Catalog efficiency question in Lightroom 3.6

I currently have one catalog with over 22,000 photos and numerous collections in it. I recently heard about creating separate "catalogs" to better LR3's efficiency and to cut down the clutter so that I'm just working on one catalog at a time. Does anyone know the best way to go about this so as not to ruin all of my collections I have created over the past year?

Don't do it is the answer. For most uses one catalog is the best solution.

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I have a question about Lightroom 5... I used it last night, I go to get on it today and its will not open. I have an error msg "Lightroom encountered an error when reading from its preview cache and needs to quit" Lightroom will attempt to fix the proble

I have a question about Lightroom 5... I used it last night, I go to get on it today and its will not open. I have an error msg "Lightroom encountered an error when reading from its preview cache and needs to quit" Lightroom will attempt to fix the problem when reopened

https://forums.adobe.com/message/6219922#6219922
See if the issue in the thread above helps you to solve your problem.

Efficiency Question - Cutting Clips

Efficiency Question - Cutting Clips.
So I was wondering if there is a better way to cut my clips that I am not using. Basically I often have large long clips of raw footage that I cut down to the usable segments. Each raw file may be over an hour long and have 100s of small segments of live commentary, often I find I am cutting out slightly to long pauses in the talking and other stuff before I have a clip ready to send to the main edit.
Anyway, often I am zoomed will in so I can edit, and I press C, make a cut.. then make another a bit further up, press V, click on the segment I just cut out.. press delete and then click on and move the rest of the raw clip to the left to bump up where I made the first cut, often needing to zoom well out and then back in again to continue editing.
Is there a better way to do this? So I do not need to zoom in and out all the time... is there a way to delete a chunk of video form the sequence and have the clip automatically "close the gap" for me?
--Thanks

I would take the Source Clip into the Source Monitor.
Mark an In Point ("I") where the good content starts...and an Out Point ("O") where the good content stops.
Hit "," to Insert it to the Sequence.
Back to Source Monitor and repeat for the next section of good content in the same Source Clip..
No gaps . Done
Then ..if necessary...I would play thru the Sequence and do Trim Edits at the editpoints.
Many different ways to "skin the cat" at Trim stage.
Alternatively in the first part:
I would take the Source Clip into the Source Monitor.
Mark an In Point ("I") where the good content starts...and an Out Point ("O") where the good content stops.
CTRL-Drag to the Program Monitor.

A (final) catalog renaming question

Hi.
I've just found the following tip on how to rename my LR4 catalog:
(First of all look up in LR under Help /system info the actual location and the name of your catalog.
Then close Lightroom.
Go to the folder and change the name of:
LR 4 Catalog.lrcat
LR 4 Previews.lrdata
to
YourName Catalog.lrcat
YourName Previews.lrdata), which I'm sure works well. However, on my PC the path is
"Library Path: C:\Users\Ole\Pictures\Lightroom\Lightroom2Katalog\Backups\2011-11-08 2218\Lightroom2Katalog-2-2.lrcat",
that is, I suppose only a part of this will be the actual catalog, as I also have another catalog called
"Library Path: C:\Users\Ole\Pictures\Lightroom\Lightroom2Katalog\Lightroom2Katalog-2-2.lrcat
OK, this seems confusing, but to put it simple, I want to keep and rename the first of these, but I'm not quite sure which parts of the name I should change, ie how many back-slashes will have to be kept with the new catalog name. pe
Yes, I see I messed this up a bit. Hope you will be able to help, though.
Cheers,
Ole K

Hi Ole,
As long as you have one root folder encompassing every image you want to keep (such as probably "My Pictures"-folder) it is sufficiently organized.
You will move this folder (As-Is, with every weird subfolder!) to your new computer, along with your real working catalog and previews folder (the latter for convenience - you can let your new computer recreate the previews, but it may take more than the hours of 1 night, depending on the size of catalog and chosen preview size).
Should you have "?" for missing images and folders in LR on your new computer you will reassign the top root folder and everything should be spick&span.
I am not quite a fan of the *big electronic drawer* for REALLY everything, but depending on how much you shoot you should be well served e.g. by a date-folder structure with one folder per month (or even year?). 3000 images in one folder is without any problems, even in bug-times as in LR4.0.
But as dj_paige said, it is not worth while to reorganize the past.
Just start with such for new imports, let LR create these destination folders inside "My Pictures" during import. Then spend your time for other organisation. Ask yourself and the ones around you who may inherit your image data: how would you search for pictures several years/decades ahead? That is how you create dumb or smart collections, assign keywords and fill the title- and caption fields. No need to do much for location keywording any more if you feel comfortable with the map module.
Here is where I have my LR-knowledge from: Victoria Bampton's "The missing FAQs": http://www.lightroomqueen.com/books/adobe-lightroom-4-missing-faq/
Have fun, Cornelia

I posted a question in lightroom, but I am unable to join the discussion!

I posted a question in lightroom, but I am unable to join the discussion! I am logged in, but when I click on reply, nothing happens! All I can see is javascript(0)

Clem is telling you to click on the View menu, move the pointer down to the item "Metadata," & from its choices make sure "Show Titles" is selected. Do this, then make sure you are in a view in the main window that shows one or more videos (or whatever) that you want to title. Click once on one of them, & if the separate Info window is not open, open that (on the Windows menu or command + i as a keyboard shortcut). In the Info window the top line will be "Add a Title."
Click once on that & type your title.
This works for any item, video or photo.

Will Lightroom 5 catalogs be compatible with Lightroom CC?

Will Lightroom 5 catalogs be compatible with Lightroom CC?

Not exactly sure what you are asking.
When you run LR6 / CC for the first time it'll upgrade your LR5 catalogue by making a copy and using that for LR6. LR5 will continue to use the original catalogue.
So if you are asking will it use the same catalogue and will LR6 see any changes made in LR5 and vice-versa, then no.

Backing up catalog from inside of lightroom extremely slow (30 min)

I have a catalog that is just under 5gb, if I navigate to the folder where it is stored and copy paste it onto my backup drive it copies in under 2 min. However, if I chose to backup my catalog on exit from inside lightroom it takes over 30 minutes (not counting testing etc). Obviously I can backup my catalog manually, but it would be nice if the built in backup feature worked like it's supposed to.
I'm running win 7 64
lightroom 64 same probelm in 4.3 and 4.4
the catalog and lightroom are stored on a ssd drive
backing up to a NAS ( my typical transfer speeds are 60-80 MB/s)
Thanks for any thoughts
-Dan

I tried to the local ssd with only a small improvement. Like I said, if I navigate to the catalog manually and copy and paste it to the NAS it takes under 2 minutes... (80+ MB/s), but done through lightroom it just crawls. Lightroom either has a bug, or it's doing something much more than just copying the catalog to the selected directory. I've tried it with and with out check and optimize.
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:57:27 -0700
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: backing up catalog from inside of lightroom extremely slow (30 min)
    Re: backing up catalog from inside of lightroom extremely slow (30 min)
    created by web-weaver in Photoshop Lightroom - View the full discussion
A 5 GB Lr catalog is a hefty catalog. But 30 min seems a bit long even for that. I suspect that the NAS drive or its connection speed are slowing things down.Try this: Create a catalog backup from within Lr to an internal drive to check whether that will speed up the process.
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Lightroom catalog maintenance question.

The Lightroom catalog is a convenient feature that allows changes to photographs without making changes to the original picture.
I have had problems when I have to reorganize folders and files in Windows. If I rename a folder in Windows I damage the path to the pictures and I lose the Lightroom catalog.
I have a very dynamic set of image files that have to be created and filed away (deleted) very frequently and the stability of the Lightroom catalog seems to be in the way. Maintenance of the Catalog feels like an extra burden.
What is the best way to repair (modify) the Catalog links to the Windows files when they have been deleted or renamed?
Thanks in advance.
Al

You can change the links via
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm
I have a very dynamic set of image files that have to be created and filed away (deleted) very frequently and the stability of the Lightroom catalog seems to be in the way.
Most people don't delete photos once imported into LR, and everything works very smoothly. Once the photo is imported, leave it in Lightroom. Saves you some work.
Furthermore, the idea of importing the photos to a certain location, working with the photos and then moving the photos somewhere else might make sense in your operating system, but in Lightroom this is an extra step with no obvious benefits (in my opinion). Better would be to import the photos to their destination, and not perform the two-step Move to Folder A followed by Move to Folder B.
By the way, I hope you understand that if you delete photos from Lightroom (but not from your hard disk), your edits may not stay with the actual photos. By default, the edits and other metadata are not stored with the photo files.
And as John said, an organization scheme that uses keywords and other metadata will be far superior in the long-run than moving photos from folder to folder and location to location.

Catalog or file problem Lightroom 4

I had to reload my entire system from a backup image. Now my catalog is cutting off at the date of the backup image and many of the files show a question mark. The disk I use to store my images is intact but Lightroom is not getting to them. I can't seem to direct Lightroom to these images. Can someone help me straighten this out?

The disk I use to store my images is intact but Lightroom is not getting to them. I can't seem to direct Lightroom to these images. Can someone help me straighten this out?
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

Export catalog problem/question involving previews.

I just returned from a month long trip with a laptop and external drive containing 280gb (~11000 raw files) of photos which are in the same directory layout as my desktop (year/date -- e.g. root/Photos/2012/2012-12-01). For speed reasons the catalog and previews are on the laptop's C: internal drive which is an SSD. Some of these photos have already been edited, and about half of them have * ratings. All of them have at least a few keywords assigned. I want to finish the selection and editing on my much faster desktop with better monitors.
My aim is to get the remote catalog into the desktop's catalog (on its SSD E: drive) and the raw files onto my big drive with all my other photos without losing any of my work. And then wipe the portable drive so it is ready for the next trip. The plan was to
1. Export the catalog and previews only.
2. Import that into the desktop.
3. Drag/drop the the raw files into the main photo drive (and manually reconnect each day if needed).
---The message I got with the export is: "Lightroom was able to export some of the photos to the new catalog, but encountered these problems." "Photo previews could not be found (4446)" ...and then it lists the raw names in expandable groups of 100. These photos do not appear to have anything in common but there are so many of them it is hard to tell.
So I have a couple of questions: What does this error mean? Are the previews in any way necessary to preserve my work? (as I understand it the previews are expendable and would just be rebuilt, and if this is the case, it is not a problem. But that's only what I have read from various online sources). The way I read this message, it is only a minor inconvenience but that is based on the assumption the previews are expendable and the catalog is what is important. What concerns me is the wording:
"Lightroom was able to export some of the photos" --which leads me to think the previews are not expendable.
If this were just a few dozen photos I would experiment, but I dont want to mess up my main catalog with thousands of potential errors! I am running 4.4 on both machines. Thank you in advance for any insight or advice!

George in Seattle wrote:
...---The message I got with the export is: "Lightroom was able to export some of the photos to the new catalog, but encountered these problems." "Photo previews could not be found (4446)" ...and then it lists the raw names in expandable groups of 100. These photos do not appear to have anything in common but there are so many of them it is hard to tell.
So I have a couple of questions: What does this error mean? Are the previews in any way necessary to preserve my work?
To answer your original question: You have probably ticked "Include available previews" when you did the Export as Catalog.
But not all previews were available, hence the error message.
I did not test if this affects the entire export of the catalog entry pertaining to the image in question.
But as you correctly stated: previews can be built by each computer running LR again, independantly. It just takes some time. But then so does the transfer of the quite substantial preview data (depending on size specified).
So I would not bother transferring previews, just leave it unticked. Then no such error messages would occur.
Your description no 1. would now be: export the catalog (i.e. the .lrcat file only, assuming you do 3. separately and have "Export negative file" unticked).
But if your travel-laptop did get a new catalog just for the trip, there would be no need to export anything.
Then you just plug your laptop accessible for your desktop, open your master catalog on the desktop and do an "Import from Another Catalog" from the complete travel-catalog.
Have your external-travel-HD plugged, then move the folders inside LR from travel-HD to your big disk.
Saves you reconnecting each folder.
Cornelia

Efficiency Question: Simple Java DC vs Used WD Component

Hello guys,
The scenario is - I want to call a function that returns a FileInputStream object so I can process it on my WD view. I can think of two approaches - one is to simply write a simple Java DC that does so and just use it as a used DC so I can call the functionality from there. Or create another WD DC that exposes the value (as binary) via component interface.
I'm leaning on the simple Java DC approach - its easier to create. But I'm just curious on what would be the Pro-side (if there's any) if I use the WD Component interface approach? Is there a plus for the efficiency? (Though I doubt) Or is it just a 'best/recommended practice' approach?
Thanks!
Regards,
Jan

Hi Jan
>one is to simply write a simple Java DC that does so and just use it as a used DC so I can call the functionality from there
Implemented Java API for the purpose mentioned in your question is the right way, I think. The Java API can be even located in the same WebDynpro DC as your WebDynpro components. There is not strongly necessity to put it into separate Java DC.
>Or create another WD DC that exposes the value (as binary) via component interface
You should not do this because in general WD components' purpose is UI, not API. Implementing WD component without any UI, but with some component interface has very-very restricted use cases. Such WD component shall only be a choice in the cases when the API is WebDynpro based and if you have to strongly use WebDynpro Runtime API in order to implement your own API.
If your API does not require WebDynpro Runtime API invocations or anything else related to WebDynpro then your choice is simple Java API.
>But I'm just curious on what would be the Pro-side (if there's any) if I use the WD Component interface approach? Is there a plus for the efficiency?
No. Performance will be better in simple Java API then in WebDynpro component interface. The reason is the API will not pass thought heavy WebDynpro engine.
BR, Siarhei

Curious question about Lightroom previews and Camera Raw Cache

Posted in the Flickr Lightroom Group as well:
I have noticed something about the Lightroom (3.6) previews and Camera Raw cache that have me puzzled.
I create a brand new empty catalog and purge the Camera Raw Cache.
Then I import ONE Nikon RAW (NEF) file with dimensions 2592 x 3872 (10 megapixels - 10,036,224 pixels).
Next I export that NEF file to an uncompressed 8-bit TIFF file. You would expect the size of that TIFF file to be roughly 30 megabytes (10 megapixels x 3 bytes per RGB value) and in fact the TIFF file is 30,135,830 bytes in size. If you export the same TIFF file but specify ZIP compression the resulting file size is 10,834,038 bytes. Obviously the compression obtained here is going to be highly specific to the image but so far no surprises.
During import I specify render 1:1 previews and I go into Loupe mode and view the entire image at 1:1 size. I also visit the develop module and do a bunch of manipulations on the image but no cropping.
At the conclusion of all of that I exit from Lightroom and examine the size of the Camera Raw Cache folder as well as the Lightroom previews folder. It would be my expectation that the previews folder should have a rendered full image and that the Camera Raw Cache should also have a rendered form of the raw data. What would you expect the size of those respective folders to be?
In fact - in my trials the previews folder totals a mere 1,675,264 bytes and the Camera Raw Cache which contains one DAT file corresponding to the one cached image is merely 267,374 bytes. This does not seem like nearly enough bits to preserve the rendered image nor is there a full size image tucked away in the actual catalog either - that file is not large enough to contain that. And yet I can use Loupe mode at 1:1 size and move from image to image with no loading delays (even when importing multiple files).
I'm wondering if I've missed something obvious in my analysis and if not, whether someone might care to speculate as to what magic Adobe is practicing here. Even if we grant them some special algorithm to compress their previews I don't see how they can achieve a compression so much greater than the ZIP-compressed TIFF file achieves.
And for those that might think to ask - I've repeated these experiments with multiple raw images and on both the PC and MAC platforms.
I look forward to some answers or interesting theories or perhaps someone might replicate the experiment and report findings.

MadMan and Hal - thanks so much.
So that was my D'Oh moment of what I was missing - the use of re-rendered JPGS as previews. That certainly does fit with the file sizes I am seeing. I had naively assumed that the previews might have tried to preserve the full fidelity of the image - But as you suggest that full fidelity is likely only there in the develop module.
This perhaps explains another observation from the Develop module - moving from one image to another might display "Loading" either briefly or across a longer duration. My guess is that the length of the loading process might have to do more with what is cached in RAM than cached on disk in the camera raw cache. More of a shame then that 64-bit Lightroom on 64-Bit Windows cannot grab more RAM than it seems to do at present.

It seems that I have lost all my photos/catalogs on my Mac - Lightroom 5. When turning on Lightroom there are no photos listed and nothing comes up.

Upon turning on Lightroom 5 on my Mac Book Pro there are no photos listed in the Library. I do have external backup but need to understand what might have happened that I have lost the photos and how to get them back into lightroom. I was editing earlier in the day and now nothing! It is as though I never imported any photos - says photos 0.

Look under File->Open Recent, try the catalogs listed there.

Question - Why Lightroom is not releasing memory?

I've posted this question earlier and was wondering if anyone else is having this problem.
After Lightroom is closed everything slows down. I checked the Task Manager Process tab and noticed the LR is still hogging the memory at 80% to 92%. I have to end the task from there. I don't want to do this every time I shutdown the program. Is there a fix?
Thanks

I cannot duplicate this as reported with V1.0 trial on Windows XP.
Memory allocations and CPU use varies with the gestures I make to the number of photos chosen. I see memory go up for each module loaded (hint: if you never use the Print, Slideshow or Web modules, don't click on them; they appear to be loaded upon demand) but it memory is also released. Average CPU seems reasonable for a foreground application.
Now, for larger libraries, I bet Lr has to flush all the journaled changes, close up some big structures and finalize all the library stuff. This could probably take a noticeable amount of time after the GUI has closed. I'd expect this work to be finalized in a short amount of time and the actual process disappear.
I guess with a really large library with a lot of pending changes this might take seconds, but even if it is minutes I'd just let it work (maybe purging previews?). A lot of big apps are designed with the new "defer what you can" paradigm, which means you defer a lot of housekeeping to shutdown to decrease startup time (and, therefore, increase perceived application performance).
Real operating systems will give an app that is the process of shutting down access to the resources it needs to complete without starving other processes.
If this is always a problem you might want to raise this with Adobe. It could be a deadlock somewhere.

Fundamental Question about Lightroom and saving images

I have to laugh as I get ready to pose this question because I've been working with the program for two weeks with Scott Kelby's book and with Lynda.com, and I'm still profoundly confused about what is happening to the photo. To wit: I open a camera raw file in lightroom and start playing with it, even taking snapshots at various stages along the way. If I don't export the photo to Photoshop and save it there, what becomes of these changes? Do they stay with the photo always? Do they disappear when I shut down the program? There's no SAVE button with Lightroom which just plain flummoxes me! Can anyone 'splain this to me, please? Thanks.

To clarify. Nothing happens to your originals. Lightroom stores the edits in a database (and if you wish alongside the original in a xmp sidecar file) as a set of instructions that the program uses to recreate the end product by following the instructions. These instructions are changed in the database while you're changing parameter values in Lightroom, so there is no need to save. Also, Lightroom stores a history of changes you did, so you can always go back. Both Lightroom and Adobe's camera raw plugin for photoshop can be used to follow the set if instructions. This way, you always get the highest fidelity image and you can always go back to your development choices without loosing any quality or having to dig up backups. Because of this, you can create multiple virtual copies with different development approaches without having to make a copy of the original and therefore saving you gobs and gobs of disk space. When you need a file for consumption such as a jpeg for a web page, simply export a copy, which burns in your development changes in a developed copy (just like printing a negative would have in the olden days) and trash the copy when you're done with it. You can always recreate it very quickly. This is a radically different approach than you're probably used to.

Catalog efficiency question in Lightroom 3.6

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