I’ve finally come around to really integrate the management functions in my workflow, slowly adding keywords to my entire collection of the last few years. Very happy with being able to search and pinpoint images, it works very fast.
I occurs to me it would be great if this function get’s a dedicated page, a new third tab next to PhotoLibrary and Customize.
The keyword input-field should also remain on the Customise page, but a dedicated tab would make managing my images much faster and more efficient.
It would in my view be good to combine the keyword input (expanded maybe with a click-and-pick list of last used keywords) with a multiple field search column and add the bar with the same rating/reject fields on the preview as are now available on the fullscreen viewer only. Also project management could have a place there.
I really like the bar at the bottom of the fullscreen viewer, where I can pick/reject images by pressing only 7 or 9 (instead of CTRL-7/9 in the normal preview) and adjust star rating with my arrow keys. I need only one hand hovering over numpad and arrowkeys to quickly work my way through.
I really think to make the dam functions as mind-blowing as the rest of Photolab this would be the way to go
This sounds good for dam users but a lot more clutter got those of us who just use PL for processing. Much better that the Dam were a separate program that could be added if needed
I can follow your reasoning, but no, it would not add extra clutter, it would all be centered on one tab, so instead of only having PhotoLibrary and Customize at the top there would be one extra: Organise.
Don’t use it, just don’t open it And, indeed, it could even be a tab that can be enabled/disabled from settings.
I wouldn’t want my Customise page to get more clutter too
Like @John7/JB, I don’t use PL’s DAM features at all - - So, for me, this is an excellent suggestion … as it would divert all DAM-related “clutter” to a tab that I would never visit.
I know there are many who don’t use it at all. Even I haven’t used any dam function in any program before in my life. But I do like the concept and am starting with it now because it’s sometimes hell to find particular images when you need them.
And I’m pretty excited now. If I want a picture of a woodpecker, now I just search for it and get 263 of them, collated from all my folders. For example.
Before, like I think many of us, I kept a folder structure as my main means of organising. And as a rough dam that works too, but still doesn’t get me things I search for fast, and not across folders. The dam functions are very helpfull I think.
But I wouldn’t want them to be in the way of my editing. As it is now, it should remain also: having an input keywords field on the Customise page, and means of searching and selecting projects on the Library page.
But the real dam features should get a page of their own so you can manage them much more efficient with additional tools and options.
On that page you would have one-button shortcuts (pick/reject/neutral 7-8-9, star-rating 1-to-5, add to current project P for instance) and a always active keyword input field (so you don’t have to select the input field every time you click an image but can start typing at all times with an image selected).
Also more of the Exif can be added to the search parameters, like searching for camera type. I have several, and sometimes want to include/exclude images from certain cameras. If I don’t want to include photos of a compact-sensor camera I can leave them out for instance.
There’s probably more you can do with a proper dam function, I’m not experienced with them sofar. Put it all in one page so it’s there to use or not but not gets in the way for others. It may even be a tab you can hide from the settings.
Maybe I miss something: Which part of DxO do you consider as DAM? That litte space called “Projects” when you scroll down all folders? And where projects need to be piled and stacked over each other, just to make that list even longer?
I’m coming from Apple iTunes, iPhoto and Aperture. Most of them don’t exist anymore, probably because users could not cope with the DAM concept. Of Apple, in that case. I’m missing Aperture each time I start up one of these day’s so called DAM, I would be very happy to find something alike - but so far, all my attempts ended in more sadness about Apple’s weird reasons to abandon Aperture.
Joachim, the projects is a small part of the DAM. Every time you visit a folder on PL the photos are read and some metadata from these photos are added to the database. This database can be searched for data such as date, file name, ISO etc. The database with all this stored information is the DAM part of PL.
Thank you for taking your time, Keith. Sorry, but the little part being part of a bigger part which just shows a folder structure doesn’t make it any kind of a “management” tool. It’s a mere browser with a bit of a database in my eyes. The projects with no possibility of grouping projects or creating albums are just making the list longer, but in no way giving a better overview.
But then: seeing/reading how DxO users react on the idea of a DAM, I better don’t expect anything from it. Can’t believe Aperture is still the high end of DAMs in aspects of usability and versatility.
And very much alike Capture One, searching for a project appears to be impossible, also checking if a photo is used in a project. The list of missing features is far longer than the list of benefits. I’m sorry again, but I was spoilt by a better system. I would pay for a well made DAM but so far I only found image browsers with a bit of keywording and tagging, horrible integration of a RAW converter.
Is to be expected as it “has” to work on Windows and Mac OS, the weakest features of each OS are the limits.
If you are looking for a good DAM then download the trial of Photo Mechanic Plus and see if it fits your needs. It is not cheap but is highly flexible for managing your photos and metadata.
That was my impression, too. Also, $400 (currently “on sale” for $230) for an app which “only” is a catalog and needs further assistance to edit pictures? I already own – no, I just paid for the usage – DxO and Capture One, both of them not up to my needs of organizing my photos. I will not keyword more than now and photo mechanic doesn’t show the external, non-destructive RAW edits, so what’s the point?
In their video a lot of blurb how fast the viewer is – I’m not looking for a fast viewer, I’m looking for a good way to find my pictures like I used to be able to do with Aperture.
I simply want a really good RAW converter and a great catalog organisation from one source. I dislike patchwork apps from various software producers. And lately I made a couple of bad or worse experiences with North-American software products and I have to say, I rather simplify my life than making it harder.
Remember this is a new feature, which will undoubtedly develop in the future. That’s why I gave some suggestions to start this thread. I’m curious where it will lead in the next major update.
Of course I don’t want it to be ‘in the way’, hence my suggestion to make it a separate (possibly hide-able) tab and develop it further.
Hmm, Keith said there’s already a DAM integrated in the PhotoLibrary Tab. Currently the switch from this tab to the edit tab needs more than one click, don’t know why. The same with the Auto-microcontrast. Some functions in DxO photolab could use a bit brush-up.
I think I’d prefer to set up the function of the PhotoLibrary to use it the way it actually is working or to use more functions of a DAM. For the people with some dislikes against DAM that wouldn’t change much, and for the ones willing to use it and eventually also pay a bit more, the PhotoLibrary could be named as catalog. I really don’t want to have two different tabs to organize my photos.
Thanks for the hint. As most of the edits and most of the selecting is made to be done with a mouse or digitizing tablet, I fail to see why most of these things can be done with one mouseclick and others need two and more? Also, John, I can see you’re on Win10. I’m working on a Mac and here your hint doesn’t work, firstly, and the wand for the micro-contrast constantly needs 2 clicks, secondly. The first to activate the “contrast” box and the second to activate the wand, when I’m curious how much more micro-contrast DxO considers to add. Clicking and holding once on a slider in other fields like ClearView Plus immediately activates the field (blue switch top left appears) and moves the slider.
Not on a Mac. Which is one of the reasons I don’t expect to find a proper DAM, as all apps are developed for the bigger audience, not necessarily for the better system. The UNIX core of Mac OS appears to deal better with databases in terms of speed, stability and accessibility. I’m working on Win 10 on daily basis, but I’m always happy to come home and do my private projects with a better OS.
This also explains a lot why Windows-based devs don’t know much about “the other Lightroom”.
I don’t use the DAM but your suggestion sounds like a good idea and can actually simplify and improve the efficiency of the overall UI.
In Affinity Photo they have separate pages for various “functions” called Personas in AF speak for some strange reason. Thus complex tools like Liquify get their own Persona rather than adding in the complex commands associated with Liquify to the general UI as happens in PS.
A new "DAM"Tab that sits along Library and Customise would allow the UI designers to optimise the DAM related UI functions in a dedicated space.
As this would be “relatively” simple as it’s a rearrangement of existing tools, although nothing is easy with software, DXO could get a lot of bang for their Euro. Would be a very nice enhancement for V5
In these days of machine learning I could imagine a DAM also getting more ‘intelligent’. For instance, if on Facebook for some reason images are slow or not loading (frequent issue these days sadly) I see a plain square with a sentence like ‘this image may contain animals’. I can easily imagine a modern DAM analysing the image and suggesting keywords, making the process even faster.
I have the full suite of Affiniy apps, and love the way they develop and even interact with eachother.
… as it would divert all DAM-related “clutter” to a tab that I would never visit.