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How I plan on using Sessions and Catalogs in C1Pro

Geezerhood
I am starting fresh, having never used anything to catalog / process any of my RAW files besides FastStone, Bridge and Photoshop.

I was originally going to use C1pro just for RAW processing and either IMatch, Media Pro or Lightroom for the DAM (Digital Asset Management), but I am finding that the Catalog in C1Pro is probably sufficient for my image management needs right now and funds are tight at the moment. I only have one client, myself, and I mostly shoot for gallery exhibition so I don't need a lot of management options.

The C1 Pro Catalog seems OK for searching for stuff, though it is a bit slow with 11K images, but I can live with that for now. However I do like the way a Session works more than a Catalog for rating and processing new images, so here is my plan.

1 - Create a "Master" Catalog that will eventually contain all my images but import nothing at first.

2 - Create a new SESSION from the memory card with each new shoot (or import an existing folder of unprocessed images into the session) and do a quick renaming, key word addition, rating and culling.

3 - Import that SESSION into the Master Catalog along with all changes / ratings etc. just to make it searchable.

4 - Continue to further process all images only in their original SESSIONS. Not from within the Catalog. Everything in the Catalog is never changed in any way; it is just there so I can search for stuff easily.

5 - After working on a SESSION a bit more, update it in the CATALOG by re-importing the SESSION, leaving the files in their original location.

Added in forgotten step:

Re-import the session by clicking directly on the applicable Session .cosessiondb file from the File / Import Session menu, rather than right clicking on the session folders in the Library and choosing Import. In testing my methods to see if this was going to work for me, I did learn that the Library right click import does not work because it skips all the images since they are already there in the Catalog. I am assuming that even if C1Pro did give you the option to overwrite them, it still would not bring in the adjustments, since it is probably only looking for image files in those folders, not the Sessions .cosessiondb file too. But when doing the upper menu File / Import Session method of re-importing, C1Pro presents a dialog box as shown below –

Catalog already contains this image. Keep or replace existing adjustments?
[ ] Apply to all conflicts of this type
[Keep] [Replace] [Stop]

The only thing I am seeing that I don’t like, is that doing this creates a new User Collection every time. Not a big deal since I don’t use the User Collections in this method, but I do plan to delete the older User Collections for that Session every time I do a re-import, to prevent a massive amount of unwanted User Collections from building up in there.


It is apparent that the 5th step is vital to allow searching by the latest key words, ratings and other parameters and for viewing the latest adjustments for each file, since once a session has been imported into a Catalog, nothing done in the original Session will be reflected in the Catalog version of that Session.

Doing this makes all the images in all the imported Sessions available for group searching in the Catalog by all the available parameters, but it leaves the RAW processing, tagging, rating, keywords and such unchanged and contained in a nice package, the Session folder.

The image files remain in their original physical location from that point forward unless the need arises to move them which can be done fairly easily since everything will be broken down into folder based sessions that match where the files are physically stored.

Please let me know if I am asking for problems down the road or if this method appears OK. I don't want to put in months of work only to find I should have done it differently.

Any suggested changes are more than welcome.

Thanks,

Don

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Windows 8 - C1Pro 7.2.3 - Nikon D800e - Sony RX100M3
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Comments

7 comments

Date Votes
  • SFA
    Don,

    I like the way that sessions work but can see potential benefits from using one or more catalogues for some purposes - especially in commercial application.

    Most of my volume stuff is what one might call 'event' shooting - hundreds of images in a day or thousands of images over a few days. I group things by event (a session) and under that umbrella I use sub folders for day/camera/filled card during import.

    Outputs may be by different groupings (possibly several different groupings) all set up in the Output folder. In my case these will likely be final outputs - not usually for passing through other applications. So they are most likely to be jpgs.

    Now it has occurred to me that the output folder represent a decent catalogue source and since my naming convention is intended to identify the event at which the images were created a catalogue gives me the event and the original image file name. In effect that is enough to provide a quick look up to the original Session even when archived off to a separate disk yet avoids the complexity and overhead of a full catalogue workflow.

    If I needed the full catalogue for commercial purposes every day to make sales then my approach might be different but I don't really feel that is necessary for event work where historic enquiries are not really time critical - at least in terms of what I do. Even if they were the catalogue of output files could probably be designed to fulfil the immediate need without recourse to the original source file.

    There is also the potential to index the files at the operating system level (In windows and I assume in other OS versions) and that may offer a search solution that is adequate for non-commercial use in terms of finding files when required.

    My alternative observations still fit with your general proposal - just a slightly different option, maybe, to achieving the same fundamental result.

    HTH.


    Grant
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  • Paul Steunebrink
    Hi Geezerhood,

    Step 1 to 3 are OK, 4 and 5 will not work.

    Once you have imported the session into the catalog, you have to work from within the catalog. You can not re-import the session again after you imported already to update the adjustments only. CO7 will skip the images you already have imported, assuming they are referenced, and leaf you with images on two places that are out of sync.

    Either work till you are done with the session and import the end result, or import earlier and continue working with the catalog.
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  • Geezerhood
    Thanks to both of you for your suggestions and comments.

    The Master Catalog idea is not critical to what I am currently doing with my images, but I saw this method I worked up as an easy way to have every image searchable from one source without giving up Sessions. Key words and Ratings are mostly what I search by, which are not accessible in a regular Windows file search utility since they are embedded either the C1Pro database files.

    Paul - your comments on steps 4 and 5 brought it to my attention that I forgot to mention one additional critical process that I am using in Step 5 –

    I re-import by clicking directly on the applicable Session .cosessiondb file from the File / Import Session menu, rather than right clicking on the session folders in the Library and choosing Import. In testing my methods to see if this was going to work for me, I did learn that the Library right click import does not work because it skips all the images since they are already there in the Catalog. I am assuming that even if C1Pro did give you the option to overwrite them, it still would not bring in the adjustments, since it is probably only looking for image files in those folders, not the Sessions .cosessiondb file too. But when doing the upper menu File / Import Session method of re-importing, C1Pro presents a dialog box as shown below –

    Catalog already contains this image. Keep or replace existing adjustments?
    [ ] Apply to all conflicts of this type
    [Keep] [Replace] [Stop]

    So far every adjustment, rating, tagging or key word that I apply has been imported this way when I select [Replace] and [ ] Apply to all conflicts of this type.
    It only takes a minute or so to do that, but the time spent is worth it for me since it allows me to continue to work in Sessions for everything, without giving up the full image database search features. Additionally if I change the folder storage structure in the Session, all those changes are instantly updated in the Master Catalog too after the re-import.

    The only thing I am seeing that I don’t like, is that doing this creates a new User Collection every time. Not a big deal since I don’t use the User Collections in this method, but I do plan to delete the older User Collections for that Session every time I do a re-import, to prevent a massive amount of unwanted User Collections from building up in there. Is there a way to turn of the automatic creation of a User Collection when a Session is imported?

    Since all my organization and physical file sorting is done in the individual Sessions, it is very easy to find the applicable Session that I just worked on, as shown in the Master Catalog, delete the User Collection for it and re-import the .cosessiondb file. Since I don’t plan to make adjustments on images in the Master Catalog itself, with this method everything will be current in both the individual Sessions and the Master Catalog.

    Later, if I choose to start working exclusively in Catalog mode for whatever reason, rather than going back to older Sessions to make any and all changes like I plan on doing now, I can do so with very little effort since the Master Catalog will be pre-built for all my images, and all the Session changes will already be stored within the Catalog. Granted I will still have the various duplication of the Sessions such as the cache, previews and each .cosessiondb file but those could easily be removed if I ever felt the need, once I transitioned to Catalog only for any given individual Session or for all of them.

    Another advantage that I see to this method is that in working with a Session then importing it into the Master Catalog, I will always have a running backup of the entire Session within the Master Catalog and a second one in the Session in two different formats in case my Master Catalog database is somehow lost or damaged and I am unable to restore it.

    Regards,

    Don
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  • Paul Steunebrink
    Geezerhood wrote:
    ...
    But when doing the upper menu File / Import Session method of re-importing, C1Pro presents a dialog box as shown below –

    Catalog already contains this image. Keep or replace existing adjustments?
    [ ] Apply to all conflicts of this type
    [Keep] [Replace] [Stop]
    ...
    The only thing I am seeing that I don’t like, is that doing this creates a new User Collection every time.
    ...
    Is there a way to turn of the automatic creation of a User Collection when a Session is imported?

    Hi Don,

    First, I was not aware of the re-import session-to-catalog feature. Thank you for reporting.

    I looked into it and noticed the same behavior of re-creating the session structure. I have reported this to Phase One as it seems to be a bug to me. I also reported that this feature seems to be a Win-only game, as it does not work on Mac (both CO 7.2.3 I tried this on).
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  • Geezerhood

    Hi Don,

    First, I was not aware of the re-import session-to-catalog feature. Thank you for reporting.

    I looked into it and noticed the same behavior of re-creating the session structure. I have reported this to Phase One as it seems to be a bug to me. I also reported that this feature seems to be a Win-only game, as it does not work on Mac (both CO 7.2.3 I tried this on).


    What part of the process I have described do you consider a bug? ( I am assuming the duplication in the User Collection?)

    I would hate to see Phase One remove the ability to re-import a session through the "File" menu with the option of updating or not updating the adjustments. After a few days of trying this method I REALLY like it. In fact it would be nice if that same option was available when re-importing a Session from within the Library, though I realize that the Library import only looks for image files since once a Session has been imported to a Catalog it is no longer a Session anymore but part of the Catalog.

    Having both options for re-importing, just the image file, or file with adjustments from a session is excellent.

    Thanks,

    Don
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  • Paul Steunebrink
    Geezerhood wrote:
    ...
    What part of the process I have described do you consider a bug? ( I am assuming the duplication in the User Collection?)

    That is correct.

    In general the aspect of having re-import an image, which has been imported before, and allow for replacing adjustments, is something that would benefit more users and make the integration of both library types (session and catalog) more versatile.

    It is up to Phase One developers what they will make of it. However, I can assure you we grabbed the attention of the right people already.
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  • Geezerhood
    Paul_Steunebrink wrote:


    That is correct.

    In general the aspect of having re-import an image, which has been imported before, and allow for replacing adjustments, is something that would benefit more users and make the integration of both library types (session and catalog) more versatile.

    It is up to Phase One developers what they will make of it. However, I can assure you we grabbed the attention of the right people already.


    Paul,

    Thanks for clarifying that. You made me nervous for a second. 🤓
    After having found that option the other day, to re-import with or without adjustments, I was quite happy to have it available.

    What part of the process I described doesn't work on the Mac? I just tried it on someone else's imac i5 running OS 10.9 Maverick, and everything I tried on my Win box worked on the Mac.
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