That looks perfect for my needs, Lewis...free trial downloaded!
Some comments on Photo Mechanic.
1. It comes in two versions PM. and PM+.
PM+ is relatively new and adds cataloguing to the original browser only version of PM. Both versions are still on sale.
PM used Spotlight to search metadata, but I found it unusable as you need to open all the folders you want to search, inside PM before searching (slow if you have thousands of photographs) AND spotlight doesn't work properly with XMP files. With the old PM I never found "all" my files in a search. PM support explained the issue was with Spotlight, and subsequently removed Spotlight searching from PM. It was brought back by popular demand from PM users even though it's known it doesn't work properly.
So, if searching is important, you need PM+, which is identical to PM, but adds cataloging.
2. PM + is all about speed, and it uses the RAW file built in previews, rather than generating previews; the way most catalogues work. Now-a-days both LR and C1 adopt the same approach during ingest of using built in previews, but still build full size previews in the background. So while PM still has many speed advantages, other programs aren't as far behind as they used to be. Cameras that use low quality previews (Olympus and Sony) are at a "slight" disadvantage in terms of assessing image quality when compared to Nikon and Canon (but see below). You can get PM to render these files as DNGs, but it slows down the ingest
3. The catalogue of PM+ is a great asset for general file management and searching, but it isn't a mature DAM like Neofinder or LR. For example, there. are no smart folders (but you can save searches) and unlike every other DAM I've used, you cannot search by orientation (ie horizontal or vertical, but see below)).
4. PM/PM+ is very powerful, but has essentially the same, and rather old fashioned, interface that it's had since I started using it 20 years ago. Technical support is very good, and very quick (via the forum or the support desk), There are several good videos on Youtube.
5. You need to learn PM to get the most out of it. You can massively speed up workflow through PMs templates, auto complete, use of variables, code replacement tools and other customisations. But it can be a bit daunting.
For example, I have ingest templates for all the locations I regularly visit that automatically add metadata to XMP files on ingest. This includes "code replacement" values (=sn{mn0}=, =or{rot}) in the keyword field that automatically adds keywords for the season (Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter) and orientation (Vertical or Horizontal) from the exif data. These use a small look up table so, for example, if the exif data has a date in March, PM will add Spring as a keyword.
6. PM has a couple of flaws for me (apart from it being a still maturing DAM). The first is you can only easily compare two pictures at a time ie zoom them in synch to compare sharpness etc, and that there are no exposure adjustments available. So an image exposed to the right can be too pale to assess properly, and you can't brighten an underexposed image. PM has been asked several times to add an exposure adjustment, but it's always met with a flat "NO". To be fair Neofinder doesn't help with these issues either, but its designed as a DAM, and not a culling tool.
My solution is to use Fast Raw Viewer as my default "External editor" (Cmd+E). A solution that also works with Neofinder. FRV will open the selected image in PM almost instantaneously, along with thumbnails of any other images in the same folder. FRV has some editing tools (exposure, contrast, colour balance, and B/W conversion, but not cropping), focus assessment, raw histogram, and four up viewing. Any adjustments to ratings and colour labels are saved to XMP and immediately readable in PM. FRV also builds temporary preview files so Olympus and Sony files are seen in high quality. I don't use FRV that often, but it has some very useful tools, and can speed up the culling part of a workflow.
As PM+ has a file browser and a catalogue, the changes made in FRV will show up in the PM browser immediately, but won't be saved to the catalogue until you run a catalogue update.
I think this is already too long but PM is an odd program that I think you only really appreciate it after using it for some time and realising how much it can do.
