kd7eir wrote:
Again, EXTRA STEPS mandated by Lightroom. I prefer my software to make my life EASIER, and adding EXTRA STEPS is not EASIER.
Want to QUICKLY edit a single new image? Lightroom makes you use an ADDITIONAL piece of software for that PRIVILEGE. And even then Lightroom is not aware of that image.
Everything that that you just described needing THREE applications to accomplish (ACR/Bridge/Lightroom) I can do in ONE application with DxO.
As for backups, Lightroom requires you to create an EXTRA step when creating your backup routine - it makes no difference that it may be automated from that point, it STILL requires EXTRA STEPS in the setup. That is the opposite of user-friendly. My backup routine is simple - backup my image folders. One step and DONE. Anytime you add complexity to a task, it becomes exponentially easier for that task to fail.
I have NEVER lost an image or keywords or edits using DxO. Just by reading these forum's it's obvious that people lose images/keywords/edits via the ACR/Lightroom/Bridge/Photoshop schema.
Import 100 images in Lightroom, set up all your keywords, make several edits - Oh NO! my computer crashed! My Lightroom catalog is corrupted and I didn't have a chance to back it up before the crash. That's OK, just start over FROM THE BEGINNING.
Same scenario with DxO? There is no catalog to corrupt, so no starting over. You MAY lose the work you were doing on the SINGLE IMAGE that you were working on at the time of the crash, but everything else is already completed. Databases, which the Lightroom catalog is, are notoriously susceptible to corruption if being edited during a computer crash.
There is no way to spin it - Lightroom adds complexity to the workflow that DxO does not. This added complexity makes data loss far more likely.
Again, many people like it, and that's fine. But that popularity does NOT erase the FACT that Lightroom adds complexity to the workflow that is entirely unnecessary.
Again, EXTRA STEPS mandated by Lightroom. I prefer... (
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You really have some serious misconceptions about how to best work with Lightroom - and they seem to be based on the fact that you are trying to use it just like every other program you have used.
One more time - I can edit a single image easily - placing it in a Watched Folder - no extra steps - I don't even have to click on the image to launch the application. I launch the application, and BINGO, the single image (or more) are in the watched folder ready for editing.
While I like DXO and use it quite a bit for it's exceptionally good noise reduction (Prime) and sharpening (Lens Softness), it's excellent lens profiles, volume anamorphosis correction, and keystone correction, there are a number of things I can't do with it - local adjustments with a brush/radial/linear filter, spotting, red eye reduction, fast access to images already in the catalog (I've got 200,000 images and trying to find a single one would take a while without LR's catalog and indexing), making virtual collections of images for a variety of purposes, and in extreme cases of deliberate underexposure, freedom from posterization, watermarking, detailed and robust output options, merging to HDR or Panorama, and the biggest one for my use - being able to generate a unique camera profile for each camera and each lighting scenario using an XRite Color Checker Passport, so that all images are consistently neutral and they appear as if they were taken by a single camera. Another huge benefit is being able to shoot tethered, using a USB cable. Being able to have all the parties in a room during a shoot, and have the Creative Director for the client approve the images on the spot - that is a major time saver. All of the things that DXO does not do would require at least one other program, and in some cases more, to execute. And some things, like the custom profile many not even be possible.
Backups - I run my backup to back up my files - pretty much exactly as you do - one operation, and it runs nightly, every night. It backs up my catalog and preview files and image files to 2 different external drives. Not sure what you mean by an "extra" step. I do exactly what you do. I back up my files.
I routinely import hundreds of images, sometimes from multiple shooters, from events. It is not unusual for me to come back from a day's shooting at an equestrian competition with 1800 images. I have yet to have a problem in the 4 yrs I've been using LR. When I did use DXO for this, it would take at least a day for me to generate proofs. With LR, I can do 1600 images in 3-4 hours.
I've heard that catalogs can become corrupted, though I've never experienced this. One the few occasions that my LR was unstable and it stopped working, only the edits in the current image were lost. The other images and there edits in the current session remained intact - I only had to restart the process with the image I was editing. No need at all to go back and re-import the entire session.
The complexity appears to be entirely in your mind - you are having problems getting your head around the underlying concept of LR, and you obviously lack the familiarity, perhaps because of your bias and reluctance.
DXO is great, but limited. LR is great as well, and while it doesn't do some things as well as DXO, it does a whole bunch of other things that are meaningful in a working photographer's workflow, which accounts for it's immense popularity. If I simplify my workflow (basically making it faster), I don't see how that translates to time-robbing and unnecessary complexity as you have characterized.
If you don't want to continue to sound foolish, take a course and learn LR. Then your credibility will soar. Right now, you are sounding like you have no real working experience with it - and your criticisms are both incorrect and silly.
In the meantime I hope I have clarified how LR can help a workflow, and addressed each and every one of your complaints with accurate, fact-based and experience-based information. I would hate to see someone lose out on the opportunity to use a great piece of software based on your negative comments alone. Don't get me wrong, I think DXO should be a part of everyone's workflow - but at best all you can do is create proof quality images, so for proper professional photofinishing, you still need to go to another package - a pixel-level editor. The same is true for LR - and the way it works seamlessly with other programs makes it a complete pleasure to use.