I'm hobbyist photographer (over 20 years) and have ACDsee since 2019. I love it. Asset management is bloody awesome. I have not experience any crashes in about 12 months. I run windows 11. I really don't know what's going on there. P.S I've recommended ACDsee to at least 4 of my photo buddys and I did ask them about stability and yes 1 of them said it was crashing multiple times per session. Weird.
I've been with ACDSee since 1994 (when is cost $15.) Ultimate 2024 doesn't offer enough to get me to upgrade from 2023. I'll stick with DXO Elite for most of my processing.
Hi Andy - thank you for the review! I realize this isn't a greatly interesting question but I'll have to ask it anyway... I am not primarily focused on photography (although I do try...). I use my pictures (mostly wildlife) to draw later - so they don't need to be perfect. What I end up with is a photo (or photos) then a series of versioned drawings based on that (from sketch to finished drawing(s)). I would like to keep them organized and together. They are organized on the file system but due to backup issues, changing or moving files and directories, etc. creates duplicates (so any poor structure I have tends to stagnate). I was thinking perhaps some meta structure might come to the rescue... I am not familiar with any photo organization software and was curious what their organization solutions are (if any) to similar issues (maybe photo stacking, for example?)
Yea a stack would work for you - similar to how I keep all my bracketed images organised. Only Lightroom does those at the moment - they're very handy. :)
@@verdedoodleduck Just occurred to me that Peakto might also work for you. It has this feature called 'Instances' which is vaguely similar to LR's stacks. You can merge several shots together as Instants and view them in either single or expanded views. Suggest you download the trial and see if it's a good fit for your purposes. There's a full review of Peakto here on my channel if you want to know more. :)
Intriguing software - it might do the job eventually. Unfortunately I'm not a mac user. Hopefully it comes over to PC but those kinds of tools don't always get ported. @@Andyhutchinson
Excellent review, hope it stimulates ACD Systems to improve their product on essential parts. I've been an ACDSee user since 1998. I like the speed but it's become bloated over the years. Recently I've started to explore its more advanced functions like people/face recognition.
Thank-you - I hope so too - it could genuinely be a real contender if they just concentrated on the fundamentals and then iterated better versions from that point.
Hi Andy, love the plain speaking review, I downloaded the trial version of 2024 and found it didn't import all my file types, so I'll stick to my 2021 version that does work with all file types.
Thanks for your opinions Andy. I've been through the features game but quality is often left behind by guys doing those type of reviews. I find myself agreeing with you and although I don't earn from my photos, I splurged the dosh and went the Photolab 7 route with Nik Collection. I also edited the same RAW in Neo and Photoraw, as well as Photolab 7, but DXO quality makes the keeper pics for me. Black Friday next month, so will probably upgrade to PL8
Thanks Michael. The original demosaicing often gets overlooked, but if the foundations aren't right then it doesn't matter what you build on it - it'll always be flawed. :)
Might be good, but i cannot use the backup from my laptop and restore it on my PC so that I can see the catogorisation that appears on my Laptop. Used ACDsee for years. 😮💨😮💨😮💨
Think I will give it a pass, and stick with DXO. Nothing I see here so compelling to move on. What I like most about DXO is the ability to precisely select a colour, and only make changes on that one colour.
In the Black Friday deal I bought 2024. To support this company. Although I prefer LR and Luminar for sky replacement. And LR has auto perspective correct. So I am stuck with LR. But always liked ACDSee. I use only the batch rename function now.
I normally use Lightroom's built in batch renaming, that works for most of my needed. When I need something more complicated I use Advanced Renamer. I used to use ACDSee a lot but over recent years the interface has seemed slow and clunky. They should focus less on adding new editing features and more on overall usability and performance of the basics.
What I really want to know is should I switch from ACDSEE to AFINITY 2. Seems like most people are on Afinity now. I find ACDSEE clucky even after all these years. For example how on earth do you type text vertically on a photo rather than horizontally. In Photoshp you can just swivel the text around. Not in ACDSEE. lso when typing text onto a photo and reducing the font size from (say) 24 down to 8... when it gets to about 11 or 10 the text compeletely transforms it's pixels shape an colouring into something way way different... distorting it. Thats not good. So has ACDSEE had it's day. Should I switch?
I think if you don't need the asset management side of ACDSee then Affinity is a big step-up in processing capabilities. Perhaps you could switch to an Adobe Bridge (which is free to use) and Affinity Photo combo.
Excellent review Andy. Cheers mate.
Thank-you kindly :)
Great review, thanks. Subbed. Will explore your channel more fully in my search for the best LR alternative
Welcome aboard!
I'm hobbyist photographer (over 20 years) and have ACDsee since 2019. I love it. Asset management is bloody awesome. I have not experience any crashes in about 12 months. I run windows 11. I really don't know what's going on there. P.S I've recommended ACDsee to at least 4 of my photo buddys and I did ask them about stability and yes 1 of them said it was crashing multiple times per session. Weird.
Cheers - it's definitely a capable asset manager.
I experienced so many crashes with 2022 version I've uninstalled it and looked somewhere else
Great update in April 2024. Supporting more rawfiles.
I will update and check it out :)
I've been with ACDSee since 1994 (when is cost $15.) Ultimate 2024 doesn't offer enough to get me to upgrade from 2023. I'll stick with DXO Elite for most of my processing.
DxO's the one to beat at the moment.
Thank you Andy. You saved me some cash
Glad to help :)
Hi Andy - thank you for the review!
I realize this isn't a greatly interesting question but I'll have to ask it anyway... I am not primarily focused on photography (although I do try...). I use my pictures (mostly wildlife) to draw later - so they don't need to be perfect. What I end up with is a photo (or photos) then a series of versioned drawings based on that (from sketch to finished drawing(s)). I would like to keep them organized and together. They are organized on the file system but due to backup issues, changing or moving files and directories, etc. creates duplicates (so any poor structure I have tends to stagnate). I was thinking perhaps some meta structure might come to the rescue...
I am not familiar with any photo organization software and was curious what their organization solutions are (if any) to similar issues (maybe photo stacking, for example?)
Yea a stack would work for you - similar to how I keep all my bracketed images organised. Only Lightroom does those at the moment - they're very handy. :)
Sigh - most roads lead to Adobe subscriptions. :) Still, great to know - thank you!@@Andyhutchinson
@@verdedoodleduck Just occurred to me that Peakto might also work for you. It has this feature called 'Instances' which is vaguely similar to LR's stacks. You can merge several shots together as Instants and view them in either single or expanded views. Suggest you download the trial and see if it's a good fit for your purposes. There's a full review of Peakto here on my channel if you want to know more. :)
Thank you! I will check that out.@@Andyhutchinson
Intriguing software - it might do the job eventually. Unfortunately I'm not a mac user. Hopefully it comes over to PC but those kinds of tools don't always get ported. @@Andyhutchinson
Excellent review, hope it stimulates ACD Systems to improve their product on essential parts.
I've been an ACDSee user since 1998. I like the speed but it's become bloated over the years. Recently I've started to explore its more advanced functions like people/face recognition.
Thank-you - I hope so too - it could genuinely be a real contender if they just concentrated on the fundamentals and then iterated better versions from that point.
Will ACDsee work well with older laptop or PC or i mean the Newer budget Laptop or PC
Hard to say - they have a 30 day trial - suggest you test it on you system.
Thanks for the review. Think I shall stick with 2021 Ultimate! Have found that to be excellent apart from the very occasional crash.
As I always say, there's no perfect app, just the one that's best for you. :)
Hi Andy, love the plain speaking review, I downloaded the trial version of 2024 and found it didn't import all my file types, so I'll stick to my 2021 version that does work with all file types.
Cheers. Not a good look when an app becomes *less* capable.
Thanks for your opinions Andy. I've been through the features game but quality is often left behind by guys doing those type of reviews. I find myself agreeing with you and although I don't earn from my photos, I splurged the dosh and went the Photolab 7 route with Nik Collection. I also edited the same RAW in Neo and Photoraw, as well as Photolab 7, but DXO quality makes the keeper pics for me. Black Friday next month, so will probably upgrade to PL8
Thanks Michael. The original demosaicing often gets overlooked, but if the foundations aren't right then it doesn't matter what you build on it - it'll always be flawed. :)
Might be good, but i cannot use the backup from my laptop and restore it on my PC so that I can see the catogorisation that appears on my Laptop. Used ACDsee for years. 😮💨😮💨😮💨
Sounds about right!
Think I will give it a pass, and stick with DXO. Nothing I see here so compelling to move on. What I like most about DXO is the ability to precisely select a colour, and only make changes on that one colour.
Yep - I'm a big fan of DxO's software. :)
DXO is not a DAM though
Haha. Damned with faint praise!
lol - I just try and keep it real ;)
In the Black Friday deal I bought 2024. To support this company. Although I prefer LR and Luminar for sky replacement. And LR has auto perspective correct. So I am stuck with LR. But always liked ACDSee. I use only the batch rename function now.
I use a small app called Hazel for batch renames etc. :)
I normally use Lightroom's built in batch renaming, that works for most of my needed. When I need something more complicated I use Advanced Renamer. I used to use ACDSee a lot but over recent years the interface has seemed slow and clunky. They should focus less on adding new editing features and more on overall usability and performance of the basics.
What I really want to know is should I switch from ACDSEE to AFINITY 2. Seems like most people are on Afinity now. I find ACDSEE clucky even after all these years. For example how on earth do you type text vertically on a photo rather than horizontally. In Photoshp you can just swivel the text around. Not in ACDSEE. lso when typing text onto a photo and reducing the font size from (say) 24 down to 8... when it gets to about 11 or 10 the text compeletely transforms it's pixels shape an colouring into something way way different... distorting it. Thats not good. So has ACDSEE had it's day. Should I switch?
I think if you don't need the asset management side of ACDSee then Affinity is a big step-up in processing capabilities. Perhaps you could switch to an Adobe Bridge (which is free to use) and Affinity Photo combo.
Do you know of a video that gives the basic use and nothing about meta data or key words
Sorry - no.
You've saved me some $$. Thanks.
Will ACDsee work well with older laptop or PC or i mean the Newer budget Laptop or PC