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[RobOK]

I would like to use MC for my photo management, but there always a few small features missing.  Many of the features are in comparison to ACDsee.

ESSENTIAL:
1.  Greater visibility into EXIF Data.  I want to see ALL of it including "maker notes".

2.  JPEG rotate without losing any EXIF data, including the "maker notes".   I think MC is doing this correctly, can you confirm?

3.  The ability to update tag information WITHOUT affecting the date of the photo.  Maybe I am strange this way, but I like my photos to keep the original date.  ACDsee has this option.  

NICE TO HAVE
4.  When viewing the thumbnails, have a way of dynamically adjusting ths size of the thumbnails.  ACDsee does this with a UI widget (a slider control)  or with CTRL-wheel up or CTRL-wheel down.   I know i can do this by customizing the view, but it is several steps.

5.  Editing some basic EXIF fields -- copyright, date fields, etc

6.  Be able to Rate photos in slide show mode -- Right click, Rating, 1-5.



Can you comment on these and any general information about new image features coming in v11 ?

[glynor]

1.  Greater visibility into EXIF Data.  I want to see ALL of it including "maker notes".

I agree, but I suspect that this is already planned.  I haven't heard a response from Matt or Jim, but it is requested frequently.

3.  The ability to update tag information WITHOUT affecting the date of the photo.  Maybe I am strange this way, but I like my photos to keep the original date.  ACDsee has this option.  

You're not weird, I would like to see this too (if indeed MC doesn't already do it this way which seems odd).

4.  When viewing the thumbnails, have a way of dynamically adjusting ths size of the thumbnails.  ACDsee does this with a UI widget (a slider control)  or with CTRL-wheel up or CTRL-wheel down.   I know i can do this by customizing the view, but it is several steps.

I agree fully!  When showing MC to other people for Photo management use, this is their single biggest complaint.  Not only does ACDsee have this option, but Apple's iPhoto does too (which seems to be often what I am comparing it too).  It is for this reason that I have had 4-5 other people that I showed MC to go with Adobe Photoshop Album instead.

A slider control probably wouldn't be effective, as it would be too intrusive of a UI change, and would be pretty photo-specific (I'm sure that type of problem is why there was talk a while back of different UI controls depending on which media mode you were in).  However, a good enough solution in my opinion, would be to add "Increase Thumbnail Size" and "Decrease Thumbnail Size" buttons that we can add as part of our toolbars if we so desire.  Then those of us who would use the option could, and those who wouldn't don't have to!

[RobOK]

You're not weird, I would like to see this too (if indeed MC doesn't already do it this way which seems odd).

Just so i was clear, I meant not changing the file system date.  MC does not change the tag date field, which is what most functions run off of.


On your button suggestion, what toolbar would we add those buttons to.  MC doesnt have toolbars, does it?


As an edit to my original post, I don't think I am going to set a rating for photos, it will be too much work.  I do want to add them to playing lists though, it would be good to have that ability from within a slide show.

[glynor]

You're not weird, I would like to see this too (if indeed MC doesn't already do it this way which seems odd).

On your button suggestion, what toolbar would we add those buttons to.  MC doesnt have toolbars, does it?

It sure does!  There is one at the top and one at the bottom, and both are customizable.  They just don't offer an "Increase Thumbnail Size" button and a "Decrease Thumbnail Size" button (irritatingly).

To customize them, just point up at the top toolbar (such as at the word "File") and right-click.  Pick "Customize Toolbar" to get the toolbar dialog.  Same for the bottom toolbar (which is just the bottom bar where the number of files, etc is displayed.  This is (of course) just one way to get to the dialog.  You can also get there through Tools --> Options.

I add a number of useful image manipulation buttons to mine.  On the top bar I have the "List Style: Toggle List Style" button (to quickly switch the view from Details to Thumbnail-types), in addition to the standard File, Edit, View, Player, etc.

On the bottom bar I have:

Back
Forward
Separator (Sep)
Mode
Media Library
Playing Now
Sep
Tag Info
Import Media
Artist Info
Sep
Resize Image
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Acquire Images

It makes doing simple tasks like Rotating Images, etc work a lot nicer.  I really wish the toolbar was FAR more customizable.  For example, two things I'd REALLY like to see are:

1. I'd like to be able to add any of the standard automation commands (the mjextman.exe commands) to the toolbar.

2. I'd like to be able to add a button that launches the selected file (or files) in an external App (such as Photoshop).

[glynor]

Just so i was clear, I meant not changing the file system date.  MC does not change the tag date field, which is what most functions run off of.

I doubt that this is possible (or at least likely).  The reason that this is changing is that the tags are saved inside the files themselves, which modifies the file, which changes the Date Modified (which I believe is maintained by the OS, not by MC).  One way to prevent it, I suppose, would be to turn off the saving of Tag Info inside the files.  Go to Options --> General and uncheck "Update Tags when File Info Changes".  Then the changes you make will apply only to the MC database and will not update in the files themselves.  Of course, then if you ever switch to another management solution you won't be able to read the modified tags (they'll appear just as they did when you shot the image unless you manually sync the Tags to the MC database).

I don't know for sure, but I think this would prevent the file modified date from changing (which might be how ACDsee is doing it ... just saving it to an ACDsee specific database, not modifying the files themselves).

[IanG]

There are windows versions of "Touch", so changing the file dates is possible, but I think displaying (and preserving) the EXIF data is better.

Ian G.

[park]

I use ratings all the time (anything rated 3 or less gets filtered out in my "photoalbums" viewscheme)

Rating pics in a slideshow would be cool for me.

That and use of the tiles to show thumbnails and custom info. This feature is screaming to be used in the image viewschemes. Just needs to be made easy to customize what info gets put in (and it preferably needs to be editable).

[RobOK]

It sure does!  There is one at the top and one at the bottom, and both are customizable.  They just don't offer an "Increase Thumbnail Size" button and a "Decrease Thumbnail Size" button (irritatingly).

To customize them, just point up at the top toolbar (such as at the word "File") and right-click.  Pick "Customize Toolbar" to get the toolbar dialog.  Same for the bottom toolbar (which is just the bottom bar where the number of files, etc is displayed.  This is (of course) just one way to get to the dialog.  You can also get there through Tools --> Options.

I had NO IDEA that MC had toolbars!!!  I don't normally consider the menu a toolbar, but it acts the same way I guess.  V.Cool.   What else do people put on toolbars?

EDIT:  I wish it had more typical toolbars -- i.e. at the top, but not part of the menu bar.  Having commands at the bottom seems unnatural to me.

[glynor]

I wish it had more typical toolbars -- i.e. at the top, but not part of the menu bar.  Having commands at the bottom seems unnatural to me.

I used to think the toolbar at the top was weird too.  I don't know, I guess you get used to it.  It doesn't even seem odd to me anymore.  The toolbar at the bottom is essential to me though!

Actually, I always thought it would be pretty cool if it let you create completely custom toolbars that were "dockable" and/or "floatable" (ala Office or Adobe apps) like so many other apps.  Then, you could have the "File", etc menu as just another toolbar, and move it and your other ones around if you wanted.  That, and if we had a LOT more options for them ...

[tlongacre]

I just want to chime in here and add my vote for the changes you are suggesting. I do not use MC for image management, it's just not intuitive enough in that medium. I actually use Adobe PhotoAlbum. I would rather use MC, but there's just too much missing.

[RobOK]

I just want to chime in here and add my vote for the changes you are suggesting. I do not use MC for image management, it's just not intuitive enough in that medium. I actually use Adobe PhotoAlbum. I would rather use MC, but there's just too much missing.

Can you be specific about what is "missing"?  What exactly do you use in PhotoAlbum that you like?  (even the small things, those are sometimes the most important!)