Photo Mechanic

Last night we went to an event with the MN Twins. They has a Photographers Night, we got to tour the stadium go down near the field during pre-game practice and talk to the MN Twins photographers. The asked them what they use and both of them said they use Photo Mechanic prior to entering them into LR/PS. I have not heard of this until last night. Do any of you use this program.

Thanks

wysiwyg59 wrote in post #18660183
Last night we went to an event with the MN Twins. They has a Photographers Night, we got to tour the stadium go down near the field during pre-game practice and talk to the MN Twins photographers. The asked them what they use and both of them said they use Photo Mechanic prior to entering them into LR/PS. I have not heard of this until last night. Do any of you use this program.

Thanks

I don't (and wouldn't) use it, but I've read several reviews. Photo Mechanic is designed for people who need to organize and tag and label large numbers of images. Like photojournalists. If you're not in that category, don't bother.

Used Photo Mechanic and still have a license for it. It is fast at importing images cards to folders you specify and showing you the previews. The import into the folders can also be used to change file names and add metadata. Very similar to the Library functions of Lightroom or Bridge. The product has been popular with AP photographers as it lets them quickly import, cull, assign meta data, and send in the images to their Editors.

I use it. Got my licence for it when I stopped using Lightroom. Best tool for metadata.

I think mostly working pros use it for pre culling but I could be wrong. It is about $150. If I was a pro I would check to see what it is about.

Currently I use DPP, Quick Check, Full Screen mode to prior to using PS/LR. I just hit X to tag unusable files as I scroll through and at the select rejected files only then move to trash.

This statement is pretty old (about 10 years ago) and I'm not sure how PM looks compared to it but I really like how DPP looks. Many years ago people complained that they could not get finished processed files in PS to look as good as when in DPP's Quick Check mode. I was one and searched for the answer for months.

DPP's downsizing algorithm for 'fit to screen' display is very good - contrasty which creates the illusion of sharpness - while other applications sacrificed quality for speed. And so the stock reply to all those complaints became, "Compare at 100%."

I use it and have done for years - I use it for downloading my cards, and for making my initial selection from the images. It does a lot more but that's all I use it for.

It's the fastest way I've found to look through RAW images, there's no lag flicking from photo to photo as it uses the jpg embedded in the RAW files. I have 3-4K images to look through from each wedding and every second counts with that volume of images. It's probably overkill if you don't have a large volume of photos to work with.

I don't have, but have ran the trial before just to see what's it's about. It is amazingly fast, that's why the pro sports, journalist, wedding photographers use it. I've heard Jeff Cable talk about it. He uses it, especially when he shoots the olympics.

frozenframe wrote in post #18660554
I don't have, but have ran the trial before just to see what's it's about. It is amazingly fast, that's why the pro sports, journalist, wedding photographers use it. I've heard Jeff Cable talk about it. He uses it, especially when he shoots the olympics.

Yeah it has the speed working pros need. That is what read about it.

I use it. I think it is great for what it does.

It is much quicker for downloading. Easy to have it create a backup at the same time. You can start selecting images right away before it finishes. Also has very powerful tagging tools.

Do you need it? If you need speed, absolutely. If you download hundreds of images at one go (sports photography or other photojournalism, wedding or event photography) than it is probably worth it. Or if you shoot for stock.

If your current methods are not being slowed down by your software, it probably isn't worth it. It's mostly for high volume.

I've only used DPP to preview and delete unusable files before loading into PS. Always did it one file at a time from the main screen. Slowww!!

After reading your post about using Quick Check and tagging the rejected files, wow, I can see this is going to be a real time saver. But, I'm having a problem selecting the rejected files. The keyboard shortcut to select all rejected files according to the help files is ctrl + alt + x. Doesn't happen for me. I've tried this on versions 3.14.0 and 4.5.20.0.

Am I missing something here? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

docg wrote in post #18661159
I've only used DPP to preview and delete unusable files before loading into PS. Always did it one file at a time from the main screen. Slowww!!

After reading your post about using Quick Check and tagging the rejected files, wow, I can see this is going to be a real time saver. But, I'm having a problem selecting the rejected files. The keyboard shortcut to select all rejected files according to the help files is ctrl + alt + x. Doesn't happen for me. I've tried this on versions 3.14.0 and 4.5.20.0.

Am I missing something here? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

DPP - Select All - Quick Check - Full Screen. I whip through the files using the arrow and as said I just hit X to tag unusable files. It is fast. Make sure the latest version.

digital paradise wrote in post #18661229
DPP - Select All - Quick Check - Full Screen. I whip through the files using the arrow and as said I just hit X to tag unusable files. It is fast. Make sure the latest version.

Thanks for the reply DP. I had every thing figured out except how to select all of the rejected images. In the help section under Shortcut keys, mine says ctrl + alt + x to select all rejected images. This didn't work for me.

I googled this and found that under the edit pull down menu you can select rating and a side window appears that has the select all rejected images option available and it works fine and also it lists the keyboard shortcut as ctrl + shift + x , NOT as the help section listed as ctrl + alt + x. Everything is working as it should.

This is going to make my life easier and save me loads of time. I appreciate you mentioning it.

I do someting similar in LR. When I occasionally send a file to PS and it comes back as s TiFF I flag the CR2 immediately so I don't forget. I hide under the new TIFF which is optional. At the end of editing I select all flagged files and then Invert. The unwanted CRS are not exported, only the TIFFs. Thought I'd throw that in because that save me time.

Only yesterday I learned that PhotoMechanic blends with the MacOS High Sierra Finder in such a way that you can browse your files with Finder, select one, right-click, on the menu go to services, there to 'Browse With PhotoMechanic' which opens the folder as a 'Contact sheet'. You have to have the PM 5.0.
It is a very fast way of looking what is where. Also, you can command-E on any photo and it is opened in Lightroom.
An interesting SW I am only now trying to adapt to. See the videos on YouTube, there is a serious potential there. Download the test version for free and see for yourself. Unless, of course, your workflow already is good for you and you have better things to do.

garbidz wrote in post #18662404
Only yesterday I learned that PhotoMechanic blends with the MacOS High Sierra Finder in such a way that you can browse your files with Finder, select one, right-click, on the menu go to services, there to 'Browse With PhotoMechanic' which opens the folder as a 'Contact sheet'. You have to have the PM 5.0.
It is a very fast way of looking what is where. Also, you can command-E on any photo and it is opened in Lightroom.
An interesting SW I am only now trying to adapt to. See the videos on YouTube, there is a serious potential there. Download the test version for free and see for yourself. Unless, of course, your workflow already is good for you and you have better things to do.

Or, if you want a superior workflow solution, get PM and set it up so Command-E opens the file in Capture One and set up a recipe in Capture One to open a processed file in Photoshop .

But Garbidz is absolutely right to say: "Unless, of course, your workflow already is good for you and you have better things to do."