ACDSee - Pro's and Con's, Opinions?

I have replaced Lightroom by ACDSee because i don't like what the future of Lightroom semms to be (photos in the cloud as the renaming suggest).

I didn't want a non desctructive editor anymore where i have to export my photos to keep the adjustments.

I switch one time from Lightroom 2 to Aperture 3, and then to Aperture to Lightroom. In the mean time, i switch to Windows. At each time, i have to export all my developped photos to keep my adjustements. I didn't want to do that anymore with any new software.

I like that when you use develop in ACDSee, it create a image file and keep the original in a specific folder. You have the best of the too worlds, it automatically create a export of your file and you keep the possibility to modify your adjustements.

With the Edit mode, you have a editor with layers, it is not as advanced as photoshop or Affinity Photo. But i find that it has the essential tools for photographers. It is not bloated by all the tools for illustrators or graphical designers. It is an advantage for me.

I use it in conjonction with DXO PhotoLabs, because i find the automated adjustements really good and a major time savor. With ACDSee, you can specify to not display the sidecar of dxo but when you move a photo, it move the sidecar too.

You don't have to import your photos, it scans the folder as you view it and it is very fast. I hated Lightroom for that. I didn't use the collections in LR but the folders. So i have the same thing in ACDSee but much faster. I see imediately the photos created by DXO Photolabs (no need to import). Moving photos in another folder is very fast too.

You can do search with multiple criterias, but it is less intuitive than LR.

It managed IPTC very well. It modify instantly the jpeg file or sidecar, not need to ask for each files to save the IPTC. Having ACDSee fields are handy for cataloging video files. The renaming fonctions are very good too...

I geotag my images and ACDSee was one of the few that permit to do that. I miss that you can't import a GPS file.

The only thing that i miss is the stack of images in managed mode of LR. I wish it can stack photos taken in a interval of time. But you can use Zip files in the manager to for that.

Overall, after one year of use, i don't miss LR and ACDSee Ultimate is a very complete program and highly customisable. I think it is an underestimated software.

100% agree - ACDSee is one of the best DAM software today.

OK so I have been trying out ACDSee for the past 2 hours and quite simply I am blown away!

Of course it goes without saying that it is not perfect and there is room for improvement. Even so, some of the quirks I happened across may well be due to only using the Application for such a short time and have yet to rectify my mishaps.

Here is what I found missing/lacking:

- Couldn't duplicate/clone an original RAW file in order to keep one and work on another so the original's post-processing remains in tact.

- Undo I found frustrating, for example if I was individually tweaking one of the 9 separate Light EQ bars and hit Undo it would not simply undo my previous single tweak to the individual bar, but would undo say all my Light EQ adjustments. If that makes sense?

- RGB only - No Luma - for Tone Curve. So when adjusting the Curve say for the Milky Way (which is what I used in this instance) the dark sky would turn purple instead of retaining it's actually properly set White Balance. * of course I could bring the RAW over to the Pixel Edit stage and use an Adjustment Layer set to Luminosity, but not while 'Developing' the RAW "in-house".

- Regarding the infamous ' DAM ' functionality why oh why is it a totally separate category? Meaning in the Photo Browser, or even RAW Develop on the Strip, I can't just simply right-click and give a chosen photo 2 or 3 stars or a color tag? I have to go into DAM and then find the photo in order to assign some ' metadata '?

Having highlighted these situations I experienced over the past 2 hours, while they are fresh in my mind - there might have been 1 or 2 others, some yet to come across - the Program itself as a whole works wonders. I am highly impressed and seriously considering purchasing most likely the 2019 version that is due to be released next month.

I found the RAW Develop of very high quality. It was able to bring out a LOT of detail in my Milky Way photography. *Oh, just remembered, the Noise Reduction is a lot to be desired, yet wouldn't expect such an App to out-perform something like DXO's Prime. Even CaptureOne lacks when it comes to NR, but ACDSee is quite simply, bearing in mind I had extremely Noisey photos to begin with, messy. By messy, I mean the erratic pattern of the NR ACDSee seems to create, resembling somewhat a textured pattern that is, well, fabric-like?

Anyway, I need a break. Learning new Software in general can give one a headache if they get too involved all at once (spent a few months getting to grips with DarkTable recently which was light-hearted compared to RawTherapee).

Will definitely open up ACDSee again soon and see what's up with maybe a different type of material.

Right now the Peseid Meteor Shower is what I am focusing on so my head is in the clouds, so to speak. Yup, was raining all night, tonight should be clear skies...

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Bringing to light, Exposing what is
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where to find tutorial to learn?

EE-TV said:

OK so I have been trying out ACDSee for the past 2 hours and quite simply I am blown away!

- Undo I found frustrating, for example if I was individually tweaking one of the 9 separate Light EQ bars and hit Undo it would not simply undo my previous single tweak to the individual bar, but would undo say all my Light EQ adjustments. If that makes sense?

Click to expand...

It makes sense.

I'm glad you are enjoying the play time.

If you haven't tried it yet try setting one of the Light Eq bars to a darker setting but also set the lighter side on the same bar as well. Do this on one of the lower settings (eg. 3 bands from the left on a 9 band setting). It should be an interesting option with what you like to work on.

Grant.

You did not mention what computer you use and for this software it is very important. Unlike most photo editing programs ACDSee for Mac is extremely limited comparing to Windows, so limited that is practically useless.

chemist47 said:

You did not mention what computer you use and for this software it is very important. Unlike most photo editing programs ACDSee for Mac is extremely limited comparing to Windows, so limited that is practically useless.

Click to expand...

Windows 7. Of course!

Pi lover said:

EE-TV said:

OK so I have been trying out ACDSee for the past 2 hours and quite simply I am blown away!

- Undo I found frustrating, for example if I was individually tweaking one of the 9 separate Light EQ bars and hit Undo it would not simply undo my previous single tweak to the individual bar, but would undo say all my Light EQ adjustments. If that makes sense?

Click to expand...

It makes sense.

I'm glad you are enjoying the play time.

If you haven't tried it yet try setting one of the Light Eq bars to a darker setting but also set the lighter side on the same bar as well. Do this on one of the lower settings (eg. 3 bands from the left on a 9 band setting). It should be an interesting option with what you like to work on.

Grant.

Click to expand...

I did somewhat as you suggest on the furthest bar on the left, mostly pulling up the 3 bars on the lighter side and slightly pulling down on the darker side on the furthest left bar (1st one) and you are right, it does give a deeper impression, darkens the sky nicely to balance out the lightening overall from pulling up on the top (light side) bars.

Seriously liking this App and am now eager to hear of the new release in September. I might go do some lurking over at their forums right now come to think of it...

Glen,

A good number of the videos and other help-related info for ACDSee Ultimate are for 10 instead of Ultimate 2018.

How similar are like-named features in the 2?

For example, your video on the histogram is for 10, not 18. Does it apply equally to 18?

And how do you tell, if the info in a help video or file is for 10, whether it applies to 18? Do you simply have to try it?

Thanks, just getting back into ACDSee.

P.S. I haven't yet viewed your histogram video, so if you say there what applies to 18, my apologies. But my general question still applies.

may i ask if there is any auto adjust or auto tone in ACDsee?

thanks

Jefftan said:

may i ask if there is any auto adjust or auto tone in ACDsee?

thanks

Click to expand...

There are Auto settings for some options in ACDsee. There is auto Color, Contrast, Brightness, Auto Light Eq, and White Balance to name a few.

There are "Presets" for lots of options which as an example have settings for sharpness like Enhance, Extreme, and the ever popular Last Used. Last Used of course is the settings used last time in the option being used. These are like a selectable Auto.

Grant.

Sorry for taking my time to reply. But I wanted to review my own knowledge to make sure MY ducks are all in a row. I also wanted to review "The DAM Book 3.0" by Peter Krogh from which I will quote short passages should I feel the need to do so.

First, My Credentials: I am a retired Teradata DBA. I believe I understand database management systems of all sorts, and have worked on hierarchical, Relational, and Object oriented databases from a variety of sources. I have also worked as a software developer and a project manager for major companies where digital assets were highly valued.

I have also been a professional photographer. Shooting industrial, Wedding, and portrait photos. I believe I understand the need for the management of digital assets.

The Book!: I enjoyed reading "The DAM Book 3.0" very much, though I haven't completed it as yet. I found that I agreed with the premise of this new version quite a bit. However, so far, I have found no evidence of your claim that it demands a specific type of DAM organization.

I would point you to Chapter 2, entitled "A Digital Photography Ecosystem"

• I would say that the Digital Hierarchy of needs is completely met by all 3 ACDSee Photo Studio Products.
• I would also say that NO DAM system aimed at non corporate use fully meets "The Consolidate and Unify" requirements, by itself. However I do believe that OneDrive's ability to migrate all photos to OneDrive from both mobile and PCs when coupled with ACDsee's ability to view OneDrive resources, come very close to such a system.
• Elements of the Ecosystem - Check on all of them for ACDSee.
  • The Collection
  • Media Objects
  • Storage
  • Logical Structures
  • . . . . There's way too many to list, but ACDSee pretty much has all this down. The one area I think is weak in ACDSee, is printing (i.e. an aspect of Distribution" It prints fine, but the power and flexibility found in dedicated printing apps just isn't there, and I think it should be.

Sorry, but I just don't see ANYTHING that would preclude ACDSee from being considered a DAM tool.

Furthermore, the assertion that ACDSee is "ONLY" a file manager, is still kind of silly. It is a full featured DBMS with indexes, known storage locations and Parent/Child relationships.

The Challenge:

Hans de Zomers said:

How in acdsee would you:

1. Get a single set of images of folder A combined with folder B and then filter this combined set to only show the 1 star rated images

Click to expand...

I would just call up the catalogue and select 1 star rated images. This only gets 1 star images from the entire database, not from just specific folders.



But I could also do a search with the option of saving the search or using the search to create a collection from the search, The search tool can search on any file attribute, any IPTC, or EXIF attribute, or ACDSee proprietary attribute.

Hans de Zomers said:

2. Assign keywords to an image that is stored on an external hard drive that is currently not attached to the computer

Click to expand...

I would use the off-line Media section of the 'Folders' tab. That being said, I never have a photo that is not connected to the computer in some way.

Hans de Zomers said:

3. How do I edit an offline image when I’m on the road and all that I have installed on my travel laptop is ACDsee, while all original images, including the one I’m editing right now, are at home on my NAS

Click to expand...

I have no idea. I don't use a NAS and have never tried. I suspect it could be done, but I don't know how. Someone else will have to answer that one.

I store my images on OneDrive and pull them down from there as I need them. I am NEVER not connected to my photos. For those who don't like OneDrive, ACDSee has it's own 'cloud' storage system called ACDSee 360 that offers SEAMLESS integration with ACDSee. But in my mind it's too expensive compared to what else is out there. ACDSee products also work with Google Drive and Amazon Drive, but I really like OneDrive.

SantaFeBill said:

Glen,

A good number of the videos and other help-related info for ACDSee Ultimate are for 10 instead of Ultimate 2018.

How similar are like-named features in the 2?

For example, your video on the histogram is for 10, not 18. Does it apply equally to 18?

And how do you tell, if the info in a help video or file is for 10, whether it applies to 18? Do you simply have to try it?

Thanks, just getting back into ACDSee.

P.S. I haven't yet viewed your histogram video, so if you say there what applies to 18, my apologies. But my general question still applies.

Click to expand...

Pretty much everything applies to the current version. Off hand, I can't think of anything written for the older versions that would not apply to the newer. There might be some minor tweaks, but nothing of any major importance.

ACDSee Systems, the company, pretty much believes in 'evolution' over 'revolution'.

Glen Barrington said:

SantaFeBill said:

Glen,

A good number of the videos and other help-related info for ACDSee Ultimate are for 10 instead of Ultimate 2018.

How similar are like-named features in the 2?

For example, your video on the histogram is for 10, not 18. Does it apply equally to 18?

And how do you tell, if the info in a help video or file is for 10, whether it applies to 18? Do you simply have to try it?

Thanks, just getting back into ACDSee.

P.S. I haven't yet viewed your histogram video, so if you say there what applies to 18, my apologies. But my general question still applies.

Click to expand...

Pretty much everything applies to the current version. Off hand, I can't think of anything written for the older versions that would not apply to the newer. There might be some minor tweaks, but nothing of any major importance.

ACDSee Systems, the company, pretty much believes in 'evolution' over 'revolution'.

Click to expand...

Glen, thanks.

Pi lover said:

Jefftan said:

may i ask if there is any auto adjust or auto tone in ACDsee?

thanks

Click to expand...

There are Auto settings for some options in ACDsee. There is auto Color, Contrast, Brightness, Auto Light Eq, and White Balance to name a few.

There are "Presets" for lots of options which as an example have settings for sharpness like Enhance, Extreme, and the ever popular Last Used. Last Used of course is the settings used last time in the option being used. These are like a selectable Auto.

Grant.

Click to expand...

what about the most important auto exposure

all cameras i know underexpose in bright sunlight and need adjust exposure

Jefftan said:

Pi lover said:

Jefftan said:

may i ask if there is any auto adjust or auto tone in ACDsee?

thanks

Click to expand...

There are Auto settings for some options in ACDsee. There is auto Color, Contrast, Brightness, Auto Light Eq, and White Balance to name a few.

There are "Presets" for lots of options which as an example have settings for sharpness like Enhance, Extreme, and the ever popular Last Used. Last Used of course is the settings used last time in the option being used. These are like a selectable Auto.

Grant.

Click to expand...

what about the most important auto exposure

all cameras i know underexpose in bright sunlight and need adjust exposure

Click to expand...

brightness probably same as exposure, i suppose

Jefftan said:

Pi lover said:

Jefftan said:

may i ask if there is any auto adjust or auto tone in ACDsee?

thanks

Click to expand...

There are Auto settings for some options in ACDsee. There is auto Color, Contrast, Brightness, Auto Light Eq, and White Balance to name a few.

There are "Presets" for lots of options which as an example have settings for sharpness like Enhance, Extreme, and the ever popular Last Used. Last Used of course is the settings used last time in the option being used. These are like a selectable Auto.

Grant.

Click to expand...

what about the most important auto exposure

all cameras i know underexpose in bright sunlight and need adjust exposure

Click to expand...

For Exposure there are presets. You could keep asking things option by option but the best way to understand is download a free demo. If you download it try out the Light Eq option, not just Exposure.

Grant.

Jefftan said:

Pi lover said:

Jefftan said:

may i ask if there is any auto adjust or auto tone in ACDsee?

thanks

Click to expand...

There are Auto settings for some options in ACDsee. There is auto Color, Contrast, Brightness, Auto Light Eq, and White Balance to name a few.

There are "Presets" for lots of options which as an example have settings for sharpness like Enhance, Extreme, and the ever popular Last Used. Last Used of course is the settings used last time in the option being used. These are like a selectable Auto.

Grant.

Click to expand...

what about the most important auto exposure

all cameras i know underexpose in bright sunlight and need adjust exposure

Click to expand...

I think it is fair to say, ACDSee Photo Studio products are aimed at the people who don't particularly want one button fixes. They are professional grade tools, aimed at people who want professional grade tools, and who are willing to invest some time in learning how to use them.

These are also the people who generally know how to adjust their cameras to fix that problem. However for situations where that is not possible, one can apply a preset at any time.

For people who want the convenience of one touch 'fixes', I usually recommend using the "Adjust" tab found in PaintShop Pro. It offers a quick and easy set of adjustments to photos.

[No message]

You'd be amazed at how little they tell me! So I normally rely on historical information.

It usually gets released sometime between September thru Early November. (I guess, it depends on how testing goes)

Then they usually have what I call an errors and omissions update between December and January of the next year.

Then a conventional support update in late spring or early summer.

All three normally get new camera updates, and often, a new Lens Fun database update (If one has been released, of course, they don't control that)