I am finally giving up all hope that I can do everything within PL (I really wish it was possible), so I am using an external program now to organize my images.
However, I feel that this is even more complicated, or am I doing something wrong?
If I open an image from Windows or another program with the “Open with Photolab” command, Photolab is starting in the Photolibrary Module, and I have to wait until all images of that folder are loaded. Should it not start in the Customize Module, that I can start editing directly?
The main advantage for me is in selecting specific images for processing, using criteria in the external program. That also reduces the number of images that appear in PL, which in turn speeds things up a bit.
@maderafunk I am sorry I didn’t see this post before but for me DxPL (4, 5 & 6) always load to ‘Customize’ and create an ‘External Selection’ when viewed in the ‘PhotoLibrary’ the last time that things loaded into ‘PhotoLibrary’ was Dx Opticspro 11 and even then it opened as an ‘External Selection’!?
There is currently a bug in DxPL 5.5 & 6 where is opens a blank screen in ‘Customize’ but ‘Ctrl Tab’ to ‘PhotoLibrary’ and the selection is there and then ‘Ctrl Tab’ back to ‘Customize’, this is the “workaround” until the fix is released!
I pass images to DxPL from ‘FastStone’ (only one image makes it), XnViewMP (multiple images from multiple directories using the 'Tag option in XnViewMP), FastRawViewer (multiple tagged images but only from the same directory), Photo Mechanic (multiple selected images and use 'Edit selected photos with…) and all go to the ‘Customise’ screen (empty with the PL5.5 & PL6 bug!)
What Software and Version are you using to pass the images to DxPL? There was a report of a bug that always launched into 'PhotoLibrary and it turned out to be a bug in an old version of Photo Mechanic!
PL will always start at the same folder that it was using when it was shut down … So, if you were to point it at an “empty” folder just before you shut down then you’d have a much faster start-up next time.
I am using digikam, which uses the internal Windows “open with” dialog, which unfortunately does not work as an “external selection”. It is the same as opening an image from the windows explorer. However, I am positive that this will be adjusted soon.
@John-M it will only point to the same folder of the last shutdown when you start the PL program directly. But if you double click on an image in the Windows Explorer, or open an image with the “Open With” command, it will open the folder of that image in the Photolibrary module. I was hoping that could be changed to open in customized mode. But as I have found out now, this can be achieved, if you open the image from the command line and pass the absolute image path (or several) as parameter. I just wish, it would also work like that directly from Windows.
It is particularly useful to leave DxPL “parked” on a directory with no images when shutting down, albeit not in your case when passing images from DigiKam and it is unnecessary if you always use an ‘External Selection’ to access DxPL, i,e. from a program where it works the way it is intended, e.g. FRV, FIV, etc…
Regards
Bryan the err … forgetful. At least I think that is my name!!
If the startup is really faster when an empty folder is selected, could dxo not optimize the startup time exactly like that? I’d prefer if PL launched to my last edited picture anyways.
@maderafunk DxO could but most users probably want to return to the point of last editing, except when they don’t!?
In my case when testing I would rather DxPL leave the last “in focus” items alone so that I can “watch” the process of DxPL discovering whatever I have put in place while it happens, hence the “empty” directory for “parking” a session.
The “problem” is that the start-up process is a default action that cannot be “prevented”, nothing unique to DxPL in that, except that DxPL will start importing anything new that it finds and rendering images immediately, both of which can have an impact on the start-up time, particularly if the user wants to do something different.
My normal approach has always been to “launch” a selected image from FastStone from an uploaded “shoot”. It was always just the one image, whether I had tried multiple images I cannot remember but the way that FSIV passes the images only one makes it anyway!
I would then apply preset(s) and modify to “taste” and then ‘Load original Image folder’ and see how good the corrections I had made to the first image actually were for the remainder of the images.
I hardly ever used the DxPL ‘PhotoLibrary’ at all!!
FSIV is not the best program for the task because it cannot handle metadata, not even the ‘Rating’ but it was the way I used to work with DX OpticsPro and DxPL and still do much of the time!
See also the discussion “Strange behaviour when sending images to Photolab from another program”. The bug is identified and reported to be delivered “soon” on October 22. Despite I have not seen a delivery yet for PL 5 (I don’t know for PL6)
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