Before Picasa is born, I have always having issues to organize my photo, as I always take photo in RAW format, the differences of the RAW format by different manufacturer and different camera model always give me a headache.
Why is that so? I have a Canon 350D and a Panasonic Lumix LX3, which both come with their own software (Canon ZoomBrowser and Panasonic PhotoFunStudio). Now, here comes the problem, Canon ZoomBrowser cannot understand RW2 format and Panasonic PhotoFunStudio cannot understand CR2 format. So, if I took an event with both cameras, it is really hard for me to view all the photo in the same software.
So, I opt for the Windows explorer thumbnail. What is the issue then? The issue is that Microsoft Windows explorer "suppose" to be able to thumbnail any format as long as you install the RAW format driver. It seems like a nemesis to Windows that "it will work when is it working", which translated to "if you see it, congrats. If not, I'm sorry".
Then, I have been left with the choice of Adobe Bridge or Lightroom, which I'll have to pay for it, and yet, there are no guarantee that you'll be able to view the thumbnail as well. I had test it out and some how it is unable to thumbnail RW2. I'm not sure if it is my machine problem or the software problem, as I'm looking for something that will work out of the box.
I have live with all the pains until Picasa is born. As a start, I don't really put a high hope that it will work as what I wish it to, but then, voila! After the installation, I can just see all my photos thumbnail! Yay, finally something is working as what I want. It is not only that, Picasa come with a free 1GB web album. It is not a lot but I'm not backing up my photo in it, I just want to share it with a smaller version of my photos, and Picasa offered a direct resize feature during uploading process! This software is really built to cater every needs that I have.
The photo album organization is simple and straightforward as well. As you move your photo from album to album, you can opt to move the physical file in your folder as well, nice. Also, you can add watermark to every photos during export process, create collage and etc......I just love the features.
There are some simple photo editing features as well, but that is the weak point for Picasa, as it tends to create noisy photo after the editing. Hope that this can be improved. :P
With that latest release which is Picasa 3.5, there are more that you can do, geotag, add places, organize photo according to people (it is auto detect!) and etc......go check the Picasa website
And lastly and the most important thing is.......IT IS FREE!!! And now they are offering Picasa for Windows, OSX and Linux as well. This means, as long as you have a machine, you can install it. :)
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