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What do you use to catalog with NX2?

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DominicNguyen

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I'm currently using Aperture as a way to catalog my photos, but I was wondering those out there who uses mostly NX2, how do you catalog your photos? And why you choose that scheme? Does it allow referencing directories and create virtual folders as a way to organize?

Dominic
 
--

I used ViewNX 1.3, I always look at photos all when i pick photo then open to NX2

I don't like NX2's photo thumbnails.

Well, let anyone's experience.. than me.

kjr
 
DominicNguyen said:
I'm currently using Aperture as a way to catalog my photos, but I was
wondering those out there who uses mostly NX2, how do you catalog
your photos? And why you choose that scheme? Does it allow
referencing directories and create virtual folders as a way to
organize?
Click to expand...
You should probably look at Lightroom and PhotoMechanic -- both have substantial numbers of users. I couldn't find anything that would really do what I wanted and ended up gluing together my own little system:

http://www.malch.com/nikon/backgrounder.html
 
John Gruffydd said:
Look hard at Faststone Image Viewer - it's free. I've never looked
back. I sue it as a "front end" for NX and PS.
Click to expand...
The catalog features are fairly primitive compared with say Lightroom, in my view. However, Faststone is still NOT fully color managed (last I checked) and that's a showstopper for many of us with calibrated monitors.
 
The reason why I like Aperture is that you can create virtual folders with virtual copies of the pictures. My workflow is as follows:

1) Create a physical folder with today's date, copy all the pictures over.
2) Open NX2 to filter out the bad ones, adjust the rest.
3) Export out as JPEG to an "Aperture directory" with the same date.
4) Open Aperture and reference the new Aperture directory.

5) Create a Project/Folder inside Aperture with something more meaningful than just dates.
6) Backup NEF (adjusted NEF) on external drive, sorted by dates.

So now I have the NEFs backed up, and cataloging/printing with Aperture. I don't trust Time Machine as a backup scheme.

Anyone work on this differently?

Dominic
 
Here is a quick rundown on my take - Seperate drive that I store all pictures on. At the top level I have folders for each year (2000, 2001, 2002, etc). Under each of those folders I have monthly folders (Jan, Feb, etc) and then folders my specific shoot. Under each shoot I have a folder named Raw.

I transfer all my files into a holding folder named transfer. I sort/discard those in ViewNX then process my NEF's in NX2 (loving the speed increases with 2.2 btw!). I then batch convert them to JPG's and move both the NEF's to the (Raw) folder and the JPG's to the root folder. Fire up LR and use the Sync function on either the Year or Month folder and exclude all the Raw folders.

I then use LR to set up my collections - Flowers, kids, events, etc using keywords or whatever else I want. I also use LR to create slideshows to send to the Grandparents, use it for printing, resizing, etc.

--
http://stringfellow.smugmug.com
 
I use Downloader Pro to suck the images from cards or camera, rename, rotate, create initial directory and save the files.

I usually use ViewNX to rate them and cull them down. Sometimes Photo Mechanic, but I'm just getting used to it.

I use NX2 if I need to make any adjustments at all or print. (I shoot RAW+JPG for convenience. Any kind of work is done with RAW as a starting point).

Somewhere along the lines I also add captions, though I also batch add them later.

I manually move the culled & edited files to a final folder location on my local hard drive. First by year, then event - 2009/hawaii trip/maui, etc.

Next I run a nightly copy program that is a simple batch file using XXCOPY with some settings to copy only newer files from selected directories on my local drive to a NAS I built to hold all my images. The NAS is there partly to make the images available over the home network from any computer. I used OpenFiler for the NAS.

Finally, I run IDimager Pro to import and catalog the images. Still getting used to it. Some issues I have with it are speed (it's not fast) and it only works from my PC. I tried Extensis Portfolio (didn't like it) and Microsoft Media Expressions (limited to 800mb or so, far too small).

As of yet, I have no viable backup plan that deals with the volume of images I have. I've purchased a bluray burner to back things up, and I have at least made copies of my older images, but I'm waiting for media prices to come down to seriously try to back everything up. I'm relying on the fact that my images are copied on two hard drives at the moment, plus many are also backed up to an external USB drive from my local drive. Before bluray I calculated that I would need 400 DVD's to back up all my images - and that was just one copy. Since then I've been working on more aggressive culling!
 
Finally I found a good workflow and I like to share it with you.

I work in Raw with my D300

my in camerasettings on 0 all

portrait, neutral, Dx2mode 2 for Landscape and I made a standard for flash but all on 0 !

1st- my nef in Adobe bridge edit in ACR and sharpen then to Photoshop where I change modus and profile and smart sharpen on 50 before I make it a Jpg

2nd I open in ACDSee and I Rotate few degrees( if necessary), I crop and depending of the cropping I sharpen my JPG in ACDSee for last time depending on how much I cropped.

My problem was that I could not get enough defenition in the shadows.
finally I got it.

My lens is not sharp(18-200mm), I buy later a sharper 1, when I can affort it, but it looks good right now.

Arree

Like to see some pic's ?
http://picasaweb.google.nl/Arretje56/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13935871@N04/

 
DominicNguyen said:
I'm currently using Aperture as a way to catalog my photos, but I was
wondering those out there who uses mostly NX2, how do you catalog
your photos? And why you choose that scheme? Does it allow
referencing directories and create virtual folders as a way to
organize?

Dominic
Click to expand...
I download the images from my CF card using Nikon Transfer. Then I weed out the bad with Fast Image Viewer (lighting fast and color managed). Then I process them with NX2. Then I catalog them in Imatch for finding later.
 
-Dominic

I basically use the same programs as you do.

How ever I fisrt open from a card reader to Nikon View NX and do my first rejections and delete what I don't want.

Then to Nikon Capture NX 2, for any work that iis needed, I then save to CD's or DVD's

the NEF's then convert to jpeg if I want a print I print at this time, and save in Aperture 2
I do like the catolog capabilities of Aperture
Aperture 2, Capture NX 2, and View NX are the only editing programs I have.
I have only been shooting digital for one year now, so I do have a lot to learn.

I would like to have Photoshop but the price keeps me away. The reason I would like photoshop is because it is the only program that I can take classes at the community college to learn.
Dennis
 
Dennis,

I just recently redid my workflow to incorporate NX2 after being dissatisfied with Aperture's RAW converter, and NX2 new features/processing speed look promising. However, I love Aperture as a cataloging software with its flexibility in organization and ease of use. So with this new workflow, I can backup manually the NEFs and let Aperture Vault backup the processed JPEGs, books, etc.

I'll checkout View NX more, thanks for the tip.

I do have PS with a PC license, and will upgrade/crossover whenever CS5 comes out, but then again, I rarely need to do massive layers/masking anymore. I have to remind myself, this is just a hobby.

Best of luck with your workflow,
Dominic
Dennis DH said:
-Dominic

I basically use the same programs as you do.
How ever I fisrt open from a card reader to Nikon View NX and do my
first rejections and delete what I don't want.
Then to Nikon Capture NX 2, for any work that iis needed, I then save
to CD's or DVD's
the NEF's then convert to jpeg if I want a print I print at this
time, and save in Aperture 2
I do like the catolog capabilities of Aperture
Aperture 2, Capture NX 2, and View NX are the only editing programs I
have.
I have only been shooting digital for one year now, so I do have a
lot to learn.
I would like to have Photoshop but the price keeps me away. The
reason I would like photoshop is because it is the only program that
I can take classes at the community college to learn.
Dennis
Click to expand...
 
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