Thank you very much for your thorough review. After carefully considering your feedback on versions 9 and 10 for MAC, I have decided to continue using my current version 8 instead.
Good video, as always. Thorough and on point👍 I've tried a previous version of ACDsee and while it has a few handy features I'll definitely be sticking with Bridge, PS + ACR. Keep up the great work Andy.
Good explanation. I'm surprised that acdsee for mac doesn't have a layer function. The latest update has an excess of management functions, while development AI functions currently offer many options to take a perfect photo. I also noticed that the perspective control is only done from the baseline so that the image becomes very narrow. On1 and Lighroom do this from the center of the vertical line so that the bottom part is also edited. This way you don't lose as much of the image. Furthermore, the layout is fantastic and the development functions are very extensive. The sliders work very smoothly(top). In the end I went for On1. Much more complete with layers and AI functions
I can remember using Acdsee on windows maybe 20 years ago and was disappointed there wasnt a full Mac version for many years. I liked their DAM system back then and having found this version recently I am enjoying using it again. If only Photos was this logical! Thanks for the review and explanation.
A key part about ACDSee is that the PC and Mac version are different beasts. Unlike Lightroom the Dbase isn’t shareable/interchangeable between the PC and Mac version and trying to migrate between them requires quite a bit of digital gymnastics. When I used Lightroom I had my catalogs on external drives so I could move between my MacBook and PC workstation. ACDSee definitely has some nice features but the PC version is more advanced in terms of features compared to the Mac version. While they are getting more aligned it’s still like using two different programs. I will say though, that if you grab it on sale you can get the entire ACDSee package for ~$80 including 3 licenses along with a bunch of other powerful SW packages included. There is now doubt though that ACDSee is a very good DAM and something basic for editing is all most of us need.
Hi Andy, Great video, thank you. I would consider myself very much a beginner in photography and am beginning by attempting to organise and sort my images and videos, which has opened up all can types of cans for me now. . Does ACDSee V9 allow for video formats too? My aim is to be able to sort all images and photos with such features ACDSee offers such as Ratings, Year, Categories (face recognition would be great as this would save me a lot of time and would be my no1 tag feature). Please recommend? Thanks in advance
Yes, I believe it does do video, though it's not a feature I use or tested. They have a pretty generous trial period and I always recommend a good testing period before any new software acquisition. :)
Great Video Andy. Thank you. Do you know how we batch-deselect photos to quickly parse and pare down our shots? With Aperture 3 I used to be able to select 2+ photos (usually I did 10 - 20 at a time) that were very similar (i.e. burst-mode sports photos, or multiple similar wedding shots) and see ONLY them, but both (or all) side by side, and all simultaneously as larger snapshots. I could then quickly compare each photo, cycling through with my arrow tabs, and delete photos ("x" shortcut key) that were suboptimal or redundant. I could also "heart" and numerically rate my quickly glanced favourites. Finally, having narrowed it down to only the best of the set, I could then move on to edit/develop mode. I have been unable to find a way with ACDSEE 9 for Mac wherein I can see a batch of selected photos in comparison mode.
Yea - pretty sure all you have to do is select the photos in question - right click and select View. That should then only show the selected photos in the media viewer tab and you can tag accordingly :)
@@Andyhutchinson Thanks. That does help. The next part of the process is the most desired though, and that is what I cannot figure out. If I select two photos, I am trying to see two large photos side-by-side to compare them. The same with four photos, six, or even eight. Having only similar photos in the toolbar does narrow the focus of my task but it still does not enable a split screen effect. That was a really awesome feature that I used a lot in my particular workflow.
Another nice feature of this software is to easily integrate external editors such as Pixelmator Pro and assign keyboard shortcut keys to those apps. Depending on the size of your image library and your computer hardware, searching for a specific photo is very fast. It is a shame ACDSee has not devoted additional resources to better utilize the Apple operating system resources (like Pixelmator Pro does) to achieve faster speeds.
Thanks for this review. I currently use Adobe products (NOT LR -- I hate it) but am always interested in new and cheaper alternatives! Shared with my photography club.
One critical point I discovered recently. While it can open DNG files it can’t write them or convert RAW to this format. The actual file export options are very limited. It seems to prefer to work with native RAW formats whereas previously I’d habitually convert all my RAWs to DNG for uniformity (use a variety of cameras). Fortunately Adobe’s DNG converter tool is still free but it means an additional workflow step.
Great video, thanks. I was wondering though, this new feature in Lightroom Classic 11, where you can isolate the sky and color correct it, does it exist in ACDsee or any other photo software?
Thanks for sharing your views with us, and giving us a run-down of the app as you see it. They have a sync app that works on the ipad as well, but instead of syncing both to a mac and from a mac, it only goes to the mac. It seems to me that this is a major drawback, because after you get the photo library the way you like, you can't use the app to make a copy to your ipad. Keep up the good work.
Do you have a vid in how to migrate files out of Apples photo library ? 50k worth of photos and originally was searching for a mass way to delete raw files (without killing jpgs imported as Raw and Jpg). Once imported to Acdcee is that possible? Thx
Thank you very much for your thorough review. After carefully considering your feedback on versions 9 and 10 for MAC, I have decided to continue using my current version 8 instead.
Glad it was helpful!
Good video, as always. Thorough and on point👍
I've tried a previous version of ACDsee and while it has a few handy features I'll definitely be sticking with Bridge, PS + ACR.
Keep up the great work Andy.
Yea I'm firmly embedded in the Adobe ecosystem from now until hell freezes over - lol :)
I too purchased v7 - but now that they have facial recognition I am updating to v9 - thanks for the info M8 :-)
Good explanation. I'm surprised that acdsee for mac doesn't have a layer function. The latest update has an excess of management functions, while development AI functions currently offer many options to take a perfect photo. I also noticed that the perspective control is only done from the baseline so that the image becomes very narrow. On1 and Lighroom do this from the center of the vertical line so that the bottom part is also edited. This way you don't lose as much of the image.
Furthermore, the layout is fantastic and the development functions are very extensive. The sliders work very smoothly(top). In the end I went for On1. Much more complete with layers and AI functions
I can remember using Acdsee on windows maybe 20 years ago and was disappointed there wasnt a full Mac version for many years. I liked their DAM system back then and having found this version recently I am enjoying using it again. If only Photos was this logical! Thanks for the review and explanation.
No worries :)
A key part about ACDSee is that the PC and Mac version are different beasts. Unlike Lightroom the Dbase isn’t shareable/interchangeable between the PC and Mac version and trying to migrate between them requires quite a bit of digital gymnastics. When I used Lightroom I had my catalogs on external drives so I could move between my MacBook and PC workstation. ACDSee definitely has some nice features but the PC version is more advanced in terms of features compared to the Mac version. While they are getting more aligned it’s still like using two different programs. I will say though, that if you grab it on sale you can get the entire ACDSee package for ~$80 including 3 licenses along with a bunch of other powerful SW packages included. There is now doubt though that ACDSee is a very good DAM and something basic for editing is all most of us need.
Yep. They send me an email every year with the big revisions and I check it out. I suspect they'll move to parity within the next year. :)
Hi Andy, Great video, thank you. I would consider myself very much a beginner in photography and am beginning by attempting to organise and sort my images and videos, which has opened up all can types of cans for me now. . Does ACDSee V9 allow for video formats too? My aim is to be able to sort all images and photos with such features ACDSee offers such as Ratings, Year, Categories (face recognition would be great as this would save me a lot of time and would be my no1 tag feature). Please recommend? Thanks in advance
Yes, I believe it does do video, though it's not a feature I use or tested. They have a pretty generous trial period and I always recommend a good testing period before any new software acquisition. :)
Great Video Andy. Thank you. Do you know how we batch-deselect photos to quickly parse and pare down our shots? With Aperture 3 I used to be able to select 2+ photos (usually I did 10 - 20 at a time) that were very similar (i.e. burst-mode sports photos, or multiple similar wedding shots) and see ONLY them, but both (or all) side by side, and all simultaneously as larger snapshots. I could then quickly compare each photo, cycling through with my arrow tabs, and delete photos ("x" shortcut key) that were suboptimal or redundant. I could also "heart" and numerically rate my quickly glanced favourites. Finally, having narrowed it down to only the best of the set, I could then move on to edit/develop mode. I have been unable to find a way with ACDSEE 9 for Mac wherein I can see a batch of selected photos in comparison mode.
Yea - pretty sure all you have to do is select the photos in question - right click and select View. That should then only show the selected photos in the media viewer tab and you can tag accordingly :)
@@Andyhutchinson Thanks. That does help. The next part of the process is the most desired though, and that is what I cannot figure out. If I select two photos, I am trying to see two large photos side-by-side to compare them. The same with four photos, six, or even eight. Having only similar photos in the toolbar does narrow the focus of my task but it still does not enable a split screen effect. That was a really awesome feature that I used a lot in my particular workflow.
Another nice feature of this software is to easily integrate external editors such as Pixelmator Pro and assign keyboard shortcut keys to those apps. Depending on the size of your image library and your computer hardware, searching for a specific photo is very fast. It is a shame ACDSee has not devoted additional resources to better utilize the Apple operating system resources (like Pixelmator Pro does) to achieve faster speeds.
Thanks Bob - yes I also like that you can add as many external editors as you want.
Thanks for this review. I currently use Adobe products (NOT LR -- I hate it) but am always interested in new and cheaper alternatives! Shared with my photography club.
No worries - glad you enjoyed it :)
One critical point I discovered recently. While it can open DNG files it can’t write them or convert RAW to this format. The actual file export options are very limited. It seems to prefer to work with native RAW formats whereas previously I’d habitually convert all my RAWs to DNG for uniformity (use a variety of cameras). Fortunately Adobe’s DNG converter tool is still free but it means an additional workflow step.
Good catch - I didn't know that.
Great video, thanks. I was wondering though, this new feature in Lightroom Classic 11, where you can isolate the sky and color correct it, does it exist in ACDsee or any other photo software?
You get those AI masks in quite a few apps these day. Luminar Neo and On1 Photo RAW for instance.
Thanks for sharing your views with us, and giving us a run-down of the app as you see it. They have a sync app that works on the ipad as well, but instead of syncing both to a mac and from a mac, it only goes to the mac. It seems to me that this is a major drawback, because after you get the photo library the way you like, you can't use the app to make a copy to your ipad. Keep up the good work.
Thanks mate - that is indeed an annoying flaw - one they could rectify quite easily too.
Do you have a vid in how to migrate files out of Apples photo library ? 50k worth of photos and originally was searching for a mass way to delete raw files (without killing jpgs imported as Raw and Jpg). Once imported to Acdcee is that possible? Thx
Not something I've ever looked at Paul, sorry. :)
If you're willing to pay, I think Avalanche by CYME solves this problem