How-To Geek Forums » Windows Vista
Windows Picture Viewer, XnView or IrfanView?
(8 posts)
Seriously - it is easy, lightweight, has tons of hotkeys you can use, you can stick it on a USB stick and carry it with you, so you can view images on a different computer they way you're used to it (your settings and all), there are a lot of free plugins that enable it do handle even more formats than it standard can, you can even view most videos with it (ok basic, but very handy I find when I sort my photo's en videos when they come off my camera) and it is free.
What more do you want?
(Ok he might update that silly roadkill cat icon LOL LOL LOL)
Cheers,
Sarah.
I like IrfanView -- it's my default viewer for every image type that I have. It's small, lightweight, fast, and full-featured and even has some modest image filters, paint tools, and as Sarah mentioned plays movies. It does what I want which is fast preview with big thumbnails, full-screen viewing, slideshows, and contact sheets.
Windows Photo Gallery also has some nice features. The slideshows have some very nice transition effects and ways to view multiple photos. It can be used as an image gallery, but I don't need this. I keep my images sorted by file name and path so that I can easily preview what-I-want, when-I-want with IrfanView.
I have never used XnView, but it seems to have a lot of features. Also, if you move around to different operating systems, it will give you a consistent experience for those it supports.
Faststone Image Viewer is another one that I have used. It has a very user-friendly GUI.
All of these are available in a portable version, meaning you don't have to install them, so I suggest that you try them all to find which is best for you.
I know that Irfanview is very popular but I found it a little complicated for my taste. I use Picasa for my basic needs and if I can't get what I want from that I go to Photoshop elements for editing etc. I have found Faststone Image viewer handy for comparing 2 to 4 similar images at a good size in the same window.
I'm afraid I've never heard of XnView but I'm now off to have a look at it!
I'm with Scott and Sarah on Irfy, though I have not tried XnView. Picture viewer is too limited in features for anything but a strict viewer. Poor editing features. Irfy is similar to PhotoStudio that used to ship with Sony cameras. But it handles many more formats. PhSt had a few editing features that I liked a little better, but Irfy is great for quick and dirty image work. Irfy's slide show feature allows you to march through a folder viewing each image at your own pace, at full screen if you like. I especially like clicking on a .bmp and then immediately saving it as a .jpg. But these are all Fords and Chevvies. If you want power image manipulation, ya gotta pay the money to Adobe.
I think Windows Live Photo Gallery is the best though the latest beta some UI changes that make it a bit harder to use. It's basily Windows Photo Gallery from Windows Vista with more features and it also supports Windows XP.
You don't need to use the gallery part if you don't want to, you can just use it as an image viewer. Which is what I did for quite a while though now I'm starting to like and use the gallery part too.
One of the most useful features for the viewer I like is it supports videos (including .MOV if QuickTime is installed) which is handy when one has a camera that takes pictures and videos.
I like the ability to change the file's EXIF/IPTC/XMP date and time and the latest version's people tags seem useful (though I don't like them being tied to a Live ID). I don't really see much point in Descriptive tags either. The folder path system I use works just fine.
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