Hi, one of the things I do when editing images is to select multiple folders (at the same level or not) and see their content in the image library ; LR does it well, but apparently not DXO. Am I wrong? (BTW, this is a very useful feature…for me, anyway)
Sorry to hit the DAM nail again.
Hi Chris,
It’s not possible to select multiple folders in the Windows version of PL - - I’m pretty sure the Mac version will be the same.
Regards, John M
Well, just my luck…One more reason to keep LR for a while.
Thanks for the reply.
I don’t know if this feature is planned, but I hope it is.
Regards
Sounds like creating trouble where there is none. We all run PhotoLab in an OS, whether Windows or Mac. The OS is very good at moving files around and managing them and not losing them. It’s not too much to ask of photographers that they organise their images into a coherent folder structure. DxO does us a favour if they don’t interject a layer between us and the OS. There’s a lot of disk housekeeping in photography and the closer we can stay to the OS, the safer and more permanent our archives are.
Some kind of easy favourite system or recently accessed folder list would be helpful though. I could also see the use of some kind of compare tool where one loads an image from one folder and then compares it with an image in another folder. Compare functionality could be completely independent of the pseudo-DAM/file browser. I.e. load an image from anywhere and load another image from anywhere to compare.
First of all, sorry for my English, it’s not my native language.
Well, I did not expect to get spanked here!
Short answer : that’s how I work.
Long answer : I shoot real estate professionnally. Last assignment was a building with 6 flats in Paris (They’re called Aparthotels here), and between 2 to 6 rooms per flat. I shoot bracketed, merge in Photomatix pro, import into Lightroom, edit in DXO and import back into LR. I create at least 4 folders per “unit” (flats in that case) : brackets, Photomatix edits (date of capture erased by Photomatix), selection, export to" client folder".
At some point, I need to do some checking : e.g. select all bracketed pictures (950 in that case) to check if one (or more is missing or not), compare the white balance of all the pictures for the client, select all those shots to group into a single file for WeTransfer, compare the images of the bedrooms, the lounges,etc…
This is where the ability to select multiple folders (no matter the level) is a great feature I could not work without.
Albums, collections do not work for me because files cannot be edited.
Well, I do my best.
Thanks for providing an answer and pieces of advice.
Interesting workflow Chris. Real estate photography has certainly become more complex with the improvement in software.
I shoot bracketed, merge in Photomatix pro, import into Lightroom, edit in DXO and import back into LR. I create at least 4 folders per “unit” (flats in that case) : brackets, Photomatix edits (date of capture erased by Photomatix), selection, export to" client folder".
What is the reason for the first import into Lightroom? Those files from Photomatix Pro could go into Finder folders for editing in DxO and only come back into Lightroom for managed export after DxO. All the RAW files have very little interest in projects like this as there is no artistic reason to return to a project. Only clients who have lost their files or who want adjustments. Those adjustment will probably only be made at the DxO level.
The tool I’d use for the checking in that case would be Lightroom which is optimised more as an image manager than a RAW development tool (people have complained that Lightroom is a very powerful RAW developer which is certainly true but then admit Lightroom is much weaker than PhotoLab in that respect).
I use Lightroom 4 myself for managing my catalogue of finished works (doesn’t matter it doesn’t support new cameras, I’m only using the jpeg and TIFF indexing and export functionality). The image browser in PhotoLab is so slow, I’m surprised you can stand doing any housekeeping in it (the PhotoLab image browser serves the purpose just fine for working through a folder of images for processing, it’s speed is no real barrier in my workflow).
I need Lightroom to check which files I decide to edit in DXO (950 initial shots>190 jpegs from Photomatix>60 images for the client). Then, I organize my “Photomatix jpegs” by unit (mostly flats or houses if I shoot various houses at the same resort) and I need to view the same type of rooms across the different units to get some sort of harmony/look/coherence in order to chose which photos I edit (Don’t know if I’m intelligible)
I only shoot bracketed jpegs.
I don’t use DXO’s image browser (and it doesn’t even allow multiple folders selection…
Very true. I am always much happier with DXO’s editing.
One quick note : I just found ACDSee Photo Studio can select multiple folders too.
Interesting Chris. It seems to me with your demanding workflow you should do your image management and housekeeping in a different application and just bring DxO PhotoLab out for what it does best - making photos look really good.
Are you using ACDSee on a Mac or on Windows? I’m guessing on Windows as the Mac version interface is clunky and the RAW conversions are garish.
A great and inexpensive tool for image management/review is FastRawViewer (both Mac and Windows) for $14.99. It’s created by photographers for photographers. Don’t be put off by the RAW in the title - it will help you rate and label and review jpegs or TIFFs just as well. There’s a lot of tools in FRV to allow you to move selected images from one folder to another and the interface is very customisable (get rid of all the panels and features which you don’t need for a more Zen workspace).
I cannot get FRV to show TIFFs and researching it suggest that is in the Beta version of 2.15, while the stable current release is 2.14.
Thanks. I already own FRW which, obviously , I use to review and cull Raw files. It cannot sélect multiple files, though…
Totally agree and this is what I do. I am just trying to get away from Lightroom as my old standalone version 6.12 will one day stop working.
I have downloaded a trial version of ACDSee (they’ve got a huge discount at the moment, but it is still 114€…)
Thanks. I already own FRW which, obviously , I use to review and cull Raw files. It cannot sélect multiple files, though…
FRW can handle non-RAW files too (I use it on Fuji jpegs as well as my Canon RAW files). FRV can definitely handle multiple files to move them around but you’re right - it’s one folder at a time. FRV is one of the few viewers who handles 4K/hi dpi display properly if you disable in “Zoom” preferences: “Use logical pixels for zoom calculation.”
I’ve just done some digging in the manual. To my surprise, there is no option for displaying even nested folders. It’s one folder at a time. There is a cool option to limit the Folder Tree to start from one folder up shift-command-T. I’ll be using that shortcut in the future.
Okay, Windows version, then. Windows version is apparently very powerful for image management and some even like the RAW tools. Since you have DxO you might be able to get by with the ACDSee Standard version which is image management only and is just €40. I’d probably get the whole program myself while I’m at it. The Mac version is of negative value unfortunately. Slow, clunky, incompatible with other applications, mediocre conversions. It competes with AfterShot Pro 1 back in 2012.
Just saw your remark about standalone Lightroom v6. That’s why there’s no more Adobe on my computers either. Don’t agree with software rental and would go FOSS/Linux before I go subscription.
Looks like ACDSee might be the right combo tool (more focused on asset management) to bridge your photo processing tools and manage your pipeline. Have you tried iMatch? Many forum members seem to really enjoy using iMatch for DAM. I’m not a Windows user so it’s not an option for me. PhotoMechanic is all culling/keywording on ingest and not really a production pipeline tool.
Neither am I. It’s all Mac for me (since 1986…Some of us are still alive 
)
By the way, this is the DXO PhotoLab for Mac users, so no cheap ACDSee version for me either.
I just posted a question about multiple folders selection on the Fast Raw Viewer forum and got a fast reply from the developer (I think) 
“this feature was asked by many our users and now it is in our TODO list”
I have just downloaded the Mac trial version. Not impressed.
I also had a look at Photo Mechanic, but no luck with multiple folders selection. So, it is Lightroom ,ACDSee or a future version of Fast Raw Viewer.
I forgot to illustrate what I do for a living and why I need a robust workflow…examples here
Nice work, Chris … What lens do you use for this sort of work ?
Regards, John M
Thanks. Sony FE 16-35 F4 (Sony Alpha 7Rii camera).
It’s a fascinating workflow, Chris. I find it very interesting you prefer bracketed jpegs to RAW. There’s room here for a huge scripted sort of application. I can see you are already doing everything you can to automate/semi-automate the process.
Command line tools might serve you best in the long run, as they are often allow automated input and can then pass it on to the next tool.