Keyword entry is similarly full featured, with preset structured keyword hierarchy support for things as detailed as bird species. You can create metadata templates to add to multiple photos later. Professional photographers will appreciate the thorough IPTC entry boxes for model, copyright, location, and project details. One of Photo Mechanic's strengths is its detailed metadata entry capabilities. Radio buttons display blown highlights and lost shadow detail, but I'm not sure why you can't show both at once with different color overlays as you can in Lightroom Classic. You also see a histogram, a useful tool for determining whether you got the lighting right in a shot. The reason for the Shift key is that the more significant use of the mouse wheel is to quickly move back and forth through images, for which a filmstrip view appears across the bottom. Here you can zoom by holding the Shift key and spinning the mouse wheel or using a slider in the right-side panel. Opening a photo puts it into a image viewer interface, which is equally clear. In the Contact Sheet view, you can star-rate each image in its thumbnail or right-click to set a color tag as well as perform other metadata functions. Once you land on a photo you want to edit, you can tap the E key to open it in your default photo editing application for that file type. Missing are simple pick and reject buttons offered by other software, though you can check a tag box or press T or + to tag an image, which is this app's equivalent to what other apps call a pick. You can enlarge the Contact Sheet view in Photo Mechanic with a slider at the top of the window, and you can sort images by capture time, modified time, filename, star rating, and other criteria. Despite the outdated design touches, the interface is still functional, with clear on-hover buttons on each thumbnail for rotating, viewing info, and opening in full view. In general, the interface seems to hail from the Windows Vista days, with 3D Aero styling. Photo Mechanic's interface uses light colored window borders, which most photo software has moved away from in favor of a dark gray that doesn't distract from the images. Each folder you open gets a new tab at the top of the window. The window quickly populates with your shots with what Camera Bits calls the Contact Sheet. When you first run the application, you see its empty interface along with a File Explorer window where you choose a folder to open. If you're installing the trial, you have to install yet another applet. Once you install GStreamer, you continue with the main installation by entering your serial number and giving permission to the app to contact Camera Bit's servers. During installation, a dialog asks whether you want to download GStreamer, which is needed if you want to view videos in Photo Mechanic. Photo Mechanic requires Windows 8 or later or macOS 10.11 or later. Adobe Lightroom Classic, which does an excellent job of importing and organizing, will lock you into a $9.99-per-month subscription for as long as you wan to use the program. The closest thing is Corel AfterShot Pro, which goes for $79.99 and includes more photo editing options and raw camera file correction profiles. It's hard to draw comparisons with competing software, since most of the competitors do a lot more than let you view, import, and organize photos. The premium version, Photo Mechanic Plus ($229 or $90 to upgrade), adds an image database with multiple catalog capability. Upgrading from an earlier version costs $89. Photo Mechanic carries a one-time purchase price of $139.
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