Keywords - Which free software is better? Pixvue or irfanvie

Peiling · #1 (**permalink**) 11-25-2006, 04:35 AM

ok i am still undecided on this as once you start it i think there is no going back and i dont want to regret on a system that i cant go out from after organising. So i am assessing my options before i take the plunge.
(Freeware....me not spending a cent on software as they just get over-ride by new ones all the time. me only buy microsoft for word/powerpoint etc).

Heard of these three freewares for keywording? Used them before? Which is better?
1) Pixvue
2) irfanview
3) XnView

Gracey · #2 (**permalink**) 11-25-2006, 07:23 AM

I really prefer PixVue for keywording. I've used all of these: I've had Irfanview for a long time and I still use it for things like quick image viewing, quick panoramas and I love it's batching capabilities - fast, fast, fast, and easy to use. XnView I'm not all that fond of for anything.

PixVue has the other capabilities too, besides keywording that are very handy. Keywording in PixVue is quick if you do similar images from a shoot - you can create templates and apply a template with the keywords in seconds; it has a handy slideshow viewer so you see images in a folder in a slideshow; and you can hold the mouse over an image thumbnail and see it's exif properties without opening the image.

Irfanview is okay for keywording too.

morch · #3 (**permalink**) 11-25-2006, 11:26 PM

Pixvue for me.

its really easy to use and the template function is great... The others probably do the same but I am more that happy with it so why change!

Actually Gracey recommended it to me

Doug

FlemishDreams · #4 (**permalink**) 12-05-2006, 11:24 AM

I'm using Irfanview for its batch function. Many people don't know all its capacities. For instance, you can copy any set of IPTC metadata to any set of photos. Just hold the CTRL key down when you click on photos here and there. Under the options tab, you can even specify you want to fill up only empty field in the photos, or override with selected (non-empty) fields in the template.

What I would really like is a function that goes through all your IPTC metadata (of a selected set of photos) and does a search and replace. That's very much needed when you made a typo, for instance in the keywords. Anybody knows a program that can do that? More possibilities: extend keywords, e.g. replace "water," by "water,wet," all over a folder. It would be nice to have a wild-card option, or a confirm screen Y/N on every photo. Aaaah, and I'd like a statistics page, where all your keywords are listed, prefereably with a thumbs page where all the photos appear that have that keyword. Nice way to find improper tagging or typos.

I'm still looking for the mother of all tagging programs, preferably with a built-in spell check.

hughstoneian · #5 (**permalink**) 12-05-2006, 04:54 PM

Does anyone know of a way to unalphabetize keywords when you add them in PixVue? It always puts my keywords in alpha order. I love the program, it's a huge time-saver. However, after I transfer Pixvue-tagged files to Fotolia, I still have to go in to each uploaded file and rearrange the keywords "in order of pertinence" since PixVue automatically puts them in alphabetical order. So I'm not saving very much time on FT. PixVue has made my microstock life much better overall, though. I like it alot!

-Dave

thesupe87 · #6 (**permalink**) 12-05-2006, 06:09 PM

I prefer Irfanview, only because PixVue gave me some issues with the keywords once. I forget what was happening, but I wasn't happy. Still, I use PixVue to view folders of images as slideshows (right click) and it had a few other nice features.

mangia · #7 (**permalink**) 12-15-2006, 10:36 PM

Pixvue works fine but I have problems on iStockphoto. Description field is empty. On other stock agencies works fine....
Also, I don't like it because sorting keywords alphabetically is default and I can't find turnoff option for this. It is big problem on Fotolia, where you need to set up your keywords by relevancy.