DxO - Lightroom integration questions

[Dave_Anderson]

I'm looking for info on the "Option 2" workflow described here. I have downloaded and studied the PDF mentioned on that page and it looks like this approach is the only way to get what interests me:

• Have DxO perform RAW conversion/denoise rather than Adobe Camera Raw
• Use LR for Ranking, batch-entry of metadata, etc. prior to conversion
• Continue to use LR metadata features after conversion
• Hopefully leverage Photoshop 7.0; CS4 will have to wait a few months

One thing that I am especially curious about is the LZW compression. I usually end up with 16-bit TIFFs weighing in around 147MB. When using this workflow, does LR compress the TIFFs as they are imported from DxO, or does LR only compress them if it is performing the RAW conversion itself, and sending a TIFF to DxO?

Also, over time, even with a 2TB RAID, I will want to archive RAW/TIFF files to DVD. I'd like to hear any tips as to what I can expect in this respect, and how to structure my data to avoid problems. For example, should I take care to not open catalogs where the underlying images are no longer in their original locations? Adobe tends to be pretty good about missing fonts in PS or Illustrator; it will ask where to find them. Does LR behave similarly? If I have a catalog archived on several DVDs, can I work from the DVDs later on, or should I copy all DVDs related to that catalog back to the HDD before attempting to open the catalog?

Maybe some of these questions will seem a bt dumb, even to me, after I get my hands on LR. I would be grateful for any tips, or links to tips, on how to live with this setup long-term. Also, since I may be getting DxO some weeks after I get LR, any tips that will help me avoid pitfalls later on would be most welcome.

One last DxO question; since DxO does not currently support most of my lenses, is it possible to set up my own lens correction profiles, or pick from other similar lenses and try them until I find something that's cloe?

 

[Dave_Anderson]

OK, just beginning to work with LR 2.5. I found these videos on Adobe's site, very helpful for a beginner.

Has anyone found a practical upper limit on the catalog size? If so, is it easy enough to split the catalog up later?

 

[Jack]

Hi Dave,

Sorry I can't help, but I do not use DxO... C1 has built-in correction for the lenses i need that most for, and then I use PTMac for all the other lenses I have when I need it.

Cheers,

 

[Dave_Anderson]

Jack, the main reason I am interested in DxO is the RAW converter. Of course I'm curious about the other features that come with it, but lack of lens support is not a deal-killer. I shot about 75 calibration images and sent them off to the author of PTLens since he had not implemented support for my lenses with the a900 yet, and I helped him through the cropped/full issue that he had not yet addressed. For the occasions when it matters PTLens seems adequate, most of what I like to shoot has few straight lines anyway. CAs can of course be corrected by hand but it would be great to have this automated as much as possible.

What I want from my software is a good balance between automation and results. Raw Therapee, for example, seems to be capable of very good results but is lacking in automation and management/organization (and stability, but that's another issue).

What I am after(I think) is a workflow something like the following:

1. LR - Organize, Back up, batch keyword/IPTC entry, rate & cull
2. DxO - RAW->TIFF conversion/denoise
3. LR - Dodge/burn/ND Grad/fine-tune etc.
4. PS - Occasional, more intensive/specific tweaking, Focus/HDR stacking, possibly denoise here instead of DxO(Topaz or similar)
5. LR - Ongoing organization, search by keyword/EXIF/IPTC, output as original full-quality JPEG for smugmug upload, etc.

Since this is currently a hobby/lifelong passion for me, I need to be as efficient as possible with the time available outside my day job in order to leave room for my other hobbies/lifelong passions.

I already use ThumbsPlus for all other images of interest, those from my P&S and those obtained from other sources. I intend to use LR solely for images captured with my DSLR. There will be a few exceptions, for example the P&S photos from my India trip.

Still unresolved for me is how to cope with the HDD space. LR does not seem to be very good about telling where it thinks a photo or set of photos ought to be, I figure I must be missing something so I'll explore further. In PS, if you're missing a font, you can just find it once and PS remembers where to get to it later(after Save). It may work out best to continue to organize my files in folders by date, then I can simply archive/restore the whole folder as needed. What I would like, ideally, is to be able to move a folder off to a backup drive, and if I want to reprocess a photo later just point LR to that location. When doing bulk operations I want everything on the RAID but for occasional later reprocessing of individual images here & there I could probably live within the performance limitations of an external SATA drive.

 

[Dave_Anderson]

Anyone?

Beuller? Beuller?