Author Topic: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus  (Read 1709 times)

Michael Erlewine

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Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« on: August 13, 2023, 20:35:28 »
Has anyone been using Photo Mechanic Plus and how do you like it?

Also whatever we have done with Photo Mechanic, can we pick up on that with Photo Mechanic Plus.

Is there any better way to approcah hundreds of thousands of images?
MichaelErlewine.smugmug.com, Daily Blog at https://www.facebook.com/MichaelErlewine. main site: SpiritGrooves.net, https://www.youtube.com/user/merlewine, Founder: MacroStop.com, All-Music Guide, All-Movie Guide, Classic Posters.com, Matrix Software, DharmaGrooves.com

Anthony

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2023, 12:25:16 »
I have Photo Mechanic Plus.

It works very well, but I find the search function somewhat complex. I don't use it much and if I did I am sure I would find it easier.

It integrates seamlessly with existing Photo Mechanic installations.

Another interesting cataloguing system is Neofinder, which is inexpensive and very fast. https://www.cdfinder.de
Anthony Macaulay

ColinM

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2023, 12:47:03 »
what is it that you need the tool to do Michael?

I've looked at PM in the past and it offered more than I actually needed for what it cost.

Michael Erlewine

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2023, 13:00:17 »
what is it that you need the tool to do Michael?

I've looked at PM in the past and it offered more than I actually needed for what it cost.

Trying to through an cull from close to a million images, a lot of the stacks from 'focus stacking', and all the results are .TIFF files which are huge and take time to display and handle.
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ColinM

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2023, 11:38:02 »
OK, thank you.
I know PM can be great for custom automation of "ingesting" files etc

I've used a simple browser called FastStone for a long while.
The number of files I have is modest and I'm only viewing NEFs & jpgs.

Hope you find a solution that suits you.

Michael Erlewine

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2023, 12:05:57 »
OK, thank you.
I know PM can be great for custom automation of "ingesting" files etc

I've used a simple browser called FastStone for a long while.
The number of files I have is modest and I'm only viewing NEFs & jpgs.

Hope you find a solution that suits you.

With large .Tiffs, it is never easy.
MichaelErlewine.smugmug.com, Daily Blog at https://www.facebook.com/MichaelErlewine. main site: SpiritGrooves.net, https://www.youtube.com/user/merlewine, Founder: MacroStop.com, All-Music Guide, All-Movie Guide, Classic Posters.com, Matrix Software, DharmaGrooves.com

Bruno Schroder

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2023, 15:16:02 »
With large .Tiffs, it is never easy.

Have you checked FastRawViewer ?
 https://www.fastrawviewer.com/

Bruno Schröder

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Ian Watson

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2023, 15:18:30 »
I just had a look at Neofinder's website, which Anthony suggested. Its job is cataloguing your files and helping you to find stuff. It generates thumbnails for viewing and reads your metadata. It might take a little while the first time it catalogues your collection but so will anything.

Why not try the free trial?

Ian Watson

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2023, 15:25:33 »
Have you checked FastRawViewer ?
 https://www.fastrawviewer.com/

It is a very fast way to browse the contents of a folder. My .tifs are only around 300MB but open very quickly. On the downside, it has no facility to search for something.

It depends how you want to approach the task.

Bob Foster

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2023, 16:49:25 »
Hello Michael,

If I recall correctly you are using one of the Windows operating systems. I'll assume that you don't wish to use the command tool (cmd.exe) or Powershell (powershell.exe). I'll also assume that viewing the contents of a very limited number of files within the contents of each folder is sufficient to allow you to reorganize or cull the content.

Searching through multiple directories (folders) of .tiff files generated for input into Zerene Stacker has been greatly expedited for me by the following procedure. You will likely have to modify it depending on how you have elected to archive the input to and output of Zerene Stacker.

1. Set each directory to list or detail view. As you have noticed windows renders .tiff file icons too slowly to be useful. Worse, Windows expects you to wait until it has rendered all such icons concerned. Then if the .tiff files have been compressed decompress them or the package that contains them. If storage constraints are a factor limit this to something reasonable- say twenty directories each containing the entire contents of a stack at a time.

2. The built in Windows search function that is used by almost all software, both Microsoft and third party, is itself very slow. For much quicker resutts use a search tool such as Ultra Search that works with the master file table https://www.jam-software.com/ultrasearch_professional (This is a 30 day trial, purchase, if desired, costs about $30.) I use an old version of this tool that cannot render previews, I assume that the current version can also do this.

3. From the results of this search it's possible to open any specific image directly in the tool of your choice thus avoiding waiting for windows to render an icon.

4. It might be useful to you, at a reasonable cost in time, to know that Ultra Search can be set to produce results that contain only specific metadata. For example as you have (or had) multiple copies of a specific lens (the CV 125) and if you have used exiftool to record the serial number of the lens used to make those images it's possible to search for only those images that contain a specific serial number.

Bob

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Anthony

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2023, 13:00:09 »
If Michael is a Windows user then my recommendation of Neofinder is not relevant, as it is Mac only.
Anthony Macaulay

janvaran

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #11 on: August 18, 2023, 18:51:42 »
If Michael is a Windows user then my recommendation of Neofinder is not relevant, as it is Mac only.

On Neofinder homepage there is a link to a similar solution for Windows, https://www.abemeda.com.
/Jan

Anthony

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Re: Photo Mechanic and Photo Mechanic Plus
« Reply #12 on: August 18, 2023, 19:22:20 »
On Neofinder homepage there is a link to a similar solution for Windows, https://www.abemeda.com.

Interesting, I had not noticed this, but I see that the Neofinder forum calls Abemeda's product a sister product.
Anthony Macaulay