Question on LR Preprocessing

[SBurkholder]

I expect that a lot of people have the same issue that I have. When I'm out on a photoshoot (Birds), I tend to take a lot of photos and quickly discard 90% or more of them. When I'm home on my desktop, this isn't too much of a time consuming issue because I have a pretty powerful setup. But when I'm away and want to sort through the photos on my laptop, this quickly becomes unworkable because the laptop just isn't capable of importing photos into LR in a timely manner. I thought I had found a solution in that the camera (Z6) is capable of shooting RAW + JPEG. I figured that I could use Bridge to sort through the images in JPEG, use some sort of flag to set on the images I like and then let LR just import the ones with flags set. I haven't been able to find a way to do that because Bridge sets stores its flags in a different area of the file and LR doesn't have access during import. I'm wondering if someone else has success in developing a workflow that allows you to pre-screen photos prior to importing?

And another question, is what exactly is LR doing with the JPEGs when it is allowed to import them and keep them together? Ave they used to view 1:1 previews? Are they just taking up space on your harddrive and really of no use because LR creates its own previews anyway? I fail to see the purpose of why you would want to import them anyway.

 

[pochito]

Somebody proposed here once FastRawViewer for culling, if that's the problem

 

[Replytoken]

I use a combination of FastStone Image Viewer and FRV to cull images before importing into LRC. FSIV is fast, has a light foot print and can compare up to four images at once. If I really need to dig into an image, I send it to FRV where I can examine it in detail.

Good luck,

--Ken

 

[dabhand16]

I recommend Faststone Image Viewer for culling. You can tag images then filter to show tagged only so you can review and cull more - and it has lots of features - side by side comparisons (up to 4 image) a great slideshow and one click magnification and you can drag the magnifier around the image.

Best of all - it is free! Trusted company too, I've been using it for over 15 years. PC only though.

FastStone Image Viewer, Screen Capture, Photo Resizer ...

 

[Anjin San]

. But when I'm away and want to sort through the photos on my laptop, this quickly becomes unworkable...

Bridge will let you delete...so that would work although if you wanted to save the rejects for “maybe” that would present a problem. FRV also looks promising. I’m still working out how to pre-process with my laptop in the field...but with COVID it got pushed down the priority list. My original thought there was to copy images to the laptop then import into LR...and export the trip catalog for import into the master desktop catalog...but clearly precluding before pulling them into LR has some advantages so FRV might be a good solution for me.

 

[jhallettbc]

But when I'm away and want to sort through the photos on my laptop, this quickly becomes unworkable because the laptop just isn't capable of importing photos into LR in a timely manner.

How do you download your photos to your laptop? I use a card reader to plug my SD card into my phone using LR mobile and that is extremely fast. What do you mean by not in a timely manner?

 

[PhilcTx]

When I have a number of images on a memory card that I want to browse and cull from and then import into a file folder I fire up Photo Mechanic.

Fast browsing on the card from which I tag the images to be selected for import. Then select the tagged ones and use PM's "ingest from selection" feature.

Also use PM for adding/editing metadata descriptions & keywording.

 

[SBurkholder]

How do you download your photos to your laptop? I use a card reader to plug my SD card into my phone using LR mobile and that is extremely fast. What do you mean by not in a timely manner?

I use a card reader to transfer them over to my laptop. The slow part I’m referring to is importing into LR and waiting for LR to build previews.

 

[SBurkholder]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I haven’t heard of FIV or PM. I’ll take a look at both of them tonight. I knew others must have struggled with this issue and have solved it already.

 

[Replytoken]

I use a card reader to transfer them over to my laptop. The slow part I’m referring to is importing into LR and waiting for LR to build previews.

One of the primary challenges which impacts the speed of the whole process is what image you will be reviewing with the software. Most programs rely on the embedded preview in the raw file. That may be fine for some types of culling, but for critical analysis, it is probably best to either view the raw file. Some of the above programs, will render their own preview from the raw file, and I have been advised in the past that it may be best to use the rendering from the software you plan to use for post processing. I find FRV to be sufficient when I need to dig deeper into a file, and FSIV to be fine for general culling. It is reasonably fast and the developer has it available as donationware. And, I find it has the best cropping tools out there if you do not mind doing your cropping outside of LR after exporting.

--Ken

 

[dabhand16]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I haven’t heard of FIV or PM. I’ll take a look at both of them tonight. I knew others must have struggled with this issue and have solved it already.

Have you tried using minimal previews - or are you using this setting already?

 

[ingweDave]

When I have a number of images on a memory card that I want to browse and cull from and then import into a file folder I fire up Photo Mechanic.

Fast browsing on the card from which I tag the images to be selected for import. Then select the tagged ones and use PM's "ingest from selection" feature.

Also use PM for adding/editing metadata descriptions & keywording.

I’m another fan of Photo Mechanic, I use it both at home and on my laptop. When travelling I find it speeds up culling and ingesting, as well as the best tool I have found for detailed metadata. I then transfer directly to lightroom.

 

[SBurkholder]

Have you tried using minimal previews - or are you using this setting already?

I'm using it already. What I was referring to was LRs building 1:1 images on the fly when viewing them in my laptop. Ten to 20 seconds per image is just too long for initial culling to be practical.

 

[dabhand16]

I'm using it already. What I was referring to was LRs building 1:1 images on the fly when viewing them in my laptop. Ten to 20 seconds per image is just too long for initial culling to be practical.

the laptop just isn't capable of importing photos into LR in a timely manner.

From your first post I thought you was talking about importing. I think that if you want LR to build 1:1 images on import it will be a lot slower that asking it to build minimal images. If the laptop is taking 20 seconds to open an image that is already on the machine it might benefit from more RAM if the motherboard will take it, and an SSD (making sure that you back up images as SSDs can fail with no warning and the data AFAIK is not retrievable.

 

[SBurkholder]

From your first post I thought you was talking about importing. I think that if you want LR to build 1:1 images on import it will be a lot slower that asking it to build minimal images. If the laptop is taking 20 seconds to open an image that is already on the machine it might benefit from more RAM if the motherboard will take it, and an SSD (making sure that you back up images as SSDs can fail with no warning and the data AFAIK is not retrievable.

You are correct in, and I was referring to both, importing and viewing. My laptop is a little under powered, although 3 or 4 years ago when I bought it -- it was fine. But sometimes, when I'm on the road for a few days, the images pile up and I would like to begin to cull them before returning home. The solutions given above, FSIV and FRV look like they will work. I've also looked a little at PM -- and it may be overkill for my purposes but the jury is still out.

 

[jhallettbc]

I just came across something in a LR tutorial that may be of interest to you. Apparently if you set your import preference to 'camera settings', it is faster than the default which is 'Adobe'. This is because no conversion has to be made. If you are on your computer, you go to Preferences under the Lightroom in the menu bar and select Import. Can't hurt to give it a try if you haven't already done this.

 

[TCzPhotos]

I use a Samsung Galaxy tablet and a Sony card reader. Plug in the memory card and move the photos to a file on the tablet. You can then quickly page through each photo (raw or jpg) using the Samsung Gallery App and with a single tap, identify the photo as a "Favorite" and move on to the next one. Once you have identified your "Favorites", they are grouped in a temporary file and you can upload them to LR or save them to a separate permanent folder. It is a quick way to filter out the shots you want to take the time to edit.

 

[SBurkholder]

I just came across something in a LR tutorial that may be of interest to you. Apparently if you set your import preference to 'camera settings', it is faster than the default which is 'Adobe'. This is because no conversion has to be made. If you are on your computer, you go to Preferences under the Lightroom in the menu bar and select Import. Can't hurt to give it a try if you haven't already done this.

I think I will give this a try. Thanks

 

[SBurkholder]

I use a Samsung Galaxy tablet and a Sony card reader. Plug in the memory card and move the photos to a file on the tablet. You can then quickly page through each photo (raw or jpg) using the Samsung Gallery App and with a single tap, identify the photo as a "Favorite" and move on to the next one. Once you have identified your "Favorites", they are grouped in a temporary file and you can upload them to LR or save them to a separate permanent folder. It is a quick way to filter out the shots you want to take the time to edit.

Thanks for the tip, but I'm not using the Samsung device.