>many thanks, I'll go and take a look at Photo Mechanic.
I'm also a big photo mechanic fan though I use it as a front end to lightroom for speed. Note that PM 6 which just came out has an upcoming cataloging feature called I think "plus". It's in beta at preset, and so far as I know hasn't been released. The standard version catalogs implicitly, in that it tags individual photos with metadata (in XMP files for raw) and has a lot of features for manipulating that metadata and grouping photos, but all the time each time you run it, it reads each photo's data individually; the new version is supposed to add a database (I have not tried it). It is in public beta. You might want to decide if you want to try it instead or in addition to the vanilla version.
You might want to google a bit under DAM and "Digital Asset Management" software. There are a lot of other contenders out there. Most that you will encounter are lightroom-like tools -- cataloging which accompanies a photo editor. It sounds like you want the reverse - cataloging tools, that may also edit but allow lots of plugin editors. There's a lot of grey in between (including LR, which can have all sorts of alternative editors).
One I have never used but see a lot mentioned is ACDsee. No knowledge of it at all, just heard about it for years.
Two important considerations when you look at these that tends to distinguish them is: Network access (including cloud access), and multi-user support (which can also be multiple devices with one user moving around between them).
Lightroom CC (of which I am not a fan) supports multiple devices, but does not really support multi-user well (e.g. coordinated access simultaneously to the same set of photos, like if you had an assistant editing while you do). But Lightroom CC did a good job of the "edit anywhere on anything" aspect. Most DAM tools I have run across have not done much yet to address the cloud, though some do address multiple devices on the same local network.
If you need none of that it opens things up a bit, but those two aspects can help you filter.
Another consideration based on your statement is concerning editor approach. Any tool that does non-destructive editing (which many if not most do now) locks you in to that tool's edits to a similar degree -- there is virtually no ability to move edits from one tool to another non-destructively. The only mechanism that really works is to export a TIFF and take it into the other tool, and at that point your edits are baked in, no longer non-destructive.
A more subtle aspect of this is that any non-destructive edit tool used with a different cataloging aide is going to be unable to render views of the edits, except for previews (which most cannot embed back in raw, only into DNG's, or in some cases their catalog). So using a variety of non-destructive editors with a catalog may make it difficult to view your collection overall except by exporting each to JPG or TIFF. Though switching to DNG is an option that permits preview updates.
So whatever tool you choose (other than a destructive one) builds up a certain amount of investment in that specific tool that you lose if you change. This is about the editor, not the DAM really though it becomes about the DAM if you use many editors. Just something to keep in mind.
My own philosophy in having so much invested in LR's editor -- if I want to change I can hit a few buttons and export everything to TIFF. Massive computer effort, not much on my part. And there are no good alternatives really that are non-destructive, all suffer the same investment-creep over time.
Please report back on your decisions, I think a lot of us LR users are always on the lookout for alternatives as we do feel a bit trapped. But, to be fair, trapped by LR being so full featured. I really dislike Adobe the company, but LR is kind of a swiss army knife of a tool, it does everything decently.
I'm also a big photo mechanic fan though I use it as a front end to lightroom for speed. Note that PM 6 which just came out has an upcoming cataloging feature called I think "plus". It's in beta at preset, and so far as I know hasn't been released. The standard version catalogs implicitly, in that it tags individual photos with metadata (in XMP files for raw) and has a lot of features for manipulating that metadata and grouping photos, but all the time each time you run it, it reads each photo's data individually; the new version is supposed to add a database (I have not tried it). It is in public beta. You might want to decide if you want to try it instead or in addition to the vanilla version.
You might want to google a bit under DAM and "Digital Asset Management" software. There are a lot of other contenders out there. Most that you will encounter are lightroom-like tools -- cataloging which accompanies a photo editor. It sounds like you want the reverse - cataloging tools, that may also edit but allow lots of plugin editors. There's a lot of grey in between (including LR, which can have all sorts of alternative editors).
One I have never used but see a lot mentioned is ACDsee. No knowledge of it at all, just heard about it for years.
Two important considerations when you look at these that tends to distinguish them is: Network access (including cloud access), and multi-user support (which can also be multiple devices with one user moving around between them).
Lightroom CC (of which I am not a fan) supports multiple devices, but does not really support multi-user well (e.g. coordinated access simultaneously to the same set of photos, like if you had an assistant editing while you do). But Lightroom CC did a good job of the "edit anywhere on anything" aspect. Most DAM tools I have run across have not done much yet to address the cloud, though some do address multiple devices on the same local network.
If you need none of that it opens things up a bit, but those two aspects can help you filter.
Another consideration based on your statement is concerning editor approach. Any tool that does non-destructive editing (which many if not most do now) locks you in to that tool's edits to a similar degree -- there is virtually no ability to move edits from one tool to another non-destructively. The only mechanism that really works is to export a TIFF and take it into the other tool, and at that point your edits are baked in, no longer non-destructive.
A more subtle aspect of this is that any non-destructive edit tool used with a different cataloging aide is going to be unable to render views of the edits, except for previews (which most cannot embed back in raw, only into DNG's, or in some cases their catalog). So using a variety of non-destructive editors with a catalog may make it difficult to view your collection overall except by exporting each to JPG or TIFF. Though switching to DNG is an option that permits preview updates.
So whatever tool you choose (other than a destructive one) builds up a certain amount of investment in that specific tool that you lose if you change. This is about the editor, not the DAM really though it becomes about the DAM if you use many editors. Just something to keep in mind.
My own philosophy in having so much invested in LR's editor -- if I want to change I can hit a few buttons and export everything to TIFF. Massive computer effort, not much on my part. And there are no good alternatives really that are non-destructive, all suffer the same investment-creep over time.
Please report back on your decisions, I think a lot of us LR users are always on the lookout for alternatives as we do feel a bit trapped. But, to be fair, trapped by LR being so full featured. I really dislike Adobe the company, but LR is kind of a swiss army knife of a tool, it does everything decently.
Linwood
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