[digiKam-users] Newbie digikam user has questions

[Jim Kahnweiler]

Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating. 

I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to do what I want to do.

1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a way to create an album without moving files?

2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved. No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated view. And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not displayed.

3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't find a way to change from the default white background.

4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now they appear greyed-out.

I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

I'm sure as I use the program more, I'll have more questions.

I appreciate your help.

Thank you.

--

[Gilles Caulier-4]

Le dim. 24 févr. 2019 à 17:48, Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> a écrit :

Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating. 

I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to do what I want to do.

1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a way to create an album without moving files?

You don't need to copy files at all. Just point the root album to the directory to manage. It's not Apple Iphoto or Photos. Nothing is copied. This kind of management is a shame from private applications.

2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved. No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated view.

Sorry i don't understand. Did you place new items inside ? Albums are directories on HDD in fact... It's simple and logic. Nothing is hidden as private Apple software. 

And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not displayed.

You don't need to add extra Mime types. This one are already registered by digiKam. did you take a look about "?" button in setup mime type panel ? 

Probably the application not responding because it currently scan and register items in database, in background...

3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't find a way to change from the default white background.

Go to Settings/Theme menu.

 

4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now they appear greyed-out.

???

 

I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

Under MacOS, definitively no. 6.0.0 come with more than 630 bugfixes while 2 years of development.

Best

Gilles Caulier

[Andrew Goodbody]

On 24/02/2019 16:47, Jim Kahnweiler wrote:

> Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As
> a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a
> replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most
> likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating.
>
> I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone
> help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to
> do what I want to do.
> 1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a
> way to create an album without moving files?

To add photos that already exist on your HDD simply create a collection
and make it point to the directory containing your photos. It will not
copy those photos anywhere.

> 2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved.
> No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated
> view. And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and
> dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not
> displayed.

I have no idea what you did here. You will need to explain exactly what
menu options you chose etc etc
If you have photos that are not displayed in the correct orientation
then you may need to file a bug and provide the developers with a sample
image. Auto-rotating images according to the embedded EXIF data is
certainly supported and does work, at least most of the time.

> 3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't
> find a way to change from the default white background.
> 4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now
> they appear greyed-out.
>
> I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near
> future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

I strongly suspect the issue is more to do with how you are using
digikam, rather than any stability issues. This may be because it uses
unfamiliar concepts that are not sufficiently intuitive especially when
coming from other photo management applications.

> I'm sure as I use the program more, I'll have more questions.
>
> I appreciate your help.
>
> Thank you.
>
> --
> Jim

Andrew

[Jim Kahnweiler]

I tried to send this question with screen grabs but the system blocked them because they're too large. How do I send them?

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 3:20 PM Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> wrote:

Thanks, Gilles. Andrew Goodbody also replied. I am copying the response I sent to him:

Thanks, Andrew for the reply. I removed DK and reinstalled it. It doesn't take long, as I have nothing in it yet. During install is checked a preference that points DK to my Photos folder. The folder structure is displayed in the screenshot I'm attaching. 

I wanted to work on the "Alaska" folder and loaded images using Menu-->Import-->Add Images. When I select it the first time after launch, the thumbnails loaded in the main window. DK crashed and when I opened it again, the images were gone. I went to reimport them and they load as seen here. Note the unrotated verticles and psd file that does not display; the dng file does. When the thumbnail view window is selected the menu bar changes.

I found the setting to change the UI theme.

Icons for the folders in the main window albums list seem to be displayed properly for now.

Thanks, again. 

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 12:46 PM Gilles Caulier <[hidden email]> wrote:

Le dim. 24 févr. 2019 à 17:48, Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> a écrit :

Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating. 

I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to do what I want to do.

1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a way to create an album without moving files?

You don't need to copy files at all. Just point the root album to the directory to manage. It's not Apple Iphoto or Photos. Nothing is copied. This kind of management is a shame from private applications.

2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved. No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated view.

Sorry i don't understand. Did you place new items inside ? Albums are directories on HDD in fact... It's simple and logic. Nothing is hidden as private Apple software. 

And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not displayed.

You don't need to add extra Mime types. This one are already registered by digiKam. did you take a look about "?" button in setup mime type panel ? 

Probably the application not responding because it currently scan and register items in database, in background...

3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't find a way to change from the default white background.

Go to Settings/Theme menu.

 

4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now they appear greyed-out.

???

 

I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

Under MacOS, definitively no. 6.0.0 come with more than 630 bugfixes while 2 years of development.

Best

Gilles Caulier

--

--

[AndriusWild]

You can upload your screenshots to a cloud storage of your choice e.g. Google Drive, Onedrive, Dropbox, etc. and share the link.

 

From: Digikam-users <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Jim Kahnweiler
Sent: February 25, 2019 5:05 AM
To: digiKam - Home Manage your photographs as a professional with the power of open source <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [digiKam-users] Newbie digikam user has questions

 

I tried to send this question with screen grabs but the system blocked them because they're too large. How do I send them?

 

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 3:20 PM Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> wrote:

Thanks, Gilles. Andrew Goodbody also replied. I am copying the response I sent to him:

 

Thanks, Andrew for the reply. I removed DK and reinstalled it. It doesn't take long, as I have nothing in it yet. During install is checked a preference that points DK to my Photos folder. The folder structure is displayed in the screenshot I'm attaching. 

 

I wanted to work on the "Alaska" folder and loaded images using Menu-->Import-->Add Images. When I select it the first time after launch, the thumbnails loaded in the main window. DK crashed and when I opened it again, the images were gone. I went to reimport them and they load as seen here. Note the unrotated verticles and psd file that does not display; the dng file does. When the thumbnail view window is selected the menu bar changes.

 

I found the setting to change the UI theme.

 

Icons for the folders in the main window albums list seem to be displayed properly for now.

 

Thanks, again. 

 

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 12:46 PM Gilles Caulier <[hidden email]> wrote:

 

 

Le dim. 24 févr. 2019 à 17:48, Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> a écrit :

Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating. 

 

I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to do what I want to do.

1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a way to create an album without moving files?

 

You don't need to copy files at all. Just point the root album to the directory to manage. It's not Apple Iphoto or Photos. Nothing is copied. This kind of management is a shame from private applications.

 

2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved. No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated view.

 

Sorry i don't understand. Did you place new items inside ? Albums are directories on HDD in fact... It's simple and logic. Nothing is hidden as private Apple software. 

 

And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not displayed.

 

You don't need to add extra Mime types. This one are already registered by digiKam. did you take a look about "?" button in setup mime type panel ? 

 

Probably the application not responding because it currently scan and register items in database, in background...

 

3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't find a way to change from the default white background.

 

Go to Settings/Theme menu.

 

4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now they appear greyed-out.

 

???

 

 

I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

 

 

Under MacOS, definitively no. 6.0.0 come with more than 630 bugfixes while 2 years of development.

 

Best

 

Gilles Caulier

 

--

Jim

Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
5 Alewives Road
Norwalk CT 06850 USA

203-979-1507
http://www.jimkphoto.com
[hidden email]

 

It's not the camera; it's the photographer.

--Anonymous

 

Use the right tool for the job.

--Folk Lore

 

--

Jim

Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
5 Alewives Road
Norwalk CT 06850 USA

203-979-1507
http://www.jimkphoto.com
[hidden email]

 

It's not the camera; it's the photographer.

--Anonymous

 

Use the right tool for the job.

--Folk Lore

[Jim Kahnweiler]

Thanks.

On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 9:29 AM Andrey Goreev <[hidden email]> wrote:

You can upload your screenshots to a cloud storage of your choice e.g. Google Drive, Onedrive, Dropbox, etc. and share the link.

 

From: Digikam-users <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Jim Kahnweiler
Sent: February 25, 2019 5:05 AM
To: digiKam - Home Manage your photographs as a professional with the power of open source <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [digiKam-users] Newbie digikam user has questions

 

I tried to send this question with screen grabs but the system blocked them because they're too large. How do I send them?

 

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 3:20 PM Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> wrote:

Thanks, Gilles. Andrew Goodbody also replied. I am copying the response I sent to him:

 

Thanks, Andrew for the reply. I removed DK and reinstalled it. It doesn't take long, as I have nothing in it yet. During install is checked a preference that points DK to my Photos folder. The folder structure is displayed in the screenshot I'm attaching. 

 

I wanted to work on the "Alaska" folder and loaded images using Menu-->Import-->Add Images. When I select it the first time after launch, the thumbnails loaded in the main window. DK crashed and when I opened it again, the images were gone. I went to reimport them and they load as seen here. Note the unrotated verticles and psd file that does not display; the dng file does. When the thumbnail view window is selected the menu bar changes.

 

I found the setting to change the UI theme.

 

Icons for the folders in the main window albums list seem to be displayed properly for now.

 

Thanks, again. 

 

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 12:46 PM Gilles Caulier <[hidden email]> wrote:

 

 

Le dim. 24 févr. 2019 à 17:48, Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> a écrit :

Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating. 

 

I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to do what I want to do.

1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a way to create an album without moving files?

 

You don't need to copy files at all. Just point the root album to the directory to manage. It's not Apple Iphoto or Photos. Nothing is copied. This kind of management is a shame from private applications.

 

2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved. No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated view.

 

Sorry i don't understand. Did you place new items inside ? Albums are directories on HDD in fact... It's simple and logic. Nothing is hidden as private Apple software. 

 

And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not displayed.

 

You don't need to add extra Mime types. This one are already registered by digiKam. did you take a look about "?" button in setup mime type panel ? 

 

Probably the application not responding because it currently scan and register items in database, in background...

 

3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't find a way to change from the default white background.

 

Go to Settings/Theme menu.

 

4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now they appear greyed-out.

 

???

 

 

I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

 

 

Under MacOS, definitively no. 6.0.0 come with more than 630 bugfixes while 2 years of development.

 

Best

 

Gilles Caulier

 

--

Jim

Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
5 Alewives Road
Norwalk CT 06850 USA

203-979-1507
http://www.jimkphoto.com
[hidden email]

 

It's not the camera; it's the photographer.

--Anonymous

 

Use the right tool for the job.

--Folk Lore

 

--

Jim

Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
5 Alewives Road
Norwalk CT 06850 USA

203-979-1507
http://www.jimkphoto.com
[hidden email]

 

It's not the camera; it's the photographer.

--Anonymous

 

Use the right tool for the job.

--Folk Lore

--

[Jim Kahnweiler]

Here's my reply. Thanks.

The system blocked it because I had screengrabs attached. Here's the link to see what problem I'm having. Are there any tutorial files or videos?

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iejLB41WIct5YTvqtGjFx6xlRJOw1jBB?usp=sharing

Thanks, again.

Jim

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 3:17 PM Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> wrote:

Thanks, Andrew for the reply. I removed DK and reinstalled it. It doesn't take long, as I have nothing in it yet. During install is checked a preference that points DK to my Photos folder. The folder structure is displayed in the screenshot I'm attaching. 

I wanted to work on the "Alaska" folder and loaded images using Menu-->Import-->Add Images. When I select it the first time after launch, the thumbnails loaded in the main window. DK crashed and when I opened it again, the images were gone. I went to reimport them and they load as seen here. Note the unrotated verticles and psd file that does not display; the dng file does. When the thumbnail view window is selected the menu bar changes.

I found the setting to change the UI theme.

Icons for the folders in the main window albums list seem to be displayed properly for now.

Thanks, again. 

Jim

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 1:36 PM Andrew Goodbody <[hidden email]> wrote:

On 24/02/2019 16:47, Jim Kahnweiler wrote:

> Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As
> a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a
> replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most
> likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating.
>
> I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone
> help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to
> do what I want to do.
> 1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a
> way to create an album without moving files?

To add photos that already exist on your HDD simply create a collection
and make it point to the directory containing your photos. It will not
copy those photos anywhere.

> 2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved.
> No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated
> view. And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and
> dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not
> displayed.

I have no idea what you did here. You will need to explain exactly what
menu options you chose etc etc
If you have photos that are not displayed in the correct orientation
then you may need to file a bug and provide the developers with a sample
image. Auto-rotating images according to the embedded EXIF data is
certainly supported and does work, at least most of the time.

> 3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't
> find a way to change from the default white background.
> 4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now
> they appear greyed-out.
>
> I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near
> future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

I strongly suspect the issue is more to do with how you are using
digikam, rather than any stability issues. This may be because it uses
unfamiliar concepts that are not sufficiently intuitive especially when
coming from other photo management applications.

> I'm sure as I use the program more, I'll have more questions.
>
> I appreciate your help.
>
> Thank you.
>
> --
> Jim

Andrew

--

--

[Gilles Caulier-4]

The PSD file without thumbnail is problably the source of the problem.

There are a PSD thumbnailer in KF5 libraries that we use, but my tests under Linux relevant plenty of time latency when i try to render preview from PSD taken from the Web. Particularly, the points below are importants :

- It's a dynamic plugins for QImage loader, which are problematic under MacOS. I think that i fixed the problem with next 6.1.0, but i need to test more..

- The PSD codec code is given to read file only. This implementation, not maintained by digiKam team exists by reverse engineering. PSD is a closed format (thanks adobe to support open standard), and of course the codec will not support well all possible version of PSD.

- The PSD codec source code is not very well maintained as i can see in code history.

Best

Gilles Caulier

Le lun. 25 févr. 2019 à 18:49, Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> a écrit :

Here's my reply. Thanks.

The system blocked it because I had screengrabs attached. Here's the link to see what problem I'm having. Are there any tutorial files or videos?

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iejLB41WIct5YTvqtGjFx6xlRJOw1jBB?usp=sharing

Thanks, again.

Jim

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 3:17 PM Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> wrote:

Thanks, Andrew for the reply. I removed DK and reinstalled it. It doesn't take long, as I have nothing in it yet. During install is checked a preference that points DK to my Photos folder. The folder structure is displayed in the screenshot I'm attaching. 

I wanted to work on the "Alaska" folder and loaded images using Menu-->Import-->Add Images. When I select it the first time after launch, the thumbnails loaded in the main window. DK crashed and when I opened it again, the images were gone. I went to reimport them and they load as seen here. Note the unrotated verticles and psd file that does not display; the dng file does. When the thumbnail view window is selected the menu bar changes.

I found the setting to change the UI theme.

Icons for the folders in the main window albums list seem to be displayed properly for now.

Thanks, again. 

Jim

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 1:36 PM Andrew Goodbody <[hidden email]> wrote:

On 24/02/2019 16:47, Jim Kahnweiler wrote:

> Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As
> a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a
> replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most
> likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating.
>
> I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone
> help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to
> do what I want to do.
> 1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a
> way to create an album without moving files?

To add photos that already exist on your HDD simply create a collection
and make it point to the directory containing your photos. It will not
copy those photos anywhere.

> 2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved.
> No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated
> view. And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and
> dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not
> displayed.

I have no idea what you did here. You will need to explain exactly what
menu options you chose etc etc
If you have photos that are not displayed in the correct orientation
then you may need to file a bug and provide the developers with a sample
image. Auto-rotating images according to the embedded EXIF data is
certainly supported and does work, at least most of the time.

> 3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't
> find a way to change from the default white background.
> 4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now
> they appear greyed-out.
>
> I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near
> future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

I strongly suspect the issue is more to do with how you are using
digikam, rather than any stability issues. This may be because it uses
unfamiliar concepts that are not sufficiently intuitive especially when
coming from other photo management applications.

> I'm sure as I use the program more, I'll have more questions.
>
> I appreciate your help.
>
> Thank you.
>
> --
> Jim

Andrew

--

--

[Jim Kahnweiler]

Thanks, Giles. I'm not enough of a codec person to understand your reply. Do you mean that certain PSD files are not supported by digiKam? 

What about importing images from my Alaska folder but only see them displayed in a new window, instead of the database. And, verticles not rotated?

Please let me know what to do.

Thanks, again.

On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 1:11 PM Gilles Caulier <[hidden email]> wrote:

The PSD file without thumbnail is problably the source of the problem.

There are a PSD thumbnailer in KF5 libraries that we use, but my tests under Linux relevant plenty of time latency when i try to render preview from PSD taken from the Web. Particularly, the points below are importants :

- It's a dynamic plugins for QImage loader, which are problematic under MacOS. I think that i fixed the problem with next 6.1.0, but i need to test more..

- The PSD codec code is given to read file only. This implementation, not maintained by digiKam team exists by reverse engineering. PSD is a closed format (thanks adobe to support open standard), and of course the codec will not support well all possible version of PSD.

- The PSD codec source code is not very well maintained as i can see in code history.

Best

Gilles Caulier

Le lun. 25 févr. 2019 à 18:49, Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> a écrit :

Here's my reply. Thanks.

The system blocked it because I had screengrabs attached. Here's the link to see what problem I'm having. Are there any tutorial files or videos?

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iejLB41WIct5YTvqtGjFx6xlRJOw1jBB?usp=sharing

Thanks, again.

Jim

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 3:17 PM Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]> wrote:

Thanks, Andrew for the reply. I removed DK and reinstalled it. It doesn't take long, as I have nothing in it yet. During install is checked a preference that points DK to my Photos folder. The folder structure is displayed in the screenshot I'm attaching. 

I wanted to work on the "Alaska" folder and loaded images using Menu-->Import-->Add Images. When I select it the first time after launch, the thumbnails loaded in the main window. DK crashed and when I opened it again, the images were gone. I went to reimport them and they load as seen here. Note the unrotated verticles and psd file that does not display; the dng file does. When the thumbnail view window is selected the menu bar changes.

I found the setting to change the UI theme.

Icons for the folders in the main window albums list seem to be displayed properly for now.

Thanks, again. 

Jim

On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 1:36 PM Andrew Goodbody <[hidden email]> wrote:

On 24/02/2019 16:47, Jim Kahnweiler wrote:

> Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac, running Mojave. As
> a user using MediaPro for many years I have been forced to search for a
> replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the software. DK is the most
> likely replacement. However, my initial experience has been frustrating.
>
> I have several questions for which I can't find answers. Can someone
> help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that will explain how to
> do what I want to do.
> 1) My first album copied the images to the database location. Is there a
> way to create an album without moving files?

To add photos that already exist on your HDD simply create a collection
and make it point to the directory containing your photos. It will not
copy those photos anywhere.

> 2) The second album I created opened in a new window and was not saved.
> No files were moved. The verticle images were not displayed in a rotated
> view. And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize tif, psd and
> dng format, but the application did not respond, so thumbnails were not
> displayed.

I have no idea what you did here. You will need to explain exactly what
menu options you chose etc etc
If you have photos that are not displayed in the correct orientation
then you may need to file a bug and provide the developers with a sample
image. Auto-rotating images according to the embedded EXIF data is
certainly supported and does work, at least most of the time.

> 3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark background, but I couldn't
> find a way to change from the default white background.
> 4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar were solid, now
> they appear greyed-out.
>
> I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases scheduled for the near
> future. Would I find a more stable release if I downgrade to v.5.8?

I strongly suspect the issue is more to do with how you are using
digikam, rather than any stability issues. This may be because it uses
unfamiliar concepts that are not sufficiently intuitive especially when
coming from other photo management applications.

> I'm sure as I use the program more, I'll have more questions.
>
> I appreciate your help.
>
> Thank you.
>
> --
> Jim

Andrew

--

--

--

[Andrew Goodbody]

OK, here is, I think, where you need to understand how digikam works.

digikam gives you a view onto the underlying file system. Every album is
a directory in the collection. Every directory under the location you
chose for your collection will show up as an album in digikam. Moving an
album in digikam will move that directory in the file system. Albums are
directories. Directories are albums. Directories under the collection
are visible in digikam. Directories outside of the collection are not
visible.

If you want to add photos to digikam without making a copy and they
exist outside of the collection directory, then you can add another
collection. Or you can move those files to be in the collection.
Importing images will make a copy of them. Importing is mainly used to
copy files off removable storage such as your camera's flash card. I
never use digikam myself to do this, but many folk do. I think that the
metadata is not interpreted at this stage which is why your vertical
photos are not rotated. So the new window is, I think, asking you which
photos to copy into your collection.

Does that help you at all?

Andrew

On 25/02/2019 18:38, Jim Kahnweiler wrote:

> Thanks, Giles. I'm not enough of a codec person to understand your
> reply. Do you mean that certain PSD files are not supported by digiKam?
>
> What about importing images from my Alaska folder but only see them
> displayed in a new window, instead of the database. And, verticles not
> rotated?
>
> Please let me know what to do.
>
> Thanks, again.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 1:11 PM Gilles Caulier <[hidden email]
> <mailto:[hidden email]>> wrote:
>
>     The PSD file without thumbnail is problably the source of the problem.
>
>     There are a PSD thumbnailer in KF5 libraries that we use, but my
>     tests under Linux relevant plenty of time latency when i try to
>     render preview from PSD taken from the Web. Particularly, the points
>     below are importants :
>
>     - It's a dynamic plugins for QImage loader, which are problematic
>     under MacOS. I think that i fixed the problem with next 6.1.0, but i
>     need to test more..
>     - The PSD codec code is given to read file only. This
>     implementation, not maintained by digiKam team exists by reverse
>     engineering. PSD is a closed format (thanks adobe to support open
>     standard), and of course the codec will not support well all
>     possible version of PSD.
>     - The PSD codec source code is not very well maintained as i can see
>     in code history.
>
>     Best
>
>     Gilles Caulier
>
>     Le lun. 25 févr. 2019 à 18:49, Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]
>     <mailto:[hidden email]>> a écrit :
>
>         Here's my reply. Thanks.
>
>         The system blocked it because I had screengrabs attached. Here's
>         the link to see what problem I'm having. Are there any tutorial
>         files or videos?
>
>         https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iejLB41WIct5YTvqtGjFx6xlRJOw1jBB?usp=sharing
>
>         Thanks, again.
>
>         Jim
>
>         On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 3:17 PM Jim Kahnweiler
>         <[hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>> wrote:
>
>             Thanks, Andrew for the reply. I removed DK and reinstalled
>             it. It doesn't take long, as I have nothing in it yet.
>             During install is checked a preference that points DK to my
>             Photos folder. The folder structure is displayed in the
>             screenshot I'm attaching.
>
>             I wanted to work on the "Alaska" folder and loaded images
>             using Menu-->Import-->Add Images. When I select it the first
>             time after launch, the thumbnails loaded in the main window.
>             DK crashed and when I opened it again, the images were gone.
>             I went to reimport them and they load as seen here. Note the
>             unrotated verticles and psd file that does not display; the
>             dng file does. When the thumbnail view window is selected
>             the menu bar changes.
>
>             I found the setting to change the UI theme.
>
>             Icons for the folders in the main window albums list seem to
>             be displayed properly for now.
>
>             Thanks, again.
>
>             Jim
>
>
>
>             On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 1:36 PM Andrew Goodbody
>             <[hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>> wrote:
>
>                 On 24/02/2019 16:47, Jim Kahnweiler wrote:
>                  > Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac,
>                 running Mojave. As
>                  > a user using MediaPro for many years I have been
>                 forced to search for a
>                  > replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the
>                 software. DK is the most
>                  > likely replacement. However, my initial experience
>                 has been frustrating.
>                  >
>                  > I have several questions for which I can't find
>                 answers. Can someone
>                  > help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that
>                 will explain how to
>                  > do what I want to do.
>                  > 1) My first album copied the images to the database
>                 location. Is there a
>                  > way to create an album without moving files?
>
>                 To add photos that already exist on your HDD simply
>                 create a collection
>                 and make it point to the directory containing your
>                 photos. It will not
>                 copy those photos anywhere.
>
>                  > 2) The second album I created opened in a new window
>                 and was not saved.
>                  > No files were moved. The verticle images were not
>                 displayed in a rotated
>                  > view. And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize
>                 tif, psd and
>                  > dng format, but the application did not respond, so
>                 thumbnails were not
>                  > displayed.
>
>                 I have no idea what you did here. You will need to
>                 explain exactly what
>                 menu options you chose etc etc
>                 If you have photos that are not displayed in the correct
>                 orientation
>                 then you may need to file a bug and provide the
>                 developers with a sample
>                 image. Auto-rotating images according to the embedded
>                 EXIF data is
>                 certainly supported and does work, at least most of the
>                 time.
>
>                  > 3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark
>                 background, but I couldn't
>                  > find a way to change from the default white background.
>                  > 4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar
>                 were solid, now
>                  > they appear greyed-out.
>                  >
>                  > I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases
>                 scheduled for the near
>                  > future. Would I find a more stable release if I
>                 downgrade to v.5.8?
>
>                 I strongly suspect the issue is more to do with how you
>                 are using
>                 digikam, rather than any stability issues. This may be
>                 because it uses
>                 unfamiliar concepts that are not sufficiently intuitive
>                 especially when
>                 coming from other photo management applications.
>
>                  > I'm sure as I use the program more, I'll have more
>                 questions.
>                  >
>                  > I appreciate your help.
>                  >
>                  > Thank you.
>                  >
>                  > --
>                  > Jim
>
>                 Andrew
>
>
>
>             --
>             Jim
>
>             Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
>             5 Alewives Road
>             Norwalk CT 06850 USA
>
>             203-979-1507
>             http://www.jimkphoto.com <http://www.jimkphotographics.com>
>             [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
>
>             It's not the camera; it's the photographer.
>             --Anonymous
>
>             Use the right tool for the job.
>             --Folk Lore
>
>
>
>         --
>         Jim
>
>         Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
>         5 Alewives Road
>         Norwalk CT 06850 USA
>
>         203-979-1507
>         http://www.jimkphoto.com <http://www.jimkphotographics.com>
>         [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
>
>         It's not the camera; it's the photographer.
>         --Anonymous
>
>         Use the right tool for the job.
>         --Folk Lore
>
>
>
> --
> Jim
>
> Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
> 5 Alewives Road
> Norwalk CT 06850 USA
>
> 203-979-1507
> http://www.jimkphoto.com <http://www.jimkphotographics.com>
> [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
>
> It's not the camera; it's the photographer.
> --Anonymous
>
> Use the right tool for the job.
> --Folk Lore

[Jim Kahnweiler]

Thanks, Andrew. I'm at my day job, as I type. I'll have to get back to you when I can work on DK at home.

I'm looking for a DAM that will catalog images in their current location on my system. Then allow me to review-compare, rate, label, tag, keyword, caption and add custom metadata to those files. The DAM should be able to sort and find those files using a variety of search criteria. From my very short experience, DK seems to be full-featured, but I am stymied by just getting images into its database. I also need a DAM that will export a selection of images, with metadata, to a PDF, with an easy hand-off to Photoshop and Lightroom--using click and drag or open in... I've had these features with MediaPro; Lightroom does some of them. I was exploring digiKam for these purposes. I'm willing to purchase the right software, and an OpenSource solution is a plus. I'm even willing to make a contribution and help with development, if that's the price.

Thanks, again.

Jim

On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 2:42 PM Andrew Goodbody <[hidden email]> wrote:

OK, here is, I think, where you need to understand how digikam works.

digikam gives you a view onto the underlying file system. Every album is
a directory in the collection. Every directory under the location you
chose for your collection will show up as an album in digikam. Moving an
album in digikam will move that directory in the file system. Albums are
directories. Directories are albums. Directories under the collection
are visible in digikam. Directories outside of the collection are not
visible.

If you want to add photos to digikam without making a copy and they
exist outside of the collection directory, then you can add another
collection. Or you can move those files to be in the collection.
Importing images will make a copy of them. Importing is mainly used to
copy files off removable storage such as your camera's flash card. I
never use digikam myself to do this, but many folk do. I think that the
metadata is not interpreted at this stage which is why your vertical
photos are not rotated. So the new window is, I think, asking you which
photos to copy into your collection.

Does that help you at all?

Andrew

On 25/02/2019 18:38, Jim Kahnweiler wrote:
> Thanks, Giles. I'm not enough of a codec person to understand your
> reply. Do you mean that certain PSD files are not supported by digiKam?
>
> What about importing images from my Alaska folder but only see them
> displayed in a new window, instead of the database. And, verticles not
> rotated?
>
> Please let me know what to do.
>
> Thanks, again.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 1:11 PM Gilles Caulier <[hidden email]
> <mailto:[hidden email]>> wrote:
>
>     The PSD file without thumbnail is problably the source of the problem.
>
>     There are a PSD thumbnailer in KF5 libraries that we use, but my
>     tests under Linux relevant plenty of time latency when i try to
>     render preview from PSD taken from the Web. Particularly, the points
>     below are importants :
>
>     - It's a dynamic plugins for QImage loader, which are problematic
>     under MacOS. I think that i fixed the problem with next 6.1.0, but i
>     need to test more..
>     - The PSD codec code is given to read file only. This
>     implementation, not maintained by digiKam team exists by reverse
>     engineering. PSD is a closed format (thanks adobe to support open
>     standard), and of course the codec will not support well all
>     possible version of PSD.
>     - The PSD codec source code is not very well maintained as i can see
>     in code history.
>
>     Best
>
>     Gilles Caulier
>
>     Le lun. 25 févr. 2019 à 18:49, Jim Kahnweiler <[hidden email]
>     <mailto:[hidden email]>> a écrit :
>
>         Here's my reply. Thanks.
>
>         The system blocked it because I had screengrabs attached. Here's
>         the link to see what problem I'm having. Are there any tutorial
>         files or videos?
>
>         https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iejLB41WIct5YTvqtGjFx6xlRJOw1jBB?usp=sharing
>
>         Thanks, again.
>
>         Jim
>
>         On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 3:17 PM Jim Kahnweiler
>         <[hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>> wrote:
>
>             Thanks, Andrew for the reply. I removed DK and reinstalled
>             it. It doesn't take long, as I have nothing in it yet.
>             During install is checked a preference that points DK to my
>             Photos folder. The folder structure is displayed in the
>             screenshot I'm attaching.
>
>             I wanted to work on the "Alaska" folder and loaded images
>             using Menu-->Import-->Add Images. When I select it the first
>             time after launch, the thumbnails loaded in the main window.
>             DK crashed and when I opened it again, the images were gone.
>             I went to reimport them and they load as seen here. Note the
>             unrotated verticles and psd file that does not display; the
>             dng file does. When the thumbnail view window is selected
>             the menu bar changes.
>
>             I found the setting to change the UI theme.
>
>             Icons for the folders in the main window albums list seem to
>             be displayed properly for now.
>
>             Thanks, again.
>
>             Jim
>
>
>
>             On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 1:36 PM Andrew Goodbody
>             <[hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>> wrote:
>
>                 On 24/02/2019 16:47, Jim Kahnweiler wrote:
>                  > Hi, I just download and installed digikam on my Mac,
>                 running Mojave. As
>                  > a user using MediaPro for many years I have been
>                 forced to search for a
>                  > replacement because PhaseOne has abandoned the
>                 software. DK is the most
>                  > likely replacement. However, my initial experience
>                 has been frustrating.
>                  >
>                  > I have several questions for which I can't find
>                 answers. Can someone
>                  > help me, please or provide a link to a tutorial that
>                 will explain how to
>                  > do what I want to do.
>                  > 1) My first album copied the images to the database
>                 location. Is there a
>                  > way to create an album without moving files?
>
>                 To add photos that already exist on your HDD simply
>                 create a collection
>                 and make it point to the directory containing your
>                 photos. It will not
>                 copy those photos anywhere.
>
>                  > 2) The second album I created opened in a new window
>                 and was not saved.
>                  > No files were moved. The verticle images were not
>                 displayed in a rotated
>                  > view. And, I added the MIME preferences to recognize
>                 tif, psd and
>                  > dng format, but the application did not respond, so
>                 thumbnails were not
>                  > displayed.
>
>                 I have no idea what you did here. You will need to
>                 explain exactly what
>                 menu options you chose etc etc
>                 If you have photos that are not displayed in the correct
>                 orientation
>                 then you may need to file a bug and provide the
>                 developers with a sample
>                 image. Auto-rotating images according to the embedded
>                 EXIF data is
>                 certainly supported and does work, at least most of the
>                 time.
>
>                  > 3) Screenshots on the DK website show a dark
>                 background, but I couldn't
>                  > find a way to change from the default white background.
>                  > 4) When I first launched DK, the icons in the sidebar
>                 were solid, now
>                  > they appear greyed-out.
>                  >
>                  > I see that v.6 is a .0 version, with new releases
>                 scheduled for the near
>                  > future. Would I find a more stable release if I
>                 downgrade to v.5.8?
>
>                 I strongly suspect the issue is more to do with how you
>                 are using
>                 digikam, rather than any stability issues. This may be
>                 because it uses
>                 unfamiliar concepts that are not sufficiently intuitive
>                 especially when
>                 coming from other photo management applications.
>
>                  > I'm sure as I use the program more, I'll have more
>                 questions.
>                  >
>                  > I appreciate your help.
>                  >
>                  > Thank you.
>                  >
>                  > --
>                  > Jim
>
>                 Andrew
>
>
>
>             --
>             Jim
>
>             Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
>             5 Alewives Road
>             Norwalk CT 06850 USA
>
>             203-979-1507
>             http://www.jimkphoto.com <http://www.jimkphotographics.com>
>             [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
>
>             It's not the camera; it's the photographer.
>             --Anonymous
>
>             Use the right tool for the job.
>             --Folk Lore
>
>
>
>         --
>         Jim
>
>         Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
>         5 Alewives Road
>         Norwalk CT 06850 USA
>
>         203-979-1507
>         http://www.jimkphoto.com <http://www.jimkphotographics.com>
>         [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
>
>         It's not the camera; it's the photographer.
>         --Anonymous
>
>         Use the right tool for the job.
>         --Folk Lore
>
>
>
> --
> Jim
>
> Jim Kahnweiler, Photographer
> 5 Alewives Road
> Norwalk CT 06850 USA
>
> 203-979-1507
> http://www.jimkphoto.com <http://www.jimkphotographics.com>
> [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
>
> It's not the camera; it's the photographer.
> --Anonymous
>
> Use the right tool for the job.
> --Folk Lore

--

[Martijn ten Napel]

Hello Jim,

I am a Mac user as well. When I installed DigiKam, it asked me where my
folder with images was and where to put the database files of Digikam
itself.

I pointed Digikam to the folder with my images and I made a new folder for
the database. After I did this, DigiKam schede the images folder and added
everything it found to its database.

I was a Lightroom user. In Lightroom, I have set Lightroom to write all
preferences and metadata to XMP files. DigiKam reads those XMP files to
write the metadata to its database. I don't know how MediaPro works, but if
it doesn't write the metadata (like keywords and all) to an XMP file,
digicam cannot read the metadata. Maybe that is the confusion you are
experiencing?



--
Sent from: http://digikam.1695700.n4.nabble.com/digikam-users-f1735189.html