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09/12/2004 03:21:51 AM · #1
Hi everyone,

Does anyone else have the same problem as me in that you can be too 'trigger happy' and take way more photos that you need to because its digital? Only to come home and it takes AGES to get everything organized (especially when working in RAW) and then archived.

I have not been able to find the perfect software solution which will do everything for me - I used to use Windows XP for everything until I started shooting RAW, and Windows wouldn't give you EXIF info, give you a decent slideshow (allows you to set up with transitions, music etc) or much really. When I bought my 10D I used Canon's software, which was OK, but when it came to organizing photos, it was VERY frustrating deleting pictures - it would do buggy things like jump back to the beginning of the folder and you'd have to navigate to where you were.

Now I'm not an advocate for ACD Systems, but I will give a bit of a plug to their software. I am using the trial version of ACDSee 6, and I've found that it's answered most of my demands. Firstly its very similar to the Windows OS which makes it very easy to organize the pics. It's also very quick with organizing thumbnails and previewing, it has a basic editor built in and if you buy the power pack it has a semi-advanced one with some very easy features built in. If you have Photoshop you can set it up so that you select a number of images and click a button on the toolbar and it will load all of those pics into Photoshop. It also has an 'Image Basket' which enables you to go through multiple folders selecting your favourite images and holding them in the basket. From there you can create a slideshow, load them to photoshop, batch resize or rename them. It also allows you (from within the interface) select a range of images and send them online where they'll stay for 30 days and you can send the link to anyone. Or you can email them! It also lets you rate your photographs, add them to a favourites gallery and you can view EXIF info.

The down side is that I think its still in its early days for RAW support. I've had a couple of hangs trying to work with them. Also when you plug the USB reader in, ACD will see it and launch its transfer program, but it won't see RAW files and transfer them for you. Although you can search for keywords and categories, you can't search by rating (all my photographs rated 5) other than the images you've added to your favourites, which is a workaround, but not what I would want. I still have to use Canons software to extract the save JPEG embedded in the RAW file.

Maybe my demands are too high on image organizing software, but it has definitely fastened the process of organization having ACDSee - I was wondering if anyone else had suggestions on software that does everything - I'd be interested to know before I buy ACDSee. Their website is www.acdsystems.com.
09/12/2004 04:39:16 AM · #2
Photo Mechanic gets raved about quite a lot by pro's..

Personally I'm not quite as smooth using it as I've got to be with ACDSee, but it seems to offer full RAW support.
09/12/2004 07:27:19 AM · #3
Well, I'm one of those that haven't begun organizing my digi-photos yet. I wanted to get the "best" program for it that doesn't cost a lot. Occasionally I've been reading about some programs for the last 1-2 years. Also I've been asking other photographers what they use and what they think is a good program.
After that 'research' I am most interested in iMatch, it looks like you'll get a very powerful program for only $50 and it's just as good as any program that costs 10 times more.

Check out those links:
//www.photools.com
//photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa080403a.htm

It would be nice to have opinions from users of iMatch here on DPC.

Some people that I know are using FotoStation and they like it a lot, that was at top of my list before I discovered iMatch.
//www.fotostation.com/

-.clic

Message edited by author 2004-09-12 07:32:30.
10/19/2004 12:44:16 AM · #4
I'm bringing this back up to see if anyone else has any ideas. I'm just considering getting mine highly (yeah right ) organized.

I saw another forum here.

Downloading trials for iMatch and ACD. Are they worth the $50?
10/19/2004 05:57:07 AM · #5
You can try freeware-s like Irfanview or XnView (//www.xnview.com/). I use Xnview it`s realy good.
10/19/2004 07:16:48 AM · #6
I've been using CompuPic Pro 6.1 for a while now and it does everything that I need, though ps7 is still used for anything other than basic touch ups. I don't know about RAW I don't have it on my camera so i don't use it.
10/19/2004 07:39:21 AM · #7
I've been using BreezeBrowser since my original Canon A40 camera. I've tried a lot of other organizing/file viewing utilities and I like the interface/operation of BreezeBrowser by far. It works with raw files too. I use it for organizing all of my 300D .jpg and .crw files.

It was originally designed to have the most functionality with Canon cameras and image formats, but works well with all image files. I highly recommend trying it out.
10/19/2004 07:43:48 AM · #8
I second the Xnview suggestion, freeware (//www.xnview.com) or deluxe (//xzeos.hosted.firstream.net/site_xnview_uk/)
10/19/2004 09:00:29 AM · #9
I have found image management with RAW to be very slow. The thumbnails stored with the image management software come up quick, but clicking through to the actual image is to slow for browsing, sorting, and selecting iamges. I usually batch process my RAW images into smaller jpegs and then use the jpegs for image management. I archive the RAW images by date and use them when I decide to do some post processing work on an image.

I use iView Media Pro and iPhoto, but those are mac tools, so they probably won't help you much.
10/19/2004 12:36:30 PM · #10
bump!
10/19/2004 12:52:10 PM · #11
I don't use RAW, so I can't comment on that. I am currently using BreezeBrowser, after having tried many programs, I am very happy with it -- but all I really use it for is viewing and orgainizing folders. I gave up trying to "tag" iamges and create searchable databases, which is what I had ACDSee for. If anyone is considering buying ACDSee, I would advise you to carefully review their forum and consider the postings. Version7 is now out, BTW. There are too many instances of data corruption and loss for me, and I personally lost some images to ACDSee. I now would never trust my collection to that program again, but of course, there are also many happy users of it. Just my two cents worth.
10/19/2004 01:35:21 PM · #12
I use Photools' IMatch.

One of the primary reasons:

I archive my raw files to off-line media (either a removable hard drive or DVD-R's), and IMatch detects when an original is no longer in the spot where it was when originally added and asks you if it has been archived. If you say "yes", you insert the DVD-R or plug in the removable HD and it updates its database. I can still browse the thumbnails for those images (even if they are offline), search by keyword, tags, etc., I can even draw a very rough picture of what I'm looking for and IMatch will deliver the goods. If it needs an offline volume to retrieve the actual file, it will tell me which one I need.

It supports Canon's .CR2 raw format (although unfortunately not in the downloadable free trial). Native CR2 support was a necessity for me since I always shoot in raw.

It also allows me to rename folders directly. I use BreezeSys's Downloader Pro to automatically download (and rename on-the-fly) images from my CF cards in a folder hierarchy like this:

\Photos\2004-10\2004-10-18\08542.CR2

I simply insert my CF card into my card reader. Downloader Pro starts up and downloads any new images (using the parameters I defined). The resulting photos are automatically organized by when they were taken, and everything named such that things sort nicely in Windows.

At this point, I use Capture One for quickly browsing, adjusting and processing recently-captured images, deleting those that are "throw aways".

Later, in IMatch, when I'm going through the images and applying tags, if I want to rename the folder "2004-10-18" to "2004-10-18 Jane Smith photo shoot", I can do that easily. It renames the actual folder (which makes it easy to find stuff when browsing folders directly without IMatch) and at the same time updates the IMatch database so it "knows" to look for that folder name instead of just "2004-10-18".

I'm satisfied with IMatch. It has been very reliable and offers a wealth of categorizing and powerful search options (including several pre-defined category databases that you can load to help tag images.)

I am always looking at alternatives though... for now, IMatch is a great value for the money IMHO. (Remember that there is a big difference between a simple image viewer and an actual image organizer that is designed to help you find images quickly.)

Message edited by author 2004-10-19 13:46:44.
10/19/2004 02:28:17 PM · #13
call me archaic, but I just create my own directories on the hard drive and every-so-often back them up to CD's. (Don't have a DVD burner yet). I copy my RAW files to an "originals" folder, open them up, edit them, save them to an "edited" folder, and then edit them for either the web, or print, and those go into a "web" or "prints" folder. So my Archive looks like this:

October 19
-- Originals
-- Edited
--- Web
--- Prints
October 20
-- Originals
-- Edited
--- Web
--- Prints

and so on and so forth. When I'm done editing on the first run, I compare the ones I've edited to the ones I closed immediately by looking at the "Originals" directory and the "Edited" directory, and delete all of the files I'll never look at again. Once a month, I back-up all of my work.

Photoshop 8 (CS) has no issues with opening RAW files, and although I haven't used the utility yet, I've seen a menu item that mentions obtaining EXIF info from your photo.

So buying all of this software seems useless to me. Is there something that I'm missing?

BTW...next week (hopefully) I'll be getting a spanking new Sony VAIO A-190 lap-top. Any info. I should know before I buy?

Message edited by author 2004-10-19 14:29:03.
10/19/2004 03:35:31 PM · #14
FotoStation at www.fotoware.org
10/19/2004 03:46:25 PM · #15
I use Breezebrowser for Raw conversion and Cerious software's Thumbsplus for a image organizer and database. Both of these also have additional features like HTML web page generation. Thumbsplus keeps everything in a real database accessible through other programs and will generate print catalogs (to any printer device or a file) and contact sheets (as an image file). Thumbsplus supports RAW formats, as well as quick conversions between formats and supports 16 bit per channel image data.

I've been a Thumbsplus user for 5+ years, and a Breezebrowser user for 2 or 3. Breezebrowser is better/quicker at handling raw files, but they do complement each other in many ways.

I've been trying out ACDC and it has a ton of features, looks good, but to be honest, I find it a little annoying. For one thing, it doesn't seem to want to autorotate images per the EXIF information. And the results I see in their editor are less than stunning, though their are lots of controls. Plus, try to figure out what you get in the "base" package. Their materials are confusing.

These are all available as trialware. Like Eddy, I am always looking for the next best thing though, even if it's something I will use "in addition". I will give iMatch a try too.
10/19/2004 03:51:31 PM · #16
Originally posted by Nusbaum:


I use iView Media Pro and iPhoto, but those are mac tools, so they probably won't help you much.


Any idea whether iPhoto can deal with RAW images?
10/19/2004 05:02:06 PM · #17
One cool feature about IMatch is that it supports hierarchical, dynamic categories. A pretty powerful concept once you understand it.

You can also define dynamic albums, that are updated instantly as you categorize your photos. So if you set up a dynamic album to display "pictures that contain people, dealing with sports, at the beach", any time you marked a picture as containing a person (and you can get as specific as you want, so you can have a category named "Uncle Milton", for example, and that pic would be found by the "People" query), and being in the "Beach" location, and dealing with any sport (even if you flagged the pic as "Volleyball", for example), it would show up in that dynamic album...

IMatch has full IPTC support, will generate web pages, print contact sheets and do batch processing (such as adding watermarks), has a scripting language, built-in image editor, etc.
10/19/2004 06:41:21 PM · #18
I basically organise in directories and then use ACDSee. Not ideal, and no good for RAW files, but I keep small jpg's as well, so that is not an issue.

Am mid trying a demo copy of Photo Mechanic. Very bizarrely, it came loaded on my new Compact Flash card, with a warning to have a look before you format the card.

Am very impressed with it, it is lightning fast creating the thumbnails, even RAW format, and in that respect leaves ACDSee for dead. Prefer ACDSee for looking at the actual images though.

However, at $150 I don't see me sticking with it.

I did find one very neat piece of shareware/freeware (forget which) a while ago, if anyone is interested I'll find the details.

Basically it builds a simple HTML web page (no good for RAW) or thumbnails, click on each and it takes you to the full sized image.

The beauty is that you can use the same software to burn your CD/DVD which will now have an index page of what photos are contained on it.

Ok, so this is like a lot of the archiving software packages, so why the attraction?????? Five years from now, running Windows 2007 or something, and I find that CD covered in dust. With I still have Adobe Album or something running? Probably not. However, the chances of me being able to still view HTML, with basic software supplied with the OS, is pretty good.

Not flashy, but excellent piece of software.
10/19/2004 06:47:45 PM · #19
I think Thumbs Plus supports raw and anyone I know that uses it raves about it.

edit: added link

Message edited by author 2004-10-19 19:03:57.
10/19/2004 07:17:18 PM · #20
Definitely ACDSee for me. :)

M
01/04/2005 07:50:10 PM · #21
I am an amateur photographer who also maintains
> the family archives. Is there an archival
> software that will wether the times and help
> catalog photos, films, sound. Every CD burner,
> digital camera, comes with a family album type
> software. I am looking for something that will
> work in 10 years time or 20 years time. Maybe
> something based on microsoft access. My problem
> is not one of storage space of storage method.
> Thank you in advance for any help.
01/04/2005 08:09:53 PM · #22
I use ACDSee, could not live without it. It can browse raw files but is pretty slow at it. As others have pointed out it is fast at thumbnails but very slow if you are looking at the full size image.

I do organized my files by date but then also use ACDSee to both put them in categories and for just browsing.

01/04/2005 08:23:27 PM · #23
In my mailbox today, was a xmas present from another auto shop owner that I have helped a bit during the past year. He sent me Microsoft's Digital Image Suite 9, and according to the box, has a strong organizer built in.
Oh goody - new software to play with - we'll see how it goes...

01/04/2005 08:26:37 PM · #24
Originally posted by BradP:

In my mailbox today, was a xmas present from another auto shop owner that I have helped a bit during the past year. He sent me Microsoft's Digital Image Suite 9, and according to the box, has a strong organizer built in.
Oh goody - new software to play with - we'll see how it goes...


I use DIP 10, but didn't get the suite with the organizer. I heard it was very slow. But I love their editing programs; I have owned 7, 9 and now 10 - which has curves and highlights/shadows. Enjoy!!!!
01/18/2005 02:54:36 PM · #25
That iMatch software sounds very interesting to me because of it's support for offlined files. What other programs support similar functionality?
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