Organising - Lightroom v Elements

[Codebreaker]

I've been posting here some of my experiences with using Lightroom and here's another update.

In terms of RAW processing power, for me Lightroom is still miles ahead of Elements both in terms of the speed in which you can process batches of RAW images and the tools available.

In terms of the Organising capability of LR - I was getting more and more familiar with it (I've had LR for almost a year now) but in the end I cannot recommend it as the main choice for image Organising. For me at least Elements Organiser wins in terms of ease of use and speed.

The biggest problem in LR is the inconsistent process for deleting images but even worse the inability to select just a few images by using multiple keywords. You just can't do it - or at least nobody can tell me how.

In Elements when you click on multiple tags you ONLY get the images which have all those tags. In LR you get the images which have EACH of those tags - OR as opposed to AND.

I've now gone back to using a mix of LR and Elements Organiser.

1. Import RAW images into LR, keyword and process.
2. Export processed images as TIFs and then import them into Elements Organiser.

If the keyword/tag names are identical in LR and Elements, then Elements picks up the keyword from the LR export automatically.

I have the TIFs in a subfolder of the original RAW images.

It means twice as many images as I would have liked but at least I can find then again and quickly.:)

Colin

[TonyW]

Colin: Thanks for the update. Must admit to being surprisind about the lack of being able to select properly based on multiple tags. I would have thought that being able to do an AND sort as well as an OR sort (as the Organizer has always been able to do) is pretty fundamental to any image management system.

Tony

[Codebreaker]

I agree, it seems a basic need but then in my opinion a few other basics have been missed as well.

The only AND you can do is between different elements of the library module. So for instance you can select a keyword and then see what images in a specific folder or collection have them. So an AND between a Folder or Collection.

The only other thing offered is that when you select a keyword, you can then 'mouse over' other keywords and those that match will be highlighted - albeit with a very small white border. Pretty much unusable if you have many hundreds of images most of which will be off screen.

Colin

[Byron Gale]

Thanks for the update, Colin.

I'm planning to trial LR, and having your perspective will assist me WRT what to expect.

Byron

[Codebreaker]

Byron.....

I'd be interested to hear your opinions, so do come back and let us know how you get on.

I'm not sure that 30 days is sufficient time to get familiar with it as it's not very intuitive.:(

Good luck

Colin

[deedeeO]

Thanks for your updates Colin. I've been holding back on getting Lightroom because of its gui interface and organizing capabilities. However, I as start more RAW, my feelings may change. Please keep us posted. I like hearing "real" feedback.