Capture One 7: the 12 Things You Need to Know

[Guy Mancuso]

I agree one session per job and if you keep working the other way you can run into preview and such issues. Even jobs that top in at about 600 images I may run into problems.

Another thing is be patient on import. It may seem slow to you but C1 actually does a lot of work up front on import so once finally everything is cached into the session the processing and adjustments are much much faster on the end that counts and that is the processing .

Seriously I'll import from my cards and go do something else for awhile until it all builds up. For instance I may go read this fine forum or go make a espresso. LOL

Bottom line don't rush C1 on the build up of a new session just leave it alone and let it do its thing.

Remember what counts here it all those great images you just shot and you don't want to play between your card and computer. Just leave all that import, preview and session stuff alone. Don't interfere with it.


Added note: I used to work in one session years ago with all my images using the drop down folder setup and eventually it all got screwed up with previews and such as described above here. Seemed easy and simple at first but it really turns ugly on you. Really try the one job per session setup , you will have far less issues and you will be far better organized in your workflow, backups and file system. View a session as a job folder everything just sits in there and nowhere else. All you adjustments, raws , output files and all that is ready to go when you decide to go back hit the .col session file and work again. All your adjustments are there months later when you go back. It seems like more work but once your setup its always the same way. I'm stubborn it took Bob, Jack and Doug pounding at me to convert. I caved in and started working in the one job per session manner and its been great. More important is it don't mess up on me.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Once you learn how C1 works and it does take time to learn. Make no mistake about that but once you get your workflow down it truly is very fast and more important very accurate raw processor with a lot of movement for your creative side to do everything you want to a file. I rarely need PS after processing and its only a couple things I need from PS if ever. So if you devote yourself to this in the end you will really be proficient at it. I don't use any other program for raw processing and I won't buy any camera that is not supported by it or will be at the time. Yes it's like a marriage to me , I am committed to it totally.

My favorite line to workshop attendees is your far better off being a expert at one raw processor than being just okay at several raw processors. I've never been wrong on this one.

 

[archiM44]

Guy
Thanks to this thread I am now going to rebuild my workflow using one session for each shoot. Although Capture One has been my RAW processor of choice for many many years I have been using LR since it came out as my catalog and have all my files in a well structured folder. Usually sending images out for processing to C1 and reimporting into LR either by synchronizing the folder or using a watched folder.
It is going to be a tough transition, but the first trial with a couple of shoots has convinced me that a session is a neat package that is easy to move around.
After following Peter Krogh's video tutorials about sessions and Media1 it gave me an idea on how it might be worked out for me. My image folder "tree" is based on subjects and dates and it is going to be a b**ch to rework.
Any hints or even a "don't change a horse even if it's a little lame" wil be appreciated.
Thanks a lot guys for pointing out a better direction
Maurice

 

[Guy Mancuso]

You still can in each session name it like you do today name and date. David and Doug may have a better answer for this but sounds like it will come down to naming and meta data tags. I personally just started back over from scratch and put a time period that I switched over . What I was doing was having raws on one drive and my output on another which has some sense but now keeping everything together is actually a better setup and a much better backup system. I'm one of those a little loose on organizing which is not good. You do have to be a little anal on this.

Peter does a nice job on the tutorials so following his advice is good thing.

The hard part in all of this is getting yourself setup for the future with filing systems, backups and such. So yes you need to think this through. I'm going to use C1 catalog setup for final images as soon as they can see layered Tifs. For me getting to ALL my finals , say like my landscapes I need to go look for them but a catalog of them would be great.

It's hard to recommend the best setup system for folks since we all work diffrent but if you adopt the sessions way than you are better off in the long run

 

[eleanorbrown]

Thomas I'm leaning toward what you said below for sessions, as last night my computer came to a standstill trying to load....I didn't understand how C1 uses "favorites" and C1 was unusable last night..literally. let me ask a question...when creating a session, I locate the session in the RAW file folder and because i checked unthethered, I don't have a capture folder...just having the session folder in the same folder as the RAW files of that session. When I open the session I don't see the files so I put the RAW folder as a "favorite" for that session, that way I see the files in, say, Colorado RAW session. Should I be doing something different? thanks, eleanor PS, after I wrote this I went and looked at the session "Colorado RAW" and there is an "all images" album...is this what I should use instead of adding "colorado RAW" as a favorite?

This kind of contradicts C1's design. Sooner or later you'll run into serious issues and for sure C1 will slow down dramatically over time as the "favorite" folders of a session always gets cached in the background on startup. Too, if the session file gets damaged (for whatever reason) you have to rebulit it (which is not really a big deal, though, when your captures all reside in one folder. But when your actual captures reside in different folders rebuilding a damaged session file may be a major issue).

I'd strongly recommend to create a new session for each shooting to keep the number of images within one session relatively low. You can still use the same output folder for all your processed TIFs if you choose to do so (me personally I do not because I also backup the procssed TIFs. Basically I backup entire session folders (preview and focus mask cache excluded) to store my RAWs and the respective TIFs within one parent folder).
If you like C1 do yourself a favour and take the time to learn how to work with sessions. Once you get it's fast and easy ...

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Eleanor check it tethered regardless if you are or not. This way you will always get a capture folder in the session with your images in it otherwise they just float in the session folder. It's just a neater way to do it. Seems to work better too.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I don't use favorites per say. I just rate my images with the stars and sort that way when I edit like that. But some folks use favorites. No real right or wrong here as long as you understand how you are working. Like PS sometimes there are 5 ways to accomplish the same thing.

 

[eleanorbrown]

Guy one other question...I never initially import into the final RAW folder (now a session) because many times my camera card contains images that I want to put into different RAW folders (sessions to be). I have in initial "Import" session and go through the images and drag and drop to appropriate RAW folder categories from there. Would I drop files in the capture folder in the session targeted session...say "colorado RAW session"? How would I put in a capture folder in the few sessions I already have with no Capture folder (just make a folder in the finder and then drag files from that session into the capture folder? many many thanks!! eleanor

Eleanor check it tethered regardless if you are or not. This way you will always get a capture folder in the session with your images in it otherwise they just float in the session folder. It's just a neater way to do it. Seems to work better too.

 

[archiM44]

Eleanor
I looked atPeter Krogh's video tutorials on Media Pro in the Phase One site and because he also handles sessions and archiving it set me on a new workflow ussing sessions clearly named and forming a complete package.
I had a card with two different shoots on it and made a named session for one, and another named session for the other and ended up with 2 nice "packages" with everything included which can be moved around, saved etc. and which can be nicely coupled to the MediaPro catalog
The videos are worth looking at
Maurice

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Guy one other question...I never initially import into the final RAW folder (now a session) because many times my camera card contains images that I want to put into different RAW folders (sessions to be). I have in initial "Import" session and go through the images and drag and drop to appropriate RAW folder categories from there. Would I drop files in the capture folder in the session targeted session...say "colorado RAW session"? How would I put in a capture folder in the few sessions I already have with no Capture folder (just make a folder in the finder and then drag files from that session into the capture folder? many many thanks!! eleanor

You could do that and add the capture folder. You may have to redirect though the location they are coming from now. I have not done this but my bet is you can do it. Obviously you could go another route is pull those raws out and make a new session than start over by importing them . Than you could replace the adjustments from the old to the new folder. It may get tricky . Maybe Doug or Dave can give better advice here as I have not done this myself.

 

[Bob]

You could do that and add the capture folder. You may have to redirect though the location they are coming from now. I have not done this but my bet is you can do it. Obviously you could go another route is pull those raws out and make a new session than start over by importing them . Than you could replace the adjustments from the old to the new folder. It may get tricky . Maybe Doug or Dave can give better advice here as I have not done this myself.

Yes, you can import them anywhere or even leave them on the card, then make a session and navigate to wherever they are and move them to your capture (or session) folder.
-bob

 

[Bob]

Eleanor
I looked atPeter Krogh's video tutorials on Media Pro in the Phase One site and because he also handles sessions and archiving it set me on a new workflow ussing sessions clearly named and forming a complete package.
I had a card with two different shoots on it and made a named session for one, and another named session for the other and ended up with 2 nice "packages" with everything included which can be moved around, saved etc. and which can be nicely coupled to the MediaPro catalog
The videos are worth looking at
Maurice

I also like to store other info in the session such as model releases and so forth so that it all stays together.
-bob

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Yes, you can import them anywhere or even leave them on the card, then make a session and navigate to wherever they are and move them to your capture (or session) folder.
-bob

Thanks Bob for jumping in on that.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Yes, you can import them anywhere or even leave them on the card, then make a session and navigate to wherever they are and move them to your capture (or session) folder.
-bob

Thanks Bob for jumping in on that.

 

[eleanorbrown]

Thanks Maurice, Guy and Bob...all good guidance and suggestions. I definitely realize that I can't have just "one giant session" as that gets extremely problematic and shuts C1 down. I will work on making a session for each RAW file folder...I have always organized by location which has worked the best for me. Eleanor

 

[Bob]

Thanks Maurice, Guy and Bob...all good guidance and suggestions. I definitely realize that I can't have just "one giant session" as that gets extremely problematic and shuts C1 down. I will work on making a session for each RAW file folder...I have always organized by location which has worked the best for me. Eleanor

If you have an existing folder you can specify its path and c1 will convert it into a session structure.
-bob

 

[eleanorbrown]

Ok Bob, let me understand something...say I have the top folder: Colorado RAW. Inside that is the session folder that contains the capture folder, output folder, trash folder, etc etc. Now should the actual colorado raw files be in the primary top level "Colorado RAW" folder OR....should the raw images actually be inside the Capture folder that is inside the session folder that is inside the primary "colorado RAW" folder?? Hope I'm not being too confusing. thanks! eleanor

If you have an existing folder you can specify its path and c1 will convert it into a session structure.
-bob

 

[Bob]

Ok Bob, let me understand something...say I have the top folder: Colorado RAW. Inside that is the session folder that contains the capture folder, output folder, trash folder, etc etc. Now should the actual colorado raw files be in the primary top level "Colorado RAW" folder OR....should the raw images actually be inside the Capture folder that is inside the session folder that is inside the primary "colorado RAW" folder?? Hope I'm not being too confusing. thanks! eleanor

That depends on taste actually.
I prefer to keep all of my raws within a capture folder which then separates the raw files from other information that might be in the session folder.
My personal preference might be something like this:
Assume I have a Colorado folder and then beneath it I might have a Flatirons folder. Under the Flatirons folder I might haver a folder labeled with the shoot date, say 2012-11-11 which would then be the session folder. Under that there would be the capture, output, tray, and selects folders. I prefer to configure all of my sessions as if they were tethered. That way I get two benefits. 1) all of my sessions look alike tethered or not. 2) The session folder remains uncluttered so other files may be tucked in there.

My personal habits are that I use a top level folder which is the year, and then under that sessions labeled by date and subject such as 2012-11-11 Flatirons.
The rays then are stored under that session fielder as capture and the rest according to the usual session style.
I label all of my images with the location (country, state, city, and location) and then add my selects to a media pro catalog. I have yet to integrate the new catalog feature into my workflow.
-bob

 

[eleanorbrown]

Ok, thanks again Bob, this is helpful. One other question and then I'm through ...(i think)!! I assume if I drag and drop files from one session onto another session, all the C1 processing settings go with the files...provided all this is done through the C1 application. thanks, Eleanor

That depends on taste actually.
I prefer to keep all of my raws within a capture folder which then separates the raw files from other information that might be in the session folder.
My personal preference might be something like this:
Assume I have a Colorado folder and then beneath it I might have a Flatirons folder. Under the Flatirons folder I might haver a folder labeled with the shoot date, say 2012-11-11 which would then be the session folder. Under that there would be the capture, output, tray, and selects folders. I prefer to configure all of my sessions as if they were tethered. That way I get two benefits. 1) all of my sessions look alike tethered or not. 2) The session folder remains uncluttered so other files may be tucked in there.

My personal habits are that I use a top level folder which is the year, and then under that sessions labeled by date and subject such as 2012-11-11 Flatirons.
The rays then are stored under that session fielder as capture and the rest according to the usual session style.
I label all of my images with the location (country, state, city, and location) and then add my selects to a media pro catalog. I have yet to integrate the new catalog feature into my workflow.
-bob

 

[Bob]

Ok, thanks again Bob, this is helpful. One other question and then I'm through ...(i think)!! I assume if I drag and drop files from one session onto another session, all the C1 processing settings go with the files...provided all this is done through the C1 application. thanks, Eleanor

Yup, that works.
-bob