Alternatives to Picasa

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rb99

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#262205 10-Jan-2020 07:25

I know Google generously killed Picasa ages ago, but did anyone round here find a decent alternative thats pretty simple (not Photoshop), has a reasonable selection of edits, reasonable organising, imports straight from a camera, and preferably free (not Adobe).

I've had a google and nothing really leaps out at me (no not literally).

Should I just download the last version and use that or would there be security implications ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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#2389416 10-Jan-2020 07:47

I'm still using Picasa, never found anything else that came close to it.

Lot of users will say "Lightroom" but I found it too cluttered and over featured for basic image manipulation and management.

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#2389419 10-Jan-2020 07:54

AFAIK, Picasa can still be used as it is only the web features that were discontinued in 2016. But I would be wary of using any application that is not under active development.

It depends what you used in Picasa as to what is a reasonable alternative. I used to review free photo managers and image viewers for a free software site and there was never a direct competitor for Picasa on the Windows platform. But the good news is that the alternatives have grown and some software which was too buggy to use should be more reliable now, e.g. Digikam which was much better on Linux, it's native platform. The bad news is that good comparisons are hard to find. Even the Wikipedia article on Image Organizers is not fully up-to-date as there are options missing, e.g. free Magix Photo manager.

As there is no migration path from Picasa to Google Photos, you basically start again which is why non-Google products should be considered if you are looking. Personally, I won't be relying on Google for a replacement because this is the fourth Google product which I relied upon but which has been killed with no suitable replacement.

Even so, a lot of people will be using Google Photos. Many others will be using the default Windows option, Microsoft Photos. I found both to be unsatisfactory replacements so i still don't have an actual replacement. And I certainly can't replace all the hard work I put into my Picasa photo library facial recognition, etc.

linw

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#2389421 10-Jan-2020 08:05

Darn shame it was dropped by Google, but, for better or worse, I still use Picasa!

rb99

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#2389426 10-Jan-2020 08:18

The only thing that stops me just downloading it is any security thing there might be with it not being maintained, as mentioned. OTOH are people actually going to try to somehow hack a program that got killed off almost 4 years ago anyway. Am tending towards the oh bugger it and download it route at the moment. I hate decisions.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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CutCutCut

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#2389576 10-Jan-2020 10:36

We're still using it. I was going to try lightroom, but it looked a bit trickier to use, and my wife wasn't keen on the change so we've just kept on with Picasa.

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#2389577 10-Jan-2020 10:41

Lightroom is far too complex for most home users. Even as a professional photographer I found it too slow and complex. I use Adobe Bridge, which is paid software.

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#2389641 10-Jan-2020 13:31

I was introduced to digikam recently. It's the first picasa replacement i've seen out there!

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michaelmurfy

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#2389643 10-Jan-2020 13:36

There is also Darktable: https://www.darktable.org/

This is free & opensource.

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rb99

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#2389662 10-Jan-2020 14:14

Darktable and DigiKam look a bit advanced for my needs. Its mostly so me and t"other half can wander through our family / whatever photos with a bit of touching up and cropping. And maybe adding a bit of text (to make posters etc for Emby).

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

KillerHulk

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#2389666 10-Jan-2020 14:26

Wont Windows 10 inbuilt photos editor work for basic touch ups & cropping ? or paint 3D?

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#2389720 10-Jan-2020 16:28

There is BeFunky.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

andreajnz

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#2389737 10-Jan-2020 16:55

I've been using Irfanview https://www.irfanview.com/ for about 20 years now.

It has always worked well for me, for basic editing of images - though not really for sorting, finding and filing the images.

Andrea

shk292

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#2389803 10-Jan-2020 18:09

I've just stuck with Picasa, because I like the simple interface and easy editing (eg 'I'm feeling lucky' button is great for restoring colour balance)

I can't see it's much of a security risk even if un-updated, not exactly a large user base

rb99

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#2389908 10-Jan-2020 21:13

Not all that surprisingly, I've gone back to Picasa - its simple, does enough and its familiar, so it'll do.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

surfisup1000

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#2391912 14-Jan-2020 14:42

I still use windows live photo - it is pretty fast and preferred it to picasa for some reason i cannot recall.

My biggest issue now is that the new'ish apple image format (HEIC) needs a paid license to work in windows. Why do big companies force you into proprietary formats then charge for them?? It is not like you didn't just drop $2500 on their latest device!!

I'm not sure a paid licence would even be compatible with live photo.