Lightroom Question

[ldrain]

hello everyone-
i recently downloaded lightroom and have begun to play with its cataloging/keyword features. i work for a magazine so we have a rather large database of images that we need to look at on different machines at different times. in lightroom, you have to import every image in order for the database to recognize the file/image. so my question is this:

does every machine need to import every image folder that i have cataloged/keyworded in order for them to search for keywords that i have created?

the problem i have with this is the time it takes to import everything, and making sure everyone keeps updating their library every time i update some keywords. i have tried to look in (Library>Application support>Adobe>etc.) and have found only empty folders.
any help or info on how lightroom works with these would be greatly appreciated.
we USED to use extensis portfolio, we are hoping lightroom will finally let us get rid of portfolio.
i am using the public beta 4, build 264419.

thanks!

[The Repro Kid]

Were you using Portfolio or Portfolio Server? I know that Portfolio Server will allow one administrator to catalog and keyword, and then all users can subscribe to the server catalog. And have you looked at Aperture? I don't know much about Lightroom or Aperture, but I've heard from more than source that Aperture is the better of the two.

[ldrain]

thanks for the reply repro,
it looks like it is just Portfolio 7.0 on my machine, but there are other versions that can access the "Image Vault". there isn't an issue of who actually puts the keywords in, it's the issue of if everyone can see all of the keywords and images that are present for these images. i haven't looked at aperture yet, but the boss is pretty sure he doesn't want to use aperture because it doesn't support DNG files.

i have been looking at some of the scott kelby videos on the NAPP site and they haven't quite addressed my issue. it looks like we may just have to import everytime, which sucks, but still WAY better than portfolio.

[The Repro Kid]

thanks for the reply repro,
it looks like it is just Portfolio 7.0 on my machine, but there are other versions that can access the "Image Vault". there isn't an issue of who actually puts the keywords in, it's the issue of if everyone can see all of the keywords and images that are present for these images.....
Yes, that's that the whole point of Portfolio Server. Everyone sees one common server catalog of the same images and keywords. Any image and set of keywords can be added to any server catalog at any time, and then everyone sees the new images and keywords in the server catalog they were added. In effect, all users subscribe to one common catalog. Any one who has administrator privileges can add photos and keywords, and then all users will see these images and keywords. In order for all this to work, users must "log in" to the catalog they would like to view, so that way all users see the same thing after logging in, this is why it's called Server. Of course, you can also create as many server catalogs as you like, for instance, one server catalog for illustrations and one server catalog for photos.

What's a DNG file?

[ldrain]

DNG = digital negative (i believe), i think it's a new adobe file format. don't know much about it or how good/bad it is, but the boss wants to have it available.

it sounds like we must have had the portfolio "server" set up somewhere, since we all point to the same image vault to search. the biggest issue i have had with portfolio is entering the keywords, especially for multiples (i couldn't seem to select multiple images and be able to change the keywords for all of them at once, unless it was at import).

[The Repro Kid]

If you do not log into the catalogs, you are not running portfolio server, or at best, you do not have it set up properly. I've used portfolio server on the client side a lot and am not familiar with the term Image Vault. Maybe the term applies to the administrator only, but with all the basic capabilities of Server that you don't seem to have, it seems unlikely you're running Portfolio Server.

I know for a fact that Portfolio Server does what you want it to do because I've been using it for a few years at a very large corporation I freelance for, that has a huge volume of digital assets.

My 2¢ on the matter is that since you already have portfolio running, it seems like less gyrations to do some research on the Server product by visiting the extensis website, then making some calls to Extensis and asking them some questions in order to consider upgrading to Server, rather than blindly trashing the whole lot and leaping into a new system – again, just my 2¢.

Now I remember hearing about DNG. It'll be interesting to see weather it takes off or not. It just might, it seemed like a powerful concept.

[ldrain]

hi again-
thanks for the replies repro, i appreciate your honesty and experience with the matter. i've posted some screenies to show the portfolio startup. looks like we aren't running server, just portfolio.

looked into the server for a few seconds and saw the price tag. i don't know if it would be worth it for us to invest in server, there are only 4 people that will actually end up accessing the library. we are a small company, the $6300 it takes to get setup for the server probably wouldn't be worth it for us (plus we can use that money to buy my new machine!:D ). what we may end up doing is leaving portfolio where it is and move forward with LR. most of our images in portfolio are slide references, a lot of the digital stuff hasn't been added to it yet. we are also partial towards adobe since everything we use is adobe. it will be easier for the less software inclined to learn a new program since the interfaces and user experience will be similar.

a side note, i came into this company maybe 6 months ago and had no experience with image databases and cataloging. so i don't really know the correct way to catalog it all, if there is a correct way.

i guess i shouldn't ask a portfolio question here, but why can't i seem to select multiple images and assign the same keyword(s) to the selected images?

anyway, thanks again.

[The Repro Kid]

Well it's good did your research, now all your questions are moot. The corp I've used Portfolio Server at has five major manufacturing plants across the US and one in Canada, so I guess they can afford it. It's a very powerful server application, and apparently costs a pretty penny for the capabilities.

[GuyB]

ldrain,

you might be interested by this review of Lightroom :

http://www.macworld.com/2007/02/firstlooks/lightroompreview/index.php

[ldrain]

that was helpful, thanks GuyB!

[GuyB]

And this is the final and more complete review of Lightroom. There is also a link to a review of Aperture:

http://www.macworld.com/2007/02/reviews/lightroom/index.php

[The Repro Kid]

I wish I could take enough photos to actually need one of these programs.

For the small amount of, if-or-when-I-do-get-to-do-some underwater photos, things that I do, The Bridge has proved to be about the speed that I'm at.

But I've tried them both, and was really digging Apple's Approach. Adobe's approach was a little too, Work-the-way-I-want-you-to-work, for my liking.