Digitat Asset Management

[Prowler]

I have Nikon Capture NX-2 and Lightroom 4. Nikon's NX has a browser while Lightroom has a catalog to keep track of where, on my PC, all my images are located. When I had my D-80 and then my D-90 I was using Nikon Picture Project to import my images into my PC and have close to 300 folders Named (1-300). Now I have a Nikon D-7000 and use Nikon Transfer and View NX2 to import and view images and have around 40 new folders for the D-7K images. I am guilty of poor asset management practices and find it hard at times to locate specific photos so I would like to rename, grade and apply tags and keywords so as to have a more manageableand searchable system. To start I would like to rename all my folders using a structure by years and month's and event names (rather then just the existing folders#'s). I also have a Lightroom catalog that is not as complete as the Picture Project and Nikon Transfer browser's but I opened and imported thousands of images into LR (which their location is in the LR catalog). If I go into folder #1 from my D-80 images and start renaming folders and images will this cause problems? By changing the name of the parent folder does NX and LR now lose the link where those images are kept. I am not sure how to start this image management project and don't want to do something that I will be sorry for later. Is anyone here using both Nikon NX and Lightroom as I do? I also do not want to lose my sidecar files in LR that has my Post processing data. I want to start out slowly and just go from the beginning and edit each folder/file one at a time. Should I use my Nikon Browser as the starting point to rename, keyword/tag etc or the LR Library interface to do this? I read a few years ago that if I start out wrong I risk losing valuable data that I will be sorry for. I am trying to avoid that.
Thanks in advance,
Eddie

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I use LR4 for all the file management from the beginning

 

[Big Mike]

I don't know anything about Nikon software, but maybe I can help with some LR info.

The general advice, is that if you have to move image files, do it within LR so that all the links remain intact. Same goes for renaming folders, if you do it within LR, everything should be in place. If you do change something (move or rename etc.) outside of LR, it will still have the image imported, it will just show you a question mark to signify that the link is broken. But all you have to do, is point LR in the right direction and it can re-establish those connection automatically.

I do agree that it's always a good idea to have a solid file structure for your images. But some are of the belief, that if you only use LR, it doesn't really matter at all. You can sort, filter, or add to collections in LR, without having any sort of structure for the files themselves. Not recommended, but it's doable.

I guess you should decide on one software (for your tagging, cataloging etc) and go with that. To tag/keyword/rate all of your images is a smart idea...tt can take time, but LR does have several ways of making it fast(er) and easy.

 

[KmH]

First off, figure out how to make paragraphs.

I have Nikon Capture NX-2 and Lightroom 4.

Nikon's NX has a browser while Lightroom has a catalog to keep track of where, on my PC, all my images are located.

When I had my D-80 and then my D-90 I was using Nikon Picture Project to import my images into my PC and have close to 300 folders Named (1-300).
Now I have a Nikon D-7000 and use Nikon Transfer and View NX2 to import and view images and have around 40 new folders for the D-7K images.

I am guilty of poor asset management practices and find it hard at times to locate specific photos so I would like to rename, grade and apply tags and keywords so as to have a more manageableand searchable system.
To start I would like to rename all my folders using a structure by years and month's and event names (rather then just the existing folders#'s). I also have a Lightroom catalog that is not as complete as the Picture Project and Nikon Transfer browser's but I opened and imported thousands of images into LR (which their location is in the LR catalog).

If I go into folder #1 from my D-80 images and start renaming folders and images will this cause problems?
By changing the name of the parent folder does NX and LR now lose the link where those images are kept.

I am not sure how to start this image management project and don't want to do something that I will be sorry for later.

Is anyone here using both Nikon NX and Lightroom as I do?

I also do not want to lose my sidecar files in LR that has my Post processing data. I want to start out slowly and just go from the beginning and edit each folder/file one at a time.

Should I use my Nikon Browser as the starting point to rename, keyword/tag etc or the LR Library interface to do this?

I read a few years ago that if I start out wrong I risk losing valuable data that I will be sorry for. I am trying to avoid that.

Thanks in advance,
Eddie

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