What do people think of Picasa ?

[whinterberger]

Apart from some Photoshop , I have been using Picasa to do the basic work on my

shots. What is the general opinion of this software and its usefulness ?

[whinterberger]

Sorry , there is a 2004 post on this subject , I should have searched .As there is very little there , my question still stands though.

[sam_thompson2]

I like it. Any changes you make are non destructive. It supports Nikon NEF without extra plugins.

 

And you get 1 gb free of online web space.

[ronald_moravec1]

It is a good brouser.

 

The best feature is the ability to share photos without attaching them to an e-mail. Just

select the pictures you want, right click, and upload.

 

The biggest advantage is people on the other end can download exactly what you upload

or

they can simply view. Really nice for family sharing.

 

Editing tools are way to basic for me.

[frenchrl]

I love picasa. I use it to do basic(very basic) work on shots also, review my work, upload to my galary create shared cd's etc. It's also easy to create links to your images to place on sites, emails etc.

[phule]

I love the ability to scan through many folders at once. All the family members I've recommended it to have said nothing but positive things about their experience in using the software.

[martin_howard1]

I've had it crash a couple of times whilst it was scanning folders with lots of images in (4Gb+).

Other than that its nice and straight forward to use.

[mvisionphotography]

Walter, There is a wonderful BLOG out there about Picasa http://www.zmarties.com/picasa/blog/ that tells you about the history of PICASA (in a sorts) and how it has come along. NOW, I personally have not gotten Picasa yet because I too have searched for something and belive me I have searched high and low first. My biggest concern in the GOOGLE.

 

I do not want GOOGLE inside my computer and the one thing you have to watch out for is having google get inside and monitor your pictures etc. They have this option to monitor what you are doing and run something (can't remember what it is called) but it is like a cache of everythig that you have been doing and they will pull a slide show of everything you have been up to including all the pictures on your hard drive you have been looking at. WHATEVER you do do NOT DOWNLOAD GOOGLE desktop onto your computer as it will really slow down your computer and it is a securty risk as it has all access to all your computer (firewall hell for a bad firewall protector).

 

Other than that I think (and some of my friends) Picasa is a wonderful program.

 

Here is a statement I found "I'd like to add the crappy software that is bundled with Kodak cameras. I believe it is called Easy Share. I uninstalled it on my dad's PC and put on Picasa. A world of difference." AND, I believe it. ~ ENJOY :) ~ micki

[phule]

<<They have this option to monitor what you are doing and run something (can't remember what it is called) but it is like a cache of everythig that you have been doing and they will pull a slide show of everything you have been up to including all the pictures on your hard drive you have been looking at.>>

 

Micki, the feature in Picasa you are talking about is to watch the folders you tell it to watch for changes /you/ make. If you add new photos to a folder, it indexes them and nothing more.

 

Please consider doing more research and learning the basic commands and functionality you so object to before making these wild and completely unsubstantiated claims.

[whinterberger]

Micki , while I 'm always receptive to conspiracy theories , please consider the number of staff they'd need to watch what we are all looking at. And for what reason ? Anything I have ever watched on the web they can watch themselves ... ;-)

[mvisionphotography]

Rob, I am not talking about PICASA I am talking about GOOGLE. Read what I wrote. "I do not want GOOGLE inside my computer and the one thing you have to watch out for is having google get inside and monitor your pictures etc. They"

 

TRUST ME! I have been there and had to have major issues getting GOOGGLE off my computer completely (the desktop part). WHEN you go to add Picasa and want to upload your pics to GOOGLE which is a partner you can download (without understand or knowing) the destop version. Since it is done through the internet alot of people think they are downloading some part of Picasa or Google if they want to upload pictures to share on the web.

 

Just read what I wrote in my second paragrph as it was talking about GOOGLE and so on.

 

GOSH guys, all I did was tell you to watch for the GOOGLE DESKTOP download. NOT any conspiracy theories. THIS is an actual thing I downloaded myself and had a hard time getting rid of AND had a firewall issue. NO conspiracy thing. It is a known fact that GOOGLE DESKTOP DOES SLOW down your computer. BLAH.

 

No other issue than that. Not trying to start a thing about any of that crap. Fact is when you download ANYTHING that is going to be going back and forth (simple terms) in your computer and back and forth on the web and you don't have a good firewall you have to be careful. Since other people read this forum it is a good idea to be careful.

 

I thought since Picasa and Google have a partnership I thought it was a good idea to point this out.

 

Sorry about this. AGAIN, I only pointed out about GOOGLE.

 

NOT PICASA. I think Picasa is wonderful.

 

Please read what I wrote carefully before saying things like conspiracy theories and stuff. I was NOT TALKING ABOUT PICASA's FOLDER changes and stuff GOOGLE desktop. :) ~ very well aware about how picasa works. GOOGLE desktop BAD. Picasa picture indexing good. CLEAR :) (BIG SMILE)

 

Thanks, Micki

[znabal]

I'm not real keen on Google or Picasa Web Album either...jeffl

 

From the Picasa Web Album terms of service:

 

"By using Picasa Web Albums, you acknowledge and agree that Google may access, preserve, and disclose your account information and any Content associated with that account..."

 

and later:

 

" you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute and publish such Content through Picasa Web Albums, including RSS or other content feeds offered through Picasa Web Albums, and other Google services. ... you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute and publish such Content for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services"

[mvisionphotography]

thanks Jeff, so I'm not too crazy and BIG BROTHER is GOOGLE...

 

I knew I was beeing a little bit weary about the newer Picasa. I KNOW I won't let my kids use GOOGLE anymore on their computer. They have to just type in search google if they want to use their search engine.

 

Thanks for looking that up for me.

 

 

 

Crawling back into my little hole now ~ he he

 

Sorry to have started a GOOGLE slam. :(

[sam_thompson2]

Jeff, that only applies if you use Picasa web albums. You can use the Picasa the desktop software without using the web album portion.

[Spearhead]

Sam's point needs to be reinforced. The paranoia here is amazing - don't use the web albums piece if you don't like Google's terms. Do you not think that "the Microsoft" or "the Apple" is in your computer? If you use virus scan, what about "the McAfee," quite possibly the worst virus of them all? How about "the Adobe," which keeps asking me to update a half dozen programs and always seems to know what I am doing with its software?

 

Coming back to Picasa, it's a fine product for what it is, an easy and simple way to get stuff into the computer, adjusted, sorted into useable albums, and printed. My wife uses it every day for her work, which is not about photography, and she doesn't have to learn how to use Adobe software. And there is no Google Desktop on her computer.

[mvisionphotography]

Jeff, Again all I said is PICASA is wonderful if you stay away from GOOGLE ;) yep no paranoia. BUT, remember some people don't realize you have that choice when installing the programs they buy.

 

When Picasa decided to work with GOOGLE (and yes Google is working its way into many aspects of the web) it took away a big portion of many "LIKES" of that product. IMHO

 

If you look back at my first comment I was not paranoid. Just stating my opinion. PICASA GOOD product. GOGGLE bad. Mix them together and you just need to be careful which products you want in your computer since they bother come in the box :)

[kasey wilson]

LOL! Well, getting back to original question, I love Picasa! I use it as the preliminary edits for all of my photos. It's very easy to compare several shots in a series and crop, plus you can move the pictures into different folders on your computer with ease! I also tend to forget where I put things sometimes, so the Picasa catalog shows me exactly where it is. The web album does make it easy to share pictures with family and friends. It saves me time and money making prints, AND I don't have to hear all the grandparents bugging me to send them some pictures!

[mvisionphotography]

Thank you Kasey for answering the real question and doing it with a smile ;) (whew)

 

NOW to go download the stupid thing so I can see what is so fantastic about the PS stuff. he he

 

I'll post a picture with ONLY PS work from picasa and you can tell me what you think. HA

 

LOL

[johnw436]

Picasa is amazing software for the price. :)

 

I use Picassa for 90% of what I do with photography, which is to say very basic tweaking. Leveling horizons, tweaking saturation, cropping, blunt sharpening.

 

Where Picasa falls short of greatness is that you cannot do things that a Photoshop user would consider basic. There is no tool for blotting out a dust speck. No ability to Mirror and image, which astounds me because that's a feature of windows. (?!) You really can't do very much selective touching up at all to a portion of the image. Picasa is an all-or-nothing adjustment to the entire image for the most part.

 

For what it is, Picasa is tremendously useful software. However, it will not replace even the most rudimentary version of Photoshop. That said, it's amazing how difficult Photoshop can be to use for the basic things Picasa does very easily.

[zackojones]

I like it and use it when my niece sends me pictures of her children with red-eye, etc. I tweak the images and send them back to her. It's great for quick fixes.