What's the best photo management software?

January 15, 2006 12:06 AM

Went to Macworld, tried out Aperture, but I've got some questions about photo management software...

I've used portfolio, iphoto, and am now reasonably happy with iview media pro. Aperture looks great (just like the new iphoto) in terms of speed and image capacity, but my main problem with them is that they don't just piggy back on top of existing file systems. Like iTunes, they create another copy in their "albums".
Is there any workaround for this? I really like much of the existing filing system for my 20k+ photos, and don't really have a desire to redo the whole thing.

I'm not a professional, but do a signifigant amount of picture taking and relatively advanced photo editing. My only problem with iview media pro is one of speed (I'm on a 1.5ghz powerbook, so it ought to be fine) and I'm shooting everything with a canon D10.

comments? Suggestions? Is there a better program out there?

posted by asavage to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Adobe Lightroom. It works with files in their native locations, and offers many of the same features of Aperture with less restrictive hardware requirements. It's in public beta for the year, try it out.
posted by dbiedny at 12:20 AM on January 15, 2006

Aperture didn't get a very good review from the guys over at Ars Technica... it sounds like it's best avoided for another iteration or two. The quality of its image processing leaves a lot to be desired.
posted by Malor at 12:39 AM on January 15, 2006

This isn't getting a lot of press, but the new iPhoto (version 6) will let you do manual library management. There's a checkbox in the preferences for "Add this file to the iPhoto Library folder when importing" or some such. If you leave that unchecked, the pic will be added to your library, but its actual location on your HD will be unchanged.

Incidentally, you can currently turn on a similar preference in iTunes, so you can still manually manage your mp3's.
posted by toddshot at 12:43 AM on January 15, 2006

Though I haven't used it myself (no Mac, and until recently, the program was Mac-only), almost every photojournalist I know uses Photo Mechanic. Major newsrooms around the US use it to manage the staff's workflow. It's also much cheaper than Aperture, and everyone who's used both always seems to say, "Sure, Aperture's fine and all, but it's no Photo Mechanic."

I use Thumbs Plus. I can't connect to the website right now, so I can't tell if it'll work on a Mac or not. A google search for "Thumbs Plus", however, returns plenty of places to download the demo.

Both of these programs just read through your existing directory structure. And bear in mind that neither of these programs is worth much without Photoshop unless all you're interested in doing is organizing your photos.
posted by msbrauer at 5:30 AM on January 15, 2006

Shoebox. Here's a nice review of Shoebox.
posted by gen at 7:21 AM on January 15, 2006

I'm a big fan of iView MediaPro. It's not that cheap, but very, very useful and customizable. That being said, Adobe's new LightRoom looks pretty darn good too.
posted by misterioso at 9:59 AM on January 15, 2006