Image culling software for Mac?

[M.Chapman]

For many years I've been using Breeze Browser to review and cull images imported from my digital cameras to my hard disk. It's fast, allows fast switching between images as well as side by side magnified view with synchronised pan and zoom of up to 4 images at once. If there's a full size JPGs with the same filename as a RAW file it treats them as a pair and displays the full size jpg instead of the (smaller) jpg embedded in the RAW file. I use it to quickly check composition and focus and cull my rejects. But it's Windows only so I have to run it in a Virtual Machine on my Mac.

 

With the advent of M1/M2 Macs I'm looking to move away from using Windows VMs altogether and so am looking for alternatives for image culling. LR is an option, but requires images to be imported first and then takes time to generate the previews.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Mark 

Edited June 24, 2022 by M.Chapman

[BidC]

I use Photomechanic. Its possible to download as a trial. And all updates are free.

 

https://home.camerabits.com

[M.Chapman]

I just downloaded a copy of FastRawViewer to try and it looks promising.

https://www.fastrawviewer.com/

https://youtu.be/f-sCYOVPgxc

 

Mark

Edited June 24, 2022 by M.Chapman

[Michael Ventura]

Just saying what I use, not saying it's the best.  I have been using Adobe's Bridge, for culling, for many years.  Works on both platforms.  I know many people who use Photomechanic and Lightroom and swear by those two as well.

[M.Chapman]

14 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

Just saying what I use, not saying it's the best.  I have been using Adobe's Bridge, for culling, for many years.  Works on both platforms.  I know many people who use Photomechanic and Lightroom and swear by those two as well.

I'll take a closer look at Bridge too - especially as it's free :-)

 

Thanks.

[sb photos]

On 24/06/2022 at 22:08, M.Chapman said:

I just downloaded a copy of FastRawViewer to try and it looks promising.

https://www.fastrawviewer.com/

https://youtu.be/f-sCYOVPgxc

 

Mark

 

I used to use FastRawViewer, but switched to Photo Mechanic some years back. I was emailed re FastRawViewer 2 back in February, and offered a 40% discount. Am toying with the idea of upgrading and seeing what version 2 offers.

 

Edit: Updated to V2 this morning, discounted price was only £14. Now to find time to play with it.

Edited June 26, 2022 by sb photos

[Colin Woods]

I also use Bridge. I think its great and it has a lot of customisable options/ I have it set up with one screen (Essentials) for viewing/culling/ordering, etc and another (Metadata) which I use for keywording, with bigger thumbnails, etc. It has a few foibles, but then again so do I.

[Marianne]

I use Lightroom - I import images straight from the camera's SD card, do rough keywording, and use a minimal processing preset as I import the images, give it time to do the previews (slow esp. with my latest 61MP camera, so I'll put the kettle on or check my insta or email while it hums away) - but with stars, color flags, etc. it lets me cull pretty quickly, and leave myself some notes for potential panoramas, etc. - I have colors I use for  different things like panos, stock vs fine art, etc. 

 

I haven't used Bridge in ages though when I did I liked it. 

 

If you are trying out Lightroom, BTW, check out the new masks - you can save and then automatically update them from one photo to the next too - it really makes processing so much faster. 

[Ed Rooney]

 

Faster is understandable, but I chose a slower path -- Tai Chi rather than Kung Fu. I move from Adobe CC LrC to PS and do my caps and tags in two sessions after QC accepts the images.

[Nigel Kirby]

I have used Bridge for viewing and key wording for many years with only a few issues with metadata.

[Billy Suratt]

Photo Mechanic. Accept no substitutes. It even runs shockingly fast on an old 32-bit Mac Mini a friend gave me to play with (one so old it won't even run much of anything released in the last decade).

[Normspics]

I use Bridge on a MacBook Pro it’s very quick.