DAM recommendations?

[Schranke]

So I have not been doing photography and editing for a few years now and I am looking to get back into it.
Previously I used lightroom as a combination for DAM and editing. I do however not want to get into a subscription model so I have decided to get Affinity Photo for editing, but thats leaves me without an asset manager...

Do you have any recommendation free or paid, doesn't really matter
Cheers

 

[kenoh]

So I have not been doing photography and editing for a few years now and I am looking to get back into it.
Previously I used lightroom as a combination for DAM and editing. I do however not want to get into a subscription model so I have decided to get Affinity Photo for editing, but thats leaves me without an asset manager...

Do you have any recommendation free or paid, doesn't really matter
Cheers

Would Adobe Bridge work for you? (free)

 

[Schranke]

Would Adobe Bridge work for you? (free)

That could work, was not aware that it had become free. I will give it a try, just curious if it is possible to use it without creative cloud, or what they call their service

 

[kenoh]

That could work, was not aware that it had become free. I will give it a try, just curious if it is possible to use it without creative cloud, or what they call their service

I am not sure, you may need to create a creative cloud ID and install the desktop app (for updates) but you do not need a subscription for it.

https://prodesigntools.com/free-adobe-bridge-cc.html

 

[Ray2]

Your current Lightroom license should allow you to use the Catalog perpetually. Should be able to download the current trial, don’t subscribe, just use Catalog. This came along as part of the move to a subscription model.

 

[Donka]

I'm assuming you are doing photography in a hobbyist capacity? If so, Apple's Photos may work for you. I personally use that as my DAM but have some additional tools for editing such as Affinity Photo, Pixelmator, Nik Tools and a few others.
It has its limitations but is more capable than a lot of people give it credit for.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

It has its limitations but is more capable than a lot of people give it credit for.

Given that it can never actually be a referenced library, with you in control of its hierarchy, it's a severely crippled option before it even gets out the gates.

Well hush my mouth, it can actually do what I always thought it couldn't!

Thanks for letting me know this @robgendreau ! vvv

 

[robgendreau]

Given that it can never actually be a referenced library, with you in control of its hierarchy, it's a severely crippled option before it even gets out the gates.

Assuming "it" means Photos, yes, it can be used with a referenced library. Just turn off the "copy into" option or whatever it's now called in preferences and Photos will reference images where they are in folders in the filesystem. You won't be able to synch to iCloud Photo Library, however. And it can't automatically write metadata to files. All in all, a rather limited DAM, although pretty good at adjusting, esp with extensions.

Other options include Mylio, Lyn, Photo Supreme, Capture One, Aftershot Pro, Xnview MP, Graphic Converter, DigiKam, maybe Photo Mechanic, and others I'm forgetting. Or use Lightroom free: when the trial ends you only lose use of the Develop and Maps modules, not the Library module, etc.

 

[Donka]

Rob beat me to it. Having said that, I personally prefer to go with a single static library and have Photos manage it for me as I have no requirement for a referenced library and find it easier to backup. That is why I think it is a good option for a hobbyist photographer. For serious work and high volume management, it definitely has it's caveats.

 

[maflynn]

Sadly, I found that Lightroom has the best DAM, there's really no competition at all in this category. As mentioned, Adobe Bridge my fit the bill

 

[Schranke]

Thanks for all the recommendations, I think I will go with Adobe Bridge for now

Your current Lightroom license should allow you to use the Catalog perpetually. Should be able to download the current trial, don’t subscribe, just use Catalog. This came along as part of the move to a subscription model.

I had the annual subscription when I used Light Room, it has been cancelled for quite some time now. But if I could use Light Room as my DAM without a new subscription I would. Gonna give it a try with the trial.

I'm assuming you are doing photography in a hobbyist capacity? If so, Apple's Photos may work for you. I personally use that as my DAM but have some additional tools for editing such as Affinity Photo, Pixelmator, Nik Tools and a few others.
It has its limitations but is more capable than a lot of people give it credit for.

I do not have much love for Photos and would not use it for anything other then syncing pictures from my phone to my Mac for easy transfere. I loved aperture and held on for a good while, but photos never were close to catch up in my opinion, which is why I ultimately moved to Light Room back then.

 

[Donka]

I do not have much love for Photos and would not use it for anything other then syncing pictures from my phone to my Mac for easy transfere. I loved aperture and held on for a good while, but photos never were close to catch up in my opinion, which is why I ultimately moved to Light Room back then.

Yup, I agree Photos doesn't get close to Aperture sadly but Photos of late has improved greatly from when it was first introduced and Smart Albums and keywords really help on the photo management side of things.

 

[Schranke]

Yup, I agree Photos doesn't get close to Aperture sadly but Photos of late has improved greatly from when it was first introduced and Smart Albums and keywords really help on the photo management side of things.

Do you know if photos is able to handle a online archive and an iCloud archive?
If it were able to handle my pictures while keep formating, location and such on my external drive and still have a local library of what I sync with iCloud it might be a solution. But that require photo to ba able to compartmentalise between quit a few things

 

[Donka]

I'm not too sure on what you are trying to achieve. Are you looking to work locally on your images and have the edits sync to both iCloud and an external drive or have I missed the idea?
I personally don't use iCloud for my images so wouldn't be able to confirm what is possible with that in the loop in all honesty.

 

[robgendreau]

Do you know if photos is able to handle a online archive and an iCloud archive?
If it were able to handle my pictures while keep formating, location and such on my external drive and still have a local library of what I sync with iCloud it might be a solution. But that require photo to ba able to compartmentalise between quit a few things

AFAIK Photos can only deal with Apple's own cloud for storage, if that's the question.

And only one library can be the "system library" which is the one that synchs with iCloud. Although one could use the Fat Cat Software utility PowerPhotos to maybe duplicate a library to store locally, etc. Although seems to me just easier to use another product.