Interesting Thread over at dpreview.com

Mario · February 21, 2019, 09:31:06 PM

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/62340039

I follow dpreview loosely and when IMatch is mentioned, I check if there is a question I can help to answer. I don't post myself usually and I try not to write advertisements

I've just written a longer post about metadata, because a user claimed that all this is complicated. And it is , as you all know.
Maybe you want to read it. Maybe you want to comment on it.

Mees Dekker · February 21, 2019, 11:32:48 PM

Added a comment

Mario · February 21, 2019, 11:46:05 PM

Thanks

lanerellis · February 22, 2019, 01:41:19 AM

You've written a brilliant comment (several, indeed) on that DPreview thread, Mario, which I hope will continue to expose more photographers to the power of IMatch.

I recently mentioned IMatch in an article I wrote, too:

https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/02/overclock-your-b2b-efficiency/

Cheers from Duluth, Minnesota,
Lane

Mario · February 22, 2019, 08:50:36 AM

Thanks!

People liking IMatch and telling others about it is the best marketing

Getting the word out without spending tons of money becomes more and more difficult.

sinus · February 22, 2019, 08:58:11 AM

Thanks both of you, very interesting indeed, I bookmarked both links, must have more time to read it carefully.

Aubrey · February 23, 2019, 07:29:14 AM

Agreed, interesting thread.
Mario clearly laid out the pitfalls of metadata.

It is still surprising to find photographers using explorer, keeping jpgs in one place and raw in another.

What really surprised me was users deleting mediocre raw files.

I keep everything that is reasonable: in focus etc.

Some times I have gone back to images years later and say to myself that's a good image and process it.

Other times as processing software improves I've gone back to an image and had some great results in post processing.

BTW: Do we have images or photographs today?

Aubrey

Update: worth looking at Thumbsplus software website. See their crazy prices and how little there is DAM functionality, e.g., no reverse geocoding. Prices not too far from IMatch, in fact I think their professional version is more expensive.

Mario · February 23, 2019, 08:02:31 AM

ACDSee is always on sale

Carlo Didier · February 23, 2019, 09:09:13 AM

Quote from: Mario on February 23, 2019, 08:02:31 AMACDSee is always on sale

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing, ...

Mario · February 23, 2019, 09:43:39 AM

I suppose.

I think that IMatch is priced reasonably, for the value you get. No need to devalue it by offering discounts all year.

Aubrey · February 23, 2019, 10:35:01 AM

IMatch is priced very reasonably, perhaps too reasonably, but then maybe not!
I fully agree, discounting is not the way to go, customers who bought before a discount can feel cheated.

For example, when DXO moved to version 2, I didn't pay upgrade immediately. I was able to use trial version, a few weeks later they came out with discounts of 20%. I was pleased I had not paid for immediate upgrade

IMatch is in the range where amateurs are going to buy. OK it's much better than competitors software, but you only really understand the power when you have been using it for a while and think... I'd like to do that... and you can! If the entry price is too high, it can be difficult to convince a first time buyer he will find all the tools useful.

When one sees what ThumbsPlus is charging (home 60$ professional 120$ - you have to go to professional to get RAW image support), IMatch is very reasonably priced. I had a quick look at their forum to see questions being asked...
http://forum.thumbsplus.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=d1b34bb808a6cc140b028039ce793b48&board=2.0

That's where I found that there is no geotagging and no plans...

Their front page (http://www.cerious.com/) reminds me of IMatch3 (I still have it installed, ran it a few months ago just to see if it would work - it did!)

They also try to do too much - photo editing etc., this is not what a good DAM is for, there are many dedicated packages out there.

BTW I've given up on LR when they went to subscription (having promised LR would not follow that route) I now use Dxo PhotoLab 2, it has Nik software embedded, so it's like Nikon Capture NX2 on steroids!

Aubrey.

Aubrey · February 23, 2019, 10:35:50 AM

Quote from: Aubrey on February 23, 2019, 10:35:01 AM
IMatch is priced very reasonably, perhaps too reasonably, but then maybe not!
I fully agree, discounting is not the way to go, customers who bought before a discount can feel cheated.

For example, when DXO moved to version 2, I didn't pay upgrade immediately. I was able to use trial version, a few weeks later they came out with discounts of 20%. I was pleased I had not paid for immediate upgrade

IMatch is in the range where amateurs are going to buy. OK it's much better than competitors software, but you only really understand the power when you have been using it for a while and think... I'd like to do that... and you can! If the entry price is too high, it can be difficult to convince a first time buyer he will find all the tools useful.

When one sees what ThumbsPlus is charging (home 60$ professional 120$ - you have to go to professional to get RAW image support), IMatch is very reasonably priced. I had a quick look at their forum to see questions being asked...
http://forum.thumbsplus.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=d1b34bb808a6cc140b028039ce793b48&board=2.0

That's where I found that there is no geotagging and no plans...

Their front page (http://www.cerious.com/) reminds me of IMatch3 (I still have it installed, ran it a few months ago just to see if it would work - it did!)

They also try to do too much - photo editing etc., this is not what a good DAM is for, there are many dedicated packages out there.

BTW I've given up on LR when they went to subscription (having promised LR would not follow that route) I now use Dxo PhotoLab 2, it has Nik software embedded, so it's like Nikon's Capture NX2 on steroids!

Aubrey.

Mario · February 23, 2019, 11:00:03 AM

I didn't even know T+ is still around...

Hm, offering lifetime upgrades is something I would never do. This is utter nonsense. Well, at least if you still provide updates...

Jingo · February 23, 2019, 01:26:07 PM

Quote from: Mario on February 23, 2019, 11:00:03 AM
I didn't even know T+ is still around...
Hm, offering lifetime upgrades is something I would never do. This is utter nonsense. Well, at least if you still provide updates...

T+... my first DAM.. TBH - it was a pretty decent program at the time I used it and I successfully managed my budding digital photography collection with the product for many many years. But, Cerious took a few wrong turns and never fully listened to their customers. The lack of basic functionality (like geomapping) was the final straw for me and I never looked back. They didn't even have a decent Forum until a few years ago - it was all in some strange "threaded" viewer.... Very happy to have found Imatch.... the COMPLETE DAM solution!

Aubrey · February 23, 2019, 03:53:26 PM

Perhaps the fundamental problem was that they did not realize serious was spelt with an "S"

I had never heard of he program until I read it on dpreview.

I didn't catch on to lifetime upgrades... not a good idea.

Though....
I purchased an extremely good editor "Ultraedit" back in about 1999, I can't remember exactly. When I was working I put it on my expenses. In about 2003 (guessing) they came out with a lifetime price for about 2 1/2 times upgrades. Again expensed. Today I am still getting free upgrades. Now I don't use a lot, but still a nice feature to have. Would I pay for upgrades today, probably not. Do I need the latest features? Probably not. In this case possibly a win - win. I tell a lot of users of editors about it.

Aubrey.

Mario · February 23, 2019, 06:31:52 PM

QuoteDo I need the latest features? Probably not. In this case possibly a win - win.

It's not so easy anymore...

For example, IMatch users who still run IMatch 5.x versions may be happy with what they've got. Great.
Problem is, over the past years critical bugs have been found and fixed in IMatch itself, the database system (critical, because it could cause data loss), and all the Microsoft and 3rd party components used by IMatch 5.

The 5.x can run for a long time. But under some conditions the database may become corrupted or a bad image crashes one of the 3rd party image libraries etc.
Or, a Windows 10 update just breaks something - because the technology did not exist when IMatch 5 was current.

IMatch is constantly updated, incorporating bug fixes not only from me but also int he included Microsoft components, the database software, the Chromium browser engine, DirectX, user interface toolkit and more. I keep this up-to-date, pay annual fees to get all the updates, subscribe to mailing lists to get actual news about issues found in any of the central components used by IMatch etc.

All this takes effort and costs money. And of course all the updated components are only integrated into the current branch of IMatch, not versions many years out of date.