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LYN REVIEW: A FAST IMAGE BROWSER ON OS X




If you have a large collection of image files, Lyn can help you put them in order so they will be very easy to locate. With Lyn, you are in charge of how your images are arranged. It uses the folder you create to organize your images.


Popular image libraries on Mac such as iPhoto, Photos, Aperture, and Lightroom can be accessed by Lyn. This versatility makes Lyn a good alternative for anyone moving on from Aperture or iPhoto; also suitable for those that are not happy with the newer Photos app.
 LYN REVIEW

Pros
·        Very Fast; displaying and working with images is nearly instantaneous.
·        Versatile browsing interface provides plenty of choices.
·        Works with existing popular image libraries.
·        Batch image file type conversions.
·        EXIF and IPTC viewing and editing.
·        Built-in map for viewing where images were shot.
Cons
·        Doesn't support events, faces, or other iPhoto and Aperture organizations.
·        Image editing is very basic.

Installing Lyn

Installing Lyn doesn't require any special procedure; simply drag the app to your /Applications folder. Uninstalling Lyn is just as simple. If you decide Lyn is not for you, just drag the app to the trash.

How Lyn Works for Image Organization

If you've used iPhoto, Photos, Aperture, or Lightroom, you may be surprised that Lyn doesn't use an image library; at least, not like the ones you're used to. This is the key to why Lyn is fast; it has no database overhead to update and organize while its displaying images.
Rather, Lyn uses the common folder that Macs Finder creates. You can add and remove folders within Lyn, or do it with the Finder. You can even do both; set up a basic image library in the Finder using nested folders, and then add to or fine-tune it while you're using Lyn.
This reliance on standard folders explains why Lyn doesn't support organizational structures, such as events or faces. But Lyn does support smart folders, which you could use to create a somewhat similar method of organization.
Smart folders used by Lyn are really saved searches, but because they're saved and stored on Lyns sidebar, they're easily accessed and appear just like any other folder. With smart folders, you can search for flagged, rated, label, keyword, tag, and filename. If you add an event keyword to an image, you could recreate the event organization available in other image browser apps.

Lyn Sidebar

As mentioned, the sidebar in Lyn is the key to how images are organized. The sidebar contains five sections:
Search, which includes any smart folders you create;
Devices, where any cameras, phones, or other devices that you've connected to your Mac will appear;
Volumes, which are storage devices connected to your Mac;
Libraries, which provide quick access to Aperture, iPhoto, or Lightroom image libraries you may have on your Mac; and
Places, which are commonly used Finder locations, such as Desktop, your home folder, Documents, and Pictures.

Viewer

Images are shown in the Viewer, which resides next to the sidebar. Like the Finder, you'll find various views available, including Icon, which shows a thumbnail view of images in the selected folder. The Split view shows smaller thumbnails and a large view of the selected thumbnail. In addition, there's a List view that shows a small thumbnail along with the image's metadata, such as date, rating, size, aspect ratio, aperture, exposure, and ISO.

Editing

Editing is performed in the Inspector. Lyn currently supports editing EXIF and IPTC information. You can also edit GPS information contained in an image. Lyn includes a Map view that will display where an image was taken. Unfortunately, while the Map view can show where an image was taken if there are GPS coordinates embedded in the image, you cant use the Map view to generate coordinates for the image, a feature that would be very handy for all the pictures we have with no location information.
Lyn also has basic image editing capabilities. You can adjust color balance, exposure, temperature, and highlights and shadows. There are also black and white, sepia, and vignette filters available, as well as a histogram. However, all adjustments are performed by a slider, with no automatic adjustments available.
There's also a nice cropping tool that allows you to set an aspect ratio to maintain when cropping.
While the image editing is basic at best, Lyn does allow you to use external editors such as Photoshop among many others.

Review

Lyn is a fast and inexpensive image browser that, when combined with your preferred photo editor can make a pretty good workflow system for photo lovers. Without an internal library system, Lyn relies on you to manually create your image library using the Macs folders. This can be a good thing if you don't like having your images managed for you blindly in a database system, but it also requires you to keep on top of the folder structure, you create.
Lyn goes for $20.00. A 15-day demo is available.



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