Options
Different way to edit photos in Lightroom
Gary752
Registered Users Posts: 934 Major grins
Has anyone tried using a MIDI controller with the MIDI2LR plugin to do your edits in Lightroom? I found this video on YouTube the other day and thought it would be something worth giving a try, so I ordered one like the one in the video. The video is at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZNAyK3-KbNM I ordered mine on Amazon and it takes about 2 weeks for delivery (about a week left to go). I think the guy says in the video it comes from Germany. So what do you think? Do you think this could speed up your Lightroom work flow?
GaryB
“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!” - Ansel Adams
“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!” - Ansel Adams
0
Comments
I'm really interested in this after watching the video and might be buying one myself. Though a question about the knobs, can they go 360? Or are there stops? that would be my one worry.
Also for culling your photos I've found that a gamepad works great, SNES or playstation style ones are the best with the latter having 2 extra buttons. And then on PC you just use joy to key and set it up for the different rating/color/flagging commands you want. For portability I now use a 8BitDo SNES bluetooth gamepad.
To answer your question on the knobs, they have stops. On this controller, there are 4 arrow keys, You can set the up arrow key to be a pick, and the down arrow key as a reject, the use the right and left arrow keys to scroll through the photos. The thing I like about this is you can program each knob and button the way you want, and change it if you decide it would be better a different way at a later date.
“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!” - Ansel Adams
How often do you find yourself hitting the stops?
I haven't yet. But that doesn't mean that I won't in the future. I just seen another contoller that automatically resets to the center when you go to the next photo, but can't remember the name of it.
“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!” - Ansel Adams
I have a Palette kit with a couple additional buttons and like it a lot.
Picture of Palette
I have it set up in a vertical rectangle adjacent to my keyboard and it's simple and intuitive to put one hand on the mouse and one on the Palette keys and manipulate to your hearts content. Keys/knobs/buttons are easily mapped, and I love the ability to switch between profiles. The downside is the price to get enough buttons to do what you want.
My setup includes two style arcade buttons on top of the rectangle, two sliders below those, four rotating knobs in a diamond pattern with one additional arcade style button in the center of the diamond. The central arcade button cycles through the profiles while the four knobs around it are my main adjustment points. The sliders are supplementary for tint, clarity, vibrance, hues, etc. While in my "Library profile" the top two arcade buttons are mapped as pick and reject...and have been assigned stop light colors....green for pick, red for reject.
Profiles are: Library, Develop (basic), Develop (advanced), Split Toning, Sharpening-Noise Reduction, Vignette.
Example of Mapping
Process is that I run through the Library profile selecting picks and rejects. Next profile (center arcade button) to Develop (basic) for temp, tint, exposure, whites, blacks and contrast. Next profile to Develop (advanced), punch up clarity, vibrance, tone curve. Next profile to Split Toning and apply if necessary. Next profile to Sharpening-Noise Reduction for sharpening, NR, sharpen masking and luminance. Next profile to Vignette and apply is necessary. Select next image and start over. It's much quicker than it took to type this.
The hardest part for me was to memorize which button does what.
...as if I need something else to put into the soup, lol. This device is interesting, but my shooting and processing usually involves a couple hundred shots (like, in a per-group mode out of maybe 50 such groups) of which I assign a preset. I don't cull, per se, but reject as I go thru them. I use a gaming mouse with buttons programmed for different Develop operations; advance/back, crop, zoom in/out, export page and enter to do that task. I've put in others and tried/rejected, but with the preset in force that's all I really need to do 90% of the time. When I have to dig-in on the individual shot needing something extra, I'll make an adjustment here or there in the conventional way...which this device would surely make quicker ...dammit. ;0]
(tin can tied to the bumper)