Importing PM5 stars into LR

[DrBobke]

Hi all,

I love the help I received on the previous post and wanted to ask one more question.

I have a copy of PM5 running on my laptop now and I really love the speed it provides!
When I am culling the images in PM5 after a shoot, I generally set 1 * for images I want to keep, 2 * for a sneak preview for the clients and zero for the ones I kick out.

As I am shooting several weddings, I always import images whenever I can and sometimes start culling during a quick break. However, I am always scared I will lose images, so I keep all files on the SD and CF cards and continue shooting the cards until they are full and replace them with new cards.  So what I would usually do in LR, is import all images, set X to mark for deletion and keep the rest.  I import the new images (same card) after x amount of time.  By having images marked as "X", they will not be imported again, but only import the new images.

This would work the same way in PM5.
Now the question is, can I import only the 1 and 2 * images into LR? I have been trying to figure this out for a couple of hours, but can't seem to find out how..  The reason for getting PM5, was to speed up my workflow and not import / make smart previews / 1:1 previews for all images, but just for my selection.

I do understand I can easily select the 0 * images in PM5 and delete them, but then they will be re-imported when I ingest from the same card.

If that is not possible, I'll have to delete the card after every import, but I am always scared my HDD will crash, Laptop stolen, or CF/SD card will crash.  I never delete the cards until I get home, get the images transferred to my desktop (which will then back up to 3 separate external HDD's in different locations and one online storage location - yes, I am paranoid about losing my work).

I hope it makes sense and the readers understand what I am trying to accomplish.

Best regards,

DrBobke

[Hayo Baan]

I think incremental ingest is what you are looking for (checkbox on the ingest dialog). PM will then remember the images you already ingested and not ingest them again. With that option set, you can delete the images from your computer (and not have LR import them) and still they would not ingest anew when you reinsert the card. I too keep my images on my cards after ingesting them until I at least have two backups.

Hope this answers your question.

[DrBobke]

Hayo,  Dank je wel!

But I wonder (I'd have to check), when I delete the images in PM5 (being the 0*), won't the images I just erased, be imported on the laptop again? (I know that is what happens in Lightroom, if you delete them).

[Kirk Baker]

But I wonder (I'd have to check), when I delete the images in PM5 (being the 0*), won't the images I just erased, be imported on the laptop again? (I know that is what happens in Lightroom, if you delete them).

No.  PM tracks what it has downloaded and won't download them again if Incremental Ingest is active.

-Kirk

[calfoto]

Since the main concern seems to be the worry that your HDD might crash and you'll lose the clients images you might consider picking up a portable HD which you can plug into the laptop.

Then when you injest the files you'll already have a backup as PM will allow you to send the files to two different HD's concurrently.

I do this when shooting events on the road as well as back in my home office. I've always considered this capability to be one of PM's best features.

The other thing you can do (With PM) is move your outtakes to a sub-folder and set Lightroom to ignore files in sub-folders - It will then injest only your selected images and you won't need to delete anything at that point - I do this all the time and it works just fine.

[DrBobke]

Thanks a lot for your answers!

I LOVE PM!!! I left some images on the card and had another shoot over the weekend and it only imported the new images! That is really awesome and great!

@Calfoto : thanks for your suggestion too, I usually do this as well, but I don't really love the option as much (you can do the same in LR).  I usually keep my laptop in my bag or in a back room somewhere during weddings and go there to upload.  I would keep the ext HDD and Laptop together, so if someone was to 'take' my laptop, they would probably also take the ext hdd as well.

Even if I were to take the laptop to my bag, it could get stolen from there.  Generally, I don't like to leave stuff in my car (heat in the summer, cold/condensation in the winter time, and the chance of being broken into, or if the car is further away, I'd have to walk back and forth every time).  I know it's not ideal, but this way I feel "safest".

Thanks again for your quick replies!

DrBobke

[Kirk Baker]

DrBobke,

@Calfoto : thanks for your suggestion too, I usually do this as well, but I don't really love the option as much (you can do the same in LR).  I usually keep my laptop in my bag or in a back room somewhere during weddings and go there to upload.  I would keep the ext HDD and Laptop together, so if someone was to 'take' my laptop, they would probably also take the ext hdd as well.

Even if I were to take the laptop to my bag, it could get stolen from there.  Generally, I don't like to leave stuff in my car (heat in the summer, cold/condensation in the winter time, and the chance of being broken into, or if the car is further away, I'd have to walk back and forth every time).  I know it's not ideal, but this way I feel "safest".

What about a high capacity USB thumbdrive?  You can keep it in your pocket and use it as an Ingest destination for backup.

-Kirk

[DrBobke]

Thanks kirk, sounds like a plan, I have a 64Gb thumb drive right now, but I will need to get a bigger one for weddings then... But I like the way you think!

[olidie]

My laptop fortunately has a full size SD card slot. I use a big SD card to mirror my picture folder whenever a change is done to that folder. This is my security backup in case the harddrive fails. Back home I just pop the card into my desktops cardreader, my backup software detects the card by its serial number and automatically knows where to store these new pictures. So far this method has proved to very convenient for me.