features which would make you upgrade?

[ulrik]

i share peoples frustration with cost etc of the new Photo Mechanic.

But if we are constructive just for a moment or two:

What feature or x would make you update?

I would think about it if there is custom shortcuts. It really annoys me and, I, of course think it should have been implemented years ago. And it should include all options which would also make automatisation quicker (the automatisation software like key strokes better than moving the mouse around).

Secondly make the option of doing captions, cropping, choosing what FTP go upload and light editing in one window.

What do you think? Or there is nothing that can make you upgrade?

[Max Lemesh]

Well, I have a lot of things on my wish list. Custom shortcuts is one of them as well plus various quality of life improvements to day to day tasks, such as ability to turn code replacement files on and off, and reload/refresh them from Ingest window. Sadly these front-end features doesnt seem to be important enough yet

[ulrik]

Well, if they want to charge the money they want they have to do something and we should try to get our things. Unless they think there are no competitors for them.

And they do read this forum and sometimes things are added.

I assume they will do a change of the interface and I hope we can get it customised. So we could change it what fits our workflow. I would like to have one which is optimised for speed so it, for example, opens the last photo in and Im ready to work immidately. There are clearly some things which can be done to make it even faster......

But customisable shortcuts is a big one and it should have been implemented in the old version I think......

[TomP]

A built in raw converter with camera matching profiles and batch processing capability to bring the product closer to Lightroom’s level of features. Do that and I’ll ditch the Adobe subscription and happily pay Camerabits instead.

[ulrik]

Yeah.

That would be amazing.

It could, as I wrote, be light editing.

Cant be that diffficult and a strategy which would make worth the cost (as some can save on other subsricptions as you write) and i think it closes other software for just adding an FTP upload module. In the start Photo Mechanic was really fast compared to other software but they are less ahead now.

For me to update and pay quite a substantial amount more, I need to earn more money. And thats speed (software, option to do all in one window, custom shortcuts, easy to change FTP, automatisation and constant crop.....) and improve quality of photos via editing (extremely quick editing  with a possiblity to auto adjust on all photos)....

[elianoimperato]

It's not just about I'll pay if they are giving to me what I'm asking for. There's also another case: until now I was able to pay PM/PM+ with my work. Now, with the new prices I can't afford anymore it.

Now I've two chance:
1. PM+ will run on much as possible MacOS versions;
2. When PM+ will not run anymore I can afford the new prices (the meaning my life will be a bit better).

Best,
eliano

[krakouer]

I would subscribe if it was a reasonble price. Understand businesses have cost, but when ingest software is more expensive than PS + LR or C1 then I have a hard time justifying this price even if I use it commercially. Maybe if it had some AI tagging or something that would make my life easier, but it is the same PM as it was years ago apart from minor improvements and bugfixes imo

[ulrik]

I they are counting on profs using it and the lack of alternatives.

I have upgraded due to improvements which are worth it for me.

Having the developers reading feature suggestions here is just too amazing, I think.

So if you have specific needs there is a high chance it could get fixed in the software.....

[DanY]

I purchased Photo Mechanic Plus about a year before they announced the subscription model. So that's some years back. I dip in every few months to see what's new. For me, I get the distinct impression that Camerabits is prioritising development for MacOS. Even with the latest updates, I check and I see its only for Apple computers.

I'm pretty sick and tired of their neglect of Windows. The current version of Photo Mechanic Plus that I have has a dated UI and is clunky to work with. At this rate of development, I can comfortably put Photo Mechanic to sleep on my list of softwares to look at and check back in 5 years. Very disappointing.

So to answer the question, I'll consider updating this software again only if they bring the Windows version to feature parity with the Apple version and update the UI. And then I'll take a more detailed look and where the program is at now.

I remember once putting in a feature question too. The response I got was curt. I responded by saying its okay if you don't want to put that feature in. No reason to sound a bit aggressive. Again, very disappointing.

[Kirk Baker]

Dan,

I purchased Photo Mechanic Plus about a year before they announced the subscription model. So that's some years back. I dip in every few months to see what's new. For me, I get the distinct impression that Camerabits is prioritising development for MacOS. Even with the latest updates, I check and I see its only for Apple computers.

Every build for macOS has a corresponding Windows build.  The main features that I know of that are missing in the Windows version that are not due to Windows not having a similar feature provided by the OS is Video playback and OS-provided RAW rendering.  While RAW rendering on the Windows version is available via using the Adobe DNG Converter (which the macOS version also supports), Windows' built-in RAW rendering (WIC) is lacking in both speed and consistency.

I'm pretty sick and tired of their neglect of Windows. The current version of Photo Mechanic Plus that I have has a dated UI and is clunky to work with.

Can you please be specific?  The Windows UI offers a completely customizable docking pane interface that the macOS version lacks.  Otherwise, the UIs are as similar as I am capable of making them.  What would an updated Windows UI look like to you?  We use Microsoft's MFC framework for the UI and switching to a different framework is likely out of the question since we don't have the resources to rewrite the entire UI.

So to answer the question, I'll consider updating this software again only if they bring the Windows version to feature parity with the Apple version and update the UI.

Can you tell me what features the Windows version is missing beyond the two features that I outlined above?  It's entirely possible that I'm having a brain fart and I'm not remembering something.

I remember once putting in a feature question too. The response I got was curt. I responded by saying its okay if you don't want to put that feature in. No reason to sound a bit aggressive. Again, very disappointing.

I looked at all of your posts and I only see one feature request that had no reply to it.  Where did you make your feature request and who was it from Camera Bits that replied to you?

This is the feature request that I found from you: https://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=15176.0

-Kirk

[bildbaendiger]

Hello Kirk,

I can name a few problems on a Windows system that I mentioned years ago that are still current:

- false selection display in text fields (text is show selectet, but it is not).
- "Send photo via email ..." is only active when multiple images are selected.
- in the Mac version, the functions that are not available are grayed out accordingly. Under Windows, this distinction is hardly visible and often leads to misunderstandings.
- little window confusion with two monitors: All subwindows from the Catalog Menu for example (Scan to Catalog, Catalog Sync, Catalog Management ...) are displayed at default on the second screen, sometimes hidden.
- broken monitor sync: when PM is running, the sync between a second EIZO Monitor is broken and result in a flash on both monitors from time to time.

Should still apply to both systems:
- Image Info display not the profile of photo, it displays instead the profile of the preview file (dangerous and confusing).
- External Proxy mismatch when copying or moving catalogs
- Choose selection range: the selection first last selected item, last selected item or nothing would be perfect.

The problems were registered and recognized, but never fixed. So at some point I gave up trying to report further problems and started looking for direct solutions.

They are not all serious bugs, but if they are never fixed in all these years, the willingness to pay for updates decreases.

[ulrik]

Keep trying.

Even with new ideas.

I post too much but then get some things through which has helped me so much that I upgraded to the new version which I didnt think I would do.

I (almost) just need shortcuts for individual snapshots under upload to be able to automise everything I need and I will be happy for years to come.

[ahoward]

- false selection display in text fields (text is show selectet, but it is not).

If you mean the issue from this thread: https://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=15183.msg74565#msg74565

I just tested the out and reproduced the issue. It looks like I missed the thread when you posted it, or saw it and then forgot to come back to it.

- "Send photo via email ..." is only active when multiple images are selected.

I see the thread where you posted about this. I said I would make a bug report but forgot to do so.

- little window confusion with two monitors: All subwindows from the Catalog Menu for example (Scan to Catalog, Catalog Sync, Catalog Management ...) are displayed at default on the second screen, sometimes hidden.

I just tried to reproduce this. For me, the windows that appear when choosing an item on the Catalog menu always appear on the monitor where they last appeared. If they were on a monitor that is no longer connected, they appear on my active monitor. I looked back at some internal conversations we had when you reported this issue and it looks like a few of us made attempts to reproduce the issue but could not. If you can provide specific instructions on how to reproduce this issue, it would give us a better chance at resolving the problem. If you'd like to screen share with me to demonstrate the issue so I can make sure I am taking the exact same steps as you are to reproduce the issue, I am happy to do that.

- broken monitor sync: when PM is running, the sync between a second EIZO Monitor is broken and result in a flash on both monitors from time to time.

I'm not really sure what this means or if it is somehow specific to an EIZO monitor. If you posted about this previously I do not see the thread on it. Feel free to link me to your prior report of this if I am missing it.

- Image Info display not the profile of photo, it displays instead the profile of the preview file (dangerous and confusing).

This is in our bug tracking system, but unfortunately there are other bugs that have taken priority over this one since the time it was added. I'll ask the devs to revisit it.

- External Proxy mismatch when copying or moving catalogs

If you mean this thread: https://forums.camerabits.com//index.php?topic=14979.msg73759#msg73759

We added this to our bug tracking system when you posted about it and a fix was added to address it in the build that we released on April 27, 2022. Are you able to reproduce this issue in any current build of Photo Mechanic?

- Choose selection range: the selection first last selected item, last selected item or nothing would be perfect.

I am not sure what this means. Is this a bug or a request for new functionality?

[bildbaendiger]

Thanks for the answer.

The position of the selection range referred to the post (not a bug, just a wish):
https://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=14609.msg71878#msg71878

If you mean this thread: https://forums.camerabits.com//index.php?topic=14979.msg73759#msg73759

Yes, it was fixed, but but there are still problems.
I kept ending up with a catalog where I no longer had access to the proxies and I ended up having to redo it.
I've gotten into the habit of always copying proxies back internally first when I make changes to a catalog that has external proxies. (during the copying process it often happened to me that the reference was wrong: internal proxies were displayed externally and vice versa, there is a problem, when doing this with several catalogs at the same time).
That's why i now avoid using external proxies whenever possible.

The little window problem rever to the post https://forums.camerabits.com/index.php?topic=14216.msg70417#msg70417.

There is a EIZO specific sync problem, but so far I have only known it for macOS (https://www.eizoglobal.com/support/compatibility/pc/mac/m1m2/).
Under windows 11 PM+ produces similar sync problems, but no other program.


Is there still a chance for me to get an update, since I don't have a subscription?