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Classic+CC/Cloud - Which import workflow? Import to Classic or CC/Cloud first?

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TimWatts

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Hi - thoughts from you wise and knowledgeable folks would be very welcome here :)

Just starting with LR Classic + CC with cloud subscription. All my photos (30000) are on a super fast SSD drive, plugged into a MacBook with LR Classic. Classic is connected to the Cloud and down to LR CC on my Android phone (and later an iPad for detailed review and first level edits).

Problem: If you look at this side by side of the same part of a photo:

One half is the original, with a screen grab at 1:1 view. The other is the same photo as synced via Cloud to LR CC on my phone. Again a screengrab at max zoom.

I know the SmartPreviews are capped resolution (less than my Lumix GX8) and obviously very lossy compression. The difference is quite marked.

This makes Smart Previews less than totally useful for judging focus as part of the rating workflow.

Would I have been better to have imported everything via LR CC so cloud had a copy of the original? Should I start again? (Cost - I would lose about 2 dozen detailed edits, unless the XMP sidecars would preserve those - no real rating effort has been put in yet).

I really wish Classic had an option to selectively sync originals up, or to be able to tune the SmartPreview size and compression parameters. But it doesn't, so I'm trying to figure out how to go from here :eek:
 

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If you installed Lightroom CC on your computer too, then you can import the originals into Lightroom CC. Lightroom CC is intelligent enough to see that these new imports are the same files as were already synced by Lightroom Classic, so it will replace the smart previews by originals. That way you can get the originals online after all, without losing your edits.
 
If you installed Lightroom CC on your computer too, then you can import the originals into Lightroom CC. Lightroom CC is intelligent enough to see that these new imports are the same files as were already synced by Lightroom Classic, so it will replace the smart previews by originals. That way you can get the originals online after all, without losing your edits.

Hi Johan,

Really? Wow - that is awesome. Thanks very much - I would never have assumed that. I'll try a sample.

In fact this is actually very nice as it means that I already have my whole library synced, but I can slowly upload the originals as I work on them (it's a slow process obviously to import the original RAWs).

Follow on question: to revert to using less space on Cloud, I assume all I need to do is unsync from LR Classic and let it dump the corresponding items in Cloud - then turn sync back on to let it pull Smart Previews over?

Cheers :thumbsup:
Tim
 
Follow on question: to revert to using less space on Cloud, I assume all I need to do is unsync from LR Classic and let it dump the corresponding items in Cloud - then turn sync back on to let it pull Smart Previews over?
Yes, that is the way to do the opposite: replace an original in the cloud by a smart preview.
 
Nice one Mr Elzenga :)

I had some Cloud breakage, (stuck sync inbound) so I deleted the Cloud and let Classic re-sync[1]

After that, used LR CC on the Mac to add the original RAWs from one set - and indeed, they merged in. Even one edited to B&W saw the upgrade.

Now it is worth noting that the edited one, you get a choice from CC Web of 2 downloads - the B&W is still the Smart Preview, but you get the Original with no edits. I need to do some more tests now to see if that gives 1:1 on LR CC to judge focus - but it did do what you said.

One side point for anyone reading - the 2nd load of the RAWs has to be via Mac LR CC. LR Android and LR Web will simply refuse the 2nd import as a duplicate.

Many many thanks.

[1] And given the slightly fragile nature of the Cloud, I think the only sane workflow is to root everything in Classic - because if the Cloud flips out and needs to be reset, the only thing wasted is time and putting a few folders back in place - all the real work is safe in Classic.

I certainly would not recommend migrating a Classic catalogue fully to cloud as it stands.
 
And I can confirm, once the original is uploaded into Cloud, Android LR pulls it down (possibly dependent on whether the Download SmartPreview preference is set or not???) - takes a few seconds, but zooming into a photo shows the original in clear focus with no compression artefacts.

For positive confirmation LR CC (Mac and Android) confirm the state of play if you enable the Info panel (shortcut i on the keyboard)
 
PS - not sure why - but I cannot post a very small screen grab of that info panel...

There was a security setting on the server that got changed in a server crash. It should work again now.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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