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Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?
Darwin:
I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to Jeff for posting about exifPro - I'm not sure that I've done so before. Wonderful find. I'm still living mostly in PhotoCollector land because I am not yet able to index my complete collection with exifPro, but I love where exifPro is going.
tomos - I always buy in US dollars. It's a bit of a gamble but with the Canadian/US/Euro exchange being so volatile, but I am better off paying in US dollars in the long run. This has only dinged me once - I RMA'd something (PaperPort?) and lost $2 Cdn. courtesy of the exchange rates, but on balance on another occasion I made money doing the same thing!
JeffK:
Thanks for the thanks. It's good to know that it has been helpful to someone. My mood is further lifted watching Australia get 5 South African wickets in rapid succession in the Cricket World Cup semi-final.
I also generally pay in $US - it seems that the exchange rates always favours that rather than paying in my local $AU.
The Australian dollar has lifted in the last several weeks from approx 75USc to 83c. So buying software in $US has been cheaper over that period.
Jeff
Darwin:
The Australian dollar has lifted in the last several weeks from approx 75USc to 83c.
--- End quote ---
;D Thanks for the heads up - I'll have to practice due diligence when buying DOpus 9 on Friday (Thursday night here, he writes hopefully...) - The Universal Currency Converter is my friend!
johnk:
I'm coming a bit late to this discussion, but I've been through the same exhausting process in the last few months. Usual story. I fall into the keen amateur shooter category. Always organised my pics neatly in folders. Very logical. Could find things quickly.
Until now. Just too many pics. Needle in a haystack.
I think one difference between film and digital photography is that the "keen amateur" has software needs (particularly cataloging needs) very similar to the pros. Pixels are free. We shoot more often. We all shoot hundreds of pics at an event without a second thought. Even casual and occasional shooters will eventually end up with thousands or tens of thousands of pics, and they won't have a clue how to find the ones they want.
So it's worth looking at what the pros do. The DAM Book by Peter Krogh (http://www.thedambook.com/) is a good starting point - a thorough look at the theory and practice of digital asset managment. For what it's worth, he uses iView, Bridge and Photoshop.
If you're not sure you need to go that far, it's still worth taking a look a Peter Krogh's forums (http://thedambook.com/smf/index.php), where they discuss this stuff in great detail. Very helpful.
In the end, I plumped for iView. Nice GUI, fairly intuitive, nice and quick to use once catalogs are built, and a lot of pro photographers have been relying on it for some time, which must mean it's reliable and scalable. It should cater for all my needs for the foreseeable future. As MrCrispy points out on the first page of this thread, MS bought iView and is rolling it out soon as v1 of MS Expression Media. As MrCrispy also points out, views will vary on whether this is a bad or good thing.
On the plus side, registered users of v3 of iView Media Pro will get a free upgrade to Expression Media v1.
Darwin:
Thanks for positng this, John. I may have to give iView a look now (software junkie, you see. That makes you the pusher!)...
Er... no. Looks FANTASTIC and your points about amateur photographers having the same needs as the pros when it comes to image organization and cataloguing are spot on. However, there is no way in H-E-double hockey sticks I'm going to ante up $200 for it (not a principle thing, just economic reality!) so I won't be tempting myself with a trial! Looks fabulous, though.
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