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.
.

Okay, [@Mick], here’s more:

Installing on a second computer …

11 – It does not show importing in progress,
– only 4 images, 1 of “Today”, 1 of “This week”, 1 of “This month” and 1 of “This year”,
– with no other information,
– so I clicked on an image, and it opened a wall view,
– and crashed, and tried to recover my information,
– I re-opened PhotoInsight, and it seemed to pick up where it left off,
… I’d like it to show me stuff as it finds it, and let me get to work browsing and exploring, as Picasa shows me stuff as it arrives so I can explore while it imports other new stuff, and I’d like it to be stable.

12 – I clicked on an image and it opened in “Single image layout”,
– and then I could not figure out how to see the previous or next image,
– so I clicked on “Filmstrip layout” and it showed images below the main central image,
– but the main central image was not on the film strip,
– so I still have no idea where I am, where the image is,
– I clicked on one of the filmstrip images,
– and it became the main central image,
– the prior image is gone,
– and since it’s not in the filmstrip,
– I have no idea where it was nor how to get back to it,
… I’d prefer something more mappable, like Windows File Explorer shows us where we are by double- or triple-frame window presentations of directory tree, one directory contents, one image contents, all three on screen, so we know where we are when we are looking at anything.

13 – I clicked on “Statistics” and it shows some neat stuff,
– like how many pictures I take averaged across each hour of the day,
– and it believes that I shoot an average of 1,000 images at 7 pm ( 19h ) every day,
– with a Sony camera ( out of 26 cameras ),
– and a 300mm focal length ( out of 115 focal lengths ),
– unknown exposure ( out of 220 exposures ),
– unknown software ( out of 0 software ),
– how about that,
– and it shows a world map with “Number of shots per country”,
– but it’s blank, so unknown country,
– and there are the 3-dot controls in the upper right corner of each tile in “Statistics”,
– but the three dots do nothing,
– and it seems to refresh the “Statistics” display occasionally,
– but nothing changes,
… I’d prefer that statistics work and not be blank and uncontrollable, what are the three dots for?

14 – I went to “Photo wall” ( on the left ),
– and ALSO selected “Photo Wall Layout” ( on the top left ),
– and I slid the slider ( on the top right ) to adjust the thumbnail size,
– and now I can see thumbnails,
– up to 17-to-34 images across ( depending on if they are portrait or landscape orientation )
– and up to 11 1/2 images down ( ? ),
– yet nowhere is a map of where these images are in the real-world of my Windows filing system,
– though a directory path and filename pop up for each image with a mouse-over,
– one at a time, then disappears, only one location shown at a time,
– and if I scroll the mouse wheel,
– the whole wall of images scrolls up and down,
– and some images are blank showing an arrow-circle instead ( DNG, NEF, TIF, KDC file extensions ),
– yet some DNG, NEF, TIF, and KDC files do display, go figure,
– when I click on an image, it replaces all the thumbnails in order to view the one image,
– but the view still shows “Photo Wall” on the left,
– but “Single image layout” on the top left, not “Photo Wall” on the top left,
– some images from raw look like JPG thumbnail images from the raw, not the entire raw contents,
… I’d prefer structured filing system management, this feels like dumping all my pictures on the floor, and saying “… oo, oo, this is neat, and this is neat, and this is neat, and this is neat …” but that’s not management.

15 – I look at a picture, and there are icons below,
– like the idogram of a person, hover the mouse, it says “author” but I cannot click to add an author,
– it says 100%, but I doubt that, an image with 4,928 pixels-across on a 1,080 screen-dots-across display taking up only 33% across the screen width ( 4″ across 13.5″ ) and yet it says “100%”, something here does not mean what the programmers think it means,
– it’s not 1:1 image pixel to screen pixel,
– and it’s not filling the viewable space,
– so what does 100% mean to the PhotoInsight programmers?
… I’d prefer that if you’re gonna show me something on screen, that I should be able to click on that thing and do something with it, get information on it, control it, enter data at it, change it,
… I’d prefer that the program identify and explain what it’s displayed information means, like what does 100% mean if not “full screen”, and if not “1:1 image-pixels:screen-dots”, and if not “fill the viewing area”, or something, but none of those seem to apply.

16 – I cannot manage the drives and folders predictably, it thought I tried to add the desktop, I did not, so I clicked “remove this folder”, and it took 5 tries to get it to respond, I tried adding a network folder, oops, crashed again, and when restarting, it asks where I want to search, as if it forgot everything I just told it, everything it just saw, so I tell it to re-look in the same single local hard drive directory ( C:\DCIM ), and nothing, no pictures, so I go back into “Settings” and tell it to look at the directory it just saw, and it’s starting all over again as if it has no idea it was looking there just a moment ago, so I’ll wait again,
… I’d like things to work, first time, every time, but, unlike free Google Picasa, PhotoInsight apparently does not leave a record file in each image directory telling the program what the directory means, I think I’d prefer the program to remember, for example, if I had created tags, would they also be gone if I disconnected a directory for any reason, and then reconnected that same directory?

17 – I just added some tags, then removed the directory, then added a network directory, and then checked the PhotoInsight “wall”, and the original directory is still in view, the network directory is nowhere, not even scanning, but at least tags are still displaying, even though I removed the directory,
… I’d prefer things to work, to be responsive, to tell me what it is doing, why is it showing me a directory when I have no directories selected in “Settings”?

18 – It installs and runs the Everything program, as well as it’s own PhotoinsightService, both in the background all the time, restarting after reboot, and it all seems to be based on a cobbled-together group of open-source or sharable free utilities, see [ C:\Program Files\PhotoInsight\licenses ]:
– chronicnetcore.txt
– everythingnet.txt
– gong-wpf-dragdrop.txt
– litedb.txt
– live-charts.txt
– metadataextractor.net.txt
– mvvmlight.txt
– named-pipe-wrapper.txt
– newtonsoft.json.txt
– nlog.txt
– simpleinjector.txt
– structuremap.txt
– Wibci.CountryReverseGeocode.txt
– xmp-core-dotnet.txt
– ZetaIpc.txt
– and it builds 110 directories at [ C:\ProgramData\PhotoInsight\Cache ]
– full of thumbnails built to 341 pixels across max by 256 pixels down max at variable 75% to 90% JPG quality, perhaps dependent on the calculated qualities of the original image file JPG quality,
– so with 10,000 or 20,000 original image files, or more, this will build 10,000 or 20,000 thumbnail files, or more,
– not even in a single zip file structure, so that’s gonna grow, especially hogging disk space slack,
– it appears NOT to eliminate thumbnails when removing a directory from “Settings”, so these seem to stay forever,
– ( is THIS where it saves tags, inside the JPG thumbnails ? But they are named like [ 0bbe2289-5d50-4e5d-9d60-f062586c94d8.jpg ] and such, rather random and inaccessible to other programs, and no way to tether them to, or transfer the tags to, the original file ),
… I’d prefer some cohesive intentional structure to the program, not just cobbled together found objects, no wonder it feels like it has no purpose.

19 – I searched for where it stores it’s image tags,
– and apparently ONLY in it’s own database,
– not in the image file or in a sidecar file,
– and get this, I added IPTC tags to an image file outside PhotoInsight,
– and the image file was locked,
– so I exited PhotoInsight,
– added tags manually ( using free IrfanView ),
– then restarted PhotoInsight,
– and looked for the tags I manually added to an image file,
– and PhotoInsight did not see them,
– so I added more tags inside PhotoInsight,
– and it crashed out, over and over,
– and each time I restarted PhotoInsight, it remembered it’s own newly added-but-crashed tags,
– but somehow the conflict with changing the image file outside PhotoInsight caused PhotoInsight to incessantly crash when “touching” that same file ever again inside PhotoInsight,
… I’d like anything I do inside PhotoInsight NOT to get lost outside PhotInsight, and anything I do outside PhotoInsight not to get lost inside PhotoInsight.

20 – Nope, no more, I’m done,
– there is no programming here, this is not even a college or high-school programming class assignment because there is nothing original here,
– this is just open source utilities in a package,
– and it’s woefully dysfunctional,
– I cannot get it to see images on network drives,
– and it does scant little at all anyway,
– no image import,
– no image rotation even,
– no image exposure auto adjustment even,
– no image resizing,
– no image export,
– shows no directory tree,
– can’t re-organise our filing according to any scheme,
– it’s just a bunch of random tools that don’t do much on their own, let alone work together.

Free Google Picasa is at v4, this is at v1, and Picasa was way better at v1 than this, so thanks, PhotoInsight, but please please please get samples of other vendor’s software that are readily available out in the field, get super familiar with the competition, and make your software equal to or better than the competition BEFORE asking us to look over your shoulder and direct you … to even make it work at all, let alone to make it better, better than the competition, which you should have done before release.

Please, no more alpha-testing.

– – – – – – – – – –

Alternatives, aside from free Google Picasa, we all can web search for [ best DAM software compare ], see and review them, there are some that are free to try:

– Widen Collective
– PhotoShelter for Brands
– Brandfolder
– Canto
– Bynder
– Image Relay
– IntelligenceBank Digital Asset Management
– Syndigo Content Experience Hub
– Salsify Product Experience Management Platform
– ImageKit
– Wiredrive
– ENPS
– iNEWS
– MediaValet
– Daminion
– pCloud
– Kontainer
– monday.com
– Nero 9
– OpenAsset
– Frontify
– Mediafly
– Extensis Portfolio
– Filecamp
– iPresent
– Lucidpress
– CONTENTdm
– Percolate
– Pimcore
– BAM!

Yeah, there’s a lot of sophisticated competition out there for DAM Digital Asset Management software, but hey, PhotoInsight calls themself DAM software, so I’m just responding to that claim, thoug it’s a false claim.

Alternatively, ANY image browser is better than PhotoInsight,
– the software that comes free with your camera,
– even Windows File Explorer with View > Extra Large Thumbnails is BETTER then PhotoInsight,
– and safer, and more reliable, and more controllable.

– Picasa
– IrfanView
– Picasa
– FastStone Image Viewer
– Picasa
– DigiKam
– Picasa
– Photoscape
– Picasa
– XnView MP
– Picasa
– JetPhoto Studio
– Picasa
– Paint.NET
– Picasa

Hint … Picasa.

Yeah, there’s alternatives out there, and somehow I get the impression that PhotoInsight never tried any of ’em.
.

[@Robee] wrote “… I installed PhotoInsight PRO and tried it on a limited number of folders. That limitation was a good idea, since these folders are now completely empty. Thank you … All the pictures have been destroyed. I still wonder what happened. Or are these poor files still alive, hidden deep in one of my drives ? Can someone propose an explanation ? Anyway, be careful …”

Wow, that’s misbehavior beyond anything I noticed, I experienced that PhotoInsight was incapable of moving, reorganizing, altering our images.

I did notice that PhotoInsight seemed to lock any image files while it ran, does that explain why you can’t see your images outside PhotoInsight using another program that sees them as locked?

We have to close PhotoInsight, close the PhotoInsightService, and close the Everything program to effectively stop PhotoInsight behavior.

Do you see the missing images inside Photoinsight any more? If so, can you mouse-hover over any image and see a pop-up that identifies the drive location? Does that work, and lead you to find the missing images?

Please check back in and tell us more.

– – – – – – – – – –

Also, take a close read on the promised features and benefits ( ha ) of PhotoInsight BEFORE installing, and consider ANY competition, ANY alternative.

I’ve been reading the release notes at their web site, and they put on quite a show, but absolutely NOTHING worked for me on two computers where any other imaging program works just fine.

– – – – – – – – – –

Ashraf, it would be a great enhancement to these discussion forums if we could subscribe and get emails from them.

Thanks.
.