Using PM+ with Capture One

[MikeA]

I've used Photo Mechanic but not PM+ yet (I've just downloaded the PM+ demo).

A big re-organization job: I'm putting a lot of of image files from memory cards into many subdirectories on an external drive. For now the files are organized by creation-date alone. They don't yet have keywords. I'll add keywords, and eventually they'll be edited in Capture One. Per a semi-recent Capture One tutorial, there's a straightforward PM-to-Capture-One-session workflow. It was a relief to learn about that. Several questions come to mind.

Let's say you bring many "scattered" (see above) images into a PM+ database where you do all the necessary keywording. Now you can create virtual collections bringing together the widely scattered images, grouped by subject-matter.

•  If you "select-all" in a collection and move the files all in a batch to a single destination directory on the drive, does PM+ (1) move the XMP files along with the raw files and (2) retain the moved files within the current PM catalogue?

In the past I found that some keywords added in Photo Mechanic 5 weren't recognized by Capture One. Sometimes Capture One even deleted keywords in an XMP file that had been written-to in PM. PM tech support was aware of the keyword problems and felt Capture One wasn't writing XMP correctly. But Capture One's tech support wasn't much interested at the time. My only guarantee against loss of keyword info was to restrict keywording to Capture One alone. It was pretty annoying (no fault of Camera Bits!).

•  Are there still known problems with keywords written in PM+ not always being recognized by Capture One?

•  Am I correct in assuming that PM+ does not read or understand Capture One's special ".EIP" file format?

Thanks in advance for feedback about these things.

[Kirk Baker]

Mike,

I've used Photo Mechanic but not PM+ yet (I've just downloaded the PM+ demo).

A big re-organization job: I'm putting a lot of of image files from memory cards into many subdirectories on an external drive. For now the files are organized by creation-date alone. They don't yet have keywords. I'll add keywords, and eventually they'll be edited in Capture One. Per a semi-recent Capture One tutorial, there's a straightforward PM-to-Capture-One-session workflow. It was a relief to learn about that. Several questions come to mind.

Let's say you bring many "scattered" (see above) images into a PM+ database where you do all the necessary keywording. Now you can create virtual collections bringing together the widely scattered images, grouped by subject-matter.

•  If you "select-all" in a collection and move the files all in a batch to a single destination directory on the drive, does PM+ (1) move the XMP files along with the raw files and (2) retain the moved files within the current PM catalogue?

It definitely will move the XMP sidecar file and any other associated files with the RAW file.  It should also update the catalog to the new location of the files.  If it doesn't then that's a bug.

Moving the files outside of Photo Mechanic Plus will definitely cause the catalog to lose track of the images.

In the past I found that some keywords added in Photo Mechanic 5 weren't recognized by Capture One. Sometimes Capture One even deleted keywords in an XMP file that had been written-to in PM. PM tech support was aware of the keyword problems and felt Capture One wasn't writing XMP correctly. But Capture One's tech support wasn't much interested at the time. My only guarantee against loss of keyword info was to restrict keywording to Capture One alone. It was pretty annoying (no fault of Camera Bits!).

•  Are there still known problems with keywords written in PM+ not always being recognized by Capture One?

This I do not know.

•  Am I correct in assuming that PM+ does not read or understand Capture One's special ".EIP" file format?

I believe Photo Mechanic Plus will ignore those files altogether and won't associate them with any image file format.

-Kirk

[MikeA]

Thanks for your reply, Kirk.

>> will move the XMP sidecar file and any other associated files with the RAW file.  It should also update the catalog to the new location of the files.

That's good—files placed in a PM+ collection could be moved to a C1 session's Capture folder and remain in the PM database. I can see it getting tricky if you move the files from one drive to another. (Say, if you want the raw files to remain stored on an external drive but do your editing in C1 sessions that are on your local drive. I'm beginning to wonder if the C1 sessions with all of their support files should be created on the external drive instead.)

>> Moving the files outside of Photo Mechanic Plus will definitely cause the catalog to lose track of the images.

Hmm. You might want to move a file from a C1 session's Capture folder to, say, its Selects folder. That should be done within C1 so that the associated utility files are moved to the right places. In which case Photo Mechanic+ would lose track of the file. Or use Photo Mechanic instead for the move, but then the necessary C1 support files don't move where they should be.

Clearly I'm doing penance for years of disorganization. :/

[MikeA]

(me:) Are there still known problems with keywords written in PM+ not always being recognized by Capture One?

This I do not know.

I've spent a while today with Photo Mechanic+ and Capture One, updating keywords and other metadata first in the one program and then the other—and sometimes editing the XMP files manually outside either program to see what would happen.

So far Capture One—version 21—hasn't ignored or tried to delete any keywords that were added within Photo Mechanic. That was a problem in the past.

Both Photo Mechanic and Capture One put keywords within the <dc:subject> element. Capture One adds—duplicates—the keywords also within a <lightroom:hierarchicalSubject> element when you tell it to synch metadata. Since the program accepts the <dc:subject> element's contents when it's the only one containing keywords, no idea why they'd also create <lightroom:hierarchicalSubject> in the XMP file. Doesn't seem necessary.

(Not to mention, that's the name of their major competitor. :-)