Free Google Picasa … find it at file sharing sites, install it, run it, tweak it, play with it, see how this is done, then
– if you are the programmers of PhotoInsight, go back to the drawing board, and start over, make PhotoInsight at least as capable as free Google Picasa,
– if you are an end user, see what I mean by comparing free Google Picasa to my experience of PhotoInsight below.
Version 1, eh? No, this is v0.1 beta, not ready for prime time yet, but, kudos to the programmers for even trying to learn in this heady field of digital image cataloging ( NOT digital “asset” “management”, read on ).
1 – Installation is rather hidden, it does not say what it is doing, be patient, it downloads Microsoft C+++++++ yada yada runtimes, installs it, then deletes the installer,
… I’d prefer it ask step by step and show what it’s doing and save everything it does.
2 – It does not offer to connect to network drives during initial image finding,
… yeah, I’d prefer it “see” what I “see”, my image server is in a closet, I want to “see” my images without having to go sit in the closet, so to speak.
3 – it presents information in low contrast fine print, hard to read, not resizable, not re-skinnable, pop-up tips appear under the mouse pointer so we can’t actually read them,
… I’d prefer to not only see clearly what is going on, but have some control over how things are presented.
4 – after it’s up and running, I can open settings and browse my networked PCs and point to my image server image directory, but it never scanned any network directory, showing only local images files,
… I’d prefer it see what I see, show me my files wherever they are, wherever I can see them in Windows Explorer at least, if not also on image sharing sites, stock image sites, and so on, see more on DAM digital asset management at the end.
5 – the help is on the web, there is no local PDF book to read to help us get into the mindset of the programmers,
… I’d prefer a local PDF, complete PDF, please.
6 – the zooming icon does nothing, but, scrolling the mouse wheel enlarges and shrinks the on-screen image of a digital image file, but, it does not stay centered on screen, we can click-hold-and-drag to bring the image back into view after magnifying it,
… I’d prefer standard settings of fit, 1:1, zoom slider options, and keep it centered, show a thumbnail with a box on it showing what part of the total image we have magnified in to inspect..
7 – when adding tags, it does not accept commas or spaces as separators, we must add multiple tags as separate steps, and where does it store tags, inside the image, or as a sidecar file, or only in the program, are the tags accessible from other programs, are tags created by other programs accessible to PhotoInsight, is all of our work inside PhotoInsight lost outside PhotoInsight, is all of our work outside PhotoInsight lost inside PhotoInsight, no clue, and then when searching, it does not auto-drop down a list of the tags we have told it, so can I remember if I tagged something as “cable splitter” or “cable junction” or “cable box” or “cable connections” or “cable” plus other tags, it’s not helping me remember and re-find images by the content identified in tags,
… I’d prefer an active lookup table when searching that offers existing tags as suggestions to auto-complete my search terms.
8 – I tried to create a new “collection” hoping I could have it present only some images that I’d organize by content, and instead it immediately dumped all images into the new “collection”, no way to see or edit the “collection”, but if I give up, change my mind, and if I delete the collection, will it delete the images?,
… I’d prefer that if I create a “collection” called “tech stuff”, I’d like to drag a bunch of images from anywhere to that “collection” of “tech stuff”, so when I review my umpteen directories of travel pictures, I can look at birds and mountains and beaches and scenery, but if I want to look at the the “tech stuff” that I also shoot, such as pictures of the serial numbers of my gear, that’s findable and viewable in a “collection”, but I couldn’t figure out what a “collection” is, it did nothing but …
9 – … it did nothing but crash, of course, multiple times,
… I’d prefer it to be stable, and agnostic, that is, independent of whatever system I am using, having all of it’s resources inside it’s own directory so it works wherever it lands, no problem.
10 – I will try this on a variety of my computers to see if it behaves differently elsewhere – all are Windows 7 SP1 64 Pro twin-processor or better, 4 GB RAM or better, 1 TB drives or bigger, 100 Mbps CAT network or better ( no wireless ), no memory-resident anti malware or firewall other than Windows default firewall, free Google Picasa works just fine and sees everything on any computer from any computer, all work done inside Picasa is available outside Picasa, all work done outside Picasa is available inside Picasa.
Yeah, we’re pre-beta testers, this feels like an alpha-test, a proof-of-concept proposal, not ready for prime time yet,
… but I live photography and I love having a gazillion images from everywhere and everywhen throughout my life, and I’d like to see great competition and success for programmers who want to help manage all that.
– – – – – – – – – –
Important note: this teases as a DAM program, that is, a Digital Asset Management program, and it is not, not really.
A DAM Digital Asset Management program manages digital assets …
– this has no management capabilities,
– this has no import from camera or camera card or other source,
– this has no re-organizing skill to physically move files around according to our chosen scheme,
– we must manage importing and organizing outside the program,
– this cannot keep track of where our digital assets are,
– where we have copied them and sent them for sale or use by stock photo agencies or customers,
– this does not offer to track how we got paid for photos sent out,
– this does not track if we are awaiting customer decisions on photo use,
– this does not track when a contract-for-use expires,
– there’s no place for customer information like name, address, email, phone, credit card, and so on,
– this has no IPTC lookup tables to assist us in adding standardized tags to photos,
– such as where were the images were created,
– what the images are looking at,
– ( if I take a picture OF New York City FROM New Jersey, is the picture a New Jersey picture or a New York City picture ? ),
– this appears to have no GPS data awareness, unable to map GPS meaning,
– this appears to have limited EXIF reading and reporting,
– it tells me the lens was 4mm, not the 35mm-equivalent,
– but I need to search for angle-of-view images by 35mm-equivalent focal lengths,
– there are no hierarchies such that if we say “cat” it automatically adds “mammal” “domestic” and so on.
So, no, this is not ( yet ) a DAM program.
I hope the programmer join us here, and explore and share.
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