NicoleB wrote:Forgive me if this has been asked before, but the search features for the forum are down and web searching is not helping.
I'm considering moving from Lightroom to AfterShot Pro in search of a photo management and RAW editing program that is more friendly to working on multiple computers with the same catalog and images. I'm playing with the trial, and it's different, but seems to do what I need for RAW processing, and the boxcar files should make working on multiple computers fine.
What I can't do, however, is abandon 5 years worth of meticulous hierarchical keywording and edits.
I use Lightroom as my DAM but I am a long term user of Bibble/Aftershot Pro.
I rename and keyword and index in ASP and as long as you use the /XMP/Use Stanadrd XMP files feature then there is no issue with moving between LR and ASP for keywords and ratings.
I havent used the ASP Catalogs as I didnt like them initially and saw no major reason to change. The small standard xmp files produced by ASP are used for allowing rapid transitioning of keywords and ratings between DAMs but you lose your edits, almost always as the way each software does it is different. ASP produces a filname.RAWtype.xmp file for its edit changes.
I assume I could export everything currently in Lightroom as a TIFF (doubling my required storage space), as abandoning the original RAW files isn't an option. TIFF exports from Lightroom are significantly inferior to the DNG files and I'd have to refer back to Lightroom to fetch the original editted files when I need them, but at least I could see them in ASP. So... painful, but possible.
DNG files are the devils spawn. They are a myth sold by Adobe to tempt people with a something for nothing.
RAW files are the way to go always. Sorry but people will argue that DNG are great. If the chosen way forward is DNG+RAW then these are bigger than the original RAW so that is a space waste and it you take a 'converted to DNG' route and toss the the RAW file then IMHO you are close to an idiot.
If you need to match you files then you need to keep the old LR instance as a method of reproducing this output but in reality you should be able to reinterpret them in ASP with no issues but it is a lot of extra work.
In your case I would be tempted to export small JPGs from LR and then keep these to use as reference. For high value/lots of work images I might take the TIFF route but like you say typically a TIFF is very large e.g. a 30MB RAW goes to a 120-250MB TIFF after working.
But I can find no way to even manually enter hierarchical keywords. Nor can I find a way to import them from Lightroom. Importing as a TIFF imports just the single keywords.
Am I missing something?
- Is there plugin support for importing from Lightroom, or a plugin for Lightroom to export to ASP, or some strange workaround?
- Does ASP support hierarchical keywording in the first place?
I do not think it provides hierarchical support but it does allow import of them to a flattened structure - I think. I havent done this as a test.
Good luck in what you decide but there are plenty of us who frequent the board who can give advice from many (12+) years of experience.
