The disadvantage of using an image browser like Photo Mechanic though is that you’ll need to convert those RAW shots later in another program. With Photo Mechanic 5, I was able to drop a huge file of thousands of RAW and JPEG images onto the program and have them all pop up quicker than I could scan through them. The speedy core of the program, which quickly generates previews of high-res images by using a JPEG proxy file embedded in the RAW, remains the same. While for years, new versions of Photo Mechanic crept along as incremental updates-the last one I reviewed was 4.6.5 in 2010-the small Portland, Oregon-based company that produces the software, Camera Bits, finally released Photo Mechanic 5 and it’s added helpful new features without drastically altering the program. And, for many photographers, particularly sports shooters, Photo Mechanic performs many more timesaving tricks than Bridge. But you know what? Even though I love me some Adobe Bridge, Photo Mechanic still whips its butt when it comes to speed.
Unlike Lightroom and Aperture, Photo Mechanic is not a RAW image converter-it’s just a photo browser that’s more of a direct competitor to Adobe Bridge than anything else. Of course, it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. What do I like about this almost cultish photo browser that has similar functionality to the better-known Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Bridge and Apple Aperture? It’s that Photo Mechanic is just flat out fast, letting me open and review an entire library of high-res images (including RAW files) while those other programs are still starting up. One piece of software, however, that I find myself returning to again and again, even though I have other good imaging programs that do sort of the same thing, is Photo Mechanic. It’s gotten to the point where I can tell ten minutes into the user experience whether a program is something I would use on a regular basis or if I should just delete it immediately from my hard drive.
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For over 20 years and counting, Photo Mechanic remains the go-to software for professional photographers around the world.In my line of work, I receive tons of software programs to test out: some of them good, some of them redundant and much of them, unfortunately, total crap. Photo Mechanic isn’t just for photojournalists its speed and organizational tools now help all professional photographers work faster and more efficiently. Because everyone in the photojournalism business used IPTC standards, Dennis also became an accidental expert on metadata, incorporating tools like batch captioning and variables in Photo Mechanic to simplify and expand the application and usage of metadata in photography. Taking all that he had learned, assisting photo editors in the tense environment of major global sporting events, Dennis released the first version of Photo Mechanic in February 1998. Interestingly, he implemented RAW exposure compensation before Kodak did for their own cameras, earning him an award from the NPPA for his contributions.
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Dennis initially focused on image quality issues such as color artifacts and high ISO noise-reduction, creating Photoshop filter plug-ins to solve these difficult problems.Īfter attending several photojournalism workshops and seeing the woes of workflow at professional football’s biggest game, Dennis realized that the biggest contribution he could make to digital photography besides image quality was to improve the selection and editing process, which at the time was (to use a technical term) rather “clunky.”ĭennis continued to create Photoshop plug-ins that improved image quality by using new RAW processing algorithms and advanced image filtering techniques. He then started working with digital pioneers, Kodak and Minolta, to vastly accelerate the RAW processing and image quality of their early attempts at digital cameras for working professionals.
Prior to founding Camera Bits, Dennis worked in the field of neural networks and was co-author of the award winning game Dungeon Master. He started the company in 1996 after his initial exposure to digital photography at his previous job showed him a need for improved image quality and workflow solutions. Dennis Walker is the President and Founder of Camera Bits.
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