Topic: Breeze Browser or Light Room? (Read 9261 times)

One Frame at a Time · « **on:** May 15, 2007, 10:48:00 pm »

Hi,

I am running the first version of CS and need a good tool for sorting, selecting and comparing images. Thought I would get CS3 but read a bunch of bad stuff about the new version of Bridge. That leaves me trying to find an add on. I have the trial of both BB and LR. LR seems slicker and has some good features (how does the clone or heal tool work? Much different than CS1) but it is also kind of slow, compicated and I still need to work in CS but has a great compare-view scheme.

BB seems crude in comparison but has some features that may come in handy. No compare view that I can see. Do not have time to work extensively with both. I need to decide. Wondering if anyone else has walked this path ahead of me and what you decided on (and why). Thanks!

macgyver · « **Reply #1 on:** May 16, 2007, 02:45:10 am »

Hey,

I don't know how much BB is, but have you considered Photo Mechanic? http://www.camerabits.com/pages/PM4.html It's a great browser, very quick and flexible.

fotovandenatuur · « **Reply #2 on:** May 16, 2007, 03:06:25 am »

Hi,

I've tested BB (half a year ago) for a while and it is a great tool for quick viewing. It does have a compare view. Renaming is really easy. So if this is all you want go for that one.

I have bought Lightroom recently and the scope is broader except for the viewing part. You have to read the files in Lightroom first and after that viewing is relativly fast but not as fast as BB. On the other hand if you need to do raw-conversion, archiving (keywords) and developing then Lightroom is the choice (unless BB had some upgrades in the last half year). I've worked with lightroom and I really love it. For the first time I have a good overview of my pictures. Developping is great and fast. You won't need Photoshop at least half the time! Best I think is the versioncontrol and the lossless working!!! which I think BB has not.

So if I had the choice I'd go for Lightroom. If viewing was high I'd buy BB also. But starting with Lightroom will do you good. So the choice depends on what you want to do with it.

good luck
Rob

One Frame at a Time · « **Reply #3 on:** May 16, 2007, 09:48:05 am »

Working some more with both programs I really like the interface in Lightroom but there are some REALLY weak points for a program that is dedicated to photographers.

The printer color management dialog seems very lacking. No soft proof that I can find.

The image sharpening is really dumbed down too. Would be nice to have better preview and controls like photoshop.

Lightroom seems like a great idea. There are so many features in PS that I never use Making it too cluttered. LR needs a few more features, it seems to lack some important tools. Still not sure what to do. Just might stick with CS1 for a while longer.

While I am here, can anyone tell me about Pro photo RGB color space. Guess I am not keeping up with the times. I never noticed this space before. Always thought that Adobe 1998 RGB was the best gamut. In LR it sort of infers that Pro Photo is the bigger space and is more accurate? My camera is set for Adobe so I am not sure if I should be mapping away from Adobe 1998 RGB. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Nill Toulme · « **Reply #4 on:** May 16, 2007, 12:03:59 pm »

BreezeBrowser is extremely efficient for culling through a lot of images — whether RAW or jpg — very quickly. I use it to cut 1500-frame sports shoots down to 150 or so keepers in just a half hour or so. Using its slideshow module, you get a full screen sharpened view that you can quickly flip through and tag or rank 1 to 5.

BreezeBrowser is also more than worth its very modest price for any one of the numerous other useful things it will do... versatile batch renaming, IPTC editing, HTML gallery generation, proof generation, time syncing a multiple camera shoot after the fact, the list goes on and on. It's one of the three or four programs I would not want to be without.

A summary of my RAW workflow for sports shooters, which relies heavily on BreezeBrowser and Capture One, can be found here.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

paulbk · « **Reply #5 on:** May 16, 2007, 05:28:01 pm »

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BreezeBrowser is also more than worth its very modest price for any one of the numerous other useful things it will do...

I second Nill's comment. BreezeBrowser is worth it whether you have Lightroom or not.
p

marcmccalmont · « **Reply #6 on:** May 16, 2007, 09:51:04 pm »

Breeze Browser pro and Downloader pro have saved me a lot of time for little money
Marc

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #7 on:** May 16, 2007, 11:15:50 pm »

Quote

Breeze Browser pro and Downloader pro have saved me a lot of time for little money
Marc
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=118071\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Emphatic ditto!

One Frame at a Time · « **Reply #8 on:** May 17, 2007, 11:10:50 am »

Thanks Guys. Nill, I read over your tutorial. Thanks for posting that. It will help me move along. One question though. When I first opened BB and tried the slide show the left and right buttons on my computer would not change the image. Do not know why. I got into some other screen with a histogram and that let me use the buttons to cycle images. I went back to the Slide show and the buttons now worked. Any ideas?

RAW conversion: With the purchase of the 400 XTi my ver of CS would not convert the RAW images. Nill's, can you tell me why you use Cap One instead of the Converter that is part of Breeze B. (or PhotoShop)? I have been using Adobe DNG converter and then using CS 1 to process my images.

The batch rename is a great feature. I like the screen displays in LR better but for 70 dollars, BB seems to win hands down. Also like you say, it does have some additional tools. I have to play with it a while longer.

Paul

Nill Toulme · « **Reply #9 on:** May 17, 2007, 03:55:54 pm »

No idea why the arrows didn't work, but if they work now, don't worry about it. Note you can tag an image in slideshow view with up-arrow, untag it with down-arrow, rank it 1-5 with the keypad, unrank it with keypad 0.

Make sure you have HQ sharpening turned on for the slideshow view. Right-click on the slideshow for options.

Capture One: I like the results it gives me, and I like the speed with which it lets me produce those results on 150 files at a sitting. Simple as that.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

One Frame at a Time · « **Reply #10 on:** May 17, 2007, 05:48:37 pm »

Thanks Nill. Reason the slide show did not work is: I forgot to select all the images.

Here is another thing I noticed: In BB there is a giant difference between in the color and saturation of the same image in RAW and from DNG conversion. The difference is huge. When I view both image types in Light Room the differences are slight if any. Working out of Slide Show in both programs. Kind of disturbing. Any guess as to what is going on?

Thanks again,

Paul

Nill Toulme · « **Reply #11 on:** May 17, 2007, 10:03:26 pm »

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Thanks Nill. Reason the slide show did not work is: I forgot to select all the images.

Funny that occurred to me as soon as I finished typing the previous reply, but then I thought... nah. ;-)

Quote

Here is another thing I noticed: In BB there is a giant difference between in the color and saturation of the same image in RAW and from DNG conversion. The difference is huge. When I view both image types in Light Room the differences are slight if any. Working out of Slide Show in both programs. Kind of disturbing. Any guess as to what is going on?

Well one thought is that BB uses the embedded jpg for the slideshow if it's available and unless you tell it not to, as I recall, which is why it's so fast. Your DNG's might not have embedded jpg's, and LR might be working off a conversion in both cases.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

One Frame at a Time · « **Reply #12 on:** May 17, 2007, 10:45:39 pm »

Quote from: Nill Toulme,May 17 2007, 10:03 PM

Funny that occurred to me as soon as I finished typing the previous reply, but then I thought... nah. ;-)

Yup. Error stems from the failure to apply sufficient sharpening to my BRAIN.....!

As for the rest of it, you are batting 1000. I always shoot RAW+JPEG. I really liked the way BB just combines them. The color shifts on viewing must be due to this. The DNG's stand by themselves.

I really wish I could find one program to do all my sorting, RAW conversions and printing. But I guess that is not in the cards right now. Seems like I will stick with CS and DNG converter, and buy BB for my selection tool.

Thanks for all your help and feedback.

Paul

Nill Toulme · « **Reply #13 on:** May 18, 2007, 08:30:42 am »

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...I really wish I could find one program to do all my sorting, RAW conversions and printing. But I guess that is not in the cards right now. ...[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

For me that "one program" is the combination of BB Pro, C1 and Qimage. I've been using them that way for so long they almost feel like one program to me — one program with an interestingly varied interface. ;-)

Nill
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[a href=\"http://www.toulme.net]www.toulme.net[/url]

One Frame at a Time · « **Reply #14 on:** May 18, 2007, 09:10:37 am »

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For me that "one program" is the combination of BB Pro, C1 and Qimage. I've been using them that way for so long they almost feel like one program to me — one program with an interestingly varied interface. ;-)

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=118363\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Nill,

I am probably pushing my luck but a couple more questions: How do you clone (or heal) unwanted elements in an image w/o PS? I never get the RAW conversion exactly right and always wind up tweaking later on with Curves or Levels. Is Cap 1 able to get your images spot on from RAW(do I need the $500 pro version) or do you use Cap1 to edit some more after RAW conversion? Can you sharpen with edge masks and the like in any of those?

Best,

Paul

Nill Toulme · « **Reply #15 on:** May 18, 2007, 10:13:19 am »

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How do you clone (or heal) unwanted elements in an image w/o PS?

I don't; I use PS for that sort of thing, as well as for applying NR with Noiseware, and other heavy editing such as producing posters, etc. But that's only occasional and outside of my main production workflow.

Quote

I never get the RAW conversion exactly right and always wind up tweaking later on with Curves or Levels. Is Cap 1 able to get your images spot on from RAW(do I need the $500 pro version) or do you use Cap1 to edit some more after RAW conversion? Can you sharpen with edge masks and the like in any of those?

I can get typical prints where I want them using C1 and Qimage alone. For more involved PP I go to PS, but again, that's unusual, relatively speaking. It's easy to do though — you just check the box in C1 to automatically open the image in PS after conversion, and it takes you straight there.

The only significant (IMO) things the Pro version of C1 gets you over the LE version are (1) tethered shooting, which I don't use, and (2) arbitrary rotation, which I could hardly live without as, without it, I would have to pop over to PS for a substantial number of my images.

Nill
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www.toulme.net

Author Topic: Breeze Browser or Light Room? (Read 9261 times)