Working with Capture One-Couple questions

[Chawn]

Hi guys!

I'm not a photographer who uses the wire services but I do prefer Photomechanic over everything else simply for rating, viewing, and selecting images.  I'm not a big fan of Lightroom and prefer Capture One for my raw conversions and basic editing.  I also prefer to use "Session-Based" workflows as opposed to a catalog structure.  While this adds to my preference toward Capture One, it also means I need to try to use Photomechanic as much as possible for digging through my work.  I use Nikon and Hasselblad so for the most part, my use of PM is with regard to my NEF files.

First, I have a question about the browser in Photomechanic.  Trying to keep my file organization simple, my images are in folders as follows: "Pegasus" (my Raid drive) > Image Library (folder) > subfolders for each event.  When I'm using PM, I have to drill down into each subfolder until I get to the one with the raw files.  Is there any settings I might be missing in Preferences that would have Photomechanic open up images or reference the subfolders immediately when I double click the master folder?
If I can't accomplish this, does anyone have a suggestion for a work-around that would allow me to easily view the body of work in a single window?

Second, I know that I'm somewhat limited to how deeply I can integrate things because of Capture One's architecture (opening images directly in the editor, etc).  What I am curious about is regarding the correct preference settings for both Photomechanic AND Capture One with regard to metadata.
I want to use PM and it's IPTC Stationary to handle the metadata of my files; I'm doing this now anyway.  When I add color flags, tags, star ratings, etc in Photomechanic, should this information remain the same even if I use a different color flag in Capture One?  I know that I cannot get the two programs to communicate with each other very well, and I've actually set up the color flags and keyboard shortcuts to match each other.  But if for instance, I've set an orange flag to an image in Photomechanic and later set it as a blue flagged image in Capture One, can I expect Photomechanic to continue to see the image with it's original Orange flag?
In other words, I guess what I'm trying to ensure is that rather than have the two programs share metadata changes, I specifically want to make sure that metadata set in Photomechanic remains and is not altered by anything done Capture One.  Can anyone advise me as to which preferences need to be set in both programs to facilitate this?

Third question:  When I'm using Photomechanic to view images that are inside Capture One's "Selects" folders and have been modified with Capture One, the images that PM is seeing are off a great deal in terms of color.  With portraits/headshots, skin tones are extremely red, etc.  Is there a setting in PM's preferences I need to set in order to view a more accurate version of the images?

I think that's all I really need to ask; thanks!

Chawn

[Kirk Baker]

Chawn,

I'm not a photographer who uses the wire services but I do prefer Photomechanic over everything else simply for rating, viewing, and selecting images.  I'm not a big fan of Lightroom and prefer Capture One for my raw conversions and basic editing.  I also prefer to use "Session-Based" workflows as opposed to a catalog structure.  While this adds to my preference toward Capture One, it also means I need to try to use Photomechanic as much as possible for digging through my work.  I use Nikon and Hasselblad so for the most part, my use of PM is with regard to my NEF files.

First, I have a question about the browser in Photomechanic.  Trying to keep my file organization simple, my images are in folders as follows: "Pegasus" (my Raid drive) > Image Library (folder) > subfolders for each event.  When I'm using PM, I have to drill down into each subfolder until I get to the one with the raw files.  Is there any settings I might be missing in Preferences that would have Photomechanic open up images or reference the subfolders immediately when I double click the master folder?
If I can't accomplish this, does anyone have a suggestion for a work-around that would allow me to easily view the body of work in a single window?

You can right-click on the master folder and choose to open the folder and its subfolders into a single contact sheet tab.  Please note that this may completely overload PM (depends on how many images you have) and performance may suffer.

Second, I know that I'm somewhat limited to how deeply I can integrate things because of Capture One's architecture (opening images directly in the editor, etc).  What I am curious about is regarding the correct preference settings for both Photomechanic AND Capture One with regard to metadata.
I want to use PM and it's IPTC Stationary to handle the metadata of my files; I'm doing this now anyway.  When I add color flags, tags, star ratings, etc in Photomechanic, should this information remain the same even if I use a different color flag in Capture One?  I know that I cannot get the two programs to communicate with each other very well, and I've actually set up the color flags and keyboard shortcuts to match each other.  But if for instance, I've set an orange flag to an image in Photomechanic and later set it as a blue flagged image in Capture One, can I expect Photomechanic to continue to see the image with it's original Orange flag?

It really depends on how Capture One writes its metadata and where it writes it.  PM uses the standard XMP sidecar files or embeds XMP directly into the image (most modern applications understand XMP) and will pick up on changes to XMP metadata.  If C1 writes its metadata somewhere else, then PM isn't going to see those changes.  XMP sidecar files reside in the same folder as the image and have the same base name as the image.

In other words, I guess what I'm trying to ensure is that rather than have the two programs share metadata changes, I specifically want to make sure that metadata set in Photomechanic remains and is not altered by anything done Capture One.  Can anyone advise me as to which preferences need to be set in both programs to facilitate this?

Perhaps others that have more experience with C1 can help you.  I would expect that a XMP sidecar (no embedded XMP) workflow would be best.

Third question:  When I'm using Photomechanic to view images that are inside Capture One's "Selects" folders and have been modified with Capture One, the images that PM is seeing are off a great deal in terms of color.  With portraits/headshots, skin tones are extremely red, etc.  Is there a setting in PM's preferences I need to set in order to view a more accurate version of the images?

It sounds like C1 isn't updating the embedded JPEG preview when you make changes to the look of your images.  In order to view those changes, PM would have to get access to C1's proprietary rendering technology (which is very unlikely to happen.)  If you can get C1 to generate a JPEG in the same folder with the same base name as the RAW file, PM will pair the RAW and the JPEG and by default, will show you the JPEG out of the pair.  You would then see the look you expect.

HTH,

-Kirk

[Chawn]

Thanks a ton!  I'll fiddle with some of the settings on Capture One's side and see if I can affect the jpg previews.

[Soizic]

Very interesting !
I am trying a C1 demo to perhaps substitue CNX2 later. I keep PM like Chawn to nest my pictures.
Best regards

[Chawn]

@soizic, I think if you are willing to give up many of the integration and other conveniences with Capture One, you'll be thrilled with it's overall raw conversion performance!

I'm messing with Media Pro currently to fill in some of the gaps, but I'm 100% dedicated to keeping Photomechanic on the front end of my image culling.  The good folks at Camera Bits have really built a powerhouse and they provide a really robust amount of support.  I couldn't be happier with this company.

[Soizic]

Chawn, excuse me I am very late.

Now I use C1 every day ;  firstI use  PM for the fist sort and hierarchic keywords. I don't change name at this point, it is easy with C1.

I noticed that C1 read keywords in my NEF if I put them with PM before opening  C1.

 I works only with sessions ; when finish, I choice a jpg output, or a tif; sometimes I ask C1 to open a tif (or several) directly in one of the nik-collection ; very pleasant, after the end of treatment, I have the new tif  in  C1. I think it is similar with PS.
Il is easy to get together two sessions, just drag and drop nef from one to other.

I keep LightRoom for catalog until Kirk's announcement !

Excuse my bad english…
Best regards