Okay, I import 100 CR2 images into Lightroom. I go through and tweak them all happy and pretty like, then export the JPEG's from those.

Now I want to burn my original CR2's to CD or an external drive, and delete them from my Lightroom library. How do I do this so the settings / develop recepie for each CR2 is maintained? Ideally, I'd like to one day drag that CR2 back in and re-export the images maybe at TIFF this time, but using the exact same settings I used to export JPEG's long before.

You can "export metadata to XMP sidecar files" - when I open one in TextEdit, I see all the standard metadata and I *also* see all the exact development settings under their own tags. If I export all these XMP's, and burn them to disk along with the CR2's, then in theory, I should at any time be able to re-import the CR2's from any original source and then "load metadata FROM sidecars" inside Lightroom and they should all snap to my original develop settings.

Is this correct? Is there any reason this isn't a good idea?

I realize DMG makes some room for this sort of thing but for the time being, I'm staying away from DMG for various reasons.

Thanks!

nothing to contribute, really, but I'm very interested in the answer as well. still trying to get up to speed in Lightroom myself.

so i've now gone through the whole of Martin Evening's new Lightroom book, and found nothing on the subject. oh well.

have you tried just setting up a new lightroom library? e.g. create a new library for your 100 files in the same directory. Then, just archive the entire directory. This may not be the optimal solution, but sounds like you were going to "remove" them anyways. So, just create a stand-alone library for those files.

You could save the library, as mentioned, or you could wait for Lightroom 1.1. (I'm not being evasive for fun, I legally can't say much!)

good enough for me. i can't imagine 1.1 being too terribly far away, either.

Could you not start saving your files as .DMG's? I thought that was part of the reason why they are so comparable to your RAW files is because it contains your XMP sidecar files as well?

Kevin, did you find a good solution for this?


Huy, can you flesh out your idea a little more (LR beginner here)?

thanks,
nate

Guys. LR 1.1 will solve the problem. Until then, you can just save your entire database as a new one, delete the stuff you don't want in it, and archive just the shoot.

Or save the XML files with the raw.

1.1 is coming and there are some other great enhancements (who wants to clean up their preset management?).

Kevin...

I started a topic on this subject quite some time ago, but never really got a straight answer. Sometimes threads just slip down the ranks, and that's how it is! LOL

MY TOPIC in case you want a look...

I have tried the method of edit/preferences/file management/metadata then ticking the 'automatically write changes into XMP'
This hasn't noticably slowed my system, though I get frequent 'failed to write xmp...retry?' messages from LR. It's always successful when I 'retry'...but it is a nuisance. In the end I did the 'export XMP' at the end of all my edits anyway....so I guess in future I'll untick the 'auto write XMP' option, and just export XMP when I'm ready to archive and delete from the library.

Oh...ramble on Annie...in answer to your question Kevin...yes. If you export the XMP data to the folder where your CR2 files are, then archive to disc, you could retrieve your edits at a later date.

You could copy the contents of your disc to hard drive, re-import into LR....then IMPORT the XMP into that library. I have successfully done this. I've also successfully imported XMP from Bridge edits into LR.

If any experts care to chime in....that would be great....

I'm NO expert...just an experimenter!!!!

Annie

Thanks everyone. I just saw this pop back up. I never got an official answer - but Swan - your comment above "just save the XML files with the raw is pretty much what I suggested in the first post, so I guess that would work.

Now, I haven't actually tested it yet, so I'm not 100% sure, but...

I have exported the "sidecar" files, and when I open those up, they clearly include entries for all your develop presets - not just the standard copyright/source metadata - those sidecar files have all your minor adjustments for selective hue and all the other lightroom sliders. If you tweak them a bit then export the sidecars, the sidecars to reflect the changes.

So.... and here's the assumption part....

If you then re-load data from the sidecar files, it should re-load all your develop settings after re-importing the raw files. Just make sure not to re-name them.

So my workflow is to edit all the raw's, then export a set of Jpeg's from them, then at the very end "export sidecar files" which generates all the sidecars in the same directory with the CR2's, then I just back up that whole directory. Done.

I also delete my LR database after every shoot and let LR recreate it. I know it's supposed to archive huge galleries, but my experience is that it begins to drag and grind a bit when I get 3 or 4 large weddings loaded up in there. So I just get through the edit of one, then delete the whole thing and start fresh. Seems to keep it running a bit faster.

Thanks again Swan. And hey, if you're in touch with the Adobe folks as a beta tester, any chance you could pass along a message? That their customer service is absolutely obscene. The worst words I can come up with to describe it still don't do it justice. They have absolutely wadded up any concern they have ever had for the customers that have made them fat rich. And a problem that bad is well known from the top of the chain to the bottom - customer service is something that simply is not required for them to keep shoveling our money into their pockets, and frankly, it makes me sick. I am actually filing a report with both the California Attourney General and the California Coorporation Comissioner this week over it. I did a google for "adobe customer service" and skimmed the first 10 pages of results. VERY telling. There are people hopping spitting mad all over - endless posts of people on forums and blogs experiencing the same thing I am. The BBB also has an "unsatisfactory" record of them with a huge number of unresolved complaints against them. Any normal mid sized company would be out of business by now over this, but because they know they have a total monopoly on the market, it's apparently occured to them that funding customer service is an expense they can now do without. Appalling.