Thinking of Writing Review - Best Software for Organizing Photos

[Jonathan Schmidt]

I don't know about you, but I have a lot of digital photos and the number is growing all the time. I chose to use Photoshop Album 2 after looking at a couple of different apps. However, I can't say that I exactly did an exhaustive look at all the differences between the available applications.

I am thinking of writing a review of various software on their ability to help you store, organize, and find your photos.

First, is there any interest in this topic? Would this be helpful to you?

Second, what software would you like to see covered in the article? I was thinking of including the following:

-Photoshop Album 2
-Picasa
-Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9
-Ulead PhotoImpact
-Canto Cumulus
-ThumbsPlus
-IMatch from Photools.com
-ACDSee
-JASC Photo Album 5 (beta)

Note that this would not be an exhaustive review of these applications, but merely their capabilities to help one organize their pics.

What do you think?[/i]

[Suhit Gupta]

I think this is a great idea. I just wish there was also some piece of software that added a security model to these images when entering them into the db, so that the query for retrieving them (off of a webpage) would dynamically produce results based not only on tags that annotate the image, but also the security level of the user that is searching. Anyways, I look forward to your review/s.

Suhit

[Jon Westfall]

I like the review idea as well as the security level idea, Suhit. I find that there are a myriad of uses for security levels inside picture files, such as a creator level, and a licensee level. It would really help tracking down picture theifs, as your post eluded to.

[Suhit Gupta]

Actually I don't care so much about picture thieves, I guess, although now that I think about it, that ends up being an alterior motive. I just wanted to have a fair bit of control over who gets to see what image. So this would be a product that adds security levels to the file itself and so the file (picture) itself would be shown/not shown based on the security level.

Suhit

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Well, I'd like to see how fast it is to retrive images, but this isn't easy to test..

[dartman]

I think a review is a great idea. I've been looking at a couple products myself (Photoshop Album 2, Imatch) and I'm still not sure. I've read a little about most on your list but haven't tried them.

I want a few things:

I have a Canon 300D and I want Canon RAW support even though I do mostly large jpegs. I'm just learning about handling RAW and I can see I'll do more as time passes.

I don't care so much about retouching and editing features since I use Photoshop Elements 2 and I just ordered Photoshop CS.

I would like to keep track of "off-line" images (CD or DVD) as well as those on my hard drive.

Related to that, I want to be able to move my image index database to a second computer easily (running another copy of the same software). Ideally this would be a file copy or backup/restore instead of a complicated import/export process. Something like copying a Microsoft Access mdb file from one machine to another.

I would like to be able to export my index data to a global format like XML or at least csv files for import into another product if something better comes along or my needs change. Properly indexing photos involves a lot of work and I don't want to start over if I change progs. I spent a lot of time painstakingly editing ID3 tags for my MP3's. I've already changed music libraries several times wtih no trouble. I want the same for my photos.

As I said before, I don't need this indexing program to do everything. I just need the program to help keep track of things and be able to export a subset (like a playlist I guess) of the images for use by other specialized programs.

Obviously I'm interested in the speed, query flexibility, ease of use, etc. like everyone else. I have several thousand photos now and I can easily see going over 10,000 in the next couple of years.

That's all I can think of now.

I think the review would be great!

dart

[Crocuta]

Yeah, a review of these would be great. I can't think of any popular programs that you've missed. Features I would consider important are:
1. ease of cataloging (i.e. attaching tags/keywords)
2. complexity of keyword categories (i.e. nesting levels of subcategories
3. ease of filtering to find a particular image
4. easy of moving between full-size view and thumbnails
5. manipulation options
6. handling of original/manipulated images
7. integration with full-fledged editor like PS
8. abilities to share information with others. Not just exporting data files for reimport to another database (though that's good too), but the ability to share the database with others. On the light side, that might mean the ability to send images and data to another user of the same program. On the serious side, it might go as far as allowing two members of a household (on separate computers) to easily use the same database over a network. Most of us can probably figure out how to hack that together, but I mean it having multiple users of a single database as a feature.

[Jonathan Schmidt]

Good suggestions, all! I will start working on this in the coming week!

[Suhit Gupta]

Good suggestions, all! I will start working on this in the coming week!
On recommendation/idea - since you are probably going to be setting up galleries using all of the software mentioned with one set of pictures, for doing a comparison, your could perhaps put it up somewhere (if you have webspace) for us to take a look at as well.

Suhit

[Jonathan Schmidt]

I do have my own website where I could publish other files. However, could I ask you to elaborate a bit on what you are suggesting I publish? What is the "it" in "put it up somewhere"?

[Suhit Gupta]

Most of the software AFAIK can output HTML galleries. If you made galleries using one set of images (which you probably will in any case while writing the review), I was hoping you could put these up on the web so that we could see samples to get an idea of what they look like. See my point?

Suhit

[dartman]

Suhit,

It seems like the posting of galleries is a possible feature of these album type programs but I would not discount a program without this capability if it indexed images well. After all, the original subject was "The Best Software For Organizing Photos" which I take to mean image management.


Note that this would not be an exhaustive review of these applications, but merely their capabilities to help one organize their pics.


From my point of view, I'm really interested in the indexing, queries, and retrieval capabilities to manage my images. Most of the things I want to do with individual images (composition, retouching, etc) or with subsets of the database (publishing galleries, albums, etc.) can be addressed by other special purpose programs.

A lot of times developers lose sight of the main purpose by trying to be everything to everybody. Often they end up with bloated products containing inferior versions of features found elsewhere.

I'm most interested in the ability to properly manage an image database. If the review focuses on a comparison of those features, the other items can be footnoted.

It's going to be hard enough to compare the programs in Jonathan's list without getting into features not related to image management directly.

This is just my opinion.

dart

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

It's going to be hard enough to compare the programs in Jonathan's list without getting into features not related to image management directly.

This is just my opinion.


I agree! I want to manage my images, and retive the images I want as quickly as possible.

[Jonathan Schmidt]

I'm inclined to agree with the other two posts here on this issue. I would like to keep the article focussed on image management only. I think to try to do a review of all the features from so many programs would be probably a bit much. If we include gallery support, where do we draw the line?

Most of the software AFAIK can output HTML galleries. If you made galleries using one set of images (which you probably will in any case while writing the review), I was hoping you could put these up on the web so that we could see samples to get an idea of what they look like. See my point?

Suhit

[dartman]

Good suggestions, all! I will start working on this in the coming week!

Jonathan,

Any progress on your review of photo organization software? I still haven't bought any thing new.

dart

[karinatwork]

I too need urgent advice on that one. I have been working with Picasa, Ulead Photo Explorer and now with Jasc Photo Album 5. I like them all, because every one of them has something that the other ones does not, but I wish there was one piece of software that'd cover all my needs.

K.

[SassKwatch]

I too need urgent advice on that one. I have been working with Picasa, Ulead Photo Explorer and now with Jasc Photo Album 5. I like them all, because every one of them has something that the other ones does not, but I wish there was one piece of software that'd cover all my needs.
You may want to take a look at Imatch (http://www.photools.com). A bit of a learning curve fer sure, but a very capable image manager.

[Bud Pritchard]

I too need urgent advice on that one. I have been working with Picasa, Ulead Photo Explorer and now with Jasc Photo Album 5. I like them all, because every one of them has something that the other ones does not, but I wish there was one piece of software that'd cover all my needs.
You may want to take a look at Imatch (http://www.photools.com). A bit of a learning curve fer sure, but a very capable image manager.

I've been looking for an image manager. One that prints to my liking along with complete catalog maintenance. Looked at all software like Adobe Photo Album, etc.

Looking at Imatch in evaluation period. I'm liking what I see. It has rudimentary image fixup which would suit most of my photo retouching. If need be, I can manipulate the photo in another advanced program.

Imatch has a host of cataloging and search functionality. As SassKwatch mentioned, it has more of a learning curve that other software, however, the time spent learning Imatch would be worth it.

Also looking at Qimage (http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/)
for printing. I like what I see. Especially the ability to print the best possible image using printer profiles.

So, for me, I'm seriously considering Imatch for image management and Qimage to print.

After some Google searches:

Distillation of Imatch reviews (http://www.pcphotoreview.com/Image,Viewing,and,Printing/Photools.com,IMatch/PRD_288360_3080crx.aspx#reviews)

Strengths:
Does everything
It's SO EASY to backup the cache files and the entire image database. It's as simple as copying files.
"relocate" command
Processes images very fast.
Innovative and intuitive category-based organization schema.
Lightning fast searches.
"Dynamic" categories folders capability.
Powerful built-in scripting language and lots of examples.
Can search images by actual image content.
Maintains separate thumbnails database, including for offline material.
Powerful multiple table database design.
Customizeable multi-category assignment shortcut buttons.
Advanced auto web-album creation tools.
Extensive IPTC and EXIF data support.
Intelligent multiple file renaming feature.
Extremely comprehensive contextual help system and documentation.
Imports image data from other popular image management systems.
Great search-functions (the usual AND direct image-comparison.
Weaknesses:
User interface could be a little cleaner.
The sheer volume of options gives IMatch a bit more of a learning curve than others.
I wish it had the "view" page always available instead of always having to click the view tab to see the cahed preview.
A better mechanism for associating raw images and their edited versions for display and printing.
Only for PC (not Mac)
Several users can see and read one database over a network, but different users cannot write in this database over the network

Reviews for Dimage
PcPhototReview (http://www.pcphotoreview.com/Image,Viewing,and,Printing/Digital%20Domain,Qimage,Pro,/PRD_131717_3080crx.aspx)
Print digital photographs with maximum quality, minimum effort!
Professional Quality Prints from Originals
Auto-Sizing: No More Resampling or DPI Worries ...
Multiple Prints/Sizes Per Page
Image Viewing/Comparing
Full Color Management (ICC)
Supports JPEG, TIF, BMP, GIF, PCX, TGA, PCD, PNG, and NEF (Nikon D1 raw) image types

dpreview (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0008/00080104qimagepro854.asp)
Lossless JPEG transformation: 90, 180 degrees (clockwise or anti-clockwise), flip (horizontal and vertical)
Decoding of Nikon D1 NEF raw format
NEF Decode Colour space support (D1 Native, Adobe RGB, sRGB, NTSC (1953), Bruce RGB, Qimage Pro)
Fixes D1 "magenta skin" problem
Seven interpolation modes: Pixel Resize, Lancoz, Hermite, Triangle, Mitchell, Bell, Bicubic
Correction for: Exposure, Dark Current Noise, Shadow Noise, Blemishes, Red-Eye, High ISO, Special Nikon D1 High ISO filter
Image filtering and component adjustment (Brightness, Contrast, R, G, B & C, M, Y)
Slideshow mode
Side-by-Side Image comparator
Automatic print layout (make the best use of paper for multiple images on a page)

photography.about (http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa042103c.htm)

[Claison]

I am use PicaJet.

www.picajet.com

This is new software.
Looks like impressive.

[waverlyn]

I've been using iView MediaPro 2.5 (Win) for a few months now. I think it is a very good Image Database software. Here's the link:

http://www.iview-multimedia.com/

They also have a 30-day trial.

[Suhit Gupta]

I am almost done with writing my own image organizer. (It is written in Java and PHP). Would people be interested in reading the specs for it?

Suhit

[dartman]

Jonathan,

Did you decide not to go forward with this evaluation? I can understand if you didn't have time. It's a big effort.

Just curious.

dart

[the_rapture]

I am almost done with writing my own image organizer. (It is written in Java and PHP). Would people be interested in reading the specs for it?

Suhit

Sure, are you going to have it password protected so that if you wanted to run it on a server you could? I'd like to have something like that. I created a database out of PHP and MySQL for my comic books, but I haven't had much time to work on it but it gets the job done for me i.e. if I'm out and want to check and see if I have a book I can pull it up.

Your program sounds like you could do the same thing. Pull up your photos on almost any computer anywhere...

[DenisO]

Try Olympus Master 2 (http://digitalcamerasclub.com/2007-07-19/olympus-master-2-free-for-macwin/). Easy in use, free for mac and win.