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Author Topic: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?  (Read 10255 times)

NancyP

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Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« on: April 09, 2018, 05:58:41 pm »

Just curious - Does anyone use a modest-priced single-user DAM library program that is NOT Lightroom? I look up "DAM programs" and get lists of enterprise level multi-user programs.
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rdonson

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2018, 06:14:08 pm »

That's where DAM originated.  In large corporations.  How do you think a bank can so readily bring up a check image of yours or your statements?

In the photography world I'm not aware of anything that competes with Lr with regards to DAM.   
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digitaldog

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2018, 07:22:43 pm »

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syncrasy

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2018, 09:27:52 pm »

If memory serves, photographer and DAM expert Peter Krogh based his original edition of The DAM Book on iView MediaPro (now Phase One Media Pro). It was considered the best single-user DAM before Lightroom become popular. (I believe Krogh switched to LR for later editions of his book.)

I've used Media Pro for over 12 years and it's still my favorite. It might be "long in the tooth" (Phase One has neglected it, only releasing periodic updates for new cameras) and requires some workarounds for my workflow, but I haven't found a better DAM (for my needs). A trial version is available: https://www.phaseone.com/en/Products/Software/Media-Pro/Highlights.aspx
« Last Edit: April 09, 2018, 09:53:51 pm by syncrasy »
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DP

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2018, 06:25:32 am »

How do you think a bank can so readily bring up a check image of yours or your statements?
you don't need to DAM to store blob in a database.
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NancyP

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2018, 10:39:34 am »

I never thought that anything other than Lr would be needed, but it did occur to me that I haven't really looked around.
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jwstl

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2018, 11:57:09 am »

Many moons ago I used Extensis Portfolio when they had a single user version. But those days are long gone. Now I use Photo Supreme by idimager which was recently upgraded to v4. They offer both a single user and a server edition. I'm currently using the single user version and like it very much.

https://www.idimager.com/
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digitaldog

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2018, 12:20:36 pm »

I'm currently using the single user version and like it very much.
https://www.idimager.com/
Looks interesting and affordable thanks. They state: With Photo Supreme you have previews of your images stored inside the catalog. Is one forced to do so, IOW, does it, like LR also reference the images outside the catalog?
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jwstl

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #8 on: April 10, 2018, 12:51:03 pm »

Looks interesting and affordable thanks. They state: With Photo Supreme you have previews of your images stored inside the catalog. Is one forced to do so, IOW, does it, like LR also reference the images outside the catalog?

Every image has to be imported into the catalog. I was hesitant about that at first but it doesn't bother me now. One of the features I like is Travel Mode. This allows me to copy my database with previews to my laptop, work with the database when traveling, copy it back to the main computer when I get home when I have access to the images, Sync in Photo Supreme and have the changes apply to the images. Without the previews there's no taking the database on the road.
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digitaldog

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #9 on: April 10, 2018, 02:50:15 pm »

Every image has to be imported into the catalog.
Thanks; I don't wish to do that. I want to reference images scattered over multiple drives and not have them 'embedded' into a catalog.
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ned

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #10 on: April 10, 2018, 02:58:18 pm »

Been using imatch for years, very powerful. Dumped LR and use imatch to send to CS6.

https://www.photools.com/


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jwstl

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #11 on: April 10, 2018, 03:28:56 pm »

Thanks; I don't wish to do that. I want to reference images scattered over multiple drives and not have them 'embedded' into a catalog.

My apologies, I didn't read the question clearly enough. I mistook the question for" "is it like Adobe Bridge or Photo Mechanic browsing images on a disc instead of a true catalog". The images themselves are not stored in the database. Mine are referenced on an external hard drives and some phone pics in my Pictures folder on my Mac.  The import creates previews which are stored in the database but the images themselves remain referenced where they are.
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digitaldog

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #12 on: April 10, 2018, 03:32:59 pm »

The images themselves are not stored in the database. Mine are referenced on an external hard drives and some phone pics in my Pictures folder on my Mac.  The import creates previews which are stored in the database but the images themselves remain referenced where they are.
Great. I've downloaded the demo, now thanks to that, I'll install and look it over.
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Phil Indeblanc

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #13 on: May 31, 2018, 06:44:03 pm »

I have used Extensis Portfolio from ages ago, and now are a "enterprise" priced POS(software).
I also have used MediaPro, but there was issue with TIF files and some glitches when I purchased from PhaseOne for about $50, and now they wanted almost $200(with no update price) to find out if those glitches are still there or not. No thanks.
I have PhotoSupreme, its good, but...I have Imatch, its good, but...Photo Mechanic on the MAC is good...But I actually still use ACDSee Pro.
This makes a lot of things easy to do. Its fast, the DB is not required. It doesn't crap in all your folders with unknown files. Interface is configurable.

There are others like... FastRawViewer, BreezeBrowser, FastStone, IrfanView, Zoner, Camstasia, AZImage, .....They each have something I was OK with but preferred ACDSee over. Picasa perhaps is another, and ImageSorter.
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120photo

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #14 on: April 23, 2019, 07:34:48 am »

DigiKam. Latest 6.x releases are stable on the Mac.
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kers

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #15 on: April 23, 2019, 07:57:20 am »

If memory serves, photographer and DAM expert Peter Krogh based his original edition of The DAM Book on iView MediaPro (now Phase One Media Pro). It was considered the best single-user DAM before Lightroom become popular. (I believe Krogh switched to LR for later editions of his book.)

I've used Media Pro for over 12 years and it's still my favorite. It might be "long in the tooth" (Phase One has neglected it, only releasing periodic updates for new cameras) and requires some workarounds for my workflow, but I haven't found a better DAM (for my needs). A trial version is available: https://www.phaseone.com/en/Products/Software/Media-Pro/Highlights.aspx
Sorry to say this as an all time Media pro user... but the program is discontinued by Phase-one.
So we have to look somewhere else...
Problem is likely it has to be brought to 64 bit mode and that takes a complete reshuffle of the old software and costs are too high.
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syncrasy

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #16 on: April 23, 2019, 05:35:54 pm »

Sorry to say this as an all time Media pro user... but the program is discontinued by Phase-one.
So we have to look somewhere else...
Problem is likely it has to be brought to 64 bit mode and that takes a complete reshuffle of the old software and costs are too high.

Yes, Media Pro users have to find a replacement. Unfortunately, there is no perfect replacement.

The best current options appear to be Photo Supreme and iMatch (Windows only, unless you wish to run it virtually on a Mac). NeoFinder is a decent option for the Mac. All have their limitations and all are developed by "one person" companies, which could be considered a risk but also a possible benefit since the developers are generally very responsive.

Yesterday Camera Bits finally released a limited beta of Photo Mechanic Plus (the "DAM" version of Photo Mechanic promised for over 10 years). You have to be a PM6 owner to run/test the beta.
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budjames

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Re: Single user DAM outside of Lightroom - what do you use?
« Reply #17 on: May 09, 2019, 04:44:53 am »

When switched from Canon FF pro DSLRs to Fuji X cameras and lenses about 4-1/2 years ago, I was very unhappy with the RAW processing of Fuji files using Lightroom. About 3 years ago, I ditched LR and the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription and replaced it with Capture One Pro and Affinity Photo.

C1P has limited DAM capability, but it has gotten better with every update. Now at version 12, C1P has fully capable DAM in addition to the best RAW conversion and image processing tools that I have ever used.

The only issue that I have with C1P is that in order to keep performance up, I had to limit the number of images in a catalog to less than 40k. Like with LR, I use a reference folder structure rather than ingest the image files into a proprietary database. Unlike LR, C1P allows you to have multiple catalogs open at the same time. I have since adopted the workflow that I create a new catalog for each year. I shoot about 10k images a year so that program is super fast.

For the very occasional need to mash pixels, I use the very capable program Affinity Photo as a plug-in for C1P. No subscriptions anymore!

Regards,
Bud James

Please check out my fine art and travel photography at www.budjames.photography or on Instagram at www.instagram.com/budjamesphoto.
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