Product Reviews

Photographers have benefited enormously from the digital camera revolution. The ability to take as many photos as you like without the cost constraints of film is a great advantage. The unfortunate side effect of all this shutter action, though, is a mushrooming photo collection that needs to be kept in hand. MediaPro is a photo management utility that enables you to tag files with content information, making it easier to find the photo you want.

You can import photos straight from your camera, or simply point MediaPro at a folder that contains image files. Over 100 file formats are supported, including RAW files from

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Canon, Nikon and Kodak. It reads existing EXIF information, which you can supplement by adding information about the subject, location and occasion, plus a host of other details. You can also add details to multiple photos simultaneously, which speeds the task up.

There are a number of other tools on offer. By displaying up to four photos at the same time in full screen, the light box function allows you to compare similar photos quickly and accurately. This is an efficient way of eliminating badly composed or out-of-focus shots from a collection. An image editor is included for basic adjustments and corrections, but serious enthusiasts will prefer a dedicated photo-editing package. The useful slideshow creator can export a show in QuickTime movie format, and you can author a basic web gallery with just a few mouse clicks.

At £120 this is a very expensive application, though. Adobe's Photoshop Elements (see our Hotlist on page 58) is cheaper and comes with its own photo organiser, which does a similar job to Media Pro. As Photoshop Elements is also the best home-user photo editor on the market, Media Pro is just too expensive for home users. Still, professionals will find a lot here to like.