dhsheffield

Hi hedgehogs

I just purchased a Sony a7Riii and I love the camera. I'm also a heavy user of lightroom.

Here's my question. What photo screening software is recommended before loading pics into lightroom?

The sony can fire off a lot of pictures in a short period of time. When shooting birds/wildlife, I'd like to screen the pics before taking the time and disk space to load into LR. What are your recommendations?

Thanks so much.

dave

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Download a 30-day free trial of Fast Raw Viewer and see if this resolves your quick culling / review needs. I only import into LR the images that make it through a 1- to 3-stage culling process in FRV.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I have Windows boxes and just use Windows Explorer Preview for the JPEGS to peruse what I want to keep or work with.

dhsheffield

Thanks for the quick response. Like you I shoot RAW and it looks like the Fast Raw Viewer is exactly what I need.

Thanks again!

Dave

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

Welcome.

cullumjt Loc: Central Florida

I read the info on the Fast Raw Viewer site. Looks very good. I’m also going to download the trial...it’s only $20 to buy for two computers anyway, so it looks great all around. Thanks for the tip!

rond-photography Loc: Connecticut

1. Import into LR.
2. In library, scroll through the photos with the right arrow on keyboard
3. Hit "X" key if you don't want the photo (reject photo)
(if you change your mind on it, hit the "U" key to Unflag it)
4. After marking all the rejects, hit the Ctrl + Backspace + Shift keys together
5. When LR asks "Remove or Delete from Disk" select Delete From Disk.

You end up with the same amount of disk space as if you launched some other software and
pre-screened the photos. Not worth the time spent.
Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Baysitter11 Loc: Cincinnati

Exactly my work flow. Why add another step when you can cull in LR before importing.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Lightroom is supposed to be the premier do to editor for pros who shoot hundreds of photos at a time. I suspect that they don’t take the extra time to preview each of hundreds before importing into LR. Their workflow should include a culling step with LR itself. I’m an amateur, I use PS Elements, and I do a rough culling before I import into Elements. I’m in no big hurry.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

Exactly.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Yep, Lightroom is the best culling tool there is, especially if you learn to use it.

photoman43

Many shooters use third party software to view and cull images before importing them into Lightroom. One to look at is Photo Mechanic, but it is not free.

Your Sony may come with a free Sony version of Capture One. Maybe this could be used.

Here is a link about using Photo Mechanic before LR

https://luminescentphoto.com/blog/2013/04/12/how-photo-mechanic-saved-me-from-hours-of-image-review-in-lightroom/

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Since you're heavy Lightroom user why not use Lightroom. After importing go into full View mode and you can hit shift p to pick or shift x to flag for rejection and it moves automatically to the next picture. you can quickly go through and and flag the ones you want to get rid of and then control a with the rejected as you're flag setting and delete them all at once.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Why add another step when you can cull in LR before importing.

Because you don't waste significant amounts of time waiting for LR to create 1:1 previews (during Import or a separate step later) needed to see and render the pixel level details. When you're talking about 1000 images of which there might be 50 worth keeping / editing, significant grossly understates the vast amount of time saved by culling external to LR and then importing only the true candidates for edits.

pep9454

I absolutely agree! I teach LR at our local community college and have been a studio owner for 43 yrs.

The fewer pieces of software you use, the faster and more time efficient you are!

You don't even have to import them all off the card if you don't want. Before importing, you will see a thumbnail of what's on the card. Click 'import' and you can cull before they are actually imported, you can even double click the thumb nail during the 'pre-import' and it will fill your monitor. At the bottom of the screen, there's a button that is 'checkable' that says 'Include in import'. If you don't want it, right arrow to the next image, etc. THEN when you've culled them using your card in a reader, you do the actual import of just the ones you want off the card! You don't have to cull after you've actually imported, after wasting the time to import and then 'delete' the files off of your HD.

What I've heard about Photo Mechanics is it was originally designed for photo journalists and sports photography. Pretty much everything you can do in Photo Mechanics, you can do in LR and so much more..

Again, the beauty of LR is it's so intimately connected with Photoshop and you don't have to use anything other than the PS/LR subscription...