Digital Asset Management (DAM) Software

[Shoot Em Up]

I've been a LightRoom user for years and it has served my needs but recently I've been finding limitations on the DAM side. My main issue is some video files which can't be imported into LR. Therefore I'm looking for DAM software which will allow me to manage and organise and my photo/video library (regardless of file type) and maybe even has integration into LightRoom.

Anyone using DAM software or have recommendations?

 

[Musicman]

Obvious suggestion if you have Lightroom CC with the Photographers' Bundle (or possibly with another CC licence) is to try Adobe Bridge - it's essentially 'free'

 

[ianp5a]

I've been a LightRoom user for years and it has served my needs but recently I've been finding limitations on the DAM side. My main issue is some video files which can't be imported into LR. Therefore I'm looking for DAM software which will allow me to manage and organise and my photo/video library (regardless of file type) and maybe even has integration into LightRoom.
Anyone using DAM software or have recommendations?

Yes. I use Digikam.org DAM software for all my photography work. It supports videos too. It doesn't need to "import" anything. It downloads from camera to your "albums" on the PC or LAN. You can copy them in with a file manager too if you prefer. It then generates thumbnails in the background.

You can use it to convert RAW, or edit your pictures. But the best is it lets you use your favourite editors for everything. I use Raw Therapee, Gimp, Panorama, and HDR with it.

The DAM capabilities are huge. Tags/colours/groups/star ratings, Geo Tags, Face Recognition, Saved searches, find similar images, sketch based search, EXIF Editor, Calendar/tree/map view, Upload to web, Batch processor, watermark, cross platform, open source.
https://www.digikam.org/about/features/

 

[Shoot Em Up]

Thanks for the suggestions. I briefly tried Adobe Bridge but found it a bit limiting as well. I'll take a look at Digikam - it looks like it can do everything I need and more.

 

[Dave Canon]

The reason why I need a DAM is to regularly search through my 30,000 images in my main catalogue. I also have another catalogue with 25,000 but rarely need to search this. LR uses a fast database (hence the need to import items so it can build the database). It can search my 30,000 images in a fraction of a second. Bridge does not use a database and thus has to open each file compare with the criteria and close again so this takes much longer. A typical search for LR could take many hours or even days with Bridge. I am sure this would also be true for other DAM software, if it does not use a database and relies on the OS. Elements uses a database so is also fairly fast but has a few less option than LR. I do not know digicam but the link above states that it does import the images and build a database so I suspect it does work in a similar way to LR. I do not personally use LR for many video files so I am not familiar with any limitations or whether digicam with address those.

Dave

 

[ianp5a]

I do not know digicam but the link above states that it does import the images and build a database so I suspect it does work in a similar way to LR. I do not personally use LR for many video files so I am not familiar with any limitations or whether digicam with address those.
Dave

You don't need to use any import command. As I said, drag and drop images in the file manager if you want. It does have an import command, but in DigiKam that just means "copy from a camera or SD card". The only thing DigiKam does with new images is generate previews. Unless you need the renaming functions. Previews are done in the background and are very quick.

You can even add a new folder path to a completely separate collection of images. Once added, it scans everything it finds in there in the background. But you can start work on them right away.

It certainly uses a database. And for nerds there is even a choice of database type. But I stick to the recommended one.

 

[Dave Canon]

Using Import in LR my images from my camera are downloaded in to the location of my choice and a copy in parallel is also sent to my NAS as a back-up. The catalogue or database is constructed automatically using the image EXIF data etc and previews generated. The speed of generating previews is dependent on the default size chosen. You can chose more actions in LR at this stage if you wish such as re-naming, adding keywords or presets etc. This entire action only take a few minutes for hundreds of files and is largely set by the speed of transferring the images from my camera to the NAS. If in a hurry one can continue to access the imported images straight away even if the rest of the process continues in the background. The question I was interested in is whether Digikam can do something for video that LR cannot.

Dave