007/08/24/digital-asset-management-dam-with-acdsee-pro-2-part-15/

Given that you have CS3 already, the idea of using ACDSee as I do (it is my all-in-one RAW processing / cataloging solution) may not appeal to you, and if you use ACR for your RAW processing, you may find ACDSee's limited support for embedded DNG previews to be a big issue.  but since you say you are doing initial edits using ACDSee, perhaps you are actually shooting JPEG?  In which case, the suggestions I give for JPEG workflow might prove useful whether you use ACDSee or not.

Marc

[frankgindc]

Personnally, my main complaint about LR is that it is too tied to CS3 (which is too $$ for my needs) and I think limits some of its funcionality to keep folks tied to CSx.  HOWEVER, if you are already invested in CS3, and would be able to upgrade from old LR to LR2 for $99, then I think that would be a great option.   I've been pretty happy with LR's DAM capabilities, which were enhanced in LR2, and they have made the connection between LR and CS3 more seamless now.   In short, once a person is invested in CS3, I think LR woudl be a great "DAM program with benefits."
Frank

[roberte]

Hi Joseph,

Each photographer has different needs. As a sports photographer try:

1. Photo Mechanic : Download, Sort + Rate (fastest image browser on the planet)

2. Lightroom : Convert select RAW files (retains metadata)

3. Catalog : Expression Media (simple yet powerful cataloguing)

Metadata including ratings are persistent through all these apps via XMP sidecar files. You only need to enter info once. If speed was not of the essence I'd throw in Image Ingester at the beginning simply because it can make DNG files and verify on download then feed them to Photo Mechanic. Otherwise I'd be converting your RAW files to DNG in LR.

-- Robert.

[markpirozzi]

What functionality in Lightroom do you lose if you do not have Photoshop?

Mark

[Photo_op]

Joseph-
Right now I use-
ImageIngester>PhotoMechanic (browser,etc,)>Lightroom2

I have CS3, but rarely have need for it as LR develops. I've used the three for about two years and have found the developers of each outstanding.

--Dave

[frankgindc]

What functionality in Lightroom do you lose if you do not have Photoshop?

Mark

For me, I miss the levels, real point curves, plug-ins -- especially for noise reduction.  And if you want to round trip through anything except CS3 it's a pain in the tuchas.  I've got an old version of CS.
Frank

[jwsm20]

Thank you ever so much to everyone for their help

Peace to you All  xxx