Presale Questions

[devenh]

I'm evaluating PM for my sports photography busines, www.biglens.com, and I have several presales questions.

As background, I do a great deal of alpine ski racing photography.  A typical race may have 100 racers who take two runs down the course and I take about 3 photos per racer per run, so about 600 total photos.  After the racer goes by I record the bib number using a voice memo.  Racers frequently go in bib order on the first run, but not so on the second run.

For example, the bib numbers of the first nine photos taken on the second run might be 12, 12, 12*, 3, 3, 3*, 28, 28, 28* (asterisk denotes a frame with a voice memo).

Warning <g>: most of my questions are about saving one or two keystrokes or mouse clicks per photos.  While it may sound trivial, multiply these by 600 or more and it really adds up.

1. Is there a way in the IPTC Info dialog to to automatically play the sound file so that I don't have to click on the Play button?

2. Again in the IPTC Info dialog, I can see how you can zoom the image to the size of the dialog box by clicking on the image. Is it possible to zoom the image to full screen or 100%. If not, I'd suggest a Ctrl+Click option to zoom full screen.

3. Is there a way I can enter data into an IPTC field and move to the next photo using the keyboard?  IOW, I don't want to have to move my hand from the keyboard to the mouse and click Save & > and then move my hand back to the keyboard.

4. Using the sequence of bib numbers above as an example, I REALLY want to avoid having to enter a bib number into each image seperately.  I would like to only enter bib 12 into frame 3, bib 3 into frame 6, and bib 28 into frame 9 and have PM copy the IPTC info into the preceeding frames.  This would mean I could edit 200 frames rather than 600, a HUGE savings.  How could this work?  Let's say I was just editing the Caption field, PM would backfill this field until it encountered a non empty Caption.

5. Do code replacements (great feature, BTW) have to be in the form of \code\?  Would it not be possible for them to take the form \code (without the trailing \)?  I understand I can use a character other than \, but I would like to save another keystroke <g>?  In my case I would be using bib numbers, so I would likely have \1, \11, \110, etc.  I can see that this is more ambiguous without the trailing \, but if standard word deliminiters like space, comma, period, EOL, etc., are used it should not be a problem (this is how the escape characters are used in HTML and programming languages).

Okay, some non-IPTC questions.

6. Can the Read Only and Hidden file attributes be set with PM?  I use this feature often with Nikon View and it seems to be missing with PM.

7. I like how PM can handle Raw+Jpg files (showing one image for both).  I wish other programs were as elegant.  Unfortunately they are not and I usually end up placing the jpg files in their own jpg directory.  I find the process of doing this in PM very awkward (Ctrl Y).  I would much rather prefer to select the jpg files and drag them to a new location.  Is this possible when in Raw+Jpg mode or is Ctrl Y the only option?

8.  The EXIF Lens info PM displays is really the focal length.  I understand from other threads that displaying the true lens info (e.g. 70 - 200mm) is challenging.  I do know that Opanda is able to show the min and max of both mm and f stop for a lens, so an f2.8 70-200 is shown as 70/1, 200/1, 2.8/1, 2.8/1 in Opanda.  Would this info be difficult to provide? 

The reason I ask here is that sorting photos by Lens (really focal length) is not very useful when using zooms with overlapping ranges.  I also want to be able to figure out what lens I've used.  With enough of the above data, it seems I could put together a "code replacement" type list of my lenses that PM could use to update the IPTC or EXIF info.

Thanks for your help,

Deven

[Wolvie]

"4. Using the sequence of bib numbers above as an example, I REALLY want to avoid having to enter a bib number into each image seperately.  I would like to only enter bib 12 into frame 3, bib 3 into frame 6, and bib 28 into frame 9 and have PM copy the IPTC info into the preceeding frames.  This would mean I could edit 200 frames rather than 600, a HUGE savings.  How could this work?  Let's say I was just editing the Caption field, PM would backfill this field until it encountered a non empty Caption."

"5. Do code replacements (great feature, BTW) have to be in the form of \code\?  Would it not be possible for them to take the form \code (without the trailing \)?  I understand I can use a character other than \, but I would like to save another keystroke <g>?  In my case I would be using bib numbers, so I would likely have \1, \11, \110, etc.  I can see that this is more ambiguous without the trailing \, but if standard word deliminiters like space, comma, period, EOL, etc., are used it should not be a problem (this is how the escape characters are used in HTML and programming languages).
"

You are making way too much work for yourself...LOL..  Here is what you should do.  It will take you no time to caption 600 images.  The key is using code replacement and the stationary pad.

1. sort your images into folders by bid number.  make sure the folders names are the bid number

2. select all the images in the folder and apply a global stationary pad to all the images in that folder

3. your done.

4. move to the next folder until done.

here is the key to your happiness and to never having to make a keystroke :
before or after the event set up your stationary pad.   In the fields where you want the skier's name to appear use the variable {folder} between the slashes like this: \{folder}\

PM will read the folder name and then place the number between the slashes, then it will check the code replacement file you've designated and replace the number with the skier's name.

brilliant, eh?

I'm guessing this procedure might take an hour, may be two at most to complete at most to complete.

[Kirk Baker]

Deven,

I'm evaluating PM for my sports photography busines, www.biglens.com, and I have several presales questions.

As background, I do a great deal of alpine ski racing photography.  A typical race may have 100 racers who take two runs down the course and I take about 3 photos per racer per run, so about 600 total photos.  After the racer goes by I record the bib number using a voice memo.  Racers frequently go in bib order on the first run, but not so on the second run.

For example, the bib numbers of the first nine photos taken on the second run might be 12, 12, 12*, 3, 3, 3*, 28, 28, 28* (asterisk denotes a frame with a voice memo).

Warning <g>: most of my questions are about saving one or two keystrokes or mouse clicks per photos.  While it may sound trivial, multiply these by 600 or more and it really adds up.

1. Is there a way in the IPTC Info dialog to to automatically play the sound file so that I don't have to click on the Play button?

There is currently no way to automatically cause the audio to play.

2. Again in the IPTC Info dialog, I can see how you can zoom the image to the size of the dialog box by clicking on the image. Is it possible to zoom the image to full screen or 100%. If not, I'd suggest a Ctrl+Click option to zoom full screen.

If you hover your mouse over the image, a tooltip will appear that will tell you the keyboard shortcut.  Ctrl-Z on Mac, Alt-Z on Windows will enlarge the image.  It is usually smaller than 100% and is dependent on the size of the dialog and the size of the image.

3. Is there a way I can enter data into an IPTC field and move to the next photo using the keyboard?  IOW, I don't want to have to move my hand from the keyboard to the mouse and click Save & > and then move my hand back to the keyboard.

Yes.  If you hover over the buttons, tooltips will appear which will tell you what the keyboard shortcuts are.

4. Using the sequence of bib numbers above as an example, I REALLY want to avoid having to enter a bib number into each image seperately.  I would like to only enter bib 12 into frame 3, bib 3 into frame 6, and bib 28 into frame 9 and have PM copy the IPTC info into the preceeding frames.  This would mean I could edit 200 frames rather than 600, a HUGE savings.  How could this work?  Let's say I was just editing the Caption field, PM would backfill this field until it encountered a non empty Caption.

There is currently no way to do this directly.  I see that Wolvie has given you a set of instructions to sidestep the issue...

5. Do code replacements (great feature, BTW) have to be in the form of \code\?  Would it not be possible for them to take the form \code (without the trailing \)?  I understand I can use a character other than \, but I would like to save another keystroke <g>?  In my case I would be using bib numbers, so I would likely have \1, \11, \110, etc.  I can see that this is more ambiguous without the trailing \, but if standard word deliminiters like space, comma, period, EOL, etc., are used it should not be a problem (this is how the escape characters are used in HTML and programming languages).

The trailing delimiter is required.  If other delimiters determined the end of the codes (like space for instance) then they could not be used in codes.

Okay, some non-IPTC questions.

6. Can the Read Only and Hidden file attributes be set with PM?  I use this feature often with Nikon View and it seems to be missing with PM.

No.

7. I like how PM can handle Raw+Jpg files (showing one image for both).  I wish other programs were as elegant.  Unfortunately they are not and I usually end up placing the jpg files in their own jpg directory.  I find the process of doing this in PM very awkward (Ctrl Y).  I would much rather prefer to select the jpg files and drag them to a new location.  Is this possible when in Raw+Jpg mode or is Ctrl Y the only option?

The Copy dialog allows you to move either the RAW or the JPEG (or both) to a new folder.  Why do you need to separate them in the first place?

8.  The EXIF Lens info PM displays is really the focal length.  I understand from other threads that displaying the true lens info (e.g. 70 - 200mm) is challenging.  I do know that Opanda is able to show the min and max of both mm and f stop for a lens, so an f2.8 70-200 is shown as 70/1, 200/1, 2.8/1, 2.8/1 in Opanda.  Would this info be difficult to provide? 

What is the use of having "/1" after each value?

The reason I ask here is that sorting photos by Lens (really focal length) is not very useful when using zooms with overlapping ranges.  I also want to be able to figure out what lens I've used.  With enough of the above data, it seems I could put together a "code replacement" type list of my lenses that PM could use to update the IPTC or EXIF info.

So lets say PM could tell you the model name of the lens used to shoot the image.  How would this help you update the IPTC data?

-Kirk

[devenh]

Thanks for the replies!

For Wolvie: I think if you count the key and mouse strokes of your method versus just simply entering the bib number into each image that it might be easier to just type in the bib numbers.  Assuming two digit bib numbers, two code replacement delimiters per image, and one keystroke to move to the next image, I'm trying to save 5 keystrokes per image, or about 1,000 per race.

For Kirk:

Auto play of sound files would be a nice feature to have.  It looks like the Play button does not have a keyboard shortcut key.  Short of an auto play feature, a keyboard shortcut would be appreciated.

Alt+Z does zoom the window to the size of the dialog box.  Perhaps Ctrl+Alt+Z could zoom to full screen?

An auto IPTC backfill of data to the last edited image would be an awesome time saving feature.

The trailing delimiter is required.  If other delimiters determined the end of the codes (like space for instance) then they could not be used in codes.

If spaces can be used a code replacement delimiters, then that should work fine.

The ability to set a image's read only and hidden attributes would be a useful (to me at least) feature to add.  It is one way to pass selections on to other programs (e.g. Nikon View).

The Copy dialog allows you to move either the RAW or the JPEG (or both) to a new folder.  Why do you need to separate them in the first place?

Because other programs don't handle them as well as PM.  If PM was the only viewer one used, then there would be no need to move the jpgs, but unfortunately I (and I assume others) often use more than one viewer.

What is the use of having "/1" after each value?

I really don't know, that is how Opanda reports it.  I *think* it is part of the EXIF metadata, but what it is used for is unclear.

So lets say PM could tell you the model name of the lens used to shoot the image.  How would this help you update the IPTC data?

I don't need the lens data to update the IPTC data.  I would like to be able to select and sort my images by lens (as opposed to focal length).

Thanks for your help,

Deven

[Wolvie]

Thanks for the replies!

For Wolvie: I think if you count the key and mouse strokes of your method versus just simply entering the bib number into each image that it might be easier to just type in the bib numbers.  Assuming two digit bib numbers, two code replacement delimiters per image, and one keystroke to move to the next image, I'm trying to save 5 keystrokes per image, or about 1,000 per race.

   

After your iptc, folders and code replacement file are set up (which could be done before the event if you have the bid numbers).  I count 2 mouse movements.

1. select range of files
2. drag to new folder

[dbrouse]

devenh- I'm not sure that Kirk was advocating the use of a space as a delimiter...how would we then use something such a "Barry Bands, #23" if we couldn't use a a space? 

Delane