LR5 to Capture One Pro 8...basic setup

[StreetShot]

Greetings all!

After sitting through the Capture One 8 webinar last week I did not bother with the trial version and jumped right into the full paid version.  Now I'm beginning to question my haste.

I am a long-time LR user...from the very beginning.  Like most photographers I'm happy with the ease of managing a large number of images LR affords but I always had the sense I could be getting more out of my .dng files (Leica M9).  So comes CO8 with its advertised simplicity in migrating LR catalogs right into itself.  So I pulled the trigger.

My question to the group is this.  What folder setup do I need to create prior to importing my LR5 catalog into CO8?  I want to preserve the folder structure already resident in the LR5 catalog and just want to bring it into CO8.

I keep the LR5 catalog on my iMac and have the actual image files in a Synology raid.  The LR catalog is less than 100gb representing about 125K images.  Can I expect the new catalog in CO8 (transferred from LR) to be of equivalent size?

Thanks for any and all help around this.

Looking forward,

Michael

[David Grover / Capture One]

Hi Michael,

Simple!

Either use the Lightroom importer option (File>Import Catalog)

Use that to preserve folder structure and basic settings.

Or simply point Capture One to the top of your folder structure in the import dialog.  Folder structure preserved but no settings.

Why not watch this?

http://youtu.be/3BJL_tFciQk

David

[StreetShot]

Thank you David.  I've memorized that and several other videos and still CO8 humbles me.  I'm not a casual user of imaging software so I am not intimidated by something new.  I get to a point and the software just doesn't want to move forward which has me believe I am missing something very basic by way of setting up where things go. 

I will post the actual flow and with your kind help perhaps move this along. 

Michael

[StreetShot]

After (again) following the File>Import Catalog importer I asked CO8 to carry in my LR5 catalog.  It ran all night and produced a skeleton of the catalog without previews - this has been the pattern, the screen grab is attached.  Unless I am missing something important, CO8 is not transferring the previews.  I bought the program with the understanding I could simply transfer in the LR catalog and continue working, without this I'm sunk.  Where have I mis-stepped?

Separately and equally important to me I want to create catalogs by importing a number of image folders from my working external drive into each.  Apparently CO8 prevents selecting more than one catalog at a time to import.  Have I missed something important?

Beyond the money spent on the program I really want to like this software.  Please point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Michael

[Rhossydd]

Unless I am missing something important, CO8 is not transferring the previews. 

Why would it ? The previews are for Lightroom's own processing engine and include all and any adjustments you've made to the images in LR. Capture One uses a different conversion engine and all the controls are different, so the previews from LR wouldn't be correct.

I bought the program with the understanding I could simply transfer in the LR catalog and continue working, without this I'm sunk.  Where have I mis-stepped?

As far as I understand it, you import a LR catalogue with the folder structure, keywording, ratings and few of the obviously common adjustments (eg crop) common.

It's unrealistic to assume that CO can replicate the output from LR, or visa versa. The differences in conversion are one of the key reasons for choosing one against the other.
I don't think it's a realistic attitude to assume you can just switch from one to the other without a serious amount of work, both in re-adjusting older images,  learning how to use the different controls available and reassessing your workflow strategy.

[StreetShot]

I don't think it's a realistic attitude to assume you can just switch from one to the other without a serious amount of work, both in re-adjusting older images,  learning how to use the different controls available and reassessing your workflow strategy.

I appreciate your opinion however a lecture does not support the process.  I expected to see the previews, a very realistic expectation and something demonstrated in the webinar.  And I would add nowhere did I indicate I expected all the work would be done for me, CO8 makes this quite clear in the transfer menu. 

If you have a solution to the post I'm open.

Michael

[Doug Peterson]

A fluid jump in overall workflow, without commensurate learning curve is not realistic. It will take some time and effort, as it does anytime you switch software workflows.

However, expecting the LR Import to work well is realistic. I'd start a support case at support.phaseone.com. They will look very seriously into the issue and either provide you a work around or do their best to improve the utility in a near-term release to prevent whatever is happening.

[Rhossydd]

I expected to see the previews, a very realistic expectation

If you've understood that Capture One has a different conversion engine and different features, why would you think that you could use the same previews ?

something demonstrated in the webinar.

I haven't seen the webinar in question.
Just read the dialogue that's presented when you attempt to import a Lightroom catalogue into Capture One Pro 8

No mention of importing previews is there ?

What you've probably seen is C8 importing the raw files and initially displaying the default embedded JPG previews from the raw file itself, it then applies any of the supported adjustments and uses it's own conversion engine to generate a final preview.
Depending on the number of files involved, size and complexity of any previous adjustments, the preview generation can be so quick you won't see it. But it's NOT the same as importing LR's previews.

[StreetShot]

Thanks Doug, I made it clear in the earlier post I was not looking for a free lunch, I understand and expect a learning curve.  However I am seemingly unable to accomplish even the basics with CO8 even after repeated and careful review of the many company videos.  And I will add I'm a working professional with many years of experience in the Adobe world, this isn't my first rodeo. 

What I am puzzled by is the feature to import the LR catalog and once imported there is nothing except the skeleton of the folder menu...what good is the feature if not even the thumbnail previews show themselves?  That, I see, as being quite a reasonable expectation especially as it was demonstrated in the live webinar I attended given by Phase One.

Though a huge disappointment if the LR catalog transfer capability is mythical I remain enthusiastic about the the possibilities of the software and wonder if  you had thoughts about the second part of my post?

Michael

[Doug Peterson]

Though a huge disappointment if the LR catalog transfer capability is mythical I remain enthusiastic about the the possibilities of the software and wonder if  you had thoughts about the second part of my post?

The Import LR Catalog feature is not mythical. It's just now working right on your computer for your catalog. If you start a support case then P1 will help to figure out what is broken here; I can only speculate. Maybe there is something unusual about your catalog that they had not seen in any of their testing/development/beta-program. Maybe there is something unusual about your C1 install (preference file corrupt?). Maybe something else - the best way to find out is a support case with P1.

It is supposed to work the way you expect it to: imports the raws and structure of the catalog (including things like keywords) and tries, within the obvious limitations, to match settings to your adjustments of each raw in LR. Adjustments like crop and rating are near perfectly translated, adjustments like contrast are fairly well translated, while adjustments like High Dynamic Range (shadow/highlight recovery) are only very roughly able to be replicated (since the math being used by both are so fundamentally different).

No thoughts on the second half. Too many variables to help you calculate a relative catalog size.

[StreetShot]

Again, my thanks Doug.  Created a case with Phase One with details and screen caps. 

Appreciate your affirming response.

Michael

[Daniel Salazar]

hi Michael, it should import it, I imported my Aperture and Lightroom catalogs and I was able to see the structure and all the images, once imported the previews should be generated. Open a case with support that they might help u.
Cheers
Daniel

[David Grover / Capture One]

After (again) following the File>Import Catalog importer I asked CO8 to carry in my LR5 catalog.  It ran all night and produced a skeleton of the catalog without previews - this has been the pattern, the screen grab is attached.  Unless I am missing something important, CO8 is not transferring the previews.  I bought the program with the understanding I could simply transfer in the LR catalog and continue working, without this I'm sunk.  Where have I mis-stepped?

Separately and equally important to me I want to create catalogs by importing a number of image folders from my working external drive into each.  Apparently CO8 prevents selecting more than one catalog at a time to import.  Have I missed something important?

Beyond the money spent on the program I really want to like this software.  Please point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Michael

HI Michael,

I am glad you have contacted support - that's what they are there for!

Your screenshot does give a clue though.  Look at the total number of images in the catalog.  Only 76!

The reason why you are not seeing previews is that there is nothing in the collection (album) that you have selected.

When the import process completed it would have given you a status.  For example, how many images imported, how many were skipped etc.

So without knowing more facts I could guess that either the images were offline and they couldn't be read, or the file format is not supported by Capture One.

We do support the M9 though, unless you have a second camera we don't??  But I am guessing this is very unlikely.

Would be good to know the outcome.

David

[StreetShot]

David;

A follow up.  P1's response was crisp and prompt.  Originally, I had been trying to get CO8 to import a LR5 catalog of well over 125K images.  They suggested creating a smaller LR5 catalog and import that to see what happens.  After creating a separate catalog in LR5 of 12K images with smart previews it imported quite well into CO8 including all the rating information - star edits and color sorts and all.  Impressive and in line with expectations based on P1's webinar presentation. 

Good to have this confirmation in the face of the ill-informed above.  I am grateful for your kind help.

Michael