|
 Neither a basic browser nor a complex photo editor, ACDSee 8 Photo Manager ($50 download) helps you organize masses of images powerfully and efficiently—and, if you need to, fix them quickly. What a relief not to have to do the scroll-and-wait while your state-of-the-art hard drive is reduced to coughing and spluttering like an overheated toaster oven. The company's priority has always been speed, but the graphics and interface have finally caught up. This update is the prettiest and easiest to navigate to date.
The default setup reserves the center of your screen for viewing thumbnails. Choose the folders you want to view and check out a blown-up preview on the left. On the right, toggle between organizing with keywords or ratings and working on your images in the Task Pane. Sets of tasks that you can show or hide are conveniently organized into tasks that apply to files or folders and tasks that help you import, fix, or share.
Even though the program is a breeze to learn and navigate, it includes the options and controls a professionally minded shooter requires. Case in point: when you pop in a memory card, you get a window asking whether you want to import using ACDSee. If you wish, you can choose your settings right there, and even rename them according to your EXIF data. Or you can tell the program never to bug you again.
Another innovation? You can view the contents of multiple folders at once. Pick the images you want to address, then throw them in the Image Basket. From that virtual folder, choose a task or drag them into a more robust editor such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro. Similar to the Image Basket is the Burn Basket, another virtual box that keeps track of what you've burned and when, and keeps those images searchable.
If you make good use of the keywords—and it's easy to do that because adding them en masse is so fast—you can take advantage of the Quick Search box and superspeedily populate your screen with the pictures that qualify. Other useful stuff: you can find duplicates with the Duplicate Wizard, add audio comments to files, compare up to three images side-by-side, make a PDF, burn your DVDs and VCDs to PAL format for those European relatives, and all the while work with color-managed thumbnails.
For total beginners, ACDSee 8 may be all you need; you can do a good job fixing pics simply and keep track of all those images you've been snapping. For seasoned enthusiasts, the program is a thorough tool that's fun to use to manage your images, repair your snapshots, and figure out which ones you're going to put the time into fixing in earnest. For everyone, the speed and simplicity of the interface makes working with the program a simple pleasure.
For info: ACD Systems; www.acdsystems.com; 250-544-6701.
What's Hot:
Scroll through thumbnails fast.
Color-managed.
Browses RAW.
What's Not:
CAn't use Quick Search on IPTC data.
Serious users will need a separate editor.
|
