Could not find anything with a search so here goes. I am moving from Mac OS to Windows 10 but tried importing my photos to windows Photos and got a huge jumble of pictures in a single grouping. Before I spend the time needed to group this mess into albums I thought I should ask what others here use for photo management. Is Windows Photos similar to the Mac version or maybe the older iPhoto? I briefly used Adobe Photoshop Elements years ago and that is the only other photo management software that I have used. If there is something that is clearly better without a huge cost I would start over since I haven't done much yet.
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Photo Management for Windows 10
- Thread starter danny_w
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It depends on what you want.
FYI I never liked iphotos and avoided it when I was a mac user.
So, what do you want/need, a photo viewer, organizer or editor or some combo of those?
FYI I never liked iphotos and avoided it when I was a mac user.
So, what do you want/need, a photo viewer, organizer or editor or some combo of those?
Something similar to iPhoto (viewer, organizer, and light editing) is all that I am really after. Photoshop Elements would probably be ideal but there are likely others (even free) but that is all that comes to mind. I don't need any thing heavy duty, just something simple and easy to use. I don't want to spend any more time than necessary on maintaining my photo collection.
My photos from my Mac are in disparate locations now, the exported library from Photos plus several other folders that may well contain some duplicates. I don't look forward to a lot of time organizing these but will do whatever is necessary. Changing platforms is always a hassle.
My photos from my Mac are in disparate locations now, the exported library from Photos plus several other folders that may well contain some duplicates. I don't look forward to a lot of time organizing these but will do whatever is necessary. Changing platforms is always a hassle.
Acdsee PhotoStudio
https://www.acdsee.com/en/products/photo-studio-standard
It is similar to Lightroom, although this standard version lacks advanced editing/RAW tools. I wouldn't get their subscription but you can get a lifetime license for $30, it has free trial also. Check it out, I've been using their products for over 20 years.
https://www.acdsee.com/en/products/photo-studio-standard
It is similar to Lightroom, although this standard version lacks advanced editing/RAW tools. I wouldn't get their subscription but you can get a lifetime license for $30, it has free trial also. Check it out, I've been using their products for over 20 years.
On1 Photo RAW - very inexpensive.
Adobe Bridge - this is free
Capture One Pro
DxO Photo Lab (used to be Optics Pro)
ACDSee
Luminar
Alien Skin Exposure 4
I'm putting on my mod hat and moving this thread to the digital photography forum for better exposure to the group of people who know so much about this stuff
Adobe Bridge - this is free
Capture One Pro
DxO Photo Lab (used to be Optics Pro)
ACDSee
Luminar
Alien Skin Exposure 4
I'm putting on my mod hat and moving this thread to the digital photography forum for better exposure to the group of people who know so much about this stuff
On Windows look into iMatch for organizing stuff; wish we had it on macOS: https://www.photools.com
Another popular choice is Faststone Viewer, https://www.faststone.org/index.htm. Free for home use; donationware.
Another popular choice is Faststone Viewer, https://www.faststone.org/index.htm. Free for home use; donationware.
Thanks I'll look into these. I downloaded and installed a trial version of Photoshop Elements and am giving that a try, but am open to other suggestions if they are better or as good for less money. So far I have imported all of my photos and started grouping them into albums, but the album and album category creation seems like a lot of work (admittedly I just started so don't have any experience with it); there are probably some keyboard shortcuts that would speed things up and make it easier.
what i did was keep over 43 gb of .raw and .jpeg photos in their folders located in the macmin and copied these to a seagate hd which has mac-windows exchange software without formatting the drive and imported the ones i needed to the Dell XPS.
The difference between photoshop elements and some of the other apps, is that its a destructive edit. On1 Photo Raw, Capture 1, Luminar, etc, all leave the original image intact and untouched. The master for many people that's important feature - food for thought.
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That looks interesting, I'm downloading that now and I'll play with it. At first blush it appears to be Bridge on steroids, but I do like the look of what it provides.
Thanks, I didn't know that. I would much prefer to retain my originals so I will look into others. Is ACDsee standard a good option? I have heard a lot about it. I don't need anything more than basic editing, the main feature I am interested in is organization.
UPDATE: I just installed ACDSee Standard and quickly uninstalled it. Although it appears very powerful it looks far more complicated than I am wanting. When PSE imports photos it does not copy the photos themselves but only creates a database of links to the photos, and automatically identifies duplicates. When ACDSee imports photos it actually copies the photos from the source to a configurable destination but does not seem to identify duplicates, of which I have many. So far I am liking the (simple) PSE interface much better, but would prefer something that keeps the original files intact.
UPDATE2: Apparently PSE does NOT destroy the original file (perhaps earlier versions did so). The editor asks where to save the edited file and appends "edited-1" to the filename and also saves in a different format. Although not as easy to revert as iPhoto it is still simple to do, just delete the edited version from the catalog and the original will replace it. With the exception of the organizer and editor being separate programs it seems the closest to iPhoto that I have found so far.
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With ACDsee you are able to avoid the entire importing stuff. You leave your pics where they are and view and edit them.
There is a learning curve but it worth it.
Adobe Elements is nice also, older version did not indeed support non destructive editing but now things have changed.
The best way is to download the trials and chose whichever is best for you.
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iMatch, PhotoSupreme or Photomechanic are the highly competent organizers destined mainly for pros with large galleries.
If you shoot RAW mainly an interesting and well worth adition is FastRawViewer.
Thanks, ACDSee may well have an import that does not copy things but all that I saw when I checked it out copied everything over. I quickly realized also that the learning curve would be more than I wanted to invest. It seems far more powerful but much more than I need ATM. I have spend quite a bit of time in the Photoshop Elements trial and it seems to suit me quite well. I also have Premiere trial installed but have not tried it yet.
I'm not a pro by any stretch, just a humble hobbyist. I do like what iMatch has to offer but looking at my workflow it just doesn't fit in very well. Sometimes forcing a round peg into a square hole doesn't make sense.
If I continue to use LR, then iMatch doesn't make too much sense, even though I can keyword and categorize in the app, I can also do that with LR. With On1 Photo Raw, this probably makes more sense, but unlike Photo Mechanic, I didn't find an "ingesting" process to take images from my Sd card and copy them to a destination (and doing keywording/batch processing) Maybe you can, and I just didn't come across that functionality.
For the ingesting process and for a correct raw preview I insist on FastRawViewer. Its around 20 bucks and it worth every penny.
I have On1 and use it exclusively for Fuji xtrans raw files. For Nikon Adobes photography subscription remains the most convenient option.
I have On1 and use it exclusively for Fuji xtrans raw files. For Nikon Adobes photography subscription remains the most convenient option.
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