indraneel Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 <p>I'm hoping someone can help me out here. I'm currently using a folder structure (date-event) to store photos and photomechanic to keyword them at import. At this point there are about 40K shots and searching through them is a pain with photomechanic since I need to open them on a single contact sheet etc. Apparently macs don't have this problem (they come with spotlight or something) but obviously I can't shell out for a mac.</p> <p>I'm simply looking for a good and fast (and free or cheap) search system for iptc/xmp fields. If possible, I would be opening up the search results in photomechanic to decide what to do with them. I guess it can't be fast without a catalog, although I really do not care if it uses a catalog or not. Since my edit folders are in the same structure, I want this catalog to get updated automatically or by me pushing a button. I don't need any thumbnails or previews either, if it makes things faster. Does anything like this exist?</p> <p>I've tried LR3, xnview, irfanview, iTag, picasa, geosetter, mapivi. LR3 is the best so far, but I'll be happy with a smaller and faster (no previews etc) software if there is one. The rest of the programs either do not provide good search options or do not search on subfolders or are slow. It's also possible I didn't know how to use them. Not tried dbgallery which looks promising, but not free.</p> <p>Can someone provide some pointers?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryanwaddington Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 <p>Hi, I think you need to take a look at imatch from photools (http://www.photools.com). It is not pretty like Lightroom but very functional and has great search features. It does have thumbs but it is quick and you could set the default thumbs to small and/or low quality and it will be even quicker. It is a very powerful tool and will do all you have asked I think. Cheap too.<br /> Bryan</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indraneel Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 <p>Thanks Bryan. Guess I'll have to try out the under $100 software trials.... imatch, idImager, dbgallery, acdsee, thumbsplus, picajet, zoner, cataloguer.... or maybe wait for another 2 weeks to see if the photo mechanic guys might bring out something, they seem to have been at this for years...</p> <p>Anyone else has any experience with the rest of these? Or maybe just dump a csv file to a spreadsheet every night and search in that?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles_Webster Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 <p>Try Microsoft Expression Media 2. It's catalog based, very fast, and can be found for low cost or free in conjunction with "The DAM Book" by Peter Krough.</p> <p><Chas></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indraneel Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 <p>Thanks Charles, but without the book it costs a bunch. But the book is probably worth it even without the software. After much searching I came upon something called CDwinder (CDfinder for mac) which seems to be used by everyone from NASA to IKEA. And it's FREE for the first 25 catalogs, which appears to be way more than I'll need for a long time, although I do not know the size/image count limits. At first run, the speed seems decent. Has numerous search options and clicking on results opens them in windows registered application. I'll set it to building the full catalog overnight and see what turns up.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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