[Mark in Essex]

Hi there,

I am looking for some good photo album software for Windows 7 please?

I have been using Panasonic PhotoFunStudio that came with the camera, but cannot seem to find it to load it onto my new PC (also did not like it that much anyway).

The software must support AVCHD movies and also GPS locations apart from being able to sort as folders (normally file my photos in folders such as CORNWALL 2012, IBIZA 1992 etc....).

The camera is a Panasonic TX20 if that helps?

Cheers, Mark.

[flagpole]

picasa is pretty good.

i don't know if it meets your requirements but it's certainly free.

[Mark in Essex]

Originally Posted by flagpole

picasa is pretty good.

i don't know if it meets your requirements but it's certainly free.

Might have a look into it. I had it a few years ago,

I forgot to add that I did not really want to spend more than £50 and that would have to be a very good piece of software.

Cheers.

[mac2708]

Another vote for Picasa but have a look at these which may help

http://photo-organizing-software-rev...enreviews.com/

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...-organizer.htm

[paulbrock]

If you mean photo organising software (as opposed to say software for designing photo albums) then the king is Lightroom. It is a tad more expensive but it is super fab.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photos...2085034&sr=8-1

Lets you filter and find photos by folder on disk, collection, keyword, GPS or manually added location, date, file type, camera type, shutter speed, lens, star rating, and tonnes more

It also offers great editing options; in practice I rarely have to fire up photoshop as most stuff can be done in LR. (and when I do have to open PS, I can do so from Lightroom and it will track the changes)

Then for exporting, it will link to the major websites - flickr, facebook, smugmug, 500px and more.

(I spent £50 last week on upgrading from LR1 to LR4 (upgrade prices are cheaper) and it has come on in leaps and bounds - very enthusiastic about it as you can tell!)

Free trial and more info here:
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/pho...lightroom.html

[Magic Cottage]

Another vote for Picasa. It does support GPS as well. I use it.

It's Free. Lightroom is £89 even on Amazon.

[flagpole]

Originally Posted by paulbrock

If you mean photo organising software (as opposed to say software for designing photo albums) then the king is Lightroom. It is a tad more expensive but it is super fab.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Photos...2085034&sr=8-1

Lets you filter and find photos by folder on disk, collection, keyword, GPS or manually added location, date, file type, camera type, shutter speed, lens, star rating, and tonnes more

It also offers great editing options; in practice I rarely have to fire up photoshop as most stuff can be done in LR. (and when I do have to open PS, I can do so from Lightroom and it will track the changes)

Then for exporting, it will link to the major websites - flickr, facebook, smugmug, 500px and more.

(I spent £50 last week on upgrading from LR1 to LR4 (upgrade prices are cheaper) and it has come on in leaps and bounds - very enthusiastic about it as you can tell!)

Free trial and more info here:
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/pho...lightroom.html

if we are going to lightroom level then you can do worse the corel's aftershot pro http://www.corel.com/corel/product/i...id=prod4670071

there is a 30 day trial.

[Mark in Essex]

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I will give Picasa a go (just installing it at the moment).

Mark.

[Mark in Essex]

It's just searching for photos on my PC at the moment, but it does not seem to be picking up any of the videos (AVCHD or otherwise)?

Does it actually support videos as well, as I really wanted a package that had my videos next to my photos in the same folder (say CORNWALL 2012)?

Also would Corel or Lightroom do this as either?

Thanks, Mark.

[anniebrion]

Originally Posted by Mark in Essex

It's just searching for photos on my PC at the moment, but it does not seem to be picking up any of the videos (AVCHD or otherwise)?

Does it actually support videos as well, as I really wanted a package that had my videos next to my photos in the same folder (say CORNWALL 2012)?

Also would Corel or Lightroom do this as either?

Thanks, Mark.

It does support video but I don't know exactly which formats.

[flagpole]

Originally Posted by Mark in Essex

It's just searching for photos on my PC at the moment, but it does not seem to be picking up any of the videos (AVCHD or otherwise)?

Does it actually support videos as well, as I really wanted a package that had my videos next to my photos in the same folder (say CORNWALL 2012)?

Also would Corel or Lightroom do this as either?

Thanks, Mark.

lightroom has some video support. don't know much about it.

picasa should do too. you may need to install a codec. picasa uses the system codecs (directshow,) so if it plays in windows media player then it should play in picasa. if it doesn't you will need to add the codec, and possibly tell picasa what file extensions it should be using.

lightroom is a huge professional product. it wasn't clear from the OP exactly what you are after. lightroom is more for importing photos in raw format (digital negative from DSLR cameras,) and processing them. i think it would be overkill for what it sounds like your needs are.

edit
see this link for picasa video
http://support.google.com/picasa/bin...n&answer=19626
what extension exactly do they have?

edit 2
they suggest installing the klite pac. not a huge fan myself. but it seems that it might be the http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Haali-Media-Splitter component that installs the .m2ts directshow component.

[paulbrock]

Originally Posted by flagpole

lightroom has some video support. don't know much about it.

I don't do video but video support seems to be pretty comprehensive in Lightroom.

lightroom is more for importing photos in raw format (digital negative from DSLR cameras,) and processing them. i think it would be overkill for what it sounds like your needs are.

I'm not sure that's true. Yes its very good at processing raw files, but its also an excellent photo organiser, for either RAW or JPG. It's certainly aimed more at the serious amateur photographer or pro rather than someone that is only taking photos of mates on holidays but if you've got as far as having a fully manual camera I'd say its worth considering.

The biggest negative for me is it helps to have a relatively chunky machine - mine's not new by any means but 4gb memory definitely helps. and LR4 won't run on XP. At all.

[paulbrock]

Of course there's also a reasonable organiser bundled with Photoshop Elements I believe, which is a bit friendlier than Lightroom..but I've not used the organiser since PE 3 so not sure how it compares these days!
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/pho.../features.html

At £80 though, it's a bit steep. I picked up PE 7 recently on ebay for about a tenner.

[flagpole]

Originally Posted by paulbrock

I don't do video but video support seems to be pretty comprehensive in Lightroom.



I'm not sure that's true. Yes its very good at processing raw files, but its also an excellent photo organiser, for either RAW or JPG. It's certainly aimed more at the serious amateur photographer or pro rather than someone that is only taking photos of mates on holidays but if you've got as far as having a fully manual camera I'd say its worth considering.

The biggest negative for me is it helps to have a relatively chunky machine - mine's not new by any means but 4gb memory definitely helps. and LR4 won't run on XP. At all.

i'm not saying that it's not a great organiser. just really that it's overkill for what the OP seems to want. like when people recommend photoshop to someone wanting to crop a photo.

[Mark in Essex]

Originally Posted by flagpole

lightroom has some video support. don't know much about it.

picasa should do too. you may need to install a codec. picasa uses the system codecs (directshow,) so if it plays in windows media player then it should play in picasa. if it doesn't you will need to add the codec, and possibly tell picasa what file extensions it should be using.

lightroom is a huge professional product. it wasn't clear from the OP exactly what you are after. lightroom is more for importing photos in raw format (digital negative from DSLR cameras,) and processing them. i think it would be overkill for what it sounds like your needs are.

edit
see this link for picasa video
http://support.google.com/picasa/bin...n&answer=19626
what extension exactly do they have?

edit 2
they suggest installing the klite pac. not a huge fan myself. but it seems that it might be the http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Haali-Media-Splitter component that installs the .m2ts directshow component.

Hi there,

I believe that the video format it .MTS

I really just wanted something that I could organise/view my photos and videos on my PC (no need for photo editing, as I have got Photoshop Elements 6 for that (it does have a photo organiser, but it does not seem that good for what I want).

Thanks, Mark.

[davethorp]

Bit of info about lightroom's video support

http://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/...troom-4-3.html

Seems to cover what the OP wants though as others have said it may well be overkill. It is a very good piece of software though and even better if you can get student pricing.

It's also now included in the creative cloud subscription though that would be overkill for the OP I would think