downloading raw images from camera

[DeanSonneborn]

Does it make any difference if I use nikon transfer to transfer me raw images from the camera to the computer and then open in C1 or would it be better if I used C1 to transfer the raw images from the camera to the computer. 

[Nill Toulme]

Doesn't matter.  I use Breeze Downloader Pro to download.

Nill

[Mark D Segal]

I've just been through this issue with Phase One tech support. It does make a difference. Capture One has a - shall we say distinctive - file management architecture which is designed - in their minds - to make photographers' lives easy by organizing their workflow within Capture One in a logical manner. The basic idea is to keep everything together from any one photo shoot in one set of folders which can be ported all together with complete integrity, so that all your adjustments are carried with the images, and the raw images and their corresponding processed images remain carried together. In order to keep your life in Capture One easy and to benefit from all this togetherness and portability, you need to create a "Session" for your photoshoot before you download and import the images into the program. Then you import them into the newly created Session, which has its counterpart in the Pictures folder of your hard drive. Having done that, you can work-up each image, process it into a TIFF and keep it stored in the Output folder of C-1 for that Session, which is also in your hard drive uniquely grouped into that Session. For people - like me - who are accustomed to letting their file structure on their hard drives govern how they organize their images, this is a reversal of procedure - the program creates the structure and you comply with it. You don't have to, but it makes life with Capture One much easier to deal with. Downloading your flash card directly into C-1 from the start eliminates the steps of first downloading to files you create on your hard-drive and then re-importing them into the C-1 structure. I've worked it both ways and Phase One's recommendation to proceed as above is definitely preferable.

[DeanSonneborn]

Thanks for the response. I think I'll give it a try this weekend and see if it works for me.

[robgo2]

I've just been through this issue with Phase One tech support. It does make a difference. Capture One has a - shall we say distinctive - file management architecture which is designed - in their minds - to make photographers' lives easy by organizing their workflow within Capture One in a logical manner. The basic idea is to keep everything together from any one photo shoot in one set of folders which can be ported all together with complete integrity, so that all your adjustments are carried with the images, and the raw images and their corresponding processed images remain carried together. In order to keep your life in Capture One easy and to benefit from all this togetherness and portability, you need to create a "Session" for your photoshoot before you download and import the images into the program. Then you import them into the newly created session, which has its counterpart in the Puctures folder of your hard drive. Having done that, you can work-up each image, process it into a TIFF and keep it stored in the Output folder of C-1 for that Session, which is also in your hard drive uniquely grouped into that Session. For people - like me - who are accustomed to letting their file structure on their hard drives govern how they organize their images, this is a reversal of procedure - the program creates the structure and you comply with it. You don't have to, but it makes like with Capture One much easier to deal with. Downloading your flash card directly into C-1 from the start eliminates the steps of first downloading to files you create on your hard-drive and then re-importing them into the C-1 structure. I've worked it both ways and Phase One's recommendation to proceed as above is definitely preferable.

The problem that I have with this approach is that C1 does not interact well with portable storage devices that contain files from more than one SD card shot on more than one day.  C1 will only import those files one day at a time, which makes the importation process very cumbersome.  It is as though it is designed to work with single SD cards only.  Lately, I have been importing with Expression Media 2, which can handle files from multiple days' worth of work.  I then move the files to the appropriate folders on my hard drive and bring them into the appropriate Sessions.  I don't know if this workflow is indeed optimal, but it seems to work reasonably well.

Rob

[Mark D Segal]

If it works well and consistently with your needs, ipso facto it's fine. There are always different ways of getting to the same objective and what's optimal can vary depending on different factors.

[DeanSonneborn]

One day and one card works for me and fits my work style so I'm content with it.  But I can understand how this might cause others grief if it not not fit your needs.

[Nill Toulme]

Doesn't matter, unless perhaps you choose to use Sessions that way, and even then I don't think it matters how you initially download your images.

In any case, you can just set C1 to keep its toys in the source folder instead of centrally, and then you can carry on happily without Sessions.  I've used C1 for years and never even tried to figure out how Sessions work.

Nill

[ggriswold]

Nill,  I have used C1 for a while and just went to change file handling to keep all its "stuff" in the source folder and don't see quite how you do that.  Can you describe?  Ideally I would import files from a date (using LR in my case) and then open that date's folder and happily work in C1... Process and re-sync when I go back to LR.  Your method sounds like a great way to go.  I do this manually now, but it is like circling the block to cross the street.

Overall the sessions approach is incompatible with how I catalog, ingest and work.

[Rick_Allen]

You can use a single session that contains No extra folders and simply add your existing folder by navigating to the folders in the Library tab. Adding them as session favorites simply makes it easier to find again. If you want the processed files to go into the same folder as the raws then under the advanced tab in the process window choose root folder > Image Folder as the process destination. There are options to create subfolders etc there aswell.

Hope that helps

[Nill Toulme]

Nill,  I have used C1 for a while and just went to change file handling to keep all its "stuff" in the source folder and don't see quite how you do that.  Can you describe?  ...

Urk!  I can't remember and now I can't find it.  I had to have someone show me how to do it myself. 

Nill

[ggriswold]

Nill... that's a problem with Capture One... all these options seems to "hide" if you haven't used them in a few days or weeks. 
Wouldn't it make sense to have some of these twirl downs and menu panes in a color coded scheme?  Some of the arrows don't indicate that they have a function.  Maybe make those red and have menu tabs in grays or blue? All those choices merge in a sea of black and white lettering with no differentiation.

[Nill Toulme]

No question it's a quirky and somewhat opaque interface (although it doesn't hold a candle to LR in that regard in my opinion).  Sort of like one of those oldtime high wheeler bicycles — difficult to get up on it and going, but once you do you can really fly!  ;-)

Nill