I don't like Lightroom

[Dave Humphries]

I can't change some of the defaults (import sharpening, for instance, so I have to manually override these).

In ACR; I found a way to 'store' my defaults with zero sharpening and noise reduction, it's something that only needs doing once, so now I have forgotten.

Might have been Saving a Preset

There is lots of misinformation perpetuated here and at other websites, including that Lightroom can't be used without using its cataloging capabilities.

I don't think anyone actually said that in this thread Mike.
If you interpreted what I said ("unwise") as meaning that, you misunderstood me - I'll admit "unwise" wasn't perhaps the best choice of word, but a heck of a lot shorter than anything else I could think of at the time.

[Mike Buckley]

I don't think anyone actually said that in this thread Mike [that Lightroom can't be used without using its cataloging capabilities].

I agree. However, that has been indicated in other threads. I chuckle when I see it.

[Manfred M]

In ACR; I found a way to 'store' my defaults with zero sharpening and noise reduction, it's something that only needs doing once, so now I have forgotten.

Might have been Saving a Preset

Thanks for that Dave - it is set up by creating a new preset with the defaults zeroed out.

That will speed the workflow up a bit!

[NorthernFocus]

Manfred, a couple of these things may have been resolved, perhaps in recent revs. My experience only goes back to v4.

1. The catalogue must be on the system drive...

I've been using LR since v4 and until reading a thread here last week I had never set up a catalog on the system drive. For the same reason you gave i.e. since using LR I've had machines with small SSDs. Before reading about the benefits of putting the catalog on the SSD I had always set up the catalog on the same drive where I store the photos, internal HD on my desktop and portable USB HDs when on laptop. The catalog can not exist on a network drive even if that's where the photos are stored. I now have a 500GB SSD on my primary editing machine... woohooo !!!

2. I use two networked NAS drives to store my images and two different computers to edit. Ideally I would be able to store the catalogue on the NAS and access it from either computer...

That is a dilemma. Though an easy workaround would be to put the catalog on a USB thumb drive or SD card(assuming the machines have an SD port).

3. ...I can't change some of the defaults (import sharpening, for instance, so I have to manually override these)...

The defaults can be changed though not globally. Defaults can be changed but are assigned to a given camera/ISO combination. For a long time I mistakenly thought it was assigned at the camera level but it is Camera/ISO. I understand their reasoning. That's how most of the purpose built NR programs work (i.e. cameral profiles for different ISO values). But it is cumbersome. I no longer use capture sharpening at all and would like to simply have it always default to zero. But, as Dave pointed out, creating a preset that zeroes out sharpening (and maybe NR) is easy and can be applied at point of import.

[DanK]

Adobe uses camera profiles to set these values, so pressing the <Alt> and hitting reset, just brings things back to the Adobe determined defaults, rather than zeroing out the values (which is what I want).

Here's what it brings up:

[Manfred M]

Thanks Dan and Dan.

As I had mentioned before, there are workarounds for just about everything and my workaround is Bridge / ACR (and sometimes Capture One) as they do everything I need and work on local drives, network drives and cloud storage without any awkward workarounds.

As I work with two computers - my desktop and my laptop, the workflow and the fact that Bridge, rather than Lightroom is part of the workflow link for the other programs in Adobe CC means the only time I use Lightroom is to help others with it or when I use the map function to locate where I took shots with embedded GPS data.

[doomed forever]

I dislike LR also very much - it's sluggish, bloated, slow as molasses, and most of it all: the catalog everything feature pretty much sucks! i do prefer PS CS6 for edits, and being using Photo Ninja, Raw Therapee or Dark Table as RAW Converter.

[xpatUSA]

I dislike LR also very much - it's sluggish, bloated, slow as molasses, and most of it all: the catalog everything feature pretty much sucks! i do prefer PS CS6 for edits, and being using Photo Ninja, Raw Therapee or Dark Table as RAW Converter.

Off-topic but I remember when I bought Elements 7 long ago and made the really bad mistake of clicking on the 'Organizer' button and suffering all of the above for ever after that . . .

[Dave Humphries]

Off-topic but I remember when I bought Elements 7 long ago and made the really bad mistake of clicking on the 'Organizer' button and suffering all of the above for ever after that . . .

Me too

[NorthernFocus]

Off-topic but I remember when I bought Elements 7 long ago and made the really bad mistake of clicking on the 'Organizer' button and suffering all of the above for ever after that . . .

Yep. Been there, done that.

[emalvick]

In ACR; I found a way to 'store' my defaults with zero sharpening and noise reduction, it's something that only needs doing once, so now I have forgotten.

Might have been Saving a Preset.

Regarding setting a "Default", I think the easiest way to do something that could be rather global (if that is what you want) and is along the line of what is quoted.

1. Save a preset with everything zeroed out that you want zeroed out
2. In the catalog settings, select that preset to be applied to everything that is imported into the catalog.

This is not truly setting a default but rather just pre-processing the image on import with the preset. You can then use that same preset to reset the image if you need to later.

Aside, I find LR a bit clunky as others do, and I am in the process of switching out of it as I have always used a different software for catalog and DAM purposes and LR hasn't been terribly easy to get along with the other software. BUT, it's big advantage is in mass processing images. My only complaint with the developer is that the auto-tone and camera presets are quite off when I use LR. I've gotten by because of its strong ability to leverage presets, which I utilize on import to get me 95% to the end without laying a hand on developer settings.

It wasn't until I started having issues with LR's performance (my catalog is over 50,000 images, which I think is the problem) that I started trying out other software and found that others (DxO being my favorite in trials) can get to that same 95% without even a preset. I'm sure it's just me and perhaps a little bit my camera (being one of those brands that Adobe has never put a lot of effort into supporting).

[Black Pearl]

I dislike LR also very much - it's sluggish, bloated, slow as molasses, and most of it all: the catalog everything feature pretty much sucks! i do prefer PS CS6 for edits, and being using Photo Ninja, Raw Therapee or Dark Table as RAW Converter.

Certainly not my experience, I find it very responsive, the navigation/edits etc are instantaneous and the catalogue (for me) does a great job of getting me to the files I want in the minimal number of clicks. I do use it in conjunction with Ps CC when I need to heavily manipulate a file but the thought of needing several raw programmes as part of a workflow sends shudders through me.

[davidedric]

Certainly not my experience, I find it very responsive, the navigation/edits etc are instantaneous and the catalogue (for me) does a great job of getting me to the files I want in the minimal number of clicks. I do use it in conjunction with Ps CC when I need to heavily manipulate a file but the thought of needing several raw programmes as part of a workflow sends shudders through me.

My experience tallies with Robin's

Dave

[John 2]

Thanks Dan and Dan.

.................. for just about everything and my workaround is Bridge / ACR (and sometimes Capture One) as they do everything .....................

Since moving on to PS CC, mine also because the addition of that excellent Transform tool has filled a big hole in ACR for me.

[doomed forever]

Certainly not my experience, I find it very responsive, the navigation/edits etc are instantaneous and the catalogue (for me) does a great job of getting me to the files I want in the minimal number of clicks. I do use it in conjunction with Ps CC when I need to heavily manipulate a file but the thought of needing several raw programmes as part of a workflow sends shudders through me.

Well, my Rig is a self build Xeon Quadcore (3.2 GHz) with 16 GB since the past 3 years, and otherwise CS6 runs like hell....isn't slow as molasses....i don't have the latest & greatest, but for my PS works it's quite enough, no SSD, but WD Velociraptor & SE HDDs...no high end graphics card, as i don't play any kind of games on PC since 2005...

[GrahamS]

My experience tallies with Robin's

Dave

So does mine.