Asset Management software

[Paul Kuroda]

My Iview is starting to crash on me and I was wondering what others are using. My platform is Mac...I shoot Phaseone, Canon MkIII and the new Canon G9 RAWS.

Someone told me Lightroom, but as far as I can see is that the files must still be accessible which is only workflow but not asset management to tell you where it is on backup/offline storage (or can it)?

Furthermore...I read somewhere on the web that IVM Pro is to be discontinued. Is this just a rumor?

[Chris Trauzzi]

Paul,

iView has been acquired by Microsoft and they have released Microsoft Expression Media (the next version of iView Media Pro). Further, Microsoft has released a service pack for Expression Media, which does not add many new features but supposedly fixes a number of security issues with the software (given that it is a Microsoft product, it is now more vulnerable to security threats).

I can't comment on how well it works on a Mac, as my platform is a Windows Vista PC. Maybe others can comment who are using the Microsoft Expression Media SP1 on a Mac.

Cheers!
-Chris

[Martin_Doudoroff]

Here's the new home for the former iView Media Pro.

I haven't tried the current offering from Microsoft; I completely abandoned Media Pro when Lightroom shipped.

You are correct that Lightroom is not the same thing as Media Pro. Lightroom does a great job of photo library management for many (but not all) photographers. Lightroom is not a general purpose DAM.

I do not know what the long term prospects are for Media Pro/Expression Media at Microsoft. It's somewhat of an orphan for the Mac. (They've bundled the Windows version with a bunch of dubious graphics and web-development applications.)

In terms of alternatives, Extensis Portfolio is still kicking around, although I never personally found that product sexy. Since you're on the Mac, you have the option of Aperture, although that may pose the same limitations as Lightroom for you. I gather some people around here are simply relying on their file systems and Adobe Bridge (which I can't stand).

(Begin mini-rant...) Unfortunately, the development community seems to have decided that the Web is the best and only solution for digital asset management. Consequently, that's where all the effort is going: web servers. I believe these developers are—to a man—deeply misguided in their approach. A lot of us need a high quality DAM application that runs on the desktop, even if various forms of web integration is now an additional requirement. Both Extensis Portfolio and Media Pro/Expression Media are old and showing their age. There is vast room for improvement.(...end mini-rant)

I hope something in the above is helpful to you.

[Paul Kuroda]

Thanks Chris and Martin for your replies. After attending MacWorld last week, I discovered that Lightroom is an asset management software. It has to be set up correctly and from what I gathered, the use of external hard drive to import the files to. This way, the Lightroom catalog will indicate with a "?", and list a path to the missing file, in my case will be an external drive.

Set up is crucial with proper key wording and archive strategy. I found a great book on getting all this set up...Managing your Photographic Workflow with Photoshop Lightroom by Gulbins and Steinmueller.

This along with The DAM (Digital Asset Management) Book by Kreoh should help me set it all up correctly, much better than the scheme (or lack of) what I've been using for years. LR seem extremely powerful over IV Media, and I'm excited that it will save me a lot of time with preset metadata, identity plates, rating, etc.

Thanks again!
Paul

[BobSmith]

I have the last version of iView. I also have Expression Media and Lightroom. I'm working on Macs running Leopard. I still choose to use iView at this time. If you're experiencing crashes, there's most likely something wrong with your particular system setup. How large are the catalogs you're using?

Expression Media is at this point simply a rebranding of iView with some new icons to give a different look. They fixed a few things and broke a few things during the transition to the new branding. Hopefully at some point Microsoft will move this software forward but at the moment I see little need to switch my cataloging system from essentially the same program that's still working.

Lightroom holds a lot of promise in future versions, but if you're used to iView and manage large catalogs you may be disappointed with where it stands today. That just depends on your particular needs. its a great workflow tool and has the beginnings for being a good asset manager. The killer in Lightroom for me at the moment is that the catalog can't reside on a network volume. The referenced images can, but not the catalog.

There's loads of discussion of exactly this issue and all of this software at The DAM Book forum

Bob Smith

[Martin_Doudoroff]

A brief testimonial on the performance of Lightroom with largish catalogues. (Whether you consider a 7,000 image catalog "large" may be the question.)

[Paul Kuroda]

Hi Bob,
Just wondering why would you want Lightroom to reside on a networked volume?
I still testing, but it seems to me that it should reside on the system disk to keep track of where all the data files are on offline drives which I use for my archives.

I will create new Lightroom catalogs as they fill up on my system disk, which should be rather spacey, now that I can work with all my RAWs on remote external disks through Lightroom. Appreciate your time. Thanks.