Picasa, DAM or not?

[hinting]

Dear all,

I am on PC and I am using the Google picasa as my browser and organiser.  It can do sorting, grouping, tagging, caption and keyword, but it is not based on the IPTC core, and I haven't find ways to import metadata from Adobe Bridge.  The exporting of files does produce a new file with caption and keywords.

Is Picasa just a browser or and DAM software?  I have invested a bit of my categorising time on it, as it is so fast for searching images.  Should I switch to something else more compatible with Bridge/IPTC core? I hate doubling up data-entry effort.

Also, you know the simple "properties dialogue box" of the windows explorer, that has fields like: Title, subject, author, category, keywords and comments.  Why isn't something as simple as this cross referenced to the IPTC core field?  Is there any application that do copy the respective IPTC field into the file properties?

:hinting

[peterkrogh]

Hinting,
If you are talking about professional use, then I would suggest that Picassa is entirely inadequate. If you are managing a few hundred or thousand family snapshots with no particular economic value, then continue to use it.

If you are talking about managing the architecture firm's portfolio of images, then I suggest that you should just go ahead and buy the book so that you will be familiar with the issues.
Peter

[hinting]

I am shooting thousands of photos a month, for architecture (own work and other reference materials), own interest on photographic projects and travel records.

Not for my firm, but my own personal library is expanding in the speed that requires proper filing and catalog techniques, so that I can take advantage of the library I am building.

Picaca is adequate for my task currently, but I am forward-looking, and planning on the maximising life-span of my library. I am typing in reference metadata in the limited personal spare time and want to make sure I get maximum value out of this data entry, including for future migration. (future potential value)

Not needing industrial strength app, but still concern about future compatibility. That's my semi-professional requirement.  Nothing is good half-baked?

Any other suggestion is welcome.  For now I think I will read up on the DAM book.

[peterkrogh]

Hinting,
Picassa may be adequate to the task of doing some general sorting of the images at this stage, but it is not up the the task of real long-term management. Since you have a real economic interest in these photos, I would suggest that you get cataloging software to do this.  If it needs to be inexpensive, check out idImager.  You should also look at iView.  I would suggest finishing the book before starting your evaluation period, so that you can make best use of that limited time.

Peter

[elpopi]

Hi,
I just tried the latest Picasa 2.5 beta and I do like it:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Picasa_for_Windows/1067993856/1

Unlike previous versions it does show selected folders structure and now somewhat supports DNG (read below).

Captions and Tags(AKA keywords) get written to JPEG iptc metadata (not core) but not to DNG xmp metadata, which is my major gripe at the moment. Hopefully the final build will read/write DNG captions/keywords.

Saving (another new option) any RAW file  will produce a JPEG with properly embedded caption/tags albeit apparently stripped of exif data, the original RAW file getting saved in a "hidden" Originals subfolder.

IMHO at the moment, to embed tags&captions while working with Picasa and RAW files, it is best to shoot RAW+jpeg and tag the jpegs (as if they were "sidecar files" containing IPTC data & the full size preview of course).
At least you get the benefit of keeping the camera RAW files to use with nonDNG raw converters (such as Bibble in my case ...). Picasa can be set not to show raw files (since you have the camera jpegs to browse/tag)

Picasa is not colorspace aware but I can live with that by just using a fast loading external viewer for my properly marked a-RGB files (which I wouldn´t print with Picasa either).

Picasa is obviously not a profesional solution, but it is so easy to browse, search, tag with it that I find it to be quite attractive for not too advanced users that use simplified keyword sets (and it is free of course), like me.

And BTW another interesting feature is that this new version allows to "geotag" your pictures with the help of GoogleEarth. Latitude, longitude, altitude and GPS data get written to JPEG exif metadata (I have checked with cPicture)