Search and catalog program questions.

[Al]

Hi, I am trying to figure out which searching and catalog programs would work best with Photo Mechanic.  Several questions:

I attended the Nikon School, and the teacher recommended iView Media Pro.  But, it's now been taken over by Microsoft, so I wonder if it's the same program that was recommended.

Extensis Portfolio was another one they recommended.

Does anyone use ACDSee for searching and cataloging?

Idimager?  Looking at their web site, it looks like it can read all the IPTC data from Photo Mechanic, but I downloaded the trial and, if I'm understanding correctly, you have to manually import all the keywords for all your images.

I will be spending the vast majority of my time in Photo Mechanic, and am just looking for a simple program that will cooperate effortlessly with Photo Mechanic, and can search and display thumbnails of all my pictures for keywords entered in PM.  Also, my laptop came with a Jasc Photo Album 3 program three years ago, which was relatively unsophisticated, but it did have one nice feature, and that was you could search by any words in either an album description or image description.  Are there programs that can search keywords entered in PM, PLUS words or phrases in the captions, descriptions, etc.?  Thank you very much.

[Al]

I forgot the most important question:  When will Photo Mechanic have their cataloging program ready?  I'd hate to spend $300 on something else now, and then have the PM program come available the following week!  Thanks. 

[Kirk Baker]

I forgot the most important question:  When will Photo Mechanic have their cataloging program ready?  I'd hate to spend $300 on something else now, and then have the PM program come available the following week!  Thanks. 

We are actively working on a cataloging system for Photo Mechanic.  It will definitely not be out before the end of this year.

-Kirk

[Al]

Kirk, Thanks.  I'm sure I'll get whatever you come out with.  In the interim, could you advise regarding one of the others?  Is there one that will work most interchangeably with PM as it is now, and with your new cataloging program of the future?  Thank you very much.  Al.

[Kirk Baker]

Kirk, Thanks.  I'm sure I'll get whatever you come out with.  In the interim, could you advise regarding one of the others?  Is there one that will work most interchangeably with PM as it is now, and with your new cataloging program of the future?  Thank you very much.  Al.

The main cataloging applications I know of for Windows are:

Extensis Portfolio
Microsoft Expression Media
IMatch

I don't have any specific opinion of any of them.  They each have their own plusses and minuses.

As for whether they would be compatible with the Photo Mechanic cataloger, I don't know.  I don't think we're going to be making PM work with other applications' catalogs since it is likely that most of them are proprietary.

-Kirk

[photographxgrl]

I've not used iView much but I do link my Photo Mechanic IPTC fields with my DAM, Cumulus (MediaDex for the single user) and it works well. I'm able to link my structured keywords from the IPTC keyword field to Cumulus' clickable keyword tree also.

For what it's worth...

laura

[glewbel]

I am really, really hoping that the next version of PhotoMechanic does handle cataloging tasks in an easy, intuitive way, but until then, here are some thoughts about two alternatives that are really designed specifically for cataloging.  I've used both iMatch and iView MediaPro (now Microsoft Expression Media) quite a bit over the past few years, both on the Mac and on a PC.

iMatch is harder to learn. Its interface is good but not very intuitive, in my opinion. It was apparently designed for photographers who like to write code queries to handle very complex searching and tagging ("find all the pictures of my family taken at Niagara Falls except for vertical shots of the uncles who annoyed me but do include one uncle who apologized..."). You don't have to deal with these complexities to use the program at its basic level, but when you want to customize things, it's not so easy.

Of course, money's part of the puzzle. iMatch costs $65, compared to about $300 for Expression Media.

By comparison, Expression Media is really a drag-and-drop cataloging program. It's got a great interface that is really easy to use. You set up your catalog of tags ("skiing, diving, family gatherings...") and you're almost done. It's quick and intuitive.

One of the things I really like about PM is that the guys responsible for it actually do answer their phones and email. Similarly, the main guy who is responsible for iMatch does respond promptly to suggestions and requests for help. Good luck calling Microsoft if you have a problem with Expression Media.

Hope this is useful. In my opinion, you'd be better off waiting for PM to build its new cataloger into the program, if you're not in a great rush. It's kind of a pain to move shots from one program to another, making sure that the tags are still there and unchanged.

Best -- Geo

[sailfree]

I also attended the Nikon School and that's how I heard about PM.  I'm a PM novice and have been struggling with the Search issue myself.  I just learned that there is no universal search capability for XP systems.  I was looking for a way to search my entire system and not just the open contact sheet(s).  Assuming that a future version of PM will provide this capability for XP/Vista I have been making do by using Picasa.  It is free and does a system wide search on keyword, filename, date, camera brand/settings, etc.  Basically, it will search on any text associated with a photo.  It does search all my physical drives, internal or external, including my NAS network drive.  When you start it it will automatically scan the drives you have designated and update itself for new or deleted photo files. It also has photo editing features and does not alter your original files.  I'm not sure what you mean when you say you are seeking a cataloging program that "works with PM" but for what it's worth, Picasa does the job for me while I wait.

[JAS Photo]

I second the nod for Picasa - It's amazing for the price. If finds any image I want as long as I've Keyworded or captioned it with PM. On 8 hard drives on 3 PC's. My only issue is that a different PC will have to scan the drives since they do not share an index. But since I work alone I generally only search from the one PC.

[Al]

Could you Picassa guys expound just a little on exactly how you do the search in Picassa, using PM keywords and captions.  I had it for a while, then removed it, as I didn't see how to search IPTC data entered with Photo Mechanic.  Thanks, Al.