Multiple questions regarding Daminion Server with LightRoom integration

[tompirlet]

Hello,

 

I have a few questions regarding Daminion and Lightroom integration.

Currently our company uses lightroom as default photo-editing tool and catalogue. The issue with this is that it can only be used locally.

 

However we still have a few questions that we cannot find a decent answer to.

 

The plan is to edit RAW files in Lightroom and sync the RAW's and JPEG's with Daminion.

 

 

Question 1: Flow when editing, Lightroom <=> Daminion

 

Question 2: What if changes are made to a RAW file in Lightroom, how will daminion update the files on the server

 

Question 3: Can a selection of photos with tags be exported easily to Flickr?

 

Question 4: Is it possible to easily create albums with Daminion?

 

Question 5: Is there any good Lightroom integration with Daminion (auto-sync,...)

 

 

I hope you can provide me with good answers.

[Murat]

Uloga, welcome to Daminion community and thanks for the good questions!

 

Question 1: Flow when editing, Lightroom Daminion

 

Question 2: What if changes are made to a RAW file in Lightroom, how will daminion update the files on the server

 

Question 5: Is there any good Lightroom integration with Daminion (auto-sync,...)

 

Both products (Daminion and Lightroom) can write image annotations to XMP metadata in a range of image files.

 

However Lightroom does not write metadata directly into the RAW images like Daminion, so the only way to exchange the information between products is via sidecar XMP files.

 

On the latest Daminion version (573 build) we've added an option to write tags into the XMP sidecar files for Camera RAW formats except DNG format. So please update your Daminion version before.

 

While writing a response for you I've noticed that Daminion is unable to read metadata from sidecar files. This is a minor bug of Adobe XMPToolkit that we use, and we'll fix it soon.

 

A. How to sync metadata/image annotation changes between programs:

 

Lightroom -> Daminion

1. Change a few image properties in Lightroom

2. Select the files you changed and navigate to "Metadata > Save Metadata to Files" option from the context menu.

3. Switch to Daminion, right click on the folder with your images and select "Rescan Folders..." option. This will rescan your folder

 

for outside file/folder changes (you need to wait till we'll release the next minor Daminion update with xmp sidecar bug-fix)

4. Another option is to select the files in Daminion and go to Actions > Read Metadata from Files

 

Daminion -> Lightroom

1. Assign or change a few tags of some images in Daminion.

2. If the Auto-sync feature is turned off, select the files, and write tags into metadata by Actions > Write Tags into Metadata option.

3. Switch to Lightroom, select the files and navigate to Metadata > Read Metadata from Files option in the context menu.

 

 

B. Syncing RAW adjustments between programs.

Any RAW file modification in Lightroom is a function that can be understood and correctly interpreted by Lightroom only. This is true for any other RAW editor either. So the best option would be to regenerate a JPEG preview within RAW files with using Lightroom and then update the same files within Daminion from these JPEG previews (Context menu > Update Thumbnail).

 

However the problem here is that Lightroom (checked with 3.2 version, so I am not sure about the newest LR versions) doesn't provide an option to Update Embedded JPEG preview in RAW files (like Adobe Camera RAW does). So at least while Adobe will implement such functionality the only solution I see is to convert RAW files into Adobe DNG format that supports editing.

 

Another option might be to use LR Export feature to generating full-size JPEG copies on the same locations with RAW files. And then update them in Daminion.

 

PS. Probably there are some third-part plugins for updating JPEG Previews in RAW files for Ligtroom?

 

Question 3: Can a selection of photos with tags be exported easily to Flickr?

 

Question 4: Is it possible to easily create albums with Daminion?

 

Exporting to Flickr and other photo sharing service is not implemented yet, and we plan to add it in the future program versions. However Daminion Export API is available so someone can write "Export to Flickr" addon for Daminion before our roadmap.