Z9 - what is your importing workflow?

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RaffScallion

RaffScallion

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Hi all,

I've come from a D7500 and before that a D5000 - my workflow had just been to import via USB SD card reader with LrC.

Now I've zoomed forward in time to the latest model and have no idea which way of importing is 'best'! Direct camera -> PC connection via the USB-C cable would be my preferred option, not least as it saves me having to buy a separate reader.

Are there any downsides to this approach I should be aware of?
Are there any upsides to using a reader?
Are there any options I've missed that are better?
How do you guys import?

Thanks for any help
 
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Regardless of camera brand or model......I take the card out of the camera, put it in a carder that is plugged into my computer, and copy the images to my computer. Once the images are copied - and backed up - I put the card back in the camera and reformat the card.

You can use a variety of software to do the copy. I use Photoshop. One can also use the File Manager that is part of the computer, Nikon software or other 3rd party software.
 
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I remove my card from the camera and put it in the card reader.
After that I start up Photo Mechanic and import all images to the PC

home.camerabits.com

Homepage - Camera Bits, Inc.

Photo Mechanic, fast image browser software at the center of your workflow. As a metadata automation tool IPTC, EXIF and XMP can be added using image variables to increase productivity and save time editing.
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I don't use the Photo Mechanic pro just the regular one. Its a very fast program then I cull those images again using Photo Mechanic. I use the rating system rating from 1 star to 3 stars. Then I delete all the 1 star images aznd keep the rest. The 3 star are the best and the 2 star are very similar so I keep them. This all works for me and is very fast once you get used to it!
 
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A good CFexpress card reader will be faster than plugging directly into your Z9/8. Also, you will need a CFexpress card reader to perform any firmware updates.

I dislike plugging directly into the camera. Always “see” myself getting up to do something and pulling the camera off onto the floor…
 
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RaffScallion said:
Hi all,

I've come from a D7500 and before that a D5000 - my workflow had just been to import via USB SD card reader with LrC.

Now I've zoomed forward in time to the latest model and have no idea which way of importing is 'best'! Direct camera -> PC connection via the USB-C cable would be my preferred option, not least as it saves me having to buy a separate reader.

Are there any downsides to this approach I should be aware of?
Are there any upsides to using a reader?
Are there any options I've missed that are better?
How do you guys import?

Thanks for any help
Click to expand...
I just remove the CF express card from Z9 and put it in the card reader. Open LR and just import from Camera device. Only problem I face is having to deal with multiple pictures in burst mode. You need to skim through lot of pics especially if you are looking for that perfect bird wing position, background etc..if you are into action photography :). I felt, copying through CF express is way faster than connecting the camera.
 
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John_DE said:
A good CFexpress card reader will be faster than plugging directly into your Z9/8. Also, you will need a CFexpress card reader to perform any firmware updates.

I dislike plugging directly into the camera. Always “see” myself getting up to do something and pulling the camera off onto the floor…
Click to expand...
Thanks that makes sense - any recommendations for a decent reader?
 
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I do the same as you're hearing here. Quite simply, I've always followed:

- remove card
- use reader to move files to computer
I transfer the files with PhotoMechanic, which allows me to rename them as they are copied.
- once copied, I do a backup
- place card back into camera
- import files into Lightroom
- then I'm now on parallel paths - free to shoot more, free to edit
- back up to cloud (Backblaze, in this case). I like multiple backups.

Currently, I use Delkin readers which have been working well.
 
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i typically run backup mode on the z9

1) remove ONE of the cards, put it in the computer card reader and COPY the contents to a scratch directory on the computer
2) remove card from reader (this is important because when you do the LR import, you KNOW the contents are coming from the scratch area)
3) import into lightroom

only after it's imported and backed up will i format the cfe card IN THE CAMERA

note this means i have:
1) two copies until it's imported into the computer
2) three copies after the import is done
 
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bjt3 said:
I do the same as you're hearing here. Quite simply, I've always followed:

- remove card
- use reader to move files to computer
I transfer the files with PhotoMechanic, which allows me to rename them as they are copied.
- once copied, I do a backup
- place card back into camera
- import files into Lightroom
- then I'm now on parallel paths - free to shoot more, free to edit
- back up to cloud (Backblaze, in this case). I like multiple backups.

Currently, I use Delkin readers which have been working well.
Click to expand...
You can use PM to import directly from the card. That removes one step from your workflow.
 
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Card into card reader.
Nikon transfer sends them to NX Studio.
Some files are then imported into Lightroom, edited and saved.
Files on card are deleted when the card returns to the camera.

For me, the benefit of using a card reader vs a cord is convenience. The reader always stays put, so I don’t lose it. It takes up a lot less space on my cluttered desk than the Z9 with an attached lens would. And I don’t have to remove the camera and lens from the bag.

I use a ProGrade reader.
 
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- Use card reader to copy files to new folder on image disk
- Use FastRawViewer to do first round(s) of culling
- Import remaining files into Lightroom
- Sort / edit / cull remaining files in Lightroom
- Final edits using a variety of software

FastRawViewer is much faster than Lightroom for viewing files at full resolution. https://www.fastrawviewer.com/

Regarding card readers:
- Transcend TS-RDE2 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=TS-RDE2
- Delkin DDREADER-56 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=DDREADER-56
Both card readers seem to work well. The Transcend reader is smaller, lighter, and cheaper. The listed Delkin is larger but can also read SDXC cards. Both have USB-C. ports.
 
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The important part of Z9 workflow should be something along the lines mentioned in the above response:
DBS said:
- Use card reader to copy files to new folder on image disk
- Use FastRawViewer to do first round(s) of culling
Click to expand...
The rationale for that is the shear amount of files generated by 20 FPS bursts. Unculled raw files are quite often very similar in raw quality and overall composition.

In such situation my importing workflow is:
  1. Import from card drive into hard drive (creates a backup for emergency restore during the cull)
  2. View bursts in two separate windows of raw viewer
    1. Compare quality of two pictures in viewer, cull the inferior/problematic one
    2. Continue for the whole burst
    3. Usually I leave 2-3 best pictures from the burst, unless there is special reason for keeping more
    4. This culling is mainly based on technical quality of pictures.
  3. Import into LR
  4. View each picture in LR, mark those with a good composition (e.g. assigning color label)
    1. In this step I usually do a quick adjustments to the pictures to get an idea how it may look after PP
  5. Select the ones from step 4 and mark the bests for final PP
  6. Select all those that were not chosen in 4. and 5. and mark most of them as rejected
    1. Those will be left as a backup on HD after step 2. - there is no need to keep them in LR catalogue
  7. Delete rejected photos
I admit it is a long process, but it can significantly reduce high frame rate bursts to reasonable numbers. I stress once more that it is intended mostly for situations where the amount of raw files is too big. HDs are cheap today, but thousands of raw files are basically unmanageable IMO.
I usually backup all raw files to HD if there is less than 1 hundred files in total.

I use SanDisk card reader. It supports USB 3.1 Gen 2.
 
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@Tibor Hrnko - I assume you are using lossless compressed as Fast Raw Viewer shows JPG for HE*.

Steve’s LR Library course covers the a similar approach using stacking in LRC. I have been using that as I had shot HE* but now may be switching since Apple is not showing HE* thumbnails.
 
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BarkingBeansCoffee said:
@Tibor Hrnko - I assume you are using lossless compressed as Fast Raw Viewer shows JPG for HE*.

Steve’s LR Library course covers the a similar approach using stacking in LRC. I have been using that as I had shot HE* but now may be switching since Apple is not showing HE* thumbnails.
Click to expand...
I am not using Fast Raw Viewer but IrfanView, format of my RAW files is lossless compressed indeed.
 
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I personally use the ProGrade card reader for my Cobalt and Velocity CINE cards. I create folders on a secondary Samsung M.2 980 Pro SSD. Folders are named by date/location, for example... 7-21-23 Bombay Hook. Then in Lightroom I click on library and then import and go select the folder and import. I am not a fan of letting Lightroom just clump all my images into a global folder where it likes. I shoot only in HE* with no benefit of shooting in Lossless. I print up to 24x36 and if I ever found I need to print larger than 30x40 I might consider lossless if an visual benefit was noticed. For speed purposes, I use the M.2 drive for offloading cards and to do the processing in Lightroom, Topaz and PureRaw 3 if need be. Files process in 15 seconds or less from the M.2 dive from Topaz or PureRaw 3

After a time, usually a couple months, I will cull any images I haven't gone back and processed and take a folder that could have 2k images usually down to about 50-200 images. Then move the folder to my backup 6 drive Synology NAS with 2 of the drives as health redundancy drives to the main 4 back up drives. (6 4TB drives in all) Then I just update the folder location in Lightroom once it's on the permanent location.
 
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I‘ve used the usb cable now for years. Some say it wears out the connector. One might say the same by removing the card. Whatever, in 6 years no issues.

camera to iPad, and then iPad to external ssd … in the field. Gets me two copies.
Back Home I can plug in the ssd quite easily..., if I’ve formatted the card in camera…but if not I can upload from the camera to my Mac….and recharge the battery at the same time.

I’m really bad at culling though.
 
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My Z9 download workflow is as follows. I use windows computers. :
-Turn off the camera
- remove card
- use card reader to download the Z 9 NEF files to computer, usually my laptop.
-I transfer the files with Downloader Pro, from Breeze Systems. It allows me create a unique file folder that gets created during download. And it also creates unique file names for each NEF image in the file folder. You can select tokens in the program to accomplish this. It supports and creates XMP files so you can start the IPTC and keyword process at the time of download. DP is windows only.
- once copied, I do a backup to an external hard drive.
- I then cull the images on my laptop and transfer the non deleted images to another external hard drive
- I then transfer the files to my windows desktop for Star rating and EXIF/IPTC data
-then I back up the desktop images to an external hard drive attached to the desktop
- place card back into camera
- process NEF files in DXO Photo Lab 6.
- back up to external hard drive attached to desktop.
I use Sony Card readers .
 
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I turned the camera off and then take the card out of the camera, put the card into a card reader which is already connected to my computer (a mac). I then use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the card to a download card area on my internal SSD. I will do this for all my cards and set CCC to just add to the download card area (not delete or move old files not on the downloading card).

From there I input to LR using the MOVE function from the download card area to my lightroom disk (apply copyright info, lens corrections, ..)

Using CCC has proven to be much faster and reliable than have LR import from the card or copying the card to the SSD.

I do not rename (and renumber files) until after I import to LR - that way I can go back to the original file names if I need to.

A copy of warnings on this method (and probably a lot of other methods listed here).

If/when you import to LR, directory structure is often lost. This is important if you focus stack and have each stack in its own directory. When I focus stack I move the image directories to the LR file area and then ADD them or ADD the files in the download folder to LR and then move the directory into the LR area.

If you don't set CCC correctly , it will delete/archive (to a safety net area) files that are not on the current card.

Lastly dealing with Nikon raw videos (or perhaps even 8K videos) there is a MP4 file created but the corresponding .NEV file is not recognized by LR and is not imported.

Only after I import, verify the import (spot check) and backup the LR files, will I reformat my card
 
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Remove the card from the camera and plug it into my card reader.

I have windows 11 setup to open Adobe Bridge Downloader as a default action to plugging in a card.

Create a folder in the Bridge Downloader and download.

When complete eject the card.

Card back into the camera for a quick format.

Cull in Fast raw viewer

Import keepers into Lightroom.
 
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I rarely take the cards out of m Z9 or D850 or D500 or D800 or D7200. Just my personal experience, I try to avoid the wear that comes from repeated removal and insertion of tight fitting components into electrical connectors. Also, I live in a high humidity part of the country and don't like to open the card door unless I need to. I transfer the .nef files via USBc cable to a raw image internal SSD. I import from the raw image SSD into LrC, uncheck all, then check the keepers as I scroll through the images. When don, I finish the import. I make a .dng copy as part of the import and store on a separate internal SSD drive. So I have all the photos I take, good, bad, and ugly, on the raw image drive and a copy of the keepers as a dng file on a separate drive. I back up both drives to an external 4tb drive periodically. After processing, I send two pdf to a finished image internal SSD. One at full resolution, the other at 2000 x 1533 (or similar) for posting on social media.
 
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DBS said:
- Use card reader to copy files to new folder on image disk
- Use FastRawViewer to do first round(s) of culling
- Import remaining files into Lightroom
- Sort / edit / cull remaining files in Lightroom
- Final edits using a variety of software

FastRawViewer is much faster than Lightroom for viewing files at full resolution. https://www.fastrawviewer.com/

Regarding card readers:
- Transcend TS-RDE2 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=TS-RDE2
- Delkin DDREADER-56 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=DDREADER-56
Both card readers seem to work well. The Transcend reader is smaller, lighter, and cheaper. The listed Delkin is larger but can also read SDXC cards. Both have USB-C. ports.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Gotta use FastRawViewer... LR is too slow for initial cull of images.
 
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Photo Mechanic is by far the fastest way to import , meta stamp, organize Ann’s manage photos. You can then import only those you want to develop into Lightroom.
 
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