1 Reply Latest reply: Sep 3, 2009 9:25 AM by dj_paige RSS

    is there an upper threshold of catalog size that shouldn't be crossed?

    BradKaye Community Member

      so here's a quick version of my workflow:

       

      1. Shoot a job,
      2. Download cards via Image Capture to a pocket drive off my laptop and if the shoot is more than a one day ordeal,
      3. Import into Lightroom and have it render 1:1 previews of the day's bounty at the hotel at night, otherwise...
      4. Transfer the Canon 21mp CR2 files to the 4 drive RAID-0 on my primary machine and either import & build previews into a new job catalog there or if already built, transfer the catalog and previews off the pocket drive to that same RAID-0
      5. edit
      6. rename and organize
      7. process out to Tiffs for client and build web indexes
      8. convert any selected files to DNG, discard unstarred raw files
      9. move the catalog, preview, web and DNG files to my mirrored archive (online/offline depending on what drive is mounted)
      10. import the job catalog into a master catalog that resides permanently on both my primary and secondary MacPros.

       

      Images viewed in the master catalog are most likely offline and are viewed via thumbnails and 1:1 previews, the processed Tiffs get killed from my 6TB RAID after 30 days time from delivery of the job to client.

       

      I'm in the process, as I have time, of applying this process to archive drives of past shoots that had originally been cataloged with Aperture, or not cataloged at all.

       

      As of this writing, I have 17 individual, 1TB & 1.5TB hard drives containing RAW & DNG files from 16.7, 21, 22, 39 and 60 megapixel cameras, that each have mirrored backups stored offline and off premises.

       

      Easily 300,000+ unique images.

       

      Is one .lrcat library referencing one lrdata set of previews going to be left standing when I'm finished?

        • 1. Re: is there an upper threshold of catalog size that shouldn't be crossed?
          dj_paige Community Member

          While I have no experience with such massive amount of data in Lightroom, I can tell you that there is no upper limit built-in to the software that would prevent a catalog from operating on 300,000 images. You give us great detail about your hard drive set-up, and the speed of these drives certainly does affect catalog performance in LR, but the computer specs also affect catalog performance, and the only way to determine if it will be fast enough for you, is to try a large catalog. I also point out that processing 21mb originals (and larger) will be a source of slowness that is distinct from the size of the catalog.

           

          I personally do not like multiple catalogs for a variety of reasons, but I am not a professional photographer. I do acknowledge that if your photographs can be split into non-overlapping sets (such as personal and work; or wedding photos vs landscape photos), then multiple catalogs certainly makes sense. Some pro photographers use one catalog per job, and other pro photographers use one large catalog.