Running Capture One and Ligthroom on the same files

[Rhossydd]

I currently prefer Lightroom for most work with raw images, but am trying out CO 8. I'm finding some image manipulations are easier with CO, so am wondering about how well the two programs can work on the same images.

What are the implications, if any, of loading my existing files in their current structure into a CO 8 catalogue ? In particular will CO change any of the xmp sidecar data that might cause LR to have problems ?

I'd always use LR for adding metadata, keywords and file management tasks.

[Warren Parsons]

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I'm using LR for file management, metadata, etc., and planning to switch over to CO for processing.

So far, what I've found is that CO stores its settings in sidecar files distinct from the .xmp files. They end with extensions like .cot, .cos, and .cop. As far as I can tell, CO doesn't alter .xmp files unless you make metadata changes from within CO.

If you need to make sure CO can see metadata changes made in LR, you'll want to either Ctrl/Cmd-S to save LR's metadata updates to .xmp on a per-file basis, or turn on the option to automatically write XMP changes in LR (though there is a performance hit for this path).

Good luck to both of us.

[Doug Peterson]

C1 plays friendly with XMP. You can turn on 1-way (read / load only) or 2-way (load / write) in c1 preferences.

[Rhossydd]

Welcome to the forum Warren and thanks for a helpful first post

So far, what I've found is that CO stores its settings in sidecar files distinct from the .xmp files. They end with extensions like .cot, .cos, and .cop. As far as I can tell, CO doesn't alter .xmp files unless you make metadata changes from within CO.

I'm not seeing any cos/cop/cot files in the same folder as my images, so I'm not sure where they are hiding yet.

or turn on the option to automatically write XMP changes in LR.

I already use this thanks.

[Rhossydd]

C1 plays friendly with XMP. You can turn on 1-way (read / load only) or 2-way (load / write) in c1 preferences.

What do those options actually do ? and how will they effect LR's use of the files ?

[Warren Parsons]

I'm not seeing any cos/cop/cot files in the same folder as my images, so I'm not sure where they are hiding yet.

This could be because you're using Catalogs whereas I'm using Sessions. For catalogs, I think CO stores your edits in a central database.

To test for yourself that .xmp files aren't being affected by CO, you could check the timestamp on a .xmp file before and after you import a photo and make edits to it in CO. If the modified time doesn't change, CO isn't changing it.

And thanks for the welcome!