Novice user: catalog management and how to move data between computers

Troz

• October 28, 2022 04:05
• Edited

Hello. Sorry if the answer is obvious but I haven't quite found the answer yet.

I installed Capture One (Fuji Express) on a desktop and a laptop computer. I then decided I liked the program enough to upgrade to the Pro version, which I did on the laptop only at that stage. I then went on a long trip during which I took many photographs, processing them as I went on the laptop.

I have now returned home and want to replicate all my data on the desktop machine. First I copied all the RAF files across to the desktop. Then I deactivated the Fuji Express license on the desktop, and activated the Pro license. On restarting Capture Pro, it prompted me to point it to my images, so I told it where the RAF files were. After some time, it had created a new catalog but none of the images showed any of the adjustments (levels, crops etc) that I had made. Obviously these are stored elsewhere.

Capture One on the desktop is also showing some old "recent imports" that were created when I was experimenting with the Fuji Express version. I need to get rid of these.

So can someone please advise how I completely replicate all the files and history on the desktop. I think this means that I need to:

- get rid of the old catalog on the desktop version, and

- copy the catalog and any other necessary files from the laptop to the desktop, and tell the catalog where to find the image files, so that the adjustments made to the images on the laptop are reflected when looking at them on the desktop machine.

As I said, sorry if this is obvious but I haven't quite found the answer yet.

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  Okular

  • October 28, 2022 17:23
  • Edited

  Well, it's always a good idea to learn more about the program before you start. Here is a good source for it: https://learn.captureone.com.

  The first, basic decision for organizing your images is whether you want to work with sessions or catalogs. I understand you've chosen catalog, at least for now (perhaps against your better judgement). In both cases I think the better way to work on the road is with Sessions, but this is just my opinion and way of working.
  If you only work with sessions, you would just copy the whole session folder from the laptop to the desktop and open it there (menu File / Open and then in the session folder open the file xyz.cosessiondb) and everything is done. Else importing a session into a catalog is also quite easy, because C1 is already prepared for such workflow.

  But well, for your case here is an article that describes how to move a catalog: https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003138037-How-do-I-move-a-Catalog-

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  Troz

  • October 29, 2022 08:55
  • Edited

  Thanks very much for the advice.

  Update: After a bit of trial and error, this seemed to work as described. More by good luck than management my laptop portable drive had the same drive letter as where I had put the raw files on the desktop. For reasons I don't understand my original attempt gave a "file lock error" on opening Capture One on the desktop and selecting the desired catalog, but I tried again and this time placed the catalog in a subdirectory of the Catalog folder and that was OK - files now showed their adjustments.

  The next issue was that whenever I selected an image that had a layer, I got an "error loading adjustment mask" message. Further investigation on the laptop revealed a folder with the name "LAM" which I figured might mean "Layer Adjustment Mask" and which appeared to contain files specific to images that had layers. Copying that over appears to have fixed that problem. Thank you Capture One for using folder names that are at least semi-meaningful!

  I hope my experience helps someone in future, and I will now take your advice and explore sessions in preference to catalogs.

  @Okular, you may not have meant it, but your reply came across as rather condescending. Actually in six months of almost-daily usage, I have learned quite a lot about image processing in Capture One, albeit from a low base (my experience is mostly in MF and 4x5" large-format film photography rather than digital). It's just that I had not needed to consider catalog management until now. However now I have embarked on that part of the journey and this thread has assisted me greatly.

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