App to manage central image library

[jcwacky]

I work in a design studio, and we are trying to get together a central image library full of photos from all our projects.

I am looking for the best piece of software to allow us to browse the library, assign keywords or tags to images, and the ability to search or filter by tags or descriptions.

Unfortunately we are still on 10.3.9 and running Adobe CS, and Quark 6.5. So currently using anything like iPhoto or Adobe Bridge is out of the question.

Any suggestions as to what we could use?

Thanks
James

 

[Claytoniss]

Really not even iPhoto??? I actually got nothing on this. Tell them to suck it up and purchase some software for you! Seems like they should have more for you being a design studio. At least you have quark

 

[jcwacky]

Yeh, I know. It's not great. The state we're in now means we are going to have to upgrade to Leopard, CS4 and Quark 8 (Unless we switch to InDesign) all at once. And even then I don't know if our G5s will like that much!

Thanks for your reply tho, give me another excuse to push for upgrading I spose! Adobe Bridge looks ideal!

 

[Claytoniss]

Yeh, I know. It's not great. The state we're in now means we are going to have to upgrade to Leopard, CS4 and Quark 8 (Unless we switch to InDesign) all at once. And even then I don't know if our G5s will like that much!

Thanks for your reply tho, give me another excuse to push for upgrading I spose! Adobe Bridge looks ideal!

You can at least get to 10.4! I am running 4 PPCg5's with CS3. Memory is cheap for ddr2 4 gigs for like 65 bucks at crucial. What are your specs on your machines? How many? What about CS2 even?

You should get some price quotes for them and show some options to the boss. Also talk with your printers and ask them what they would like to see from you. What is more cost and time effective for them?

 

[jcwacky]

True, I feel that upgrading to 10.4 when 10.5 is out is a bit silly. But I suppose it's an option.

We have 3x Dual 2Ghz G5s. Currently 1GB RAM (I know! Soon to be upgraded to 3GB).

CS3 could be an idea, but again it seems a bit pointless when the lovely CS4 is now out.

Perhaps 10.4, CS3 and maybe a new Quark would make sense. Hmmm... it would let us squeeze some more life out of our G5s at least. Tho I spose the ideal option would be to upgrade the whole lot including Mac Pros if we could afford it.

Thanks for getting me thinking!

 

[ChrisA]

Are you looking for a server type system to hold images for an entire department with a dozen or two users accessing it over a network are is this just for a single user on one computer?

Do you need to track versions of your files and keep a revision history?

Do you have a budget?

I think there are solutions not matter how you answer these questions but no one can make a suggestion without knowing the above