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Photo Mechanic has become a go-to solution for photographers looking to efficiently manage and organize large numbers of photos. Users …
Starting at $139 one-time fee
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What is Photo Mechanic?
Photo Mechanic, developed by Camera Bits, Inc., is a media browser tailored to the needs of professional photographers, including wedding photographers, photojournalists, event photographers, and portrait photographers. According to the vendor, this software offers a fast and efficient solution for...
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Basic
$139
Cloud
one-time fee
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- No setup fee
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- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
What is Photo Mechanic?
Photo Mechanic, developed by Camera Bits, Inc., is a media browser tailored to the needs of professional photographers, including wedding photographers, photojournalists, event photographers, and portrait photographers. According to the vendor, this software offers a fast and efficient solution for viewing, organizing, managing, and exporting digital photos. It is designed to benefit companies of various sizes operating in the photography industry.
Key Features
Ingest: According to the vendor, Photo Mechanic automates the process of copying files from a memory card to the hard drive. It allows users to view image thumbnails while files are being copied and perform real-time culling, rating, and tagging. The software also supports simultaneous copying from multiple memory cards.
Edit: The Contact Sheet feature provides a quick and efficient way to view, edit, and organize image thumbnails. Photo Mechanic enables fast previewing of raw files without rendering delays. Users can add keywords using structured keyword lists for efficient organization. The software automatically includes EXIF camera data in metadata fields such as captions and keywords. Batch editing features allow for faster copying, deleting, tagging, watermarking, renaming, resizing, and adding IPTC metadata to multiple photos. File-management tools simplify moving, copying, and renaming files. Code Replacements feature saves time by allowing users to add entire sentences to captions with a few keystrokes. According to the vendor, GPS coordinates can be easily applied to photos using saved GPS tracking logs. In Photo Mechanic 6, users can automatically add city, state, and country names to metadata using GPS data. Capture dates and times can be adjusted to synchronize photos taken from multiple cameras.
Export: Photo Mechanic facilitates fast and direct file sending using the existing SMTP email server. Users can quickly upload photos to popular online services such as PhotoShelter, Zenfolio, Amazon S3, Flickr, and SmugMug. The software offers dynamic, pre-made gallery templates for creating web galleries. Additionally, users can archive images by burning them to CDs or DVDs directly from Photo Mechanic.
Photo Mechanic Features
- Supported: Asset Categorization
- Supported: Asset Library
- Supported: Asset Sharing
- Supported: Metadata Management
- Supported: Search/Filter
Photo Mechanic Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Mac, Windows, Linux |
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Photo Mechanic has become a go-to solution for photographers looking to efficiently manage and organize large numbers of photos. Users have found that the software significantly increases work capacity and efficiency by allowing them to quickly cull through hundreds of photos and rate them for easy export into other editing software. Reviewers praise Photo Mechanic's ability to save time in the culling process, making tasks that would otherwise take hours more manageable and efficient.
Customers have reported that Photo Mechanic is particularly beneficial for those who work with high-resolution RAW photos. It solves the issue of long wait times in rendering full-resolution RAW photos in programs like Lightroom, enabling users to cull through large numbers of images in a short amount of time. This capability has made the software highly valued by photojournalists, who rely on its speed and efficiency to prepare their photos for transmission and seamlessly work with other platforms like Photoshelter and FTP for sending jobs to archives or clients.
Photographers appreciate that Photo Mechanic serves as a central hub for processing photos, allowing for quick editing and sending off to multiple locations for backup. The software's ability to apply batch metadata on ingest, tag and pare down images to selects, and add specific metadata like captions and keywords has saved users significant amounts of time in their overall workflow. Furthermore, the option to color code favorites and export directly to platforms like Photoshelter is seen as extremely useful by users.
Photo Mechanic not only speeds up the culling process but also streamlines workflow, improves processing speed, and allows for selective filtering and removal of duplicates before editing. With its utilization of built-in JPEG previews, users can quickly review and narrow down large groups of photos without any lag or delay. The software also excels at archiving images, providing fast keyword searching capabilities and personalized archiving on any kind of media.
Even older versions of Photo Mechanic have proven to be great tools, significantly speeding up post-processing workflows and solving issues related to viewing and marking images for others to use. Wedding photographers, in particular, find the software to be a must-have tool as it saves them time and makes the culling process faster and easier. Overall, Photo Mechanic has gained a strong reputation for its speed, efficiency, and ability to address photographers' pain points, allowing them to focus on producing content rather than getting bogged down in photo management tasks.
Smooth Installation Process: Users have consistently found the installation process of Photo Mechanic to be smooth and quick, allowing them to start using the software within minutes. Several reviewers have praised how easy it is to get up and running with Photo Mechanic without any technical difficulties.
Efficient Culling Process for Large Image Libraries: Many users appreciate Photo Mechanic's speed and efficiency in culling through large numbers of files. In comparison to other software like Lightroom, several reviewers state that Photo Mechanic is much quicker, even when dealing with folders containing thousands of images. This feature is particularly valued by wedding photographers who often have to handle a high volume of images.
Fast Rendering Speed and Easy Transfer of Photos: Reviewers mention that they love how quickly they can choose and transfer photos to their editing programs using Photo Mechanic. They highlight its faster rendering speed compared to Lightroom, which allows them to easily rate photos, export them for further edits, and seamlessly integrate the software into their workflow.
Limited Editing Options: Some users have expressed their disappointment with the limited editing options in Photo Mechanic, stating that they would prefer more basic editing features within the software.
Occasional Glitches: There have been reports of occasional glitches in the software that require users to quit and reopen it.
Outdated Visuals: According to one user, the software is visually outdated compared to other software they use.
Users commonly recommend PhotoMechanic for the following reasons:
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Efficient Review and Tagging: Users highly recommend PhotoMechanic for reviewing and tagging a substantial amount of images, as it greatly improves efficiency. They believe it is well worth the money and can save a significant amount of time.
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Quick Image Selection: Many users suggest considering PhotoMechanic for serious photographers who need to quickly review and select images. Despite a learning curve, they advise giving it a try as it can streamline the workflow and save time in selecting images for editing.
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Powerful Tool for Workflow Improvement: Users emphasize that PhotoMechanic is a great addition to any workflow, offering features such as image comparison, rating, tagging, and exporting. It is particularly useful for workflows with a large number of images per event, as it speeds up the culling process.
Overall, users find PhotoMechanic to be a valuable tool for efficiently reviewing and organizing images, improving workflow productivity, and saving time in the selection process.