We've been using Photo Mechanic for a fair amount of time now, and integrating it into the DAM process in a couple ways. I wish I could say their brand and user interface was visually appealing like any mac or adobe products, but this is a case where function overrules design even though the product would be so much better it were designed well. Maybe everything I like about the program is the sacrifice of a visually appealing interface. Ok, so that said what do I like about it?
1. The Image Display Speed: The speed at which it displays RAW photos, and any photos for that matter is faster than any program I've seen out there. Bridge, Lightroom, Aperture, and Capture One all have to generate preview files, which sometimes can be painful in waiting time just to view an image.
2. The Editing Speed: I like to make edits fast, and most of the above mentioned are so slow when moving from image to image. You can fly through hundreds of RAW images making tags with a 1-5 numbered key stroke.
3. Easy File Browsing: You can click through the drive tiers on the left side of the window. Super easy to open image folders.
4. Meta Data Application: You can create an IPTC stationary and apply it easily to a batch of images.
5. Star & Label Rating toggles: You can toggle star ratings and label ratings on and off so you only see those rated images and it's super fast and easy. Makes it easy to drag and drop to Photoshop actions and/or copy and move files to different folders.
The overall speed is the biggest advantage with this program is the overall speed of everything. That's why it trumps the rest of them. Naturally its only a piece of the process.
totally agree, i finally purchased this a couple of months ago. had been using iView which was a great looking program and pretty fast until cameras started generating enormous raw files… and also, microsoft bought the company… i love photo mechanic… but here’s a question: if you have a folder inside a folder, it doesn’t seem to see the nested folder… that is, you can drag and drop a folder on the PM icon in the dock, but it won’t display the images if there is also a folder inside the original folder…
anyway, NO, thanks for your blog, love your work and your blog
dh
PM is king. I’ve been using it for over three years, and it truly does blow all the others out of the water in terms of speed.
Curious- how does PM fit into the rest of your DAM workflow and do you use the Ingest feature within the program?
Evan
good to hear about PM! I was starting with wonder about C1. It seem so much slower than before. Do all the rating on PM carry forward into C1 and/or PS? Do you still use C1 at all?
PM is integrated for the ingestion, editing on the front end, then applying key words, and star ratings at the end.