Has anyone used Photo Mechanic? (Page 2): Photo Mechanic is not an photo editing program like Photoshop or Lightroom. It is a photo sorting program designed to handle a lot of photos...

TKT Loc: New Mexico

Photo Mechanic is not an photo editing program like Photoshop or Lightroom. It is a photo sorting program designed to handle a lot of photos quickly - like a wedding shoot or a pro football game etc., where you have a large number of photos and need to select the keepers for editing in Lightroom or Photoshop in a hurry. I got it when I was doing a lot of photography for a local newspaper and had to go through a lot of photos in a hurry to select the keepers. Now that I'm retired from the newspaper gig I don't use it too much - like when I need to select the best photos from a take of say 10 - 30 images.

Olympus Shooter

I have used photo mechanic for years. It it s solid way to catalog your images.

petercbrandt Loc: New York City, Manhattan

gwilliams6 wrote:

Photo Mechanic has been used by pros working in th... (show quote)

Thank you for the info, l will look into FastStone also !
Peter

JD750 Loc: SoCal

tjc321 wrote:

I'm a Mac user. Any issues with that?

I don’t have any issues with you using a Mac.

According to the Camerabits website there is a Mac version of Photo Mechanic.
https://home.camerabits.com/downloads/

bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur

tjc321 wrote:

I'm thinking of getting this program to control my impulse to import everything into Lightroom. Just wondering if anyone's used it or is using it and is happy with it.I do practically all of my processing in LR Classic.

I have used LR, Bridge, FastRawViewer and Photo Mechanic in the past. I shoot lots of images, often 1000-4000 per day and my wife shoots another 1000 per day. I also use a small travel laptop to cull when traveling. I find LR to be too slow to load these thousands of high megapixel images, Bridge is too limited, FRV works well, but the JPEGs that it loads tend to be too low resolution to really determine sharpness and focus. Photo Mechanic, although certainly not perfect, gives me the best combination of speed, versatility, and portability (3 computers to each license). I do use the EXIF tools with PM, although that is secondary to me.

photoman43

I do not use PM (yet) as my volume of images does not justify it. However, I would use it to view and cull and rate images before importing into Lightroom if I had the volume.

Check out these links from two nature photographers who have used PM for years. A good overview of how one uses it before Lightroom is at the second link.

http://luminescentphoto.com/blog/photomechanic-lr/

http://luminescentphoto.com/blog/tag/photo-mechanic/

https://www.moosepeterson.com/blog/workflow-22/

https://www.moosepeterson.com/blog/photo-mechanic-plus-is-just-darn-great/

https://www.moosepeterson.com/blog/photo-mechanic-6-more-than-just-an-upgrade/

Since you shoot Nikon, consider using NX Studio to view and cull images before injesting into LR. I use Downloader Pro to rename my NEF files, create unique file folders, and xmp files at the time of download. I am on windows and not a MAC. Downloader Pro may not work on a Mac. Nikon Transfer, part of NX Studio can be used to rename files and create file folders too. NX Studio is free nd views images very quickly.

bluezzzzz Loc: Stamping Ground, KY

Peterfiore wrote:

Windows only...

The way Peterfiore answered the info about Photo Mechanic and faststone image viewer is somewhat misleading...faststone is Windows only, but Photo Mechanic is both Windows and Mac.

I've been a Photo Mechanic user for many years and can recommend it highly; use it to ingest to my computer from a camera card, then quick review of the set, to trash the rejects, and last to rename and number the final selects.

I'm not a pro, or even play one on TV, but many working pros depend on it for their daily livelihood. It has many advanced features that I have no need for, but are there if I ever do.

Here's another PM discussion on the Hog from a couple of years ago:

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-676079-1.html

Marshall

redlegfrog

xtasqf wrote:

I've tested it and compared to FastRawViewer. I find FastRawViewer faster and cheaper ...
Have a good day

I use FastRawViewer with mac and the more I use it the more I like it.

BobSmithingNP Loc: Kent, WA

tjc321 wrote:

I'm thinking of getting this program to control my impulse to import everything into Lightroom. Just wondering if anyone's used it or is using it and is happy with it.I do practically all of my processing in LR Classic.

Have been using PM for many years, love it! It works, it's fast, I can rename, keyword and cull especially when I've shot a lot of sports photos. Support is also great, actual people on the other end.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

gwilliams6 wrote:

Photo Mechanic has been used by pros working in th... (show quote)

Rcchristensenjr Loc: Waukesha WI

To shoot 4000 a day you have to shoot one picture every 10 seconds for 10 hours without stopping or travelling. How do you do that... just wondering

bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur

Rcchristensenjr wrote:

To shoot 4000 a day you have to shoot one picture every 10 seconds for 10 hours without stopping or travelling. How do you do that... just wondering

I often shoot in bursts (birds in flight) at 30 frames per second. 3+ seconds equal 100 shots. I have shot as many as 10,000 in a day.

bluezzzzz Loc: Stamping Ground, KY

Rcchristensenjr wrote:

To shoot 4000 a day you have to shoot one picture every 10 seconds for 10 hours without stopping or travelling. How do you do that... just wondering

High speed continuous mode in a modern camera can be either a blessing or a curse, lol!

Professional action sports or wildlife photographers can shoot that many shots in a days work, looking for those perfect moments of a sequence.

The trick then is to be able to quickly cull the duds out of all that content.

Marshall

bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur

bluezzzzz wrote:

High speed continuous mode in a modern camera can be either a blessing or a curse, lol!

Professional action sports or wildlife photographers can shoot that many shots in a days work, looking for those perfect moments of a sequence.

The trick then is to be able to quickly cull the duds out of all that content.

Marshall

Absolutely the good news and the bad news.

redlegfrog

Rcchristensenjr wrote:

To shoot 4000 a day you have to shoot one picture every 10 seconds for 10 hours without stopping or travelling. How do you do that... just wondering

Busy, Busy, Busy! or hold your finger down a lot.