Quick sorting through large image collections

I often come back from shoots with hundreds and sometimes over a
thousand images. I am looking for software which will let me do the
following:

* View thumbnails of all the images with thumbnail size customizable
* Allow me to select several images at a time and view those images
full-screen or side-by-side
* Let me assign customizable attributes like: favorite, good, keep but
don't share with client, and discard.
* A key requirement is that I don't want the image to be changed; no
metadata including these attributes should modify the EXIF data or the
file in any way. (An optional ability to write these tags to EXIF
comments would be nice.) I don't mind if this metadata is written,
optionally, to an external database. But my goal is to move files
after the tagging to separate folders or the trash, after which I
won't use the tags.

I am aware of programs like ACDSee, but am not sure that these
programs would keep the images read-only. I appreciate any suggested
tools. Thanks!

Dilip

In article <1177956714.529201.178660@n59g2000hsh.googlegroups .com>,
<barman@jhu.edu> wrote:

> I often come back from shoots with hundreds and sometimes over a
> thousand images. I am looking for software which will let me do the
> following:
>
> * View thumbnails of all the images with thumbnail size customizable
> * Allow me to select several images at a time and view those images
> full-screen or side-by-side
> * Let me assign customizable attributes like: favorite, good, keep but
> don't share with client, and discard.
> * A key requirement is that I don't want the image to be changed; no
> metadata including these attributes should modify the EXIF data or the
> file in any way. (An optional ability to write these tags to EXIF
> comments would be nice.) I don't mind if this metadata is written,
> optionally, to an external database. But my goal is to move files
> after the tagging to separate folders or the trash, after which I
> won't use the tags.
>
> I am aware of programs like ACDSee, but am not sure that these
> programs would keep the images read-only. I appreciate any suggested
> tools. Thanks!

adobe lightroom (mac and windows)
iview media pro (mac and windows)
apple aperture (mac only)

On 30 Apr 2007 11:11:54 -0700, barman@jhu.edu wrote:

>* View thumbnails of all the images with thumbnail size customizable
>* Allow me to select several images at a time and view those images
>full-screen or side-by-side
>* Let me assign customizable attributes like: favorite, good, keep but
>don't share with client, and discard.
>* A key requirement is that I don't want the image to be changed; no
>metadata including these attributes should modify the EXIF data or the
>file in any way. (An optional ability to write these tags to EXIF
>comments would be nice.) I don't mind if this metadata is written,
>optionally, to an external database. But my goal is to move files
>after the tagging to separate folders or the trash, after which I
>won't use the tags.

I use IMatch (photools.com) to do all of this and much more. I like
the idea of CTRL clicking of a slew of thumbs and then tagging them
all at once. Sorting by tag and them migrating to other locations is
simple. There's a slider to dynamically adjust thumb size.

IMatch has a bit of a learning curve, though.

Cheers,
DuncanC

barman@jhu.edu wrote:
> I often come back from shoots with hundreds and sometimes over a
> thousand images. I am looking for software which will let me do the
> following:
>
> * View thumbnails of all the images with thumbnail size customizable
> * Allow me to select several images at a time and view those images
> full-screen or side-by-side
> * Let me assign customizable attributes like: favorite, good, keep but
> don't share with client, and discard.
> * A key requirement is that I don't want the image to be changed; no
> metadata including these attributes should modify the EXIF data or the
> file in any way. (An optional ability to write these tags to EXIF
> comments would be nice.) I don't mind if this metadata is written,
> optionally, to an external database. But my goal is to move files
> after the tagging to separate folders or the trash, after which I
> won't use the tags.
>
> I am aware of programs like ACDSee, but am not sure that these
> programs would keep the images read-only. I appreciate any suggested
> tools. Thanks!

This is the primary domain of Photo Mechanic. ACDSee is also a good
choice. None of these programs modify the images unless you tell them
to. Those two in particular will be very fast.

I'm using Thjmbs Plus; this *isn't* what TP is best at, but I've got a
workable workflow for periodically handling hundreds of new images,
using the slideshow capability and some carefully set up "favorites"
folders (so I can move the current image to one of 5 folders with a
two-key sequence). It does have a very nice ability to put multiple
images on the screen, tiled, with zoom level and position in the frame
synced, so I can see the same magnification of the same portion of each
picture.