ACDSee Pro Photo Manager
Workflow Solution for PC Users

If one were to listen to all the fast talking marketing hype out there it would be easy to make the mistake that all photographers use a Mac. There might be sound reasons to make this assumption but let’s be honest – the vast majority of personal computer owners are on a Windows platform, and a great many of them are photographers.

For those of us who can’t use Apple’s much hyped Aperture workflow software or simply cannot afford to pour a hefty sum of money into Adobe products, ACD Systems has come to the rescue with ACDSee Pro Photo Manager. Designed for professional photographers, the program allows users to control the entire photo-editing process from cataloguing to publishing and archiving.

The single most useful aspect of ACDSee Pro is that it processes RAW files non-destructively, nearly as effectively as Adobe Photoshop's Camera Raw tool but for a fraction of the price. The latest version also recognizes most strains of Adobe's public RAW format, Digital Negative (DNG).

Professional photographers will welcome ACDSee Pro's support for ICC and ICM color profiles. The program's interface can be customized, with savable workspace layouts and user defined shortcut keys. HTML Web photo galleries created from the program's templates can always be tweaked to your hearts desire. The program's regular image-editing window boasts a few handy features as well including a watermark creation tool (my personal favorite), lens-correction tools, and a Shadow/Highlight command that really helps when dealing with harsh sunlight during summertime shoots.

Another added feature to ACDSee Pro is a function called Sync, which provides an alternate way to back up photos. You define the source and the destination of your files, and specify what the application should do in the event of a file conflict. Though primarily an archiving tool, Sync also helps you avoid storing duplicate files if you use two computers for photo editing. This feature may not get a lot of use from some photographers but speaking as someone who has five external drives plus a backup server, I found it quite handy.

If I have one problem with ACDSee Pro it’s the fact that the software interface isn’t exactly pretty to look at. In fact in some ways it looks downright ugly in the same way that Windows ME looked downright ugly. Maybe this is how ACD Systems is able to get away with its small $130 price tag.

At the end of the day however, ACDSee Pro is a strong choice for professional digital photographers who are seeking a complete workflow solution, that is, a way to manage the entire photo editing process from cataloging to publishing and archiving.