How to move 180k photos from LR to C1

pwnell

• August 06, 2015 16:46

As have mentioned elsewhere, I am trying to transition from LR to C1. I have about 180,000 photos that I have painstakingly adjusted in LR. What I like about the RAW workflow, for me as a non professional photographer, is that it reduces disk space usage and allows me to nondestructively adjust images. I mention this because if I am to move these files to C1, I will lose 90% of my adjustments (I know because I tried to import it using a small subset of my photos - in most cases the images do not look even close to what they did in LR, and I understand that is due to the limited adjustments C1 can import from LR).

Since I do not have the time or energy to readjust 180k photos, I need to find a way to make this more seamless. One way is to export in LR TIFF images of all my files that I have adjusted. However at 100MB per TIFF image, 180k TIFF images would take up 17TB of disk space - something I do not have nor want to buy. I guess I can export Jpeg, however that will still consume upwards of 1TB of disk space.

Does anyone else have any ideas how to get all my RAW files in C1 and not have to readjust all files again?

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  Franz J Wenzel

  • August 07, 2015 01:57

  Hey,
  to my knowledge, you pretty much covered the possibilities of avenues.
  - importing the raw files without LR adjustments and redevelop your assets
  - importing the Tiff files with the adjustments applied to further be able to adjust in C1 (however you can't 'undo' your LR adjustments in C1) which technically isn't your original raw file anymore (your original raw files would still not be in C1)
  - import jpg's with reduced quality due to compression loss.
  
  As you well know, any non destructive software has it's own 'proprietary' algorithms in processing your raw image.
  
  I would set a date to stop processing in LR and start using C1 with all the NEW images.
  
  Question is, why you would try to import all these images into C1, if you don't want to further adjust them?

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  SFA

  • August 07, 2015 02:26

  C-F wrote:
  
  
  As you well know, any non destructive software has it's own 'proprietary' algorithms in processing your raw image.
  
  I would set a date to stop processing in LR and start using C1 with all the NEW images.
  
  Question is, why you would try to import all these images into C1, if you don't want to further adjust them?

  
  
  True.
  
  Indeed the processing applied by pretty much any application which change over time as new versions and enhancements are released. So the issue of having stuff looking the same as when it was edited in an old version of an application is not so different, in many cases, to that of changing to a new application with its own way of doing things.
  
  
  Grant

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  pwnell

  • August 07, 2015 05:17

  C-F wrote:
  Question is, why you would try to import all these images into C1, if you don't want to further adjust them?

  
  Thanks for your response. My main reasons would just be to not needing to use two different applications for my photos. Now, if I want to find all photos I have shot of say amoebas, I need to perform two searches in two applications. Also, I need to keep on paying for LR subscription to keep being able to access the application.

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  SFA

  • August 07, 2015 10:04

  pwnell wrote:
  

  C-F wrote:
  Question is, why you would try to import all these images into C1, if you don't want to further adjust them?

  
  Thanks for your response. My main reasons would just be to not needing to use two different applications for my photos. Now, if I want to find all photos I have shot of say amoebas, I need to perform two searches in two applications. Also, I need to keep on paying for LR subscription to keep being able to access the application.

  
  
  But it you don't need to make any further adjustments you can save the existing outputs, likely in jpg form I would imagine, and have them widely readable by a lot of software. No need for LightRoom at all going along that route.
  
  How often to you actually need to re-edit any of the 180k images? Compared with the work (whether you are ding it manually of the computer is undertaking most of the effort) of transferring everything would it be too much effort to simply say "I need a new version of this one, that's see what C1 can do with it?" and generate a new output form nothing? It may be easier, faster and, perhaps, better than working with a previous edit from another system. Many people have found such a benefit revisiting some of their older material when changing applications or even as an application provides more options as it evolves.
  
  With the numbers involved I think you might be better off using a dedicated Digital Asset Management system for the legacy images and then adding to that from C1 as you process new images.
  
  
  Grant

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