First Impressions After Upgrade
Well I have to say I'm a little dissapointed as I expected more than just cosmetic work.
A couple of points for the moment.
It's nice that XMP is now incorparated, but it is still a shame that moving a file within Media Pro , (Action Move To File) still does not move the XMP file with it and leaves the XMP file behind in the original folder, chocolate teapot comes to mind. 😉
It seems that "File Sort By" no longer works, could someone verify this for me just to make sure it is not just a glitch on my end?
It seem that addiong GPS data is no longer possible in Media Pro, so it seems we have lost some usabilty rather than gained any.
Hopefully phase one will soon come up with some upgrades that do not have to be paid for to fix these shorcomings.
A couple of points for the moment.
It's nice that XMP is now incorparated, but it is still a shame that moving a file within Media Pro , (Action Move To File) still does not move the XMP file with it and leaves the XMP file behind in the original folder, chocolate teapot comes to mind. 😉
It seems that "File Sort By" no longer works, could someone verify this for me just to make sure it is not just a glitch on my end?
It seem that addiong GPS data is no longer possible in Media Pro, so it seems we have lost some usabilty rather than gained any.
Hopefully phase one will soon come up with some upgrades that do not have to be paid for to fix these shorcomings.
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I'm downloading it now.
I was really excited until I read your post. If this is a bomb, I guess it will do until the folks at Camera Bits release their DAM software.
If its anything like Photo Mechanic, I know it'll be robust,quick, and just plain good.
But lets not get ahead of ourselves. My download is complete, time to play.0 -
I just updated to new version. The GUI new color set is totally wrong: blacks everywhere and eyes are not able to focus on important elements.
It's still possible to change the main panels colors but not for toolbars and left panels.0 -
Well, I have had two crashes. Both from trying to use the light table while the catalogue was "building".
Building the catalogue takes way too long
The thumbnail sizes don't change even though it says they are larger.
I don't think its ready.0 -
Ok, some first impressions as well:
- worked on my MacBookPro, was able to get scripts but haven't got the time to test it though
- impossible to launch it on my MacPro with exactly the same os 10.6.7. Very strange.
- the UI feels like unfinished to me. Like a bad CaptureOne theme with some ExpressionMedia ghosting effects.
- previews rendering is slower than ExpressionMedia with PSD or PNG or JPG . I have some lags with the same catalog, images and configuration comparing to ExpressionMedia 2 sp2.
- does the new XMP sidecar work with DNG XMP? with JPG file in CameraRAW?
- good that the 125000 files and 2Go catalog limit are lifted at last.
I guess it's a bit early for PhaseOne to add more functionality. But I do hope they will provide some major updates soon.
I'm really waiting for a complete workflow. I'm willing to upgrade my old version of CaptureOne as well if MediaPro will work perfectly.
N.0 -
[quote="opendoc" wrote:
I just updated to new version. The GUI new color set is totally wrong: blacks everywhere and eyes are not able to focus on important elements.
I agree.
This totally black interface is not going to work for me at all. It's not only hard to see and work with, it's depressing and virtually unusable (at least to me).
I pass on this one.
Too bad.0 -
It would appear that the interface can be configured to accommodate individual tastes and needs. 0 -
In terms of the GUI, I can understand your concern but in the grand scheme of things this is quite minor. We can change this, or show you how to edit this, down the road if need be.
For the time being, as this is the first step in the right direction for this software in several years, it would be extremely helpful if we could get some performance and feature feedback. The more constructive information we can get in regards to functionality the faster we can improve it. From there, we'll tackle the small stuff like software themes.0 -
[quote="Drew" wrote:
In terms of the GUI, I can understand your concern but in the grand scheme of things this is quite minor. We can change this, or show you how to edit this, down the road if need be.
For the time being, as this is the first step in the right direction for this software in several years, it would be extremely helpful if we could get some performance and feature feedback. The more constructive information we can get in regards to functionality the faster we can improve it. From there, we'll tackle the small stuff like software themes.
Hi Drew
I agree with the above comments and please don't underestimate how important the GUI is to the programs function. My use of the software is essentially as a management tool for stock and the GUI changes you have made actively get in the way. I won't be upgrading until this improves. One example is the highlighting of tags in the catalogue fields panel. This would go a nice bright blue when clicking an image to indicate visually which catalog sets (mine are extensive) it resides in but in your new software the highlight change is from a light grey to white which is barely visible - your testers should be telling you this is super important. Please get the basics right first - iView Media Pro was popular for a reason.
Some other points to note which impede usability: padding of menu items is too small, scripts menu collapses in on itself, gray main function icons disappear into the dark interface
Performance wise I can say that it is noticeably laggy with respect to interface interaction eg panel resizing, tool changes etc. Expression Media 2 runs without a glitch on my system (Windows 7 64bit, 3.2GHz Core 2 Quad, 8Gig RAM, Radeon HD 2GB). Is this a .NET issue?
Thanks
Tim0 -
[quote="Drew" wrote:
The more constructive information we can get in regards to functionality the faster we can improve it. From there, we'll tackle the small stuff like software themes.
Drew I can live with GUI, but apart from increased functionality in working with CO6 then functionality seems to have decreased compared to EM2."To sort files according to attributes
On the toolbar, click the Sort button.
Choose your criteria to sort the media items.
To return to the default sort order (the order in which the items were initially imported), click Default."
This just does not work on my copy!
Also in EM2 you could also control click on more than one folder to display just those images in those folders, now selecting more than one folder results in no images displayed at all, so you just have the option of viewing just one folder or all the images in your catalogue. These two things alone make image management almost impossible. 😕0 -
Hi Drew
First off, I am relieved that your company has taken over this software, and you need to recognize that all of us original IView users have endured a tremendous amount of neglect. It is a program with great potential or otherwise we would all have bailed years ago.
Before I upgrade, can you tell me if the problem with mapping the paths across mac/pc platforms has been resolved? We have both in our studio, yet can only set up the catalogs for one or the other. This has been long discussed ad nauseum in previous forums, yet never corrected. Obviously a major flaw.
Thanks
Philip0 -
It seems that "File Sort By" no longer works, could someone verify this for me just to make sure it is not just a glitch on my end?
I just tested this on my system (win7 64bit) in a one-on-one comparison with EM2 and it does neither work here...
Roelof0 -
Also in EM2 you could also control click on more than one folder to display just those images in those folders, now selecting more than one folder results in no images displayed at all, so you just have the option of viewing just one folder or all the images in your catalogue. These two things alone make image management almost impossible.
I can confirm this one also..
Roelof0 -
apart from the GUI I find the disappearance of virtual earth a real loss.
Roelof0 -
I regret that Phase One has knuckle under fashionable "Gothic".
It is an ergonomic disaster. Pity for our eyes.
iView had the good idea to allow to customize the colors of views by leaving tools and panels in white.
Regarding the performance, EM2 uses all processor cores while MP uses only two. Why this regression?
The application structure is similar to that of MS2, it has not been modernized.
As a former translator for the French versions of iView I was appalled (not just me) by the work of Microsoft.
What are your intentions in this regard?0 -
I'm happy with what I see so far. Glad to see it support so many "new" RAW-formats. Being on a Mac I have been crippled the past years since none of my Panasonic cameras have been recognized.
I'm also glad that so much of what is familiar and worked nice under Iview is kept. Especially thinking about the layout. New and more colors, but that is fine with me. I don't use hierarchical keywords (at least it doesn't appear I do) and I wish I could hide that field. Not checked out all changes (like the catalog and previews), but the browsing speed seems to be close to ME2.0 -
[quote="Paul Silk"] wrote:
Well I have to say I'm a little dissapointed as I expected more than just cosmetic work.
I agree and with many of the other posts.
I never bothered update to version 2 of Exp. Media, but integrated RAW support (especially for my Panasonic GH2) is a nice addition. I'd have thought that much more cosmetic work would have been done given all the time that's passed since PhaseOne saved it from Microsoft. I'm assuming that most of what was done was under-the-hood work and that GUI improvements, along with speed and bug fixes will surely follow, yes?
The grey on black color scheme is dreadful.
The tiny, choppy fonts in the sidebar lists are also awful This needs to be adjustable, especially for those of us who have 15" MacBook Pros with high-res anti-glare screens. Please, more contrast and some anti-aliassing.
Requests:
• Where is the AVCHD support? Please let me ditch VLC!
• Can we PLEASE have some sort of user definable default settings for new catalogues, especially Slide Show Options!
• I use some manual Nikon prime lenses with my GH2, so having the ability to add those lenses to EXIF data would be great.0 -
I would welcome all of you to create support cases so we can properly log your concerns and hopefully make a quick adjustment in an upcoming release.
http://www.phaseone.com/en/SupportMain/ ... pport.aspx0 -
Just to show, that not all people have problems with the new colors: I prefer much more the new color, then the colors of ME2. I guess for the future their will be more color schemes?
Importing files need a lot of time and resources (Phenom X4 940).0 -
[quote="rmoorlag" wrote:
apart from the GUI I find the disappearance of virtual earth a real loss.
Roelof
'Virtual Earth' is still present as 'View Location on Map'. Since 'Virtual Earth' was linked to Microsoft bing, we had to make some adjustments.0 -
A couple of small things I would like to see improved:
1. The ability of MP to show, or flip through, all variants, not just the image CP1 has on top.
2. CP1 automatically syncs all changes to the XML file. I would like to see MP put a sync button for quick syncing of a folder's data to their XML file. Much better than having to select all and then sync. Looking to reduce work flow clicks.
3. I would also like to see a button that would build the thumbnails of the current folder. Again no requiring selecting all, yada yada yads.
4. I too would like to see an improvement in speed. Not sure what computer was used in the training videos, but I'm not see the instantaneous speed on my MacPro.0 -
Drew,
So far I like what I see, the GUI is not bad but needs a bit more contrast so tools are easier to spot.
I have not played around with all that much, but I am getting an error message when I import items into a new catalog. The error message is displayed on a pale yellow background with the text just a shade or two darker so it is really hard to read. I states that there was an error on a photo being imported. After I have the time tonight to really get into it, I'll file a support case, but please take note to fix the text color on the error message. I realize you were left a heap of code from the the Redmond Behemoth so it will take time to tweak, after all this program has been neglected for years.
However I must say I love seeing my changes in CO rendered in Media Pro. Many times I use Uni WB, and seeing all the photos in my DAM software with a green hue gets annoying. Now I can see them as they were meant to be.
Paul0 -
How about the 'quick switch' between the Info and Organize Panel?
Does no one has problems with that?
I used it a lot in Expression Media, probably it's best to use the Ctrl+4 and Ctrl+5 commands instead...
Roelof0 -
[quote="Drew" wrote:
We can change this, or show you how to edit this, down the road if need be.
It certainly would be nice if we could determine the background and text color for the Organize and Info panels as we can for the thumbnail, list and Media views. The current color scheme's contrast is just too straining on my eyes.0 -
There's a curse on this software, isn't there ??
It's early days yet, but I've been hoping for an integration of Media Pro and CO since before the Microsoft takeover. Now it is here maybe I'll return to CO.
But honestly, the UI ?? If you really want to go with it, ok, but please could we have a "Classic Look" option ? Please ?? This black, grey & orange look is a total eyesore. Coming from a photography company it really is remarkable free of tasteful design ☹️
I was pretty excited by this so I just upgraded sight unseen: the very reasonable upgrade price helped. But the "multiple selected folder" bug is a complete showstopper. I can't imagine how that got past testing...
I guess it can only get better!0 -
[quote="Drew" wrote:
[quote="rmoorlag" wrote:
apart from the GUI I find the disappearance of virtual earth a real loss.
Roelof
'Virtual Earth' is still present as 'View Location on Map'. Since 'Virtual Earth' was linked to Microsoft bing, we had to make some adjustments.
New in Media Pro is that the location is simply displayed on a Google-map (provided GPS data is present) and it does not provide any functionality such as to manipulate existing or create non-exisiting GPS data like it was possible Expression Media2.
This is not an adjustment, the is a step backward.
Apparently removing a functionality is newly called 'make some adjustments' (see quote above).
Is it a problem that the location is displayed on a Bing map (which is publicly accessible)?
I find it hard to believe that the link to Microsoft Bing had to be removed as part of the purchasing contract of Expression Media. More likely it seems as if Phase One has some strange problem using Microsoft Bing.
Whatever the reason may be, this very useful functionality to determine a location has disappeared and keeps one wondering.
Phase One, please just make this feature functional as it was or make it even better so GPS data is written back into the image EXIF data section.0 -
[quote="snahl" wrote:
[quote="Drew" wrote:
[quote="rmoorlag" wrote:
apart from the GUI I find the disappearance of virtual earth a real loss.
Roelof
'Virtual Earth' is still present as 'View Location on Map'. Since 'Virtual Earth' was linked to Microsoft bing, we had to make some adjustments.
New in Media Pro is that the location is simply displayed on a Google-map (provided GPS data is present) and it does not provide any functionality such as to manipulate existing or create non-exisiting GPS data like it was possible Expression Media2.
This is not an adjustment, the is a step backward.
Apparently removing a functionality is newly called 'make some adjustments' (see quote above).
Is it a problem that the location is displayed on a Bing map (which is publicly accessible)?
I find it hard to believe that the link to Microsoft Bing had to be removed as part of the purchasing contract of Expression Media. More likely it seems as if Phase One has some strange problem using Microsoft Bing.
Whatever the reason may be, this very useful functionality to determine a location has disappeared and keeps one wondering.
Phase One, please just make this feature functional as it was or make it even better so GPS data is written back into the image EXIF data section.
Snahl is right so I just logged a support call for this.
Roelof0 -
Well, it did not crash (yet), its speed is no issue, but it is so ugly and difficult to look at,let alone look for some feature, that all these is enough to stay away from it. To pay $199 for this program? So what if it shows the editing in C1? Only one variant out of 5? Which one out of 5? Useless. The down, left status bar (?) keeps flickering all the time. It gets on my nerves. I know I repeat, but... sort does not work at all...
It looks like a 11th grade high school MMI design.
So sad...0 -
Rendering time of images I've tested (jpegs) is slower than IView MediaPro 3. I had ExpressionMedia but never used it because of various annoying things about it.
Not sure if I'll use this either unless it renders pics faster. The momentary bluriness drives me nuts. I tried changing the settings to use different rendering, but haven't been able to make it any faster. Maybe I'm missing something, but this is really disappointing if it's the way it is.0 -
Just tested sorting and it works fine for me. I'm on a Mac Pro using 10.6.7. People do know that one has to select all the images before sorting, don't they? 😉 0
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