DAM Recommendations

[Saledolce]

I will be able to tell you more in a few days, I have it on trial now and I generally had a good impression. I really need something help me manage my growing library, and this seems like a decent candidate. I'll be purchasing a license key today/tomorrow and keep learning....

 

[mcasan]

I moved over to Darktable on Linux. The DAM works well enough. One thing that is missing in the DAM...no ability to name/label a collection. I can create a collection based on a date range, such as for a trip. But the collection name is the date range. Very odd.

 

[0000]

One thing that is missing in the DAM...no ability to name/label a collection. I can create a collection based on a date range, such as for a trip. But the collection name is the date range. Very odd.

You can create named presets in the collection module, for whatever that's worth.

 

[Saledolce]

I moved over to Darktable on Linux.

I would be very tempted to move everything over to Linux. Do we have a thread about post processing option on that OS?

 

[grcolts]

Is anyone using acdsee? I'm testing the mac version, and from video tutorials it feels a bit behind the windows one...

I am using ACDSee Studio Mac 6 edition for cataloging my images and love it. It is very quick, responsive and offers key-wording, labeling, rating, color coding, etc. Plus, I have found this version to be very stable as well. I would definitely check it out.
GQR

 

[oldracer]

I am getting closer to ditching LR6. What is the current state of the art with LR import? Obviously not everything about the processing can be imported but it would seem that the database, collections, etc. could import with high fidelity. Are there any of the DAMs that are good at this?

 

[GBarrington]

I am getting closer to ditching LR6. What is the current state of the art with LR import? Obviously not everything about the processing can be imported but it would seem that the database, collections, etc. could import with high fidelity. Are there any of the DAMs that are good at this?

I can't speak to the Mac version, but ACDSee Windows version has a Lightroom database import macro. It can't use the Lightroom edits to your DNGs, but it can import most of the metadata.

It's kind of old, but I wrote about manually moving from Lr to ACDSee a few years back on my now idle blog. It's still valid, I think, at least in the broad strokes, and should be valid for a move from Lr to almost ANY Workflow Manager program:

Moving from Lightroom To ACDSee

 

[marcsitkin]

I would be very tempted to move everything over to Linux. Do we have a thread about post processing option on that OS?

https://pixls.us/
This site has a rundown on the Linux based image editing options.

 

[marcsitkin]

I moved over to Darktable on Linux. The DAM works well enough. One thing that is missing in the DAM...no ability to name/label a collection. I can create a collection based on a date range, such as for a trip. But the collection name is the date range. Very odd.

A workaround is to create a collection based on a keyword.

 

[algold]

I will be able to tell you more in a few days, I have it on trial now and I generally had a good impression. I really need something help me manage my growing library, and this seems like a decent candidate. I'll be purchasing a license key today/tomorrow and keep learning....

The Acdsee studio 6 for Mac now is only $40 until August 5th.

 

[mcasan]

I would be very tempted to move everything over to Linux. Do we have a thread about post processing option on that OS?

Good place to start: https://pixls.us/

 

[Saledolce]

The Acdsee studio 6 for Mac now is only $40 until August 5th.

I downloaded the trial, after a few days a sales rep contacted me offering a little additional discount. At 35$ it's well worth a deeper dive.

 

[JLGF1]

I am getting closer to ditching LR6. What is the current state of the art with LR import? Obviously not everything about the processing can be imported but it would seem that the database, collections, etc. could import with high fidelity. Are there any of the DAMs that are good at this?

USING ADOBE LIGHTROOM® AND IMATCH TOGETHER [Windows only unless VM]

 

[JLGF1]

Slice and dice your photos with ease...

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[newmikeman]

Interesting thread but there was of course a lot of mac stuff to skip over (as I'm a Win-ner). Pity Neofinder is mac only; they seem to have a friend who has something similar (abeMeda) that didn't look as convincing. IMATCH seems to be very well thought out and has been around for many years; it manages images plus various other kinds of files.
I have evaluated a fair number of DAMs and editors that include some DAM features but nothing comes close to Lightroom. One of the trip-wires is that hardly any software other than Lr can handle hierarchical keyword tags. Otherwise ACDsee might have been good, and even PS Elements, but neither did hierarchies when I last looked a couple of years ago.
I have so far refused to join the subscription gravy train (for Adobe) and am still looking for a replacement. If I could face separating the DAM from the editing I'd have more choice.
I'm about to start evaluating IMATCH as it looks really good, having some features that work particularly well in the world pf photography, like keeping previews and thumbnails updated as your RAW images are edited.
It's all a bit of a minefield!

 

[JLGF1]

One of the trip-wires is that hardly any software other than Lr can handle hierarchical keyword tags.

As you may know, IMatch handles hierarchical keywords quite nicely.

https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/#md_keywords_panel.htm

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[newmikeman]

Yes JLGF1 I did notice and that's what attracted me to it.
Thanks

 

[robfilms]

great thread.

thanks everyone for their sharing.

as a VERY longtime mac/apple user (NO-i didn't buy the stock at $15!) i am still using Apple's photo application as my library/catalog/DAM.

i have a thread going asking about how large can the Apple library be before it starts to bog down?

is 100k images/weight 3TB too much?

i wish i liked photo mechanic.

i wished there was a simple front end piece of software that would let me "see" my digital image without making me first load the image from the SD card it into my hard drive.

stay well.

rob

 

[JLGF1]

i wished there was a simple front end piece of software that would let me "see" my digital image without making me first load the image from the SD card it into my hard drive.

Probably be faster to just import/clean from SD and cull from HD, but different strokes for different folks.

This won't work? https://www.xnview.com/en/xnviewmp/

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[PakkyT]

i am still using Apple's photo application as my library/catalog/DAM.

i wished there was a simple front end piece of software that would let me "see" my digital image without making me first load the image from the SD card it into my hard drive.

Confused? When you insert the SD card into your Mac or plug it in via the camera, doesn't Photos show you everything on the SD card before you import anything? It should. You can then pick them all, but you can also pick and choose only those you want to import.

Likewise I use GraphicConverter to import my photos and it also allows me to see everything on the card before I do any importing.