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If you use a GNOME-based desktop, Shotwell and F-Spot may be the only photo managers you've heard of. However, there is another alternative, a dark horse: digiKam. If the upper case 'K' didn't already make you guess, digiKam is a part of the KDE project. It is the default photo manager of Kubuntu, but is it worth choosing over the familiar GNOME alternatives? Read on.
A Knight's Errand
“Mighty things from small beginnings grow” - John Dryden
Mr. Raju Renchi, a student at the University of Illinois and devoted Linux user, had a problem. He could not transfer photos from his digital cameras to his hard drive easily. He had to instead resort to the tedious command-line. There was no application available with a friendly and simple user interface (UI) to accomplish this task. Further, for most normal users, using the command-line would simply be too difficult. Fortunately, Mr. Renchi knew programming, and consequently was well equipped to solve this problem. He designed a program which had a simple interface and could transfer files from the camera to the computer. This came to be known as the digiKam project. The year was 2001. According to a memoir written by Mr. Gilles Caulier, the current lead developer and coordinator, there was no comparable application in Linux at the time.
By the time Mr. Renchi handed over the reins of the project to Mr. Caulier in 2005, digiKam had quickly grown from a rudimentary program to a full-fledged photo manager and organizer. In fact it won a reader’s choice TUX magazine award in the same year for the best photo management software. In the rest of the article, I want to analyze what makes it stand out.
User Interface
The UI reveals the first chink in the Knight's armor. It is a three-column interface that is bordered with buttons on all four sides. The first column can serve as a file browser, tag browser, a calendar, or a time-line. It can also function as a search bar. The second column shows the thumbnails of the photos. The third column, which is initially collapsed, can show the file properties, meta-data, colors, geolocation, tags and even image versions. I can almost hear you saying, “that sounds great, where's the problem?”. Well, all these features make the UI extremely crowded. In fact it is extremely overwhelming for a new user. The minuscule buttons further compound the problem, and, overall, the UI certainly doesn't feel intuitive. On the other hand, the plethora of features will surely appeal to more serious photographers. In fact digiKam promises to help you 'manage your photos like a professional'.
Import Options
When you set up digiKam for the first time, it guides you through the setting up process with the help of a wizard. It is during this time you decide the folder that will serve as your picture library. Initially all photos in this folder will be scanned and incorporated in digiKam. However, the next time you open digiKam it will scan the folder for only new images. The wizard is well designed and straightforward. It ensures that even when you open digiKam for the first time, your photos will already be there to welcome you. Magical indeed.
digiKam was originally made for the sole purpose of transferring photos from the camera to the computer. It performs this task well, and supports a large number of cameras. Unfortunately, my Nikon CoolPix P500 was not compatible with digiKam. This was somewhat disappointing—especially since Shotwell had no problem recognizing my camera and retrieving photos from it.
A large number of photos are also floating in the cloud. digiKam bravely volunteers to go and fetch these photos. With options to import photos from PicasaWeb, SmugMug, and even Facebook, digiKam trounces the competition in this category. Given the fact that most of our pictures are to be found on social media sites like Facebook, the Internet import option may be reason enough to switch to digiKam.
Searching
digiKam offers a basic search bar that should suffice for most users. You also have the option to save your searches. But, of course digiKam just doesn't stop at that; it also has an advanced search option which is probably as accurate as a sniper's telescopic vision-enabled gun. And most certainly equally complex. With the search asking for details like the aperture and focal length of the camera, only the most serious of snappers should try to harness this powerful tool.
Photo Editing
If you hadn't noticed the pattern yet, I'll crystallize it in words for you—digiKam is a photo manager for professionals. Consequently, its built-in photo editor resembles an operation room filled with equipment. The tools range from the basic 'rotate' to the advanced 'brightness, hue and saturation'. There are many 'auto' options to let digiKam handle the bulk of the work. There are also 'before' and 'after' previews, which are indiscernible to (my) untrained eye. And the operation? Why, to give a facelift to your photo of course. Even better, if the operation goes horribly wrong (and your friend's face is suddenly cropped out giving the impression of you being buddies with the headless rider of Sleepy Hollow), you can simply refuse to save the changes. Phew! Thank you digiKam, otherwise I would have just lost my head.
Export Options
digiKam takes a FedEx approach to exporting photos, “We deliver anywhere.” With options to send photos to Facebook, PicasaWeb, Flickr, your iPod, a remote computer, email them, and even export to HTML, digiKam once again leaves the competition in the dust.
Conclusion
digiKam is certainly a powerful photo editor and manager. If you're a professional photographer, you should definitely give it a try. For the rest of us, its crowded UI and overflowing features may act as a deterrent. I would still recommend it to those who use their photo manager as a pit stop, ferrying photos to and from the web, due to its comprehensive import and export options. It’s also worth noting that I was running Ubuntu, and digiKam is a KDE application. In fact, Mr. Caulier mentioned 'full KDE integration’ as a major benefit of the project; maybe it was just out of place in a GNOME environment. In the end, however, digiKam does indeed live up to its promise of allowing you to manage your photos like a professional, powered by the wholesome goodness of Open Source.
Summary
The Good • Abundance of features • Comprehensive import and export options especially those involving the Web • Robust tagging system • Built-in photo editor offers dozens of tools that can be used to really fine tune a picture • Great wizard to guide you through the initial setting up procedure
The Bad • Crowded UI with small buttons, not very user friendly (remember I ran this KDE application in GNOME) • Consumes a very large amount of hard drive space • Some features are unresponsive at times
Website: http://www.digikam.org/