Using Compare view on a second monitor

[camner]

When I've used Compare in the past, I've always done it on my primary monitor. Today I put Compare on the secondary monitor. When in compare view on the main screen, the right arrow key advances the non-most-selected image through the selected set of images (e.g., if IMG_1, IMG_2, and IMG_3 are selected, with IMG_1 as most selected, entering Compare view will put IMG_1 and IMG_2 on the screen, and hitting right arrow will put IMG_1 and IMG_3 on the screen). BUT, if I'm in Compare view on the secondary monitor, hitting right arrow swaps the most selected and the candidate images (using the previous example, on the secondary screen, hitting right arrow will display IMG_2 and IMG_1 in that order, rather than advancing the candidate image to IMG_3).

I tried shift-right-arrow, as the shift key is used to change the view on the secondary monitor, but since I was in the Grid on the primary monitor, hitting shift-right-arrow just added to the selected images.

Am I missing something? Is there a way to use Compare on a secondary monitor and cycle through the images as one would on the primary monitor?

 

[Linwood Ferguson]

And worse if you hit reject with compare on the secondary monitor it rejects BOTH photos. At least last time I tried. Victoria declared it "working as designed" but I never could understand the paradigm, so I just don't do compare on the secondary monitor, IMO it's just wrong.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Yup, the keyboard shortcuts acting on whatever's on the primary window is as designed (because LR doesn't know which screen you're looking at).

The alternative is to drag the primary window - set to Compare - over to the second monitor, and put the secondary window - set to Grid or whatever - on the main monitor.

 

[Linwood Ferguson]

Yup, the keyboard shortcuts acting on whatever's on the primary window is as designed (because LR doesn't know which screen you're looking at).

Yeah, I get that. Sort of.

So try this - primary on grid, secondary on compare. Right click ON AN IMAGE IN THE COMPARE WINDOW, set flag to reject. Both images are rejected.

It pretty darn clearly knew which image I was referring to in that case.

if it's working as designed it is designed badly.

I get what you are saying, but I think the ergonomics of it just stink. There should be some recognition that having the compare window up has a purpose to choose ONE of the two images. Yet there's no mechanism to actually do that if you are comparing on the secondary window.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hmmm, that right-click behavior's changed then, because it used to affect a single photo when mouse-clicking. Report it!

 

[Linwood Ferguson]

Sure. When I see them respond to any bugs I filed years ago.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

 

[camner]

So, it appears that the secondary monitor can really only be used for viewing? (When I refer to the "secondary monitor," I'm not talking about a particular physical monitor but rather "the monitor which is displaying LR's secondary screen.") What is the purpose of being able to put the secondary screen into Compare or Survey mode if one cannot use the keyboard (or the mouse?) to actually do what that view is intended to accomplish? I thought the purpose of compare is to allow one to select a series of images and run through them one by one, with the one on the left designated to be the "Select" image and the other being the one to compare to the Select picture for the purpose of choosing the best of the lot. If one can't do that on the secondary screen, why allow the secondary screen to be put in Compare mode? Am I missing something obvious?

(And, while LR can't tell which screen I'm looking it, Adobe implemented the Shift+same_key_as_on_the_primary_screen to choose among the modules on the secondary screen...couldn't they do the same for Compare mode?)

 

[Victoria Bampton]

If you have Loupe on the main screen, it'll only affect that main picture instead of both. But yes, secondary screen isn't as useful as it once was, nor as it could be. I don't think many people actually use it, as we don't get questions about it very often.

 

[Linwood Ferguson]

If you have Loupe on the main screen, it'll only affect that main picture instead of both. But yes, secondary screen isn't as useful as it once was, nor as it could be. I don't think many people actually use it, as we don't get questions about it very often.

That's true, and if it wasn't clear in my rant, you can just reverse things and it works more as you would expect. If you use the secondary for grid, and primary for compare, then reject (etc) will behave more intuitively, selecting only one to change.

When I try to help people get started with Lightroom, after we get past "there's no open, no save, and yes photos are in your catalog but not really 'in' your catalog", the whole concept of trinary select status is the next hurdle - an image can be selected, not selected, or more selected (primary selection). Add to that stacks, where a stack can be selected but not the photos inside, and this paradigm is a hurdle. Now add primary and secondary monitor and the combinations of selection and... well, it's no wonder people can't agree whether it's a feature or a bug.

 

[Udi]

Camner, I was just experiencing the same thing and totally agree that this is extremely annoying. A workaround that I found is having both monitors on 'Compare View' (you can use Shift+C to enter compare view on your second display) and zoom in on both images in compare view on the second display while using the arrows to control the image selection and swapping on the primary display. (In short, have both of the monitors on compare. Hope this help

 

[camner]

@Udi,

Sorry to be slow in responding...I was traveling. Thanks for this tip! It sounds interesting, and I'll try it soon.