By Chris Nicholls
SYDNEY: Microsoft has updated their digital photography and video management software, aimed at serious photographers and videographers, and flagged a photography store-centric distribution strategy.
The product, Expression Media 2, will follows on from the original Expression Media software, and allows users to edit video and photos, geotag pictures, with or without GPS, tag images with metadata and archive photos based on their precise location.
“This is a comprehensive organisational product, for photos and for other digital media types. The basic idea is that is allows you to create a catalogue of your images and find photos, and then you can do a bunch of different things with them,” said Microsoft Rich Media Group director Josh Weisberg.
“We think there’s a great opportunity here for photography retailers. If you’re selling digital SLR’s, you can sell this along with a camera. If someone comes in to buy a camera, you can say ‘Hey, we’ve got this great product to help you organise your photos.”
The program does not yet have an Australian release date or price, but it will go on sale in US this month, with a retail of US$199.
However, another program with geotagging and metadata tagging components, Pro Photo, can be downloaded free from Microsoft’s website now at www.microsoft.com/prophoto