Quick Scan
Uses perceptual hashing to sweep thousands of photos in seconds and find exact duplicates, resized or lightly edited copies. Groups are sub-divided once more so that any two photos in a group really are similar.
On-device AI photo culling for Mac and Windows: find duplicates, near-duplicates and rejects, keep the best frame
From thousands of photos, keep the best few fast
LumiSift cleans up a photo folder: it finds duplicate and similar photos and sorts them into groups, flags blurry, overexposed and underexposed rejects, then you decide which frame each group keeps. Quick Scan handles thousands of photos in seconds; Prime Mode uses an AI vision model to spot similar shots taken from different angles and in different light. All computation runs on your machine; rejected photos move to a trash folder in the same directory, so you can always get them back. The subscription tier also ships a command-line tool you can plug into a photography post-production pipeline.
Feature set
Prime Mode
An AI vision model extracts image features and recognizes photos of the same scene from different angles, in different light and with similar framing. Similarity comes in high, medium and basic tiers; drag the threshold slider looser or stricter and groups update instantly. The model installs with the app; no extra download is needed.
Quality Analysis
Scores every photo for sharpness, analyzes the histogram for over- and underexposure, and shows EXIF data such as ISO, shutter speed, aperture, focal length, exposure compensation, camera body and lens. The blur and exposure thresholds are adjustable.
Group review, one-click apply
Similar photos are listed by group, with an automatic suggestion of which to keep (resolution, then capture time, then path). Open a group to compare at full size; left-click keeps, right-click rejects, or drive everything from the keyboard.
A safe trash mechanism
Rejected photos move to a trash folder inside the scanned directory, keeping their original relative paths, and same-named files are never overwritten. Afterwards you see how many files moved and roughly how much space was freed, and you can open the trash folder to double-check.
RAW + JPEG handled as one photo
A same-named RAW and JPEG are recognized as the same shot and kept or moved away together, along with sidecar files like .xmp and .aae, never half a pair.
Quick Process
After quality analysis, send every photo below your blur or exposure threshold to trash in one pass; good for a rough first cut.
Command-line tool
The subscription tier includes a CLI: scan finds similar groups, cull selects by quality (it can write XMP sidecars instead of moving photos), organize archives by EXIF template, and timeline splits a shoot into segments by time gaps. Any result in the GUI can be copied as the matching command in one click.
Finder and Explorer integration
The subscription tier can add a shortcut in macOS Finder or put LumiSift in the Windows Explorer right-click menu, so right-clicking a folder starts processing.
In depth
A complete culling session
- Pick a folder: use the picker, drag it in, or choose from recently used directories, and grant LumiSift access.
- Choose a scan: Quick Scan for duplicates and copies; Prime Mode for bursts and similar framing; or run Quality Analysis alone to only look at blur and exposure. Progress, speed and time remaining are shown live, and you can cancel at any point. Files that cannot be decoded are skipped and listed.
- Review: browse by group, adjust the match threshold, mark keeps and rejects. “Unmatched” photos with no siblings are kept by default and sorted worst-to-best by sharpness and exposure, so you can pick out rejects on their own.
- Apply: apply group by group, or process all groups at once. Rejected files move to the trash folder in the same directory.
- Verify: open the trash folder and check; drag photos back if you need to.
Quick Scan or Prime Mode?
| Quick Scan | Prime Mode | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Perceptual hashing | AI vision features |
| Good at | Exact duplicates, resized, lightly cropped or re-colored copies | Bursts, different angles, different light, similar framing |
| Speed | Very fast, thousands of photos in seconds | Slower, GPU-accelerable |
| Adjustables | — | Match-threshold slider, groups update instantly |
For routine cleanup of repeated imports, Quick Scan is enough. After a portrait or landscape session where you want one frame out of a dozen similar ones, use Prime Mode.
Keyboard controls
You can review quality issues without touching the mouse:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| ← / → | Previous / next photo |
| K | Keep current photo |
| D | Mark as reject |
| C | Keep only this one |
| A | Keep all |
| T | Reject all |
| S | Apply this group’s marks |
Command-line tool (subscription)
The same app enters CLI mode with the --cli flag and outputs JSON for scripts.
scan: finds similar groups, read-only by default; add--applyto move rejected photos to trash as shooting units;--mode deepuses Prime Mode.cull: selects by sharpness and exposure. It can move photos to a target directory, or use--format xmpto only write XMP sidecars without moving photos; hand off to XMP-aware post-production software.organize: archives photos into a destination using EXIF data and a naming template.timeline: splits photos into shooting segments by capture-time gaps and produces a report without touching the files.
The CLI can only reach folders authorized in the GUI, and it refuses paths that escape the authorized scope via .. or symlinks. Subscription status is cached locally; if it expires, open the GUI once to refresh.
Free, lifetime and subscription editions
All three editions scan without limits and include Prime Mode and Quality Analysis. The difference is whether files can actually be moved, and whether the CLI is included.
| Capability | Free | Lifetime | Subscription |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Scan, Prime Mode, Quality Analysis | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Review and marking | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reject photos / Quick Process | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Command-line tool | ✓ | ||
| Finder shortcut / Explorer context menu | ✓ | ||
| Payment | Free | One-time purchase | Monthly or yearly |
The lifetime edition suits personal and family photo libraries; the subscription targets photographers and studios who wire culling into a delivery pipeline.
Supported formats and systems
- Common images: JPG / JPEG, PNG, WebP, BMP; HEIC / HEIF on macOS only.
- RAW: CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, DNG, RW2, ORF, PEF, SRW; the embedded preview inside the file is read for analysis.
- Systems: macOS (Apple silicon) and Windows, distributed through the Mac App Store and Microsoft Store.
- Acceleration: Core ML on macOS, DirectML on Windows, automatic CPU fallback when unavailable.
Privacy
LumiSift does not upload photos, needs no account, and scanning, AI analysis and quality analysis all run on your machine. The network is used only for:
- Purchasing and validating the subscription, through the App Store or Microsoft Store;
- A crash report or feedback you choose to send, which goes through your mail client; whether to attach the logs is your call.
Who it is for
- Photographers: a single shoot easily produces hundreds or thousands of burst frames that need fast picking and culling
- RAW + JPEG shooters: want a file pair treated as "one photo" and kept or rejected together
- Home users who import phone photos to the computer: clear out repeated imports, screenshots and extra burst frames
- Studios that batch-process: use the command line to deduplicate, cull and archive inside a delivery pipeline
FAQ
Does LumiSift upload my photos?
No. All AI computation and image analysis run on your machine, and no account is needed. The network is only used for purchase validation and feedback you choose to send.
What is the difference between Quick Scan and Prime Mode?
Quick Scan is based on perceptual hashing, is very fast, and suits finding exact duplicates, resized or lightly edited copies. Prime Mode uses an AI vision model to recognize similar photos across bursts, angles and lighting, with a slider to adjust how strict matching is.
What can the free edition do?
The free edition scans without limits, uses Quick Scan, Prime Mode and Quality Analysis, and lets you review and mark photos. Moving rejected photos away and Quick Process need the lifetime or subscription edition; the command-line tool is subscription-only.
Can I recover a photo rejected by mistake?
Yes. Rejected photos are not deleted outright; they move to the trash folder inside the scanned directory, keeping their relative paths. You can drag them back any time before you confirm.
Are RAW and JPEG handled separately?
No. A same-named RAW and JPEG count as the same shot and are kept or moved to trash together, along with sidecars like .xmp and .aae.
Can the Windows version handle HEIC?
Not at the moment. HEIC / HEIF is only supported on macOS; the Windows version supports JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP and the RAW formats of mainstream cameras.
Should I pick lifetime or subscription?
If you only organize your own photos in the GUI, pick the lifetime edition and pay once. If you need the command line and Finder or Explorer integration to wire culling into a workflow, pick the subscription.
Tech and privacy note
LumiSift is designed for offline local processing and does not depend on cloud transcoding. Read ourprivacy policyfor full data-handling details.