Free photo browsing software.

[CuriousMike]

I was raging about how slow Lightroom is at rendering photos ( even after import ).
I love love love LR for actually editing photos and the results I get.
I loathe loathe loathe LR for browsing photos.

A couple suggestions were made ( Paintshop Pro x7, Photo Mechanic and Perfect Browse).

I did a "Photo Mechanic vs Pefect Browse" google, and lo-and-behold you can get Perfect Browse for free ( http://www.on1.com/fstoppers/ )

I've just installed it and am playing with it, and for a photo browser ( that will directly send to LR or PS ), it's pretty good so far.

So, if anyone of you need something like this, you might check it out.

 

[biostud]

I use XnView

 

[corkyg]

I use Irfanview, Gimp, and Windows Explorer.

 

[blastingcap]

I was raging about how slow Lightroom is at rendering photos ( even after import ).
I love love love LR for actually editing photos and the results I get.
I loathe loathe loathe LR for browsing photos.

A couple suggestions were made ( Paintshop Pro x7, Photo Mechanic and Perfect Browse).

I did a "Photo Mechanic vs Pefect Browse" google, and lo-and-behold you can get Perfect Browse for free ( http://www.on1.com/fstoppers/ )

I've just installed it and am playing with it, and for a photo browser ( that will directly send to LR or PS ), it's pretty good so far.

So, if anyone of you need something like this, you might check it out.

Are you on LR5? LR6? I hear LR6 has GPU-acceleration (finally).

 

[CuriousMike]

I've done the upgrade dance from 4->5->6.

The GPU acceleration is for edits, not browsing.

I'm just tiring of the long import process and chunky browse of LR.

 

[luv2liv]

for browsing, i use acdsee.
it also has powerful batch tools such as renaming files or resizing

 

[balloonshark]

For viewing and quick edits I use FastStone Image Viewer. It can be setup to import pics and edit them with external programs.

 

[Rottie]

Aperture 3 for me

 

[Binky]

For free, and for browsing only, faststone is the shit.

 

[ControlD]

For free, and for browsing only, faststone is the shit.

Agreed. Faststone is awesome.

 

[luv2liv]

Agreed. Faststone is awesome.

just tried it today! works amazing for RAW files too. cant believe its free

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Does Faststone use the mouse wheel to scroll through pictures?

That, in my mind, makes it all worthwhile.

 

[Binky]

Does Faststone use the mouse wheel to scroll through pictures?

That, in my mind, makes it all worthwhile.

It does use the mouse wheel to switch pictures.

I think of it as what ACDsee used to be, minimal and very good at what it does, before they bloated the crap out of it trying to make it do everything.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Thank you!

Exactly. To this day, I used ACDsee version 2.4 (!), because I just need a simple program to look at (and scroll through) lots of pictures. Later ACDsee versions became bloated and insufferable, kinda like Nero post version 6.6. No need for editing, I have Photoshop for that....

 

[CuriousMike]

Hell, you guys have convinced me to switch to Fastone. It gets 'er done.

 

[ControlD]

Another cool feature with Faststone is when you mouse over to the right edge of the screen it shows your EXIF data. I use that a lot when I am looking through my recently transferred photos.

 

[whoiswes]

Another vote for FastStone - also has a really nice 2nd screen feature (thumbnails on primary screen, full size preview on the secondary) that makes quick culling of bad photos very easy.

 

[bigi]

For those with FastStone Image Viewer & CCleaner - make sure to uncheck FFIV clean option in the cleaner.

FSIV stores local DB for previews.

 

[MtnMan]

for browsing, i use acdsee.
it also has powerful batch tools such as renaming files or resizing

Wow is that still around? I remember using it years ago but had forgotten all about it..... Google here I come....

 

[MongGrel]

Have been using Infranview myself, I might check Faststone out for grins and giggles.

 

[shortylickens]

I too use ACDSee cuz its fast and has lots of options.

For a free program, I recommend Picasa.

 

[shortylickens]

https://drive.google.com/folderview...lYVV84UDd1clg2LTc1aWg4N3lBcm5zdEk&usp=sharing


Copy the whole folder, then run.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

For those using Faststone - I like it, but I find the fact that it insists to show me the picture information (file name/path, whether I want to see it or not) terribly distracting.

Is there any way to prevent the program from showing this data? All I want is the picture, nothing else...

 

[biostud]

For those using Faststone - I like it, but I find the fact that it insists to show me the picture information (file name/path, whether I want to see it or not) terribly distracting.

Is there any way to prevent the program from showing this data? All I want is the picture, nothing else...

You can do that in XnView

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Damn it, I figured it out... And now I feel silly for asking the question