Photography and Images

Digital Asset Management

For going through my GB of digital pictures I'm using XnView and DigiKam - both have their weaknesses and strengths that are best discussed here: https://discuss.pixls.us/t/digikam-vs-xnview-mp-for-dam/25700

I love flickr because of their API, and I pay for it 70 a year, which is quite expensive, but the service is barely evolving, compared to the superior Google Photos. I still miss Picasa, though, that was the best mix of each aforementioned software strength. Fast, easy, connected to services.

XnView

  • starts fast
  • better integrated into file system
  • mediocre image editing (interface is clunky)
  • confusing metadata handling (IPTC first XMP second, but XMP appears to be the future) Tutorial : Metadata for photos - XnView Software
  • geotagging is very basic

DigiKam

  • slow start as database grows
  • very slow image editing, but good tools, no presets for batch editing(?)
  • superior metadata handling and tagging
  • superior filtering interface
  • export to several services (especially flickr)
  • great geotagging tool

Editors

Here is a list of photo organizing and editing software I'm using sometimes.

Photopea

https://www.photopea.com

Free image editor in the browser. Can develop RAW images.

Color.io

https://www.color.io/

Color correction and color matching. Upload your own photos as reference and then change the colors on the basis of that. Can export 3D LUT files to be used in other applications.

Export as *.cube and use it in Digikam G'MIC Processor

Digikam

https://www.digikam.org/

Open-source digital asset management. A bit clunky and too powerful, but a good choice for geotagging and organizing.

XnView

https://www.xnview.com/en/xnview/

Another powerful and free photo organizer. The editing capabilities are plenty and functional, but I'm missing one click optimization as from tools like Google Photos or similar.

Photo Viewer (native Win 11)

Not as good as I wish it would be. The one-click optimization is way behind tools like Google Photos, even Picasa. But as a photo viewer, ok.

Insta360 Studio

I have to use it for my Insta360 One X2 cam.

The software lacks features like nadir removal (retouch) and recentering of panoramas. [[2025-05-12.360-pano|see also this blog post]]

• #software, #database