Photo File Management

[SWPhotoImaging]

What is your favorite application for photo file management?
What are its best features?

Does it:
-Track where files are stored across multiple drives/directories?
-Manage thumbnails too?
-Respect and maintain exif data, or even sort on it?
-Allow multiple keyword indexing for image files?
-Have a built-in function for writing files to CD/DVD, and the capability of tracking the disc label in the indexing schema?
-Work with RAW files?

I'd like to hear about what works best for those of you that keep thousands of digital images on your various storage media.

[Vegas Poboy]

So far I like using ACDSee 5.0 it lets me preview mot files including RAW & word docs. I can set up the files the way I want and SendPix is a great way to up load photos on the web.
I just downloaded Portfolio 6 and going to give it a try I'll make a post when I'm done evaluating.

[Roger_Cavanagh]

What is your favorite application for photo file management?
What are its best features?

I like ThumbsPlus from www.cerious.com

Does it:
-Track where files are stored across multiple drives/directories?

Yes

-Manage thumbnails too?

Yes

-Respect and maintain exif data, or even sort on it?

Yes, if you configure the database correctly.

-Allow multiple keyword indexing for image files?
Yes

-Have a built-in function for writing files to CD/DVD, and the capability of tracking the disc label in the indexing schema?

It does not have CD?DVD burning, but the labels are used for tracking.

-Work with RAW files?

D30, 10D, D60: yes cannot speak for other raw formats.

I'd like to hear about what works best for those of you that keep thousands of digital images on your various storage media.

I have about 12k images in my raw file archive. T+ has no trouble handling this. I also have iMatch, but gave up on it because it was too much of a PITA to learn, although it is undoubtedly a powerful and sophisticated piece of software.

Regards,

[SWPhotoImaging]

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the mini reviews.

I will be reading up on ACDsee, ThumbsPlus and iMatch, so I understand each's capabilities, and will watch here for other's input as to things liked/disliked about these tools.

Thanks again,

[SWPhotoImaging]

HOLY CRAP!! I downloaded the user manual for iMatch, to peruse the application's capabilities . . . . the manual is 407 pages!! No wonder you have never finished figuring out how it works. Guess I won't be printing that one out to read late at night, it might fall on me and kill me in my sleep.

[Roger_Cavanagh]

HOLY CRAP!! I downloaded the user manual for iMatch, to peruse the application's capabilities . . . . the manual is 407 pages!! No wonder you have never finished figuring out how it works. Guess I won't be printing that one out to read late at night, it might fall on me and kill me in my sleep.

Mario's been writing a lot. :) Last time I looked at the manual was only about 3/4 point updates ago, and it was only around 300 pages.

Big downside of ACDSee is that it is not colour-managed (unless they have changed something very recently).

Regards,

[Vegas Poboy]

HOLY CRAP!! I downloaded the user manual for iMatch, to peruse the application's capabilities . . . . the manual is 407 pages!! No wonder you have never finished figuring out how it works. Guess I won't be printing that one out to read late at night, it might fall on me and kill me in my sleep.

Mario's been writing a lot. :) Last time I looked at the manual was only about 3/4 point updates ago, and it was only around 300 pages.

Big downside of ACDSee is that it is not colour-managed (unless they have changed something very recently).

Regards,

You're correct about ACDSee I only use it for browsing. That's why I'm on the hunt for new software also.

[Greg Brakefield]

I purchased ThumbsPlus 6 and IMatch a while back because I couldn't decide on which one I liked better. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. ThumbsPlus has a better interface and seems to have a shorter learning curve. IMatch's interface takes a while to get used to, but it is very powerful, especially the categories feature.

Both have demo's available and have excellent customer support through their forums and e-mail.

Greg

[Jesper]

When I look at the website of Cerious software, who sell ThumbsPlus, I see that you need the Pro version if you want support for RAW files. And I see something strange with the pricing: the Standard version costs $49.95; the Pro version costs $89.95, and an upgrade to the Pro version costs $30. That's strange, because it means you're better off buying the Standard version and upgrading to Pro than when you buy Pro immediately. $49.95 + $30 = $79.95, so you save $10. Do I misunderstand something here??