| Product List | March 31st, 2008 |
|---|
I thought it might be a good idea to list the products that I know about and consider DAM applications. Now, these products will range from photo browser to full featured DAM but I thought it was important to at least provide a comprehensive list of the products I’m aware of (and in most cases have used). Without further ado.. here is the list in no particular order:
| Product Name | Version | Platform(s) | Price* | Reviewed |
| Idimager | 4.1.0.3b | PC/Mac (via Parallels) | $69/129 - personal/pro | 5/12/2008 |
| Imatch | 3.6 | PC/Mac (via Parallels) | $64.95 | 7/12/2008 |
| Photo Mechanic | 4.5.3.1 | PC/Mac | $150 | 7/07/2008 |
| ACDSee Pro 2 | 2.0 | PC/Mac (via Parallels) | $129 | 4/06/2008 |
| Geosetter | 2.4.3 | PC | Freeware | 4/12/2008 |
| Extensis Portfolio | 8.51 | PC/Mac | $199.95 | 5/19/2008 |
| Photology | 1.1 | PC | $19 | 7/28/2008 |
| Adobe Lightroom | ||||
| Thumbsplus | ||||
| Iview/Media Expressions | ||||
| Canto Cumulus | ||||
| Aperture | ||||
| Adobe Bridge/ACR | ||||
| ExifPro | ||||
| Exifer | ||||
| Photo Mechanic | ||||
| BreezeBrowser | ||||
| Picassa | ||||
| Zoner Photo Studio | ||||
| PicaJet | ||||
| Cataloguer | ||||
| FastStone | ||||
| FotoStation Pro | ||||
| MediaDex | ||||
| Photoshop Elements | ||||
| Smart Pix Manager | ||||
| PixVue | ||||
| MapIvi | ||||
| Exiv | ||||
| ExifTool | ||||
| DigitalPro | ||||
| ImageIngester Pro | ||||
| iPhoto | ||||
| Blue Marine | ||||
| Digital Asset Factory | ||||
| ….. and More! |
* price does not include competitor upgrades or discount/coupons available
If you can think of any I’ve missed (and I’m sure there are a number of them), please leave a comment and I’ll update the table… Thx!
May 28th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
If you include image viewers, perhaps you could consider the smallest (and quickest) of all them: FastPictureViewer? It’s not a DAM by any mean but possibly a useful addition to the photographer’s software arsenal. FastPictureViewer can do XMP rating on the fly, rating which can later be read by Lightroom, Bridge, IDimager (and probably others) and thus can be used for fast culling/chimping/rating before importing the pictures in the DAM.
May 28th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Hi Axel - thanks so much for stopping by. I’d be happy to review FastPictureViewer - I’m always looking for new products that make viewing photos easy and fast!
Stay tuned!
May 29th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Would love to see reviews of free tools compared to paid.
IE, what do I get with Downloader Pro vs a free tool?
Or lightroom vs Picasa?
Or how each tool helps guide a new workflow, organize what you have, or adapt to the way that you work.
May 31st, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Hi ls - thx for stopping by and leaving a comment.
That’s a good idea.. kinda like a comparison summary between the free products and those that cost $$$.
I plan on reviewing some of the free tools real soon to give folks an idea of how they hold up to the paid ones.
I’m still working on the design of the comparison table which will include the major categories from the review.
Stay tuned!
June 8th, 2008 at 9:32 am
You are definitely missing StudioLine Photo Classic!
June 9th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Hi Lukasz.. you are most certainly correct - I am missing it and will certainly do a review of it soon.
I have used it in the past and do really like it.. in fact, I was seriously considering it for use as my main DAM application.. but there were a few items that I didn’t like and a few that needed tweaking. I will reveal all in a review that I will post soon.
Thx again for stopping by and reminding me about SLP.. - Andy.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Hey Andy:
I would consider Nikon View NX to be a DAM program, especially in its latest incarnation. Although it is of most interest to Nikon shooters as it handles NEF files smoothly, it will handle JPG and TIF files as well. Any chance you will review it?
— Russ
June 18th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Hi Russ.. thx for stopping by. Yes - I will review View and Capture NX at some point.. I did forget about those..
I agree that they are nice products for Nikon cameras.. last I had checked them out, they ran very badly on my machine and I found the control/interface a bit unintuitive but I haven’t checked the latest version. I will give them their full due however!
Thx for pointing this out.. currently busy reviewing IMatch so stay tuned for that.. it is a big one like Idimager was… lots of work!
Thx again - Andy.
June 28th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Image Ingester Pro.
http://ImageIngester.com/
And at the low end, iPhoto.
SteveM
June 28th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Hi Steve - thx for the added programs… I will add Image Ingester Pro (which I’ve used quite a bit in the past) to the list.
I should include iPhoto… forgot completely about it. Being a PC user, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to get my MAC software reviews done. I guess I’ll need to borrow a MAC to do them unless someone wants to buy out my site for 6 figures… anyone.. anyone?
Anyway.. thx again for those products! - Andy.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Hi Andy -
Love having the list - would it be too much trouble to change it to a table, so the Platform (PC/Mac) could be included?
Thanks
July 17th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Hi Marion - Thanks so much for stopping by.. and for your great idea!
I’ve gone ahead and updated the list to a table along with the platform, price and date of my review. I’ve been meaning to get a table together that list features and my “rating” of them for awhile now.. so, this is at least 1/2 way there for me.
Thanks again for your suggestion… it was exactly the kind of idea that helped me get this done.
Thx - Andy.
July 19th, 2008 at 8:59 am
[…] everyone - just a quick note to mention that I have recently updated the product list thanks to a great comment/idea by Marion. The Product list is now a table that shows all the […]
July 27th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Here is one that I just recently heard about.
BlueMarine http://bluemarine.tidalwave.it/ It is a free program.
July 27th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Hi Harold… and thx for your post! Yes - I had forgotten about blue marine which I had looked into about a year ago.. it wasn’t really ready for prime time then but I will revisit the product to see where the developers have taken it.. I’m really interested in open source and freeware applications and would love to support their work with a review. Thx for the reminder.. and stopping by to comment!
August 7th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Hi Andy… Thanks a lot for rounding up this valuable list of picture DAM systems. I have been looking for a suitable picture browser for the publishing industry. There is a great need for picture browser with the following requirements:
- both Mac and PC compatible
- Integrated IPTC description (batch description)
- Integrated (or one click external link to) image editing
- workflow (forwarding pictures to various folders)
- Searching (Fast searching large number of pix)
- Cropping
- HTML or FTP picture upload settings
- User defined settings
If anybody has any good suggestion besides foto station then I am very interested.
PhotoMechanic is one of my Mac & PC choices, though limited. I looked at BlueMarine (which I found on this page) but it’s way too slow…
March 5th, 2009 at 7:00 am
I have just started a trial on DigitalPro 5. This package from what I can tell is the first fully-featured TRUE DAM program I’ve come across, with no disrespect to the others. It includes Delivery Memos, Submission processes, etc. The only problem I can see so far with the program that it’s just about impossible to find doing a Google search, so they are badly in need of an update to their website and associated links. You can find them at http://www.proshooters.com and (a very old link, unfortunately) http://www.moosepeterson.com. This program is worthy of a major review.
Thanks,
Glenn
March 5th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Hi Glenn - thanks you very much for stopping by to check us out and for your comments about Digital Pro 5. I actually ran across DP a few months ago and it is on my chart to eventually review. My initial impression of the software was that it was VERY HEAVILY geared towards stock and “shoot” and not very geared towards the amateur and general user.
But - having just looked at the feature set again - things may have changed in the newest version. I’ll take a look at it soon and see what it can do.
Thanks again for the heads up! Stay tuned - Andy.
March 5th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Hi Andy - You do make a point - that program really is geared strongly towards the pro/stock shooter (and is badly needed in that market place which is what drew me to it). Also, it’s one of the ‘best kept secrets’ as I think it would be used by a much larger segment of the population if they would do some serious marketing AND do a serious re-write of their documentation (they still refer to the D1 in places). That said, it is a very easy program to operate once you get the hang of it, which makes me think it could be popular with more than just the pro crowd (people who aren’t submitting don’t need to use the Submission features). Anyway, hope that helps you a bit on that.
By the by, this is a super site you have here and has been extremely helpful to me. Many thanks and keep up the great work.
Glenn