So, I’m on a quest to find a photo organization tool for Linux (or, on a later note, for any OS) that does some things like…
Allow me to apply metadata to images, like comments and groups and tags (preferably hierarchical)
Store the metadata IN THE ACTUAL IMAGE, IN A STANDARD FORMAT. This also means it will probably need to support IPTC or XMP, preferably XMP. (No, shut up about GQview, it doesn’t cut it.)
Allow me to set metadata as a batch operation. I am thoroughly uninterested in having to manually go through the process of setting metadata for each individual image. And when I say “batch operation”, “batch” really needs to be more generic than “all files in a directory.” (No, shut up about scripting it with ExifTool or Exempi or Exiv2. Yes, they can edit XMP data on groups of files, but scripting doesn’t cut it as a solution unless someone can show me how to make this integrate with a GUI.)
The built-in editing features and plugins are handy and quick. I’m kind of cheating here because I’m already pretty familiar with digiKam.
Searching capabilities are pretty good.
Only wants to edit IPTC/XMP metadata one image at a time.
All its metadata (besides IPTC/XMP that you do one image at a time) is stored in an SQLite database, not in the image
Interface can get pretty slow sometimes.
imgSeek:
The interface works okay but it’s a little clumsy, and sometimes things are slow (I loaded about 10K pictures).
Finding pictures based on similarity to other pictures or to a hand-drawn image is an interesting feature.
The grouping/batching features are powerful, but a bit slow.
I am unsure if imgSeek lets me add IPTC or XMP data easily.
There is no easy way I can see to search based on date.
F-Spot:
I’m told the IPTC/XMP support in this isn’t that great.
I have yet to try this program.
LightZone:
This is proprietary, but they have a 30-day trial.
“Linux users will especially enjoy access to the new LightZone Relight Tool l which can achieve HDR effects from a single negative revealing hidden HDR detail in both the highlights and the shadows, using just a single exposure. For instance, you’ll see both saturated colors of a sunset and bright detail in the face of a back lit subject that was formerly lost. Achieving such stunning results from a single exposure without LightZone would require multiple flashes, reflectors and shades at the time the photograph — if it could be possible at all.” . . . sorry, but if you honestly believe this, you don’t have the slightest understanding what HDR is. Oh well, it’s all marketing.
Having tried this software, I cannot see any batch metadata editing capability, or any reason why I’d want to pay for this.
PicaJet FX:
This is proprietary with a 15-day trial.
I tried this software and could not find any batch-editing features for XMP.
Lightroom
This is the expensive stuff from Adobe ($300, but there’s a 30-day trial). Some people in #photogeeks on Freenode recommended it.
This is a “workflow app designed for professional photographers” and it’s from Adobe. If anything at al supports XMP batch-editing, and a billion other features, this would have to be it.
Razuna
I don’t know. This is an open source, web-based Digital Asset Management application.
It looks very nice (check out the videos there), but I don’t think it’s what I need for this task.
Any application I failed to mention: I either ignored it on the basis of provided specifications, or I ignored it because I’m just too lazy.
MediaCoder – “a free universal batch media transcoder, which nicely integrates most popular audio/video codecs and tools into an all-in-one solution.” Only natively works on Windows, but came in handy trying to re-encode some video at work after I found that fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/[Avidemux] liked to either crash or screw up the encode (on Windows at least as I know I’ve used it without problems on Linux)
CamStudio – An open source screen recorder (screencast?) application. Only works on Windows, but works pretty well.
Is Scheme Faster than C? – An oldish article about some interesting performance benefits found in Scheme
hack,wii
http://www.smoothboard.net/ – Interesting thing from my friend Lincoln. It uses a Wii remote, IR transmitter, and PC (with Bluetooth) to “Transform your screen into a user-friendly interactive whiteboard with Smoothboard.”
Well, after my computer exploded and my hard drive became an orphan, I finally built a working computer again and fixed up my scripts so they didn’t suck. Now I shall attempt to post the giant piles of stuff that have accumulated.
No Nonsense Self-Defense – This is a helpful site. The author gives a vast collection of useful, well-informed articles about self-defense – and why too much of martial arts completely misses the point of it.
food,photography
http://www.tastespotting.com/ – My friend Cassie sent me this link. In its own words: “Think of TasteSpotting as a highly visual potluck of recipes, references, experiences, stories, articles, products, and anything else that inspires exquisite taste.”
game,geometry
The eyeballing game – Another link from Cassie… it’s a Flash game that’s sort of interesting, related to one’s ability to eyeball something and tell if it’s straight
Nomic Game – A paperwork table game that looks a bit complex to actually play. The object of the game is to change the rules of the game.
Probably related to Dunning-Kruger effect – “…people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it”
The Zen of Drinking Alone from Modern Drunkard Magazine. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of Modern Drunkard before, but this is a surprisingly cogent article about the value of… drinking alcohol alone, or “using alcohol to find your inner monkey”.
Well, more of an essay than an article… On Liberty by John Stuart Mill is something I should probably read at some point
music
Jake Speed and the Freddies – just saw them at the Southgate House and was extremely impressed, despite that ordinarily I’d never listen to “folk blues” voluntarily.
StumbleAudio – I don’t really know what this is. but I wrote it down, so maybe it’s good. “Guide to discovering music and sharing great new music.”
