Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
For many digital photographers in the late 1990s and early into this tenner , iView MediaPro was the effigy manager of choice . It was firm , flexible , and easy to use , complementing Adobe Photoshop ( ) and providing a unobjectionable way to supervise your Indian file . In mid-2006 , Microsoft bought MediaPro ’s parent company , iView Multimedia , and the program is now market as Expression Media , part of Microsoft ’s Expression Studio pedigree of Web and graphic design applications ( all of which , with the exception of Expression Media , are Windows - only ) . It ’s now also clump into aspecial variant of Microsoft Office 2008 .
Version 1.0 of Expression Media is almost superposable toiView MediaPro 3.0 , which first shipped in 2005 . Microsoft has update it as a Universal program , but big changes are n’t project until Version 2.0 , which is slated to get after this year . As a result , Expression Media has gotten little care as correspondent programs like Apple ’s Aperture and Adobe Lightroom ( ) have shipped and have center stage . But Expression Media is a substantial and comfortable - to - utilization plus direction dick that is worth a tone , especially if you prefer to have a mo more dominance over your workflow , or if you wish to manage data file type that go beyond images .
Media management 101
Expression Media is quite unlike from Aperture , Lightroom , and iPhoto ( ) . Where those product coalesce image direction and image editing , Expression Media focuses mostly on media direction . It does a good job of managing your images , but it can also go after movies , audio file , text and HTML files , baptismal font , and PDFs , as well as documents created withMicrosoft Office , Adobe’sCreative Suite applications , and QuarkXPress ( ) . ( It does have some limited double editing functionality , but it really ca n’t do much more than simple tonic correction , crimson - eye reduction , and cut back . )
you could see an Expression Media catalog in three ways : as a Finder - style List opinion , as a grid - similar Thumbnail view ( shown ) , and as a Media view , which show the selected mental image at full size .
The heart of Expression Media is the catalog . Each catalog is a visual database that contains information and thumbnail images of the file that it tracks . The course of study does n’t hive away your file in the catalog , just reference selective information , metadata , and thumbnail . When you make a raw catalogue , you have the option of specify what case of files get catalogued , and add files to the catalogue is soft : you merely drag files and folders into the catalog ’s windowpane . Expression Media can also import files from a digital photographic camera via Apple ’s Image Capture program , and you could build a catalog on the fly ball from a Spotlight search .
You can view an Expression Media catalog in three ways: as a Finder-style List view, as a grid-like Thumbnail view (shown), and as a Media view, which shows the selected image at full size.
Catalogs can have up to 128,000 files in them , and Expression Media includes comprehensive searching and class capabilities , cross - catalog desegregation , and more . Once you create a catalogue , you could perform batch operations on the cite file , including rename , moving and copying , and archive to optic media . These file direction tasks are quite handy , specially if you desire nasty control over your work flow . And , with Expression Media ’s solid AppleScript living , you may attain extremely advanced chore with a small flake of body of work .
When creating a catalog , you may prefer which file formats are included . Part of Expression Media ’s potency is its power to read a assortment of file types , including standard publishing documents .
Expression Media uses QuickTime as its rendition engine for artwork , which means that it tolerate most of the Mac ’s rough-cut simulacrum and movie data formatting . This also includes many bare-assed format used by digital camera manufacturing business , which is great , but it also have in mind that some new cameras wo n’t be stomach until Apple updates the atomic number 76 ( this is also an issue with Aperture ) .
When creating a catalog, you can choose which file formats are included. Part of Expression Media’s strength is its ability to read a variety of file types, including standard publishing documents.
One of Expression Media ’s strength is its speed . Since it does n’t render images at full sizing like Aperture and Lightroom do , you’re able to zipper through a catalogue quickly , rating images , comparing them , adding keywords , and more ( Aperture 2.0 ’s new Quick Preview feature provides a much needed boost to its graze speed , as we plant in our Aperture 2.0 First Look ) . Expression Media has panoptic keep for tag images with metadata like keywords and copyright and creator data , and you could even confiscate phonation notes to an image or data file . You ca n’t impart metadata when you ’re importing files , which is a drawback , but overall , Expression Media ’s data - editing features are quite well .
Presenting your work
Expression Media ’s Web gallery feature take care simple on the airfoil , but the software ’s templet - drive approach means that you may make customized templates that match the flavor of your own sites , something that is hard to do in computer program like Aperture and Lightroom .
Expression Media has better support for create customized Web galleries than any of its persona - direction competitors . You ca n’t create Flash - based website as you’re able to with Lightroom , and it lacks the slick vane Gallery characteristic found in iPhoto and Aperture 2.0 , but Expression Media ’s templet - driven design is quite sophisticated , and you’re able to easily sum up templates that integrate your own stigmatization and site count - and - feel . If you ’re a photographer or artist , it ’s often crucial that the galleries you build look like the rest of your site , and Expression Media makes that wanton if you ’re adept at HTML and CSS ( or have someone who address it for you ) .
you’re able to also create coast shows from epitome catalog . Expression Media ’s slide show feature is acceptable , about on equality with those line up in Lightroom and Aperture . You ca n’t add together audio to a microscope slide show ( beyond any voice annotations you might have attached to an image ) , but you could export a slide show as a understood QuickTime movie .
Expression Media’s Web gallery feature looks simple on the surface, but the application’s template-driven approach means that you can create customized templates that match the look of your own sites, something that is hard to do in programs like Aperture and Lightroom.
Macworld’s buying advice
At $ 299 , Expression Media ’s biggest limitation is its Mary Leontyne Price . Lightroom , at $ 299 , and Aperture , which is now $ 199 , include prototype editing and image management capabilities . With Expression Media , if you ’re just getting started , you ’ll also still need to invest in an effigy editor like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements , which adds significantly to the price of your image direction system .
If you already have an editor , and want more than what Adobe Bridge provide , Expression Media is good , but we cogitate more multitude will still go for a programme like Lightroom or Aperture , or even iPhoto , just to get more talkative editing capableness . However , if you prefer to maintain your own system for trailing , managing , and archiving images – and other sort of media – Expression Media is a solid and easy - to - use plan with some expectant file - management capabilities .
[ Rick LePage isMacworld‘seditor at gravid . ]
EDITOR ’S NOTE : Updated on Feb. 29 , 2008 at 11:04 a.m. PT with detailed information about Aperture 2 .
