I have been using Google Picasa since Moses was a boy and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with it I sometimes feel that I should move onto something newer or better. Picasa was abandoned by Google almost exactly a decade ago in favour of Google Photos.
One thing I try to use is free open source software and Darktable is such a program. It seems to do a very similar job to Picasa.
My main use of Picasa is as a photo importer and cataloguer but it is also really useful for carrying out simple editing tasks like cropping, contrast adjustment etc. However with some camera devices I find it easier to use a batch file to import files.
Darktable’s web site is here:
Has anybody on here had any experience of using Darktable?
BTW I am slow to change, it is probably only a year or so since I started to use Paint Dot Net instead of the old shareware version of Paintshop Pro (later taken over by Corel) but I am very interested in hearing from other users who do use Darktable.
I tried it. Seems to be a very comprehensive editor, includes all the usual stuff and more including parallax correction.
The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that it created a data file for each picture. I think I will stick with Picasa for now (Picasa only creates one data file for each folder).
I’ve never used Darktable, I know the name, it’s been around for years as a usable free editor. But I don’t have much enthusiasm for photos and editing nowadays.
When I do feel inspired, I use my Ricoh, shoot raw then chose a picture profile in camera.
And the phone is useful, the AI tools are fun.
If I was into a new editor, I’d go for Luminar Neo, seems a lot of fun, nice layout, free trial …
I found another open source asset manager called LAP which I have tried on my laptop. It doesn’t seem to have an editor but it can search for particular images eg “cars” etc
The trouble is the more I try the more I like Picasa 3
I have used AI tools to edit photos, I recently took a profile pic of me for my web site using a web cam on my desktop and got AI to remove a cluttered background. Chat GPT did a better job than I ever could.
