Help with Catalogues & Sessions
I'm still right in the steep end of the learning curve with Capture One 20. Now looking at Catalogues & Sessions and finding it a little difficult to get my head around this.
My understanding is that Catalogues involve files being stored in a dedicated database in my computer (Windows Explorer), but everything that is done to / with the files is done within Capture One.
In the case of Sessions files are stored wherever I select on my computer. They will then be imported into Capture One where editing will take place before they are exported to my computer.
Broadly speaking, have I understood this correctly?
Aside from when I go on holidays when I take large numbers of photos, my day-to-day photography probably only involves a relatively small number of shots. So far, I have worked on the basis of transferring files from my camera memory card to a selected folder on my computer, sorting them into those I want to edit and those I don't, and then importing the ones to be edited into Capture One. Once edited they are exported to a folder of my choice. Over time I have developed a folder & sub-folder structure which allows me to find specific files reasonably easily.
For the time being I get the impression that Catalogues is not for me. The method outlined above that I'm currently using seems to work well for me but I'm curious to know if it significantly differs from Sessions and, if so, what benefit I might obtain from using Sessions.
What methods are you folks using and what do you see as being the benefits / drawbacks? Thanks for your input. J.
Edit. Having been playing around with Sessions I now find that in the Library tab I can only see folders etc relating to Sessions. I used to be able to see the previous 10 or so Imports. I can't find the way to revert to that situation!
My understanding is that Catalogues involve files being stored in a dedicated database in my computer (Windows Explorer), but everything that is done to / with the files is done within Capture One.
In the case of Sessions files are stored wherever I select on my computer. They will then be imported into Capture One where editing will take place before they are exported to my computer.
Broadly speaking, have I understood this correctly?
Aside from when I go on holidays when I take large numbers of photos, my day-to-day photography probably only involves a relatively small number of shots. So far, I have worked on the basis of transferring files from my camera memory card to a selected folder on my computer, sorting them into those I want to edit and those I don't, and then importing the ones to be edited into Capture One. Once edited they are exported to a folder of my choice. Over time I have developed a folder & sub-folder structure which allows me to find specific files reasonably easily.
For the time being I get the impression that Catalogues is not for me. The method outlined above that I'm currently using seems to work well for me but I'm curious to know if it significantly differs from Sessions and, if so, what benefit I might obtain from using Sessions.
What methods are you folks using and what do you see as being the benefits / drawbacks? Thanks for your input. J.
Edit. Having been playing around with Sessions I now find that in the Library tab I can only see folders etc relating to Sessions. I used to be able to see the previous 10 or so Imports. I can't find the way to revert to that situation!
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There are a couple of differences between sessions and catalogues.
Catalogues are (by default) self contained. The catalogue file stores both your images and the adjustments you've made. You can also store the photos outside the catalogue file.
Sessions don't care where the files are, and as such will store the adjustments with the images on disk in a CaptureOne folder.
One thing to keep in mind is Capture One is a DAM in addition to being a RAW editor. It sounds like you're treating Capture One a bit like Photoshop. Capture One can be the primary way you access your photos, rather that using Windows Explorer.0 -
JeremyB wrote:
Edit. Having been playing around with Sessions I now find that in the Library tab I can only see folders etc relating to Sessions. I used to be able to see the previous 10 or so Imports. I can't find the way to revert to that situation!
The previous 10 imports is a catalog feature.0 -
JeremyB wrote:
I'm still right in the steep end of the learning curve with Capture One 20. Now looking at Catalogues & Sessions and finding it a little difficult to get my head around this.
Your confusion is quite understandable. Have you looked around the web for some tutorials, either from Capture One itself or others? There is quite some writing to help people and preventing you to reinvent the wheel.
I have done quite some writing on this as well. See my user profile (that is, the link).0 -
Thank you for your helpful comments. I have been reading up on Catalogues & Sessions and also watching videos which help to clarify but also sometimes seem to make things more complex. It interesting to note that some people strongly favour Catalogues over Sessions and vice versa.
Aside from other differences between Catalogues & Sessions, it appears my original understanding that Catalogue files are stored in a database (C/Users/My Name/My Pictures/Capture One Catalog), and Sessions files are stored wherever I select on my computer is broadly correct. Bearing in mind my type of usage - I am not professional and I'm not usually working with large numbers of files at any one time - I think that Sessions is probably the way to go.
I take the point that Capture One is a DAM (had to Google that one) in addition to being a RAW editor. It's possible I may wish to treat Capture One a bit like Photoshop (which I've never used other than Elements) and use Windows Explorer for accessing / arranging my photos, leaving Capture One solely for editing. Something to be considered.
It seems that if I wish to I can start Capture One without automatically opening any Session or Catalogue. Whether this will best suit my needs remains to be seen, but requires some more reading / viewing. Again, thanks. J.0 -
JeremyB wrote:
It seems that if I wish to I can start Capture One without automatically opening any Session or Catalogue. Whether this will best suit my needs remains to be seen, but requires some more reading / viewing. Again, thanks. J.
Not really. It is always in either a session or a catalog. If you want, though, you could always use the one session and add any folders you like as favourites in it. Or indeed use the same catalog all the time, and add folders to it as you like.
Ian0 -
JeremyB wrote:
(...)
, it appears my original understanding that Catalogue files are stored in a database (C/Users/My Name/My Pictures/Capture One Catalog), and Sessions files are stored wherever I select on my computer is broadly correct.
Some justification might be helpful in understanding the difference between catalogs and sessions.
A catalog - you referred to the default catalog, a.k.a. Capture One Catalog - contains a database with adjustments, a folder with layer masks and other adjustment related files that do not fit into the database, the preview and thumbnail files. Optionally, you can store your images inside that catalog. Optionally, because, most users store their originals outside the catalog on either their local or external drive. That is the main power of a catalog. You can have your images anywhere and it even does not need to have access to them all the time (yes, during processing, exporting, printing). Inside your catalog, you organize your images with user collections, which are fully independent of the physical location of images on their respective disks. Hence, a catalog can be used for DAM. Note that importing images is mandatory to get an image in a catalog.
A session is a collection of your function related folders, Capture, Selects, Output, Trash inside that parent folder plus a database to keep track of folders, favorites and albums. A session needs always direct access to the images. Larger collections slow a session down because all adjustments are written in sidercar files, not in the session database. This makes sessions very disk intensive and hence less suitable for working over network connections. Session are great for daily shoots or projects but not suitable for DAM.
Working with session this way - with the four function related folders - is in particular popular for tethered shooting, which is also where the whole idea came from.
Another use of a session is the feature that you can neglect the four function related folders, and browse your system folders from the Library tool. You do not have to import images into a session, you can just browse your folders. This is a way many users use Capture One.
Hope this helps and does not add to the confusion.0 -
Thanks for the additional very helpful comments. I have reached the stage where I need to spend more time playing around with Catalogs and Sessions to determine which I will end up using, rather than boring you folks with newbie questions! I hadn't appreciated that images can be stored either inside a catalog or outside a catalog on either a local or external drive. I shall check out how to do this. I had though that images had to be stored inside the catalog database on my SSD. My SSD is only 250GB and is getting on for 75% full so I really didn't want to add large quantities of data at this stage. A PC upgrade is due soon when I shall install a larger SSD amongst other things.
As you may have gathered I am very much an amateur photographer with little experience of editing software. It may be that Capture One 20 is currently way in excess of my requirements but I really like its capabilities and hope to be able to 'grow' into utilising it to good effect. Thanks. J.0 -
An interesting aspect of catalogs that I didn't see mentioned is that if you keep your catalog on a local drive and reference you images on an external drive you will still have access to the previews and some editing capabilities even when the external drive is disconnected.
I have not found any one right answer to your question, even with capture one experience. For me, projects work well in sessions and personal shots (just a few photos at a time) tend to work well in a catalog. But I change my mind occasionally and shuffle thing around. It is possible to keep all of your adjustments as you move between sessions and catalogs, but it is not a convenient thing to do.0
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