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Comparison of Photo Catalog Software

The following is a summary of the popular photo database / cataloging programs available today, with the main features of each. It should help in trying to compare the differences in important features from a product vs product comparison. Most of the programs are true catalogs (with keyword support), but I have included some which should be more appropriately called "image browsers" (which rely on filesystem organization). I have not included the editing functionality in this chart, but may do so later.

Note: Photo catalog software is also sometimes refered to as: digital asset management, image database, photo album software, digital picture album, thumbnail browser, graphic organizer, etc.

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Please see the individual review pages for related comments.

Check out the Image Database / Photo Catalog Software articles page for more insight into related topics.

Key to Table
VS Versioning Support: multiple file grouping (eg. print, web, edit, original, etc.), not simple revision control. See differences between versioning support below.
CA Catalog or simply a browser? If Y, has full support for keywords / categories. If N, relies on user to locate images through a Windows-explorer type interface.
SC Scripting language that allows one to extract and manipulate full database view.
OS Operating system: M=Mac, P=PC
RW Camera RAW file formats (viewing)
CM Color managed display.
VER Latest version along with release date. Note that if the last release was a long time ago, you might be getting yourself into a dead-end or poorly-supported product.
Trial SW = Shareware.

 

If there are certain features or products that you feel are important to incorporate in the following software versus software comparison, please leave a comment below.

Product Vendor Cost Forum Trial? OS CA VS CM RW SC Comments
ACDSee ACD Systems $49.99 Forum Yes P Y N N [4] Y N 8 reviews
ACDSee Pro ACD Systems $129.99 Forum Yes P Y N Y Y N 1 reviews
Aperture Apple $299.00 Forum ? M ? ? Y Y ? 2 reviews
ArkiPix ArkiPix $140.00   14 day P Y N N N N Add your review!
BreezeBrowser BreezeSys $49.95 Y Yes [1] P N N N Y N Add your review!
BreezeBrowser Pro BreezeSys $69.95 Y Yes [1] P N N Y Y N 2 reviews
Bridge Adobe FREE Forum N PM N Y Y Y Y 2 reviews
Cataloguer CML Software $25.00   30 day P ? ? ? ? ? 5 reviews
CompuPic Photodex $39.95   15 day P N N N N N 2 reviews
CompuPic Pro Photodex $79.95   15 day P N N N N N 2 reviews
Product Vendor Cost Forum Trial? OS CA VS CM RW SC Comments
Cumulus Canto $69.95 Forum Yes PM Y N [3] Y N [3] Y 6 reviews
DigitalPro ProShooters $179.00 Forum Yes P Y N Y Y N 2 reviews
Expression Media Microsoft $299.00 Forum 60 day PM Y N Y Y Y Add your review!
FastStone Image Viewer FastStone FREE   FREE P N N Y Y N 1 reviews
FotoAlbum Pro FotoTime $29.95 Forum 21 day P Y N Y Y N Add your review!
FotoStation FotoWare $65.00 Forum 30 day P N N N N N 1 reviews
FotoStation Pro FotoWare $599.00 Forum 30 day PM Y N Y Y N 1 reviews
idImager Personal idPlanner $59.00 Forum 21 day P Y Y Y Y Y 4 reviews
idImager Pro idPlanner $89.00 Forum 21 day P Y Y Y Y Y 1 reviews
IMatch Photools $59.95 Forum 30 day P Y N [2] Y Y Y 11 reviews
Product Vendor Cost Forum Trial? OS CA VS CM RW SC Comments
iPhoto Apple $79.00 Forum No M Y N N Y N 1 reviews
iView Media Replaced by Expression $49.00 Forum 21 day PM Y N N N N 2 reviews
iView Media Pro Replaced by Expression $199.00 Forum 21 day PM Y N Y Y Y 5 reviews
Lightroom Adobe FREE Forum Y PM ? N ? Y ? 4 reviews
MaPiVi Martin Herrmann FREE   FREE PM Y N N N N Add your review!
MediaDex MediaDex $79.95 Forum 30 day PM Y N Y Y N 3 reviews
PFS Manager ProFoto Software $49.00   30 day P N N N N N Add your review!
Photo Album Corel $29.00 Forum Yes P Y N N N N 2 reviews
Photo Mechanic CameraBits $150.00 Forum 20 day PM N N Y Y N 5 reviews
Photoshop Album 2 Adobe $49.99 Forum Yes P Y N N N N 6 reviews
Product Vendor Cost Forum Trial? OS CA VS CM RW SC Comments
Photoshop Album SE Adobe FREE Forum FREE P Y N N N N Add your review!
Photoshop Elements Adobe $89.99 Forum 30 day PM Y Y Y Y N 12 reviews
PicaJet PicaJet FREE   FREE P Y N N N N 1 reviews
PicaJet FX PicaJet $39.95   15 day P Y N N N N 4 reviews
Picasa Google FREE Forum FREE P N N N Y N 7 reviews
PixVue PixVue FREE   FREE P Y N N Y N 2 reviews
Portfolio Extensis $199.95 Forum 30 day PM Y N N Y Y 6 reviews
Smart Pix Manager Xequte $39.50 Forum SW P Y [5] N ? Y N 1 reviews
ThumbsPlus Cerious $49.95 News 30 day P Y N Y N N 4 reviews
ThumbsPlus Pro Cerious $89.95 News 30 day P Y N Y Y Y 1 reviews

NOTES:

  • [1] Trial is watermarked, only first 12 photos in folder.
  • [2] No native support for versioning in release 3.4.30, however scripting can allow one to keep tags current between versions. See my Manage Versions script, which is designed to be a workaround until the software provides native support for versioning. It is widely believed that the next release of IMatch might integrate native version support. Other products that have similar extensive scripting could also add such a workaround.

    [01/29/05] Mario Westphal announced version support in the next version (ie. IMatch 3.5). In early 2006, version 3.5 was released but unfortunately, it never incorporated version support. It's not clear when this feature will be available.
  • [3] RAW is in extra "Photo Suite" $49.95 add-on. Versioning in "Vault" $1295 add-on. Free Viewer for others, but only create with $495 Viewer option.
  • [4] Color Management only supported with "photoPro" plugin ($39.99).
  • [5] Looks primarily like an image browser, but has support for keywords.

Other features that I would like to incorporate into the matrix are: Editing capabilities, offline image support, importing, printing, duplicate detection.

If you are aware of any corrections or additional details, please let me know in the form below.

Book on Digital Asset Management

Having spent considerable time researching topics relating to digital asset management, I have been surprised by how few books cover this important aspect of digital photography. Recently, I read Peter Krogh's excellent The DAM Book, and would certainly recommend picking up a copy if you're looking for more detail (the companion site has an active community forum).

Versioning: Revision Control vs Multi-file Versions

It is easy to become confused when trying to determine whether or not a particular product supports "version control" and what exactly this means. There are two closely related types of version control, but the differences are significant.

Revision Control

Revision control is simply a mechanism that tracks and stores multiple linear versions of a single file. One might edit a photo and then save it. This is stored as the current version of the file (say 1.1). At a later stage, one opens up the same file and decides to make a further edit. When this further edit is saved into the database, it is kept as version 1.2. Version 1.1 (before the recent modification) is still stored on the drive, and can be recalled by checking-out a previous version of the single file. This is commonly used with documents and source code, but some catalog programs have also incorporated support for this mechanism. Although it adds value for the first version (from original to first edit), it seems less useful for further versions, unless one had a huge number of edits to make over time and wanted to gradually roll in changes. At any point in time, one could roll-back the changes to the last known good state. Generally, all tags will be attached to all revisions as they are in fact referring to the same file. Programs supporting this are marked with a N in the VS column above.

Unfortunately, the problem most photographers face is not one of linear version control, but control over multiple parallel branches / developments from the same original photo. This is where multi-file versions comes into play.

Multi-file Versions

Multi-file versioning (not sure of an appropriate or accepted name for this, although one reader has mentioned the similarities to branched version control) is the ability to associate multiple seperate files with the same original. This allows for parallel streams of development, and also allows for sequential streams (if one were to create additional copies). The key point here is that a catalog program that supports this will need to associate tags with all files that are related to the same source / original. These multiple files are often created to develop versions of an image for different targets. Examples include: one version for the web, another for print, another for color correction, etc.

Unfortunately, there are very few catalog programs that have native support for this feature. Such programs are marked with a Y in the VS column above.

Comparison of Versioning Approaches

The following section will identify the different levels of support for image versioning in the catalog products indicated above. The table lists only those programs that either have native integrated support or those that provide enough scripting to accomplish the multiple-version tag maintenance.

Please see my discussion of multiple version support in catalog programs.

Product Approach Comments
IMatch 3.6 ? Unreleased - Unknown

Mario Westphal announced (as of 01/29/05) version support in the next release of IMatch (3.5). When it was finally released (Feb 2006), it did not have the promised version support. It is not clear yet what approach will be used or when it will become available.

See Mario's initial comments on IMatch 3.5. (Though some of these items are clearly waiting for a future release).

Photoshop Elements 3 Native support Implementation of both version sets and image stacks (collections of photos on the same object).
idImager Native support Provides a good implementation of multi-file versioning (not revision control). It groups files into a single entity and allows one to simply drag and drop other versions (even from Windows Explorer) into the "Show Registered Versions" window. In the "Catalog" view it only displays the "Originals", while in "Media" view, it will display all. Now implements a Version Detection Wizard which will find the duplicates which may be additional derivative images.
iView Media Pro Revision control only Only revision control, allowing one to rollback to a previous edit on a file.
Photoshop Album 2 Edit control only Only supports invokation of editing, and replaces entry in catalog with edited version.
DigitalPro Only JPEG+RAW Catalog keeps JPEG & RAW files associated together.
PhotoArchiver Native support Appears to properly support derivative images / multi-file versioning and possibly revision control. Can also associate other non-picture files with an image.
Photo Mechanic Only JPEG+RAW Catalog keeps JPEG & RAW files associated together.

Placeholder or Proxy Assets in a catalog

Very few programs support the notion of a placeholder asset. A placeholder is simply an element in the database that doesn't exist (yet). It might represent a missing photo, or a entire roll of film that you have yet to scan in.

Even though the original asset may not exist on your drive, it is still useful to have the ability to add keywords and organize such images / placeholders. The database program itself should not care, and it would be incredibly simple to implement such a feature. I imagine that this is not a feature that many people ask for, except in corporate situations where there may be many types of assets under control, many of which may not be transferred to the computer.

Even if the catalog program doesn't natively support such a feature, it would be fairly easy to simulate it's behavior, provided that the application supports the concept of offline relocation. Simply create a dummy image / thumbnail which you add into the database, once for each offline placeholder asset. You can tag and categorize at will. If you ever want to bring in the actual element, then you can relocate the item to your hard drive, which will resample the image thumbnail and metadata.

 


Reader's Comments:

Please leave your comments or suggestions below!
2008-04-21Robert
 Have you look at Microsoft's Live Photo Gallery (or the Windows Photo Gallery in Windows Vista)?
2008-04-12Andrew
 Just a wee note to say the IDimager Lite (free version) is now no longer offered at their website.

Thanks. Andrew
 Thanks for the update.
2007-12-20Cory Christman
 One of the things that I am most concerned with is the ability to link to offline archives, ie DVDs that have been burned. Can you recommend a product that does this and is Mac based with Raw support.

I am nearing 100K images and really cant afford the Harddrive space for Raw/Jpeg files.

Cheers,
Cory
2007-11-14Hertwig
 Hi Cal,

Just a short note to inform you that IDimager V4 was released today.

Forum Posting
Release Notes

Hert
 Looks great, Hert! Thx.
2007-08-08Dan D.
 Calvin,

First of all THANK YOU for such an incredible collection of information on this website!! Truly exceptional.

One of my primary concerns in my selection of Photo Catalogue software is the ability to export my data and subsequently import it into another database at some point in the future. I expect to be needing Photo Catalogue software for several decades, and since any software application's expected lifetime is likely shorter than that the need to transfer my years of data sometime down the road is quite high.

Any thoughts/info on this?

Dan D.
 That is a very valid concern. Thankfully, nearly all recent (popular) digital asset management programs (DAM) support some means of transferring out keyword assignments. In the most basic form, this is through writing back IPTC keywords / categories into the files (or writing this info into to "sidecar" XMP files that accompany the photos). More sophisticated programs also offer the option of scripting or enable you to write out the database data directly to a text file of a known format.

In my case, I rely on IPTC metadata write-back for this purpose. It is the most widely-used mechanism for exchanging your keywords between software packages, and most catalog programs provide a means for synchronizing between the IPTC data and the database's view of your category assignments.
2007-06-30Josh
 Calvin,

You are doing a quintessential job on your DAM review pages!

I would sincerely appreciate your expertise in picking out a DAM from among my top five that I have narrowed down using your reviews:

  • Picajet+ RoboImport (RoboImport is similar to Photo Mechanic)
  • Expression Media (Microsoft's new product - formerly Iview Media Pro)
  • Photoshop Elements (if it's not slow to browse high res images, otherwise it goes to the bottom of the list)
  • IMatch
  • IdImager
I am looking for a product that will let me complete the following workflow easily and efficiently:

  1. IMPORT
    • Import images from cards, CDs, DVDs, etc.
    • Auto create folders and subfolders based on customizable template import options
    • Auto correct to 300 dpi
    • Allow batch renaming of files according to year, event/person/place and unique ID number based on customizable template options
    • Allow batch-editing of ITPC data and embed it in jpgs and tiffs based on customizable template options
    • Auto backup images from data source to 2 folders that could include 1 or 2 external hard drives
    • Auto delete images from data card after performing the prior operations
  2. ORGANIZE
    • Fast preview generations of thumbnails of jpg, tiff, psd, ai, and proprietary RAW files and inclusion of movie formats as well
    • Fast 5 star ranking of photos
    • Fast addition of keywords, labels/categories
    • Fast and easy slideshow for clients based on folder images
  3. EDIT (in Photoshop)
  4. REPURPOSE (Image stacks or similar versioning technique so all image versions can be resized and seen alongside the original)
    • Original 300 dpi image
    • Print sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14 and wallet)
    • Web
    • Auto optimization for E-mail
    • Allow remote user to browse and rate photos and note printing sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, etc.) and number of prints for each image - I know that this remote access might not be easy with these products, but I would like it to be.:-)

Do you think Picajet + RoboImport, Expression Media, Photoshop Elements, IMatch or IdImager would best suit what I am looking for?

I sincerely look forward to hearing from you. Have an excellent day Calvin!
2007-06-22mike
 I have tried MediaboardOne and had a few questions prior to purchase. I got zero respone from them.

This seems to be the same response as others have received. Obviously I did not buy it and wouldn't recommend, unless you prefer to have no support.
2007-06-08Hertwig van Zwietering
 Hi Cal,

A short note to mention that IDimager V4 went into public beta. This version will be released next September but currently the beta is downloadable for the public.

More info can be found here.

Regards,
Hert
 Thanks Hert, that's great! I am very keen to try out your latest release with my database as soon as I've got it organized in preparation for import to IDi.
2007-06-06Bob Nason
 Great Info, well done.

New kid on the block that might be worth looking at for some people is PhotoStudio Darkroom from Arcsoft

BobN
 Thanks Bob -- As a photo browser, it looks very reasonable. One feature that stands out is the non-destructive editing workflow.
2007-06-03Kirk
 This site has not mentioned MediaBoard ONE.

It's for both Mac & PC-- I chose it over all the others... I just hope they develop mutli-file / version tracking... the way Lightroom stacks multi-files.
 It's nice to see another cross-platform solution available. Thanks for pointing it out.
2007-05-21Rakesh Mathur
 We need a catalog software with data base.
 Hi Rakesh -- many of these programs will let you export your catalog into a database. What type of database are you looking for?
2007-05-21Guillaume
 I personnally use a program not listed in this comparison, JRiver Media Center 12 (http://www.jrmediacenter.com/)

Initially its main purpose was to manage audio but with the version 12 it does a really good job with images.

I was using iView Media Pro before, but MC is far more flexible. You can add custom fields, create specific views, smartlists ...

For the moment it s only drawback is its speed to display RAW files but it has considerably been improved over the last version.

I really encourage you to try it out !
2007-04-25Ken
 Well, I am still evaluating software products for my project. I like Portfolio, but it is missing a few things that I would like. I did find the following program mentioned at the Irfanview site, but had never heard of it before: Where Is It?. It does have a companion viewing program, but I have never heard of it. It seems very basic, but that may work well for my "clients". Has anybody heard of this program?
 The application does provide reasonable support for a wide array of file types, unlike most photo-centric cataloging programs. Offering description plugins is a great idea.

As an aside, the paragraph at the bottom of the Where Is It page regarding Year 2000 (Y2K) is pretty amusing. I don't think people are worried much about this issue anymore!
2007-04-23Mike Novello
 Imabas has an english page now, please look at:
PixAndMore and the feature list.

The users manual is still in german, but the software is installable in german and english.

Bye, Mike
2007-03-27Justin
 Would you consider the new version of Adobe Lightroom a cataloging software?

How do you think it compares to ACDsee which I am currently using?
 
2007-03-23Ken
 A quick update. I tried XnView, but it was a bit crude and lacked almost any documentation about the categories features. I did not yet try ACDSee. I contacted Extensis about Portfolio, and they said that their Browser program would have limited function without Quicktime installed, but it would at least work. I wish the same could be said for iView. Its a nice program, but their customer support is not to my liking. I'll try and post more if I find out anything noteworthy. Thanks again for the suggestions.
2007-03-22Xyzzy
 Ken,
Latest XnView has categories and U3 version / is runnable from CD.
Also there is U3 version of ACDSee 7.
2007-03-21Ken
 Hello again Calvin,
I posted the following at Photo.net to see if anybody there had any suggestions, and the only response was to look at iView Media Pro. I know this is a similar request that I posted earlier, but I was wondering if anybody here had any alternate suggestions.

"I am looking for software that can be installed onto a thumb drive, or burned onto a CD, along with thumbnail images that can then be presented to (internal) clients. What I want is to be able to present a thumbnail catalog of an image data bank, but I would like the catalog to have the ability to be searched by catagories or tags by the client.

I am familiar with the category structure used in iMatch, and would love to have something similar, but this is not a requirement. Most of the programs are either portable, but do not offer this cataloging feature, or they offer the feature, but are not portable.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have searched the web, but have had little success in finding possible candidates. Thanks!"

--Ken

2007-02-08Mike
 Roy suggested that you add Imabas (http://www.imabas.com) from PixAndMore but neglected to mention that the app and the entire site is only available in german.
Even translated, its not clear what the system requirements are.
 You're right -- I posted the comment just minutes before I left to Cambodia and in that time I couldn't find any english summary. Without this, it is difficult to discern the feature set, requirements and whether or not it is localized for English operation. Adding such a page would be quite helpful.
2007-02-07Roy Baker
 Please add Imabas (http://www.imabas.com) from PixAndMore. It's 100% SQL-Database, with a lot of features. It supports various databases, please take a look :-)

Regards, Roy
2007-01-24Hert
 >> If anyone is familiar with it, please feel free to respond.

Hi Cal,
IDimager Pro uses a SQLServer database that can be shared with different IDimager installations.
Hert
 Excellent -- that's great to hear!
2007-01-23glenwith1n
 What is the best catalog software to run over a network with about 10-15 users at the same time accessing the same database, I tried iview, love this program but cant make changes while someone else has the database open????
 Good question -- I have not looked into the concurrent user capabilities of these apps. If anyone is familiar with it, please feel free to respond.
2007-01-15Xyzzy
 Another one worth mentioning - Zoner PhotoStudio, currently at v8 in English and v9 in native Czech.

It has catalog based on IPTC keywords, supports color management and RAW formats. Flexible interface, quite complete IPTC/EXIF, editing and output possibilites, supports GPS info (v9).

No scripting nor versioning though.
X.
2006-12-12Tim
 Thanks Calvin. A very useful site. Question though: We have a central network folder for our company image library. All we would like to do is have keyword capability attached to the photos. We already use Photoshop CS2 for editing - so don't need this functionality, but need a way of searching the library, rather than simply browsing. Users are on both PC and Mac.
Thanks a lot.
 If you already have Photoshop CS2, then you may want to see whether Adobe Bridge will be sufficient for your needs. One question you will need to consider is how the keywords will be entered for the photos -- can they be entered by a single computer system (while everyone else just has read-access to the catalog), or do you want everyone to share write access to the database? If the former, then many of the cross-platform solutions should address your needs (the ones labeled PM under the OS column). However, if the keyword entry will be generated by multiple users (perhaps even concurrently) then the workgroup features of the higher-end DAM applications may be necessary (such as Cumulus, Portfolio or FotoStation).

As I have little experience with multi-user sharing of catalog data in an asset management environment, hopefully others might be able to offer some suggestions or advice. Thanks, Cal.
2006-12-11Hertwig
 Hello Calvin,
Just a smal note to inform you that IDimager 3.5 is released

Keep up the good work!
Hert
 This release sounds great! Thanks for the update, Hert.
2006-11-15Xyzzy
 Oh, and StudioLine Photo Classic is definitely worth mentioning (it's already been mentioned earlier). It gets better literally with every month- it's update history is impressive.
It supports RAW, color profiles, catalogging, non-destrucitve image editing, impressive output capabilites. Has access to Windows image properties. No scripting nor versioning though.

X.
2006-11-15Xyzzy
 There are 2 more products to consider:
ExifPro
cPicture
(From memory:) both support color profiles and RAW, no scripting nor versioning, ExifPro has multi-tagging and kind of offline catalogs, cPicture simple tagging.

Oh, and StudioLine Photo Classic is definitely worth mentioning (it's already been mentioned earlier). It gets better literally with every month- it's update history is impressive. It supports RAW, color profiles, catalogging, non-destrucitve image editing, impressive output capabilites. Has access to Windows image properties. No scripting nor versioning though.
X.
2006-11-14Russ
 Very good information - thanks for compiling this.

I have read most of Krogh's book, and based upon his recommendations I bought a copy of iView Media Pro. it is a good product, but lacks a critical piece of functionality - a decent versioning capability.

I think Kuntal's post is an excellent summary of what is needed. I find it astounding that the only program I have seen that even comes close to what I want is the "lightweight" PS Elements.

I am hoping that at some point we will be able to convince the iView folks (now part of MS?) to take this seriously and develop a robust set of features for both grouping related images (i.e. parts of a pano, or HDR exposures, or simply multiple images of a subject)) as well as keeping track of derivative versions of a photo.

I hope someone is listening!

-- Russ
 You're right... It really seems like there are very few products out there (for the serious photographer) that really get it all right. As soon as one does, there could be a sizeable market share waiting.
2006-11-14Ken
 One more issue since I have such an informed group of folks on the topic of DAM software. I installed PhoA from dk Software on my machine about a month ago. Right after the installation, my Anti-spyware picked up a dialer program that it traced to registry entries related to this software. This was the first piece of spyware I have ever caught on any of my previous computers, and I was wondering if anybody else had a similar problem with this software?
2006-11-14Ken
 Thanks for the reply. I'll keep watch for the new version of XnView. Regarding U3 software, I'm still not sure if it runs on all portable USB devices or just U3 "certified" devices". Can any lasting damage be done to a storage device that is not specifically U3?
2006-11-14Xyzzy
 Ken,
There's ACDSee U3 version.
Also XnView runs without installation. New version, with cataloging, turns beta in a few days.
X.
 Thanks!
 
2006-11-13Ken
 Wonderful site with great information! Once again, I am trying to learn how to use iMatch to manage my image portfolio. In the mean time, I am on a tight deadline for a work project and need something like a light version of iMatch, but that is memory resident (it does not install any files on a machine) so I can keep it on a USB hard disk and use it wherever I am working. Do you know of any programs?
 Unfortunately, I am not aware of any catalog programs that will run without a system installation. Perhaps some of the simpler image browsers may operate in this way.

If anyone knows of any memory-resident catalog programs, please feel free to reply. Thanks!
2006-11-04Xyzzy
 XnView in last alpha version (1.90a3) got colour management and multi-level categories, in addition to raw support avalaible earlier.

X.
2006-09-21ebig
 Another program worth consideration is the FastStone Image Viewer.

How well a program works is also important. Some programs are quick and intuitive to use and make minor editing changes, while other programs are not.

In addition the size of a program as well as the size of the thumbnail cache or files may be important. Some programs leave no extra files, others leave many hundreds of MB.

Ed
 Excellent point. Thanks! I'll have a look at FastStone.
2006-07-30Yvette Cardozo
 I have spent the past few weeks trying to find a catalog program that will do what I want and actually work with my computer. So far, the closest I have come is:
1. Compupic--does most of what I want but doesn't thumbnail RAW and has been abandoned by its developer, meaning there will be no further updates.This is the program I now use but I worry about depending on something that is no longer supported.
2. Extensis Portfolio--Does not show separate subfolders in offline volumes. When looking at main folder of photos, it puts all images on the page at once, including all subfolders. So if you have 20 images and then 5 subfolders, there is no way to figure out which images are where. And no, I don't want to have to figure out which search term to use. I just want to SEE what's in the folders when I click on them. Extensis is a fine "search" program but I need a "viewing" program.
3.iView--simply doesn't work with PCs. Plus it doesn't alphabetize offline volumes. YOU try to find one out of 200 offline volumes when they are thrown on the page in no sane order. The 'find' function simply won't work with a PC...at least not mine... and the quicksearch box only works sporadically.

so...I am looking for a program that:
  1. Thumbnails RAW
  2. Shows files and offline volumes in alphabetical order. Shows images separately in sub folders and if there are images in the main folder, keeps them separate.
  3. Allows you to backup whatever folder holds the previews and other data for the thumbnailed images.
  4. Is PC friendly w/o having to download half a dozen special programs, some of which may truly screw up one's computer.
  5. Allows me to control the size of the thumbnails, size of the caption and what information is supplied with the captions.
  6. Allows printing of thumbnail pages quickly and easily
  7. Being able to easily rename images wouldn't be bad either.
If I sound testy, it's because I have now spent weeks at this. I can't tell you how annoying it is to download a program and then discover something basic is missing. Like buying a car and finding out after you've climbed in that it doesn't have wheels and never will. And the worst part is each program operates so differently that it's like learning half a dozen foreign languages.

Can you suggest one program that does what I want and actually works (iView might have been that program if it worked half the time).

 Hi Yvette -- Given your criteria, have you checked out IMatch and idImager? IMatch should address all of the features that you list, and I believe that idImager will as well. If others know of alternatives that do a good job at these functions, feel free to add your comment.
2006-07-07Alex Angelo
 Why is it that the data i put in the keywords with in the ACDsee 6.0 application cannot be found by the windows search. While the data i put in the keywords with the windows properties can not be found by the search option with in the ACDsee 6.0 application.

Also the keyword data put in within the ACDsee 6.0 application can only be found on the computer it was applied in and not on the other computer's on the network
 Hi -- I am not sure, so I would recommend that you search through the ACDSee Forums to see if someone else has encountered the same difficulty. Good luck.
2006-06-06Henrik Gemal
 Also remember the super FastStone image viewer
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm
2006-05-21Jarle Aasland
 Digital Photo Cataloger for Windows is a fast and easy to use program including RAW, EXIF and IPTC support, and more.

This program does not include a ton of needless and unwanted features that you'll never use.

Digital Photo Cataloger doesn't do everything (you'll find plenty of programs with more features), but what it does it does very well.

More info and a free trial version available at www.dpcat.com
2006-05-20Eric Hearn
 My requirements are fairly simple - store thumbnails of my images with a short description on which I can search for a word or phrase - BUT...
I want to install it on a portable hard drive so that I could port the catalogue to my desktop PC or laptop as required.
Do you know if such an animal exists?

Thanks

Eric Hearn
 

Most programs allow you to define the location of the catalog / database, so it often isn't difficult to use on both a desktop and laptop. However, the issue really becomes:

  • Where do you store the actual photos? On your desktop or laptop or both?
  • If you keep a duplicate of the photo collection on both, you'll need more sophisticated synchronization capabilities, which is not common.
  • If your actual photos are on the desktop, and you want to edit your descriptions (keywords) only on the desktop and simply view these keywords on the laptop, then it isn't difficult. In other words, editable database exists on desktop along with main images, while laptop is just a backup read-only version of the database.
  • If your actual photos are on the desktop and you want to edit your keywords on both the desktop and laptop, then you'll have to look for database synchronization features, which is often not implemented very well. This becomes especially complex if you edit on both machines between synchronizations. I am not familiar with how reliable this mechanism is with the various applications out there. Perhaps someone else might be able to add their thoughts?
  • When your photos are only on the desktop, but you want to view the collection on the laptop, you need to consider how the application supports offline files. Most programs will still allow you to view a representative thumbnail, edit the keywords and perform most operations. Often you can choose the offline thumbnail size that makes the best of the balance between database size (for thumbs) and portability.
2006-05-18Poppy Alexander
 LightBox Network, a new online software for digital workflow management, should be added to the list. The LightBox Network is a professional web-gallery collaboration system. It allows users to easily upload, create web-galleries, edit, select, share, get approvals, deliver full-res finals, etc... all through a brand-able, web-based interface.

For a complete feature list, check out the website: http://www.lightboxnetwork.com/website.htm
2006-04-20Dosse
 I think that the best solution for storing image metadata is in the image itself. I.e in the EXIF or IPTC fields of the image file.

This way it is compatible with all photo cataloging software that read EXIF and IPTC data and you are not bound to any specific software.

According to my understanding iView does this. Do you know of any other of these softwares that does it?
 Definitely agree... thankfully it looks like Adobe's XMP open format might be adopted widely enough to be very useful. Most of the applications in my list (at least the recent, prosumer-level ones) support metadata write-back. Obviously the proprietary RAW formats causes some difficulty for write-back and hence the sidecar XMP option can be adopted.
2006-04-12Brian
 Thanks for the great website.
What software would you recommend for use in a workgroups setting. We do not need scripting, versioning, or image manipulation, we just need to tag/keyword and retrieve photos. Currently we are using the folder structure for the catalog and is now getting to the point where finding photos is a chore. Either a centralized database or software that automatically stores tags in the photos without hassle would work. Any recomendations? Thanks
 While I'm not as familiar with using DAM apps in a workgroup / collaborative setting, it does appear that Extensis Portfolio and Canto Cumulus have been developed with this in mind.
2006-03-19Kuntal Daftary
 Great site - I keep on referring back to this site often as I am still trying to make up my mind on my DAM software.

I wanted to make a note on the topic of version management. My personal experience has been that linear or branched version control for a file has never been so important for me. I keep a copy of the original of the image and if I work on the photograph - the last edited version. If I desperately need to save intermidiate states, I simply do that using layer sets in Photoshop.

What I have found desperately wanting in a DAM software is the following:

1. Grouping for alternates - group a selection of shots out of which a much smaller number (usually only one) will be chosen (with the highest rating perhaps) as the photograph(s) of choice. Once grouped, this entire set of photographs should be collapsed into a single icon in a thumbnail view and expanded only when clicked on (when user is ready to work on that group).

2. Grouping for merging - group a selection of shots - of which all will be used to derive a new photograph. Examples of this are - panoramic shots and HDR merged photographs. In some ways this is similar to above except that in this case all photographs are used to create the new image and none of them are considered "rejects". Again, the group should be collapsed into a single icon in thumbnail view and expanded only when the user explicitly wants to work on that specific group.

Both of these techniques would allow much cleaner workspace in the thumbnail view.

Finally (and obviously) the information about the grouping should be stored in XMP rather that in some appln specific data file for portability.

I havent found a software that allows both of this so far. It would be interesting to see if other folks have felt the need for such functionality.

-Kuntal
 Many times when I've refered to version management, it has actually been with a looser definition in mind: one that also encompasses the grouped concept you have described. This form of version management has often been termed image stacks, and is clearly different than the linear branching that initially comes to mind with version control. Perhaps there would be a better term that I could use to encompass both the traditional (software developer-inspired) version control and the grouped image control (as the DAM will probably treat the aggregate in a similar manner). The recent publicity given to HDR (especially from PS CS2 and recent video games) will undoubtedly increase average consumer demand for grouped image management functionality. Source image grouping for panos is clearly a problem for most image database software, and most photographers either end up not cataloging the sources or simply rely on naming (eg. 20060214_1435_1439.tiff) to maintain association.

That being said, there are a couple programs that I know of that do implement this image stack functionality reasonably well: idImager and Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Your last point is very good one -- effective implementations should also allow write-back of metadata into an aggregated unit, perhaps a sidecar XMP file. Thanks for your great post!
2006-03-02Xyzzy
 IMatch as of 3.5 does NOT support versioning. It is planned for the future, but it's not known neither when nor how it would be implemented.
X.
 Yes... Many of us were disappointed to see that the recently-released IMatch 3.5 is not the next generation that it was originally advertised to be. Thus no versioning, unfortunately. I will update my references to 3.5 to reflect this fact. Thanks!
2006-02-22George
 Great site.. fits perfectly on my monitor.. 800x600 is too small anyway.. ante up to a 17" monitor!

Thx for the stie!
2006-02-19 
 make it fit the monitor width without horizontal scrolling

offer a print version page
 I had tried to design the table to fit in 800x600 without horizontal scrolling so it's odd that it doesn't fit for you. What resolution are you using? As for the print version, that's a good idea -- I will look into what is involved in making a set of CSS markup that is suitable for print.
2006-02-08Jeff Kelling
 Try taking a look at FotoTime's FotoAlbum Pro software. As one of the developers of the product, I am very comfortable that it compares quite nicely to the other software mentiod here.

FotoAlbum supports digital negatives, but does not have versioning support. FotoAlbum has full support for keywords, categories and albums, and does not rely on explorer. FotoAlbum does not have a scripting language, but you can import/export the photo database to xml for easy manipulation. FotoAlbum is windows software. FotoAlbum does color management. FotoAlbums latest version is from [updated:]4/5/2007, and is constantly being enhanced. The revision history shows constant additions to the product and has a 21 day free trail.

Further product information is here:

FotoAlbum Pro

Thanks in advance for adding FotoAlbum to your list!
2006-02-06Chris Perry
 Great site, very handy. I'm looking for a product that can be pointed at a large directory of images and then be able to output an editable file (say a Microsoft Word or Excel file) that would contain the image thumbnail and the file location/name/keyworks etc. I have been able to create effective databases, etc, but this reporting ability seems to be missing. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance...CP
 Nearly all of the products that have indicated scripting capabilities will let you do this. Most scripting environments let you create thumbnail images from the originals and write them out to new individual files. You can combine this with the ability to write out metadata (or just filename) information into a CSV file that you can then import into Excel. If you're adventurous, you might find some way to create an image inclusion into the office document itself, but I haven't tried and can't offer much advice there. Good luck!
2006-01-30Lo Yuk Fai
 Do you think you'll include Apple's Aperture and Adobe's Lightroom in the list in the future?
 Now that I have had a chance to see the previews of Adobe Lightroom, I will be adding it to the list. The metadata features of the beta demo movie were fairly limited, but I am sure that this will be developed much further. As I do not have a Mac platform to try out either product, I hope someone else can give it a try and provide some feedback here. Thx.
2006-01-08Patrick Murphy
 Some people have requested your database differentiate between browser and cataloging programs. You rightly point out there is a bit of overlap. One solution might be to use colors for the background of the Product column. For example, a dark red indicates a browser; dark blue indicates a cataloging program; and hues in between (shades of violet) indicate something in-between -- the more red, the more it lacks cataloging features.

Thanks for a great resource!
 Interesting idea -- I will experiment with it to see how it looks. Although, I'm inclined to use a method that results in textual differences, I think having a small colored box in the CM column could work.

 


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