What are you switching to?

[binoyte]

I have the C1 6 basic version and found it a capable tool, but it lacks too many things; some of those things are also missing in the Pro version.

Can you tell us more about this missing features ?

[tomsi42]

Can you tell us more about this missing features ?

It's the nice little bit's that make you use Lightroom/ASP instead of ACR+Photoshop. For me it's functionality like adding vignette, adjustment layers/brushes, b&W film simulation etc.

I found that C1 is more of a classic RAW converter, like RAW Therapee and Canon DPP. It is very good at that, but it's not something that fits my workflow.

[pgman]

And I'll trade you with: How to make LR work inside a virtual box AND the catalog on a network drive so it can be used inside the virtual and on the Linux side.

Having the Lightroom catalog on the server

• This is not a recommended procedure by Adobe.
• Lightroom is not supposed to run over a network.
• This procedure only work for Windows, it DOESN'T work for Macs.
• Lightroom is still a single user application, and cannot be shared.

It relies on the SUBST command. It works with Windows 98, XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Code: Select all

Start > Accessories > Command Prompt:

Type:

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net use

and you should see your existing network connections in the way Windows understand them.

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    Status       Local     Remote                    Network
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 z:        \\vmware-host\Shared Folders
                                                    VMware Shared Folders

Type:

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subst Y: "\\vmware-host\Shared Folders"

The quotes are there because of the space in the directory name.
Type:

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subst

and it should show:

Code: Select all

    Y:\: => UNC\vmware-host\Shared Folders

I'm adding the "local drive" Y to be the same as the actual network drive. The string after the Y: must be the same as one of your network drive, then you can create your own sub-directory/folder. Then, you can create the catalog anywhere on the "fake Y" drive.
The subst command needs to be done after each reboot. You can save the command in a batch file and save it in the start-up folder.

[NFG]

I often hear that Capture One is favored by model photographers.

Lately that's what I do most, and that might be part of the reason I really like C1. It makes hair look amazing, far sharper than ASP. Skin tones are more subtle and less prone to odd colours and highlight clipping, which was a huge issue for me with ASP. Curve control is better, and some of the other tools seem to produce the results I want more readily.

Can you tell us more about this missing features ?

It's the nice little bit's that make you use Lightroom/ASP instead of ACR+Photoshop. For me it's functionality like adding vignette, adjustment layers/brushes, b&W film simulation etc.

I found that C1 is more of a classic RAW converter, like RAW Therapee and Canon DPP. It is very good at that, but it's not something that fits my workflow.

This doesn't seem to be the case any longer. I never used C1 v6, but v7 has all the things you describe: vignette control, layers, and brushes. It does have user export/importable styles, and I downloaded a few dozen including a bunch of generic film simulations. TBQH I never really found this to be more than a gimmick in ASP, but the capability exists in C1.

What I do miss is the extreme bleach bypass from ASP. The bleach bypass style in C1 is far too subtle in comparison, and so I never use it. I used it in ASP often, especially to shake silhouette photos into shape.

No tool is perfect. As I mentioned, C1 is unbelievably slow compared to ASP. I timed a render for 500 images. In ASP: 5 minutes. In C1: 40 minutes. But for what I'm doing C1 gives the better result, it's not even a close race. So I put up with the speed. YMMV of course. =)

----

Here's a sample shot I made showing off the difference between C1 and ASP:

[EDIT: ASP, not AFS!]

[binoyte]

What I do miss is the extreme bleach bypass from AFS. The bleach bypass style in C1 is far too subtle in comparison, and so I never use it. I used it in AFS often, especially to shake silhouette photos into shape.

AFS ?? you means ASP ?

ASP bleach bypass is just :

• a S contrast curve
• a +70/100 contrast
• a -70/100 saturation

You probably can edit a kind of preset in C1 for that.

[Charles+OK]

I'm probably going to be moving over to Lightroom 4 on the desktop. (Win 7 64) Though, I'm keeping Aftershot on the Ubuntu laptop. I've been using Aftershot in file system mode. If I import my raw files into lightroom in place, will it simply ignore the Aftershot sidecar files?

[binoyte]

yes.

The loss can be minimised if you ask ASP to write standard xmp files. But loss anyway...

[MikeFromMesa]

I'm making a completely unscientific mini-poll of what are people thinking, trying, moving to after the demise of ASP (if it will happen).

* ASP still works fine for my current camera and will continue to do so for my current equipment but I can see next year getting a Canon 5DMk3 or a cheaper full frame.

I have Lightroom on one Windows computer, but I use ASP on Ubuntu and the pickings are limited on Linux.

Thanks

I personally have become quite discouraged about ASP considering that there has not been an update in a very long time and Corel does not respond to my bug reports. I have mostly stopped using it and switched to Lightroom and PictureCode's new PhotoNinja. I have found that PhotoNinja's highlight protection, color enhancement, noise reduction and details adjustments are very, very good. And my LR4 trial did a very good job taking care of lens distortion as well as supplying the functionality that PhotoNinja is missing (heal and clone functionality, masking, spot removal, graduated filter and better vignetting). One of those two will probably become my general "go to" software. It is too bad about ASP as it seemed as though it had the potential to be a great piece of software when it was released.

I have seen a lot of comments in this thread about problems using Lightroom on networks but I work only on a single (laptop) system and am going to change my work flow to put my raw images and LR catalog on a large (1TB+) external usb 3.0 drive as soon as my LR4 upgrade arrives from the vendor. That way I will not have to worry about the size limitations of my laptop drive (which is only 500GB).

As a general question for those using LR4 in place of ASP - do you use multiple catalogs? Or a single catalog? Multiple catalogs have always seemed like a pain to me and a LR book I read suggested only using a single catalog and importing everything into it. How do people use LR catalogs?

[KeithR]

As far as I'm concerned multiple catalogues make little sense for the most part: some people use them in the belief that this is the best way to "compartmentalise" their work (eg wedding 'togs who use a catalogue per wedding) but this is entirely unnecessary if you make proper use of such things as keywords and smart collections.

Some people say that they get better performance from many small catalogues - logically I can see that might be true in marginal cases - but I only use a single catalogue and Lr is plenty quick and responsive on my PC.

Another strike against multiple catalogues (for me, anyway) is the confusion they seem likely to cause from a back-up point of view.

Adobe's own FAQ on the subject bears these concerns out:

Unless you're working with thousands of photos and [my emphasis] performance is a concern, try not to use multiple catalogs. Multiple catalogs can become complicated to manage. Lightroom offers myriad ways to sort, filter, and otherwise organize and find photos within one catalog. For example, you can use folders, collections, keywords, labels, and ratings. With a little thought and practice, you can probably find ways to organize and manage all of your photos successfully in one catalog.

[roland65]

Hi,
here is a pack of film presets for Lightroom 4.x : http://roland65.free.fr/lr/LR4_Film_Presets.zip
Enjoy,
RB

[nyukuri]

I was an ardent lover of ASP - bought the software, literature, commercial plugins...
but after months I see no improvements, not a single issue I reported to the monkey was addressed or worked on in the beta
I am tired and disappointed
Now I played the last month with Lightroom - and what a surprise! Of course its not as fast as ASP and forces its catalog system down my throat, but at least it does RIGHT what it does and I know that I am on the safe side for the future. Nobody knows where ASP is heading to
I am switching to Lightroom - with one eye crying, one eye smiling...
So this is my definite ADIEU to ASP. I'll just keep it on my harddrive for my old ORF's - but that's about it.

Bye bye ASP - all the best to you!

[AsterixEtObelix]

For those who knew (or used ) lightZone in the past - there is a good news : it is "re-borning" and becoming open source. Some people are working on it. It has the advantege to be mulit-plateform ( Windows, Mac, and Linux) and has local correction

site of the project:
http://lightzoneproject.org/

I wish something like this happen to our favorite product ASP !!!!

[jpmccormac]

Now that ACDSee has RAW support for my cameras I will be using ACDSee 15 for RAW processing. At $20.00 for an upgrade to ACDSee 15 it's a no-brainer. I probably don't need Pro 6, but even that upgrade is only $35.
Here's the list of newly supported cameras.
Canon Powershot S110
Canon EOS M
Canon EOS 6D
Canon PowerShot G15
Canon PowerShot SX50 HS
Nikon 1 V2
Nikon D5200
Nikon D600
Olympus XZ-2 iHS
Olympus E-PL5
Olympus E-PM2
Panasonic GH3
Pentax K-5 II/K5 IIs
Pentax Q10
Samsung EX2F
Sony SLT-A99V
Sony Alpha NEX-6
Sony Alpha NEX-5R
Sony DSC-RX1

[andrewh]

Had a brief go with LR4 but saw no real benefit over ASP for most pictures. As I am an IMatch userI was not interested in the library in either.

After much testing, I am extremely happy with Photo Ninja and believe it will be further improved over time. Hopefully when IMatch 5 comes along, close integration between Photo Ninja and IMatch will be possible. Bought Photo Ninja yesterday and am already very happy with some prints from my antique B9180 (That I love, kisses etc, ... NEVER incur the wrath of a B9180 ).

I will keep ASP for those raw files that PN does not seem to do a good job with as there are a few. On the whole I am sure I will save a lot of time as PN gets it right 90% of the time with very little effort.

[tomsi42]

Now that ACDSee has RAW support for my cameras I will be using ACDSee 15 for RAW processing. At $20.00 for an upgrade to ACDSee 15 it's a no-brainer. I probably don't need Pro 6, but even that upgrade is only $35.

I think you will find that ACDsee 15 is a little lacking compared to Aftershot Pro. ACDSee Pro, on the other hand, is a very capapble alternative.