# Looking fora stand-alone photo catalogue app



## OldeBullDust

Good Day all - got this reset in a new thread!

I'm hoping someone here can help me in my search for a photo organizing/cataloging app.

I have a couple of thousand photos, very poorly organized in multiple folders, in multiple locations, with lots of duplicates. In short, *a mess!*

I was trying to use iPhoto as a means of generating a catalog (in Snow Leopard), but ended up with more than one "library", and now that I'm reluctantly moving to Yosemite, iPhoto is acting strangely - and is destined for the dumpster anyway. I'm concerned that the new "Photo" will also disappear eventually, and I understand I does create a hidden copy of every image and the catalog function has limitations.

I have searched for a cataloging app - one that does not involve iCloud, Adobe, and preferably Apple ( Apple apps tend to evaporate after a few years! - but I could deal with that if I had to!)

I thought the new Affinity Photo might be the answer until I came across this comment from Andy Somerfield - Affinity Photo project lead.

_"Photo is not a DAM - like Aperture, or Lightroom - it does not maintain a catalog of your images. It's an editor with RAW import capability - perhaps more like Photoshop + ACR.

So, unfortunately, you would need a separate DAM product to go along side it. We're planning to make one one day  - but for now I'd happily recommend the (perpetual licensed) Capture One"_

So, my question is, can anyone recommend a good photo cataloger/organizer which will help me find/keyword/search/display my images, but does not include editing/manipulating or creating a copy of every image cataloged. I'm checking on "Capture One" to see if that's suitable.

EDIT: The answer may be staring me in the face!
I have CS3 which includes Bridge, this may be all I need. I'm a little concerned about the fact it is a few years old and could fail with the next system upgrade (I'm currently transitioning to Yosemite from Snow Leopard)

I do like the fact that Bridge does not copy the photos or saves anything into a proprietary format - it just shows what is in each folder/file and the associated metadata. The search/find function works well and the keywords are easy to edit.

Who knew! After years of working with CS3, I finally found a use for Bridge!


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## CubaMark

A friend has asked me about Mylio

Anyone have first-hand experience?

*UPDATE: *Ok. Did a bit of reading. Mylio's features list and UI are both getting good marks. However, there's no outright purchase option: it's a subscription model (starting at $100/year to be able to access some of its more desirable features, like multi-device sync). I think we'll stick with Aperture until it finally gives up the ghost....


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## pm-r

I no longer use them but the OP's post reminds me of the old, excellent *iView Media* and *iView Media Pro* before they priced it out to absurdity and I believe MS took it over, renamed it and killed it.

But there seems to be something similar but check out the reviews etc. for *Media Pro*:
Media Pro for Mac | MacUpdate

Just thinking of something that _*may*_ just work…


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## yeeeha

Lyn is quite good. Does not create a photo library, at least I am not aware of. Relatively inexpensive.

GraphicConverter is good too.

Photo Mechanic is very good, but significantly more expensive.


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## OldeBullDust

Thanks for the suggestions everybody

I've looked at Media Pro, has some interesting features, but the price is high for what I want it to do & I've read several comments about problems with the latest version - seems the new owners are not fixing the bugs.

Mylio - well the subscription arrangement is a deal breaker for me.

I'm going to look at Lyn, haven't had a chance yet.

I'm still playing with Bridge. I've had it for years, never used it very much, but finding it has most of the features/function that I think I need.

A guess that the primary problem for me is to determine what really is the function I require/want. I'm come to the conclusion that I want to avoid building a proprietary catalogue/database which could become inaccessible if or when the app dies or is no longer updated. I had major problems in the past with other apps such as Retrospect

Anyway. This looks like a good winter project - thanks again for the suggestions, I'll check them out


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## yeeeha

OldeBullDust said:


> I'm come to the conclusion that I want to avoid building a proprietary catalogue/database which could become inaccessible if or when the app dies or is no longer updated.


I don't think the three apps that I mentioned above builds a catalogue/database.

Since I have a Nikon DSLR, I use ViewNX to sort photos. Only for sorting and don't use it to process images. For image processing I use Lightroom.


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## Oakbridge

I'm also looking for a suitable replacement. I'm a hobbiest photographer who has also been going back to scan some of the more important slides and negatives from my days shooting film. Also had parents pass away and inherited the family photos that I'd like to keep.

In short, when I last used iPhoto my file was approaching 500 GB. 

I started the switch to Aperture just before the announcement of it's being dropped. One thing that appealed to me about it was the fact that the thumbnails of all of my images would be in one data file but the actual images could be stored in multiple locations. Perfect to keep the current stuff on one drive (or drives), the scans of my own slides and negatives on another drive, and the family stuff on a separate drive as well. 

I don't want to go back to a single storage file for all of my stuff. 

Any suggestions?


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## Moscool

OldeBullDust said:


> Thanks for the suggestions everybody
> A guess that the primary problem for me is to determine what really is the function I require/want. I'm come to the conclusion that I want to avoid building a proprietary catalogue/database which could become inaccessible if or when the app dies or is no longer updated. I had major problems in the past with other apps such as Retrospect
> 
> Anyway. This looks like a good winter project - thanks again for the suggestions, I'll check them out


I've purchased Lightroom at education prices a couple of times. It is reasonably future proof in the sense that it allows you to write a 'sidecar' file for each photo containing all the adjustment as well as metadata information, a lot of which is transferable to other apps. I guess that the RAW engine would vary from app to app, but if you really love a 'keeper' photo then you've probably made a high quality print jpg already, so that shouldn't be a big issue.

I'm currently on LR4 and I may get 6 (as 7 looks like it's 18 months away). The new features are clearly in the 'decreasing returns' category, so no big pressure to update each time.


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## macfoto

You might want to check out iPhoto Library Manager (there is a new name for the program since Apple Photos came out) that is good for dealing with multiple iPhoto libraries. This may be helpful until you get your photos into another program


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## Todd

It was exactly this conundrum after Apple killed Aperture that was my final end of patience with Apple and I switched to Linux. Not what Apple fans want to hear, of course. I've been a Mac user since 1987. But I couldn't stand Apple's constant slaughter of software any longer.

Consider Darktable or Digikam. Both are available in an OS X build, as well as a multitude of Linux distros. Should you ever also finally be fed up with Apple, your Darktable or Digikam database will be easy to migrate ... unlike your Aperture one.


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