Practical Strategy for Converting Existing LR Library from .NEF to .DNG

[mdrdsr]

hello - this thread is not intended to be a discussion about .DNG vs. .NEF (or other native formats) but rather to outline a strategy for converting existing LR Photos from .NEF to .DNG. Questions such as what to do with the original .NEF. The thousands of .XMP files? [size=small]if I choose the Library | Convert to DNG option, it creates the DNG in the same location, adds it to the catalog, removes the .NEF from the catalog but leave the .NEF in the original location just not part of the LR Catalog anymore. Once this is done, what should I do with the.NEF files? How best to clean up the physical locations and the .NEFs? Should I adopt a folder system that includes the .NEFs?[/size][size=small] [/size]Any thought on a strategy to convert an existing LR Catalog of .NEFs (including Virtual Copies) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,David

 

[Victoria Bampton]

If you do the Library > Convert to DNG option, there's a 'remove original files' option which will delete the NEF's. I'd copy the NEF's to another hard drive if you want to keep them, and then run the convert to DNG and let it remove the NEFs. I did the same a year or so ago, and it works a treat.

 

[johnbeardy]

Make a backup copy of the catalogue before moving ahead. You can then follow Victoria's advice, and then use the NEF catalogue to move those files to another location.

John

 

[mdrdsr]

[quote author=johnbeardy link=topic=8673.msg585'9#msg585'9 date=1261343862]
Make a backup copy of the catalogue before moving ahead. You can then follow Victoria's advice, and then use the NEF catalogue to move those files to another location.

John
[/quote]

John - can you detail how to use the *backup* catalog to move the .nef files?

 

[mdrdsr]

[quote author=Victoria Bampton link=topic=8673.msg585'3#msg585'3 date=1261341773]
If you do the Library > Convert to DNG option, there's a 'remove original files' option which will delete the NEF's. I'd copy the NEF's to another hard drive if you want to keep them, and then run the convert to DNG and let it remove the NEFs. I did the same a year or so ago, and it works a treat.
[/quote]

V - how did you copy the NEFs in an automated, easy manner? How do you identify what .nef belongs to what .dng? by file name? do you mirror your directory structure for the .nefs?

 

[clee01l]

[quote author=mdrdsr link=topic=8673.msg58514#msg58514 date=1261349839]
[quote author=johnbeardy link=topic=8673.msg585'9#msg585'9 date=1261343862]
Make a backup copy of the catalogue before moving ahead. You can then follow Victoria's advice, and then use the NEF catalogue to move those files to another location.John
[/quote]
John - can you detail how to use the *backup* catalog to move the .nef files?
[/quote]I'm not John, but this is how I would do it. What you are doing is having two catalogs looking at the same folders. At start the backup of the Catalog "A" is Exactly the original. Call the Backup, Catalog "B". When it finishes it will look exactly like "A".

In any folder, there are NEFs and XMPs and perhaps even a JPEG. This is what Catalog "A" & "B" can see. IN Catalog "A", Convert the NEFs to DNG. Now Catalog "A" Sees only DNGs and JPEGS if they should be there. If you open Catalog "B", it still sees only the NEFs and associated XMPs.

Now, while in LR and Catalog "B", Move the NEFs to another folder that will not be seen by "A". This should take care of the XMPs too. Now "A" looks at only files that are DNGs and JPEGs if there are any and there are not NEFs or XMPs in the folders that "A" can see. Catalog "B" is no longer relevant and can be deleted if all of your NEFs and XMPs are out of the "A" catalog.

Virtual copies exist only in the database catalog and should point to their original parents. If those are NEFs, then they probably will be gone if all you have left is a DNG. (I'm not positive about this, but it seems logical). If you want your VC parameters to follow, you need to make them into a Snapshot on the parent NEF before you do the backup and DNG creation. Snapshot data persists in the EXIF headers for DNG (or XMP files) wheras VCs are just that "virtual" and don't exist anywhere except in the database.

 

[pablo9]

Dave,

there's a really good guide on dpbestflow.com

http://www.dpbestflow.org/file-format/raw-file-formats

 

[Victoria Bampton]

I just copied the mirrored folder structure, and kept a backup of the catalog at that point in time. I've never been back to it yet.

 

[johnbeardy]

What I meant is that I began by copying the existing NEF structure to another location, and making my "Before Backup". If anything went wrong, I'd be able to point its folders to the new location. I also did the Convert to DNG without deleting the NEFs. Once happy everything had worked, I did a sync on that drive which imported the NEFs to the working catalogue and showed them in Last Imported - I could then delete them.

I'm similar to Victoria, with NEFs in a mirrored folder structure, but I rarely if ever go back to it.

John

 

[mdrdsr]

ok. I did a quick test on the Virtual Copies (VC). Converting a .NEF that has VCs does *KEEP* the VCs as well and renames them with a .dng extension. So, it looks like no worries with VC.

So, here is my plan.

Backup all images -- done to external drive
Backup catalog - done to external drive
Cleanup images -- delete all the bad ones that I have been hanging on to for no good reason
Convert to DNG -- should I have LR do it or use the DNG Converter program storing images in same location. I suspect having LR do it will be easier and not require to import again. So, LR it is.
Do some spot checking on VCs and images to see that all looks good
Filter the entire catalog for .nef extension files. Select all of them and delete from catalog and folders (I don't think that I want to keep them. I will have backups and offsite storage of the new .dng files so why hang on to the .nefs?)
Delete all .xmp files on my system

Well, I am off from work until 1/4 so I guess I will have some time to work on this.

Thanks,
David