Recent Capture One convert. Wondering about PhotoMechanic.

[cupcakes2000]

Hello. I have just discovered the benefits of capture one (over lightroom - though that’s not the discussion).
I’m planning on keeping my sub for lr, as my websites are hosted using portfolio, and sharing using lr is my established client workflow currently. 10 quid a month is quite cheap compared to changing everything for my website needs, plus the added benefit of retaining Photoshop make it actually quite cheap in comparison wven if I don’t use lr classic as my dam.
My question is:
How do people use capture one with photo mechanic?
My wild imagination imagines I can set up a PM main library, and use c1 as the editor. But how does this work for a big shoot? Can I ingest via PM, edit the whole shoot as a session in C1, and have it show as a library in PM? Or should I just keep PM for ingesting and hold my libraries in C1?

What do others do?

 

[r.harris1]

Capture One has done a lot of work for the better on their catalog side of late around importing, catalog speed, keywording and so forth, but I still find PM just amazing. The best of any tool (to me!), including LR, for keywording, culling, backups, previews, rating, tagging and so forth. It’s wicked fast, is PM. I use PM+ with its catalog, search capabilities and then C1 sessions for raw conversion work. I ingest into a session directory for C1, I have PM+ automatically add the directory to a catalog with my keywords, along with standard IPTC metadata. It’s a great combo of tools. So PM+ for the catalog, rating, etc, C1 sessions for the heavy lifting.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Capture One has done a lot of work for the better on their catalog side of late around importing, catalog speed, keywording and so forth, but I still find PM just amazing. The best of any tool (to me!), including LR, for keywording, culling, backups, previews, rating, tagging and so forth. It’s wicked fast, is PM. I use PM+ with its catalog, search capabilities and then C1 sessions for raw conversion work. I ingest into a session directory for C1, I have PM+ automatically add the directory to a catalog with my keywords, along with standard IPTC metadata. It’s a great combo of tools. So PM+ for the catalog, rating, etc, C1 sessions for the heavy lifting.

Cool. That’s exactly the type of workflow I was thinking of. I have yet to use a c1 catalogue, I have just been using sessions so far - which I absolutely love.

How does PM show the C1 edits in its catalogue? Lightroom edits, for example, only show when viewing in LR or as an exported file. Does it catalogue the session as a whole thing, using the output folder to view the edits but storing the capture folder too? I’m confused as to how I would see the work I had done in capture one, within PM.

Then, I wonder if I can somehow import LR catalogues in to PM to have that accessible from there also, does that type of thing exist?

Thanks!

 

[r.harris1]

Like your experience with LR edits, PM won't be able to view them from C1 either so that's one reason I've been toying a bit more with C1's catalogs with some of their recent improvements to just test the waters. Because the edits in both C1 and LR are non-destructive, proprietary to each tool and aren't applied directly to the raw file (they're stored off separately), you'll just see the "raw raw" file in PM. Of course, it will show you any TIFFs, JPEGs, etc. PM won't be able to import catalog databases from either tool (C1/LR) but if your images are "referenced" in either tool, those raw files will show up in the PM catalog too (provided you've pointed PM to the image locations).

The workflow is not without its inconveniences, but for me, the benefits far outweigh any downsides. Like you, I primarily use sessions. I don't spend a ton of actual time searching for images but when I do, the ability to quickly find them in PM+ is terrific (plus having all of the other PM goodness).

 

[cupcakes2000]

So I suppose I could tag the raw with the app it was edited with (LR or C1 for example), which would mean that I get the benefit of PM for the catalogue, and when I have found what I’m looking for just ‘open in…’ in the relavent app.

I’m actually waiting to hear back whether I can get another free trial of PM - I used it up last year but couldn’t justify the purchase mid pandemic with no jobs on. But I was using only LR at that point so I haven’t tested it with my newer workflow. Hopefully they’ll agree to letting me have another month to test it!

I’m intrigued at the potential. I already loved PM for ingesting when I tested it - just wonder if the extra money is worth it for Plus.

 

[r.harris1]

So I suppose I could tag the raw with the app it was edited with (LR or C1 for example), which would mean that I get the benefit of PM for the catalogue, and when I have found what I’m looking for just ‘open in…’ in the relavent app.

I’m actually waiting to hear back whether I can get another free trial of PM - I used it up last year but couldn’t justify the purchase mid pandemic with no jobs on. But I was using only LR at that point so I haven’t tested it with my newer workflow. Hopefully they’ll agree to letting me have another month to test it!

I’m intrigued at the potential. I already loved PM for ingesting when I tested it - just wonder if the extra money is worth it for Plus.

Yep, that sounds like a good approach to me. The great thing about PM - regardless of whether you go for Plus - is that it’s a great value. You get the obvious tangible benefits of using the software that you’ve discovered but the outlay of cash is usually pretty long term. As of right now, they only ask for money on initial purchase and when they do a major upgrade (going from 5 to 6, for example). When I paid for 5, I think it was almost 10 years before they came out with 6 but they were always doing work on 5 during that time. The other part of the value equation is that they do tend to listen to their customers and are super responsive in the forums.

I wonder if you’d be able to do a trial on Plus since it’s a different download? I know they’re a very small company and they may not be responding because they’re just getting into the office after the break (but dunno).

 

[cupcakes2000]

I wonder if you’d be able to do a trial on Plus since it’s a different download? I know they’re a very small company and they may not be responding because they’re just getting into the office after the break (but dunno).

I tried plus and it said my trial had expired, so I imagine the framework in place to stop repeatedly using the free trial indefinitely is the same for both versions. I don't mind waiting for them to get back to work - I'm not in much of a hurry, other than to get a workflow sorted! I'm busy learning capture One anyway, so a second new app can certainly wait a bit. I can keep using Sessions and forget about a library until I'm ready to make a decision one way or the other.

Thanks for your insight though! Very interesting. I'm glad to know that my initial idea is not only workable but also in use already with other photographers.