[shuttertalk]

I'm always on the lookout for great free software, so I had to post about this gem which I found just recently. As the name says, it's a fast image viewer (dunno about the stone though?) although it's got a whole swag of editing and processing functions built in. Basically, if you're familiar with ACDSee, you'll feel right at home with it.



I personally think it's got a much better interface than IrfanView, which is the other main freeware one most people recommend. I must admit that this is pretty subjective though - I haven't done a head to head comparison in terms of functionality, performance, etc.

It has a very nice full screen viewing mode (which can be set to default), that has some cool popups when you move your mouse to the edges of the screen. e.g. right edge = exif properties, top edge = file browser, left edge = editing functions, bottom edge = quick functions.

It seems to read my NEF (RAW) files ok too, which is nice.

Anyway, if you're looking for a fast image viewer app - do try it out... it's free - can't complain!

http://www.faststone.org/

[Don Schaeffer]

The trouble with ACDC and others is they are very intrusive, changing automated preferences in windows and interfering with other programs. Some of them continuously search for all images and map them to special files so that they become less accessible to other software. I say, use these with caution.

[EnglishBob]

I use ACDSee and it doesn't do any of that Don, you probably need to adjust the settings when you install it.

[Don Schaeffer]

hmmm...I'm very suspicious.

[Don Schaeffer]

Ok OK! I downloaded this new fangled software. I am very impressed. Thank you very much for guiding me to it. This could solve a lot of problems.

--Don

[shuttertalk]

Lol... glad to be of help.

[Atlas]

Hi All,

I have been using Faststone since ACdC kept crashing.... I love it, BUT, and there always seems to be one, the program seems to be intuitive, and automatically turns photos the right way up for viewing, which is great.

However, when I go to use a photo in a word document for instance, it is round the wrong way. Even if you physically turn it in Faststone itself...Very confusing. Othere than that for a freebie, its awsome

Atlas

[shuttertalk]

Hmm perhaps when you "rotate" it in Faststone, it's just doing it for viewing. You probably need to "save" the file to make the changes permanent. I know some other programs that work in the same way...

[Atlas]

Hi,

yes you might be right about that, but other than looking in another program, how will I know which has been flipped and not saved ??

By the way, I love this website, I am a member of different sites, mainly to do with motorbikes, and I must say this is really up there with the best. It is really easy to navigate, upload pics and user friendly. WELL DONE

Cheers,

Atlas

[shuttertalk]

yes you might be right about that, but other than looking in another program, how will I know which has been flipped and not saved ??

I think with faststone, as a general rule of thumb any modifications aren't permanent until you save the pic. I tried it just then, after rotating, when I pressed ESC to exit, it asked me if I wanted to save the pic or not. Same applies to resizing, cropping etc. This was in the full screen mode, by the way.

By the way, I love this website, I am a member of different sites, mainly to do with motorbikes, and I must say this is really up there with the best. It is really easy to navigate, upload pics and user friendly. WELL DONE

Thanks buddy - glad to hear it, and good to hear that you're enjoying hanging around here. I too think we have some of the friendliest and most colourful people around here... though I'm biased.

[Atlas]

Hi Again,

I am not sure we are on the same page -

Quote "I think with faststone, as a general rule of thumb any modifications aren't permanent until you save the pic. I tried it just then, after rotating, when I pressed ESC to exit, it asked me if I wanted to save the pic or not. Same applies to resizing, cropping etc. This was in the full screen mode, by the way." End Quote

When I open fastone, the images are already flipped the correct way for viewing. I dont have to save anything, in fact it has never asked me to.... So, when I have taken portrait shots and view them in the windows default viewer they are out by 90 deg.

however, if I open the same image in fastone, it is arleady up the right way ??? I am using Ver 2.12 by the way.

Cheers,

Atlas

[shuttertalk]

Oh, I get you now... sorry for my incorrect assumptions.

What you have are image files that are taken in the portrait orientation, but the files themselves are physically in the landscape orientation.

What Faststone is reading the orientation data that's embedded in your image files (EXIF) and automatically rotating your images the right way for viewing. Some other progges like explorer are not smart enough to read and take advantage of this data, and display the files how the really are.

I think you can do a Save As in fasstone and resave the file as is (without making any mods), and that will physically rotate the file to correct orientation. Either that, or use some other program to do it for you. There are some out there that do a "lossless" rotation - that is, rotate the files without degradation in quality through JPEG recompression.

Even better -- get a program to automatically do it for you as you download your pics from your camera/memory card. I use Nikon's PictureProject, which does this. It absolutely sucks at everything else though, so I generally reserve it for this purpose only. After they're off the card, I go Photoshop or Picasa (If I'm lazy).

[wulinka]

what's picasa for?

[shuttertalk]

Picasa - freeware image browser bought over by google.

I find it an easy way to browse my collection and find photos quickly. It allows some quick manipulation stuff - cropping, resizing, some limited effects etc. It won't replace Photoshop, but sometimes I find it handy if I want to do some quick edits for posting on the web...

[wulinka]

back to faststone, I got it and like it, pretty intuitive (I used to use ACDC years ago, and now mostly irfanview).
One thing I definitely like is the easy option to edit in external editor, which of course for me is photoshop. Did Irfanview have that and I just never came accross it? I had this routine of having to remember picture title / number, then open it in photoshop.....

by the way though, I quite like the "zoombrowser" I got with my new 350d, because it gives you lots of information at a glance, a big drawback is, that it is really slow. (And I had a hell of a time installing it on my computer, although not on my fiancés with the same version of windows.......)

Faststone doen't read the orientation of my pics from the 350d. but when I do rotate them, it prompts me to save changes.

[shuttertalk]

Faststone doen't read the orientation of my pics from the 350d. but when I do rotate them, it prompts me to save changes.

Hmm that's funny - I think there's a setting : Settings -> Viewer -> Auto - rotate by EXIF orientation tag

Then again, for my Nikon D50 files it doesn't display the ISO speed EXIF data for some reason...

By the way, in full screen mode, move your mouse to the right edge of the screen and the EXIF data will pop up...

[wulinka]

yep, I had seen that, thats really nice. maybe nicer than having it there all the time in zoombrowser, question of what you're used to I guess.

I checked my settings, auto rotate is on, I guess it's just another dumb, ignorant programm....

[Atlas]

A new twist....

I just used Windows Picture & Fax editor to turn the photos in a directory in the right orinentation.

Now in Fastone they are the wrong way !! Bizarre !!! :/

Cheers,

Atlas

[shuttertalk]

Ay Caramba! :o