candyman said:
mackguyver said:
candyman said:
JRPhotos said:
I'm looking forward to this but I'd REALLY love to see an update to ZoomBrowser; I detest ImageBrowser, I do not want to import photos to just view them. ZB did so many things with ease.
+1
I did not install ImageBrowser but continue to use ZB
+2 - ZB is awesome & simple. IB is bloated and horrible. I ended up buying PhotoMechanic which is essentially ZB on steroids with metadata management, but man is IB awful - one of the worst applications I've ever had the misfortune to use.
I just took a look at a youtube promo. Looks very good. What makes it really better for
you compared to Zoom Browser?
I initially bought Photomechanic when the local newspaper hired me to freelance. It's what they all use to tag & upload images, but alas, I'm still waiting for my first assignment a year after filling out my employment paperwork...
Anyways, it's rather expensive, but what I like about it is that I can rename my files, add IPTC metadata (which it manages very well), GPS coordinates (manually or imported from a GPS device), and more when I download photos. It downloads and generates thumbnails insanely fast and it's really easy to zip through them and flag the photos that you want to edit. You can do a number of things to the metadata as well (or XMP sidecars, as I have it set to) such as correcting time (if you forget to set the clock on your camera) and tons of other things. It then allows you to upload to just about any photo service (I use SmugMug) very quickly. It does just about everything except edit your photos, but it will open your photos in any editor you like.
I also like that it doesn't make me use some proprietary catalog like LR - I can store them in folders (it will create them) and then I can use PhotoMechanic or Windows to search the metadata to find my files. The XMP sidecars are great, too, as the metadata ends up in final TIFFs, JPEGs, etc. that are exported from PhotoShop, LR, DxO, etc.
Unless you shoot a lot or are really into metadata management, it's probably not worth the money, but it's a pretty cool program.
Also, I almost forgot to mention the killer feature - if you shoot sports, it does automated caption replacement. I.e. you can create (or subscribe to services that create) text files that list all of the teams & players in a game. When you caption the photo, you simply put in "/18/" and PhotoMechanic replaces it with "Peyton Manning Denver Broncos (QB) #19" or whatever you put in the file. Needless to say that saves a ton of time, especially if you don't know the players. It can be used for other stuff, too.
For me, I set up my file naming and general metadata before I shoot. It's easy because I have all of my regular shooting locations & keywords saved. When I come home, I rename & add the metadata during download. I import & tag the GPS data from my Garmin, then I zip through the thumbnails and begin editing down my work. I rate them as 5-star or 3-star and then use the side-by-side comparison tool to narrow them down to all 5-stars. Once that's done, I caption those photos & add specific key words. I drag & drop them into DxO, edit them, and then upload the JPEGs through PhotoMechanic to SmugMug.
