Culling software

[ishwanu]

... DXO is like Bridge (although I think it uses a pseudo-catalog for some stuff like ratings and keywords, but edits are saved to DOP files, similar to XMP files for Adobe).

DxO PhotoLab always uses a database for everything, not just some stuff. That includes editing parameters, added metadata, and the organizational DAM functions like projects and searches. However, there are no tools for managing the integrity of the database, so I don't put any trust in it.

It can optionally be directed to read and write some XMP metadata for compatibility with other apps. But according to the user manual*, keywords entered in PhotoLab are stored only in the database and in exported files, which suggests that they cannot be picked up by other apps that look in the XMP of the original files. I haven't tested this.

It can also optionally be directed to create proprietary .DOP files that store editing parameters and some other things for the corresponding image files. People who don't want to use the organizational DAM functions can use only the .DOP files for preserving edits and can delete the database periodically.

Contrary to what the user manual says, I can see that keywords and some other metadata entered in PhotoLab are actually stored in .DOP files, but no other apps can make use of them unless a file is exported.

Long story short, PhotoLab is not what I would like to use for culling in large numbers before working with the files in another app.

* From the user manual: ' Keywords entered are stored in the DxO PhotoLab database, but not in the images themselves (RGB files), nor in the sidecars (.dop or .xmp) of RAW files. The keywords are included with the images when they are exported.'

 

[DocBobB]

FYI Excire Foto has an excellent culling feature. I wouldn’t buy it for that alone but it is also an excellent DAM!

 

[sirhawkeye64]

So there are a number of tools out there that people recommend for culling your photos. I currently use a combo of LrC and Lr, and understand pretty well how they work.

With other tools, I would like to know what happens to the photos you pick. That is, how does the software mark the photos that you want to keep, edit , etc?

Does it modify the file Metadata, the xmp, keep a catalog, move the file?

I think this question is a bit too broad, as it depends on the culling software you're using. Photomechanic for example I think uses a database, and as you know, Lr and Bridge use XMP files, CaptureOne uses a catalog (as does LrC which you already know). DXO is like Bridge (although I think it uses a pseudo-catalog for some stuff like ratings and keywords, but edits are saved to DOP files, similar to XMP files for Adobe). So I think it depends really but it seems many of them use a catalog / database for general library management.

I've been using Bridge (and sometimes Lr Desktop if I need to compare files during culling) as I don't need the overhead of LrC.

Yea, I meant to be broad. What I really should have asked is which tool pairs well with a LrC flow. Which means it directly modifies the XMP that is then read by LrC. FastRawViewer appears for fit this pretty well. I can quickly pass the files and give a 1 start to the ones I want to edit. I can then import (or sync meta) into Lrc, and easily filter and edit the ones I picked.

Yeah this shouldn't be very hard for applications to do if they can read and write XML (which is what the XMP files are essentially, XML text files).

I don't know about the DXO DOP files though, as I never looked at one of those but I suspect something similar perhaps although it's their proprietary format, XMP is a bit more "open" (even though it was developed by Adobe).

 

[Zeee]

Since I shoot with Canon I use DPP to pre-cull. Quick Check - Full Screen shows the RAW files as finished Jpegs so sharp and contrasty. DPP’s screen scaling is excellent. You can rate files with Stars and LrC will recognize them but I don’t do that. I rate using LrC.



I just came back from shooting and did my first cull. About 800 files and I dumped about 600. Now I’ll take a break do second cull later. Then I import into LrC.