Posted by John Tobias on January 1, 2010 at 4:36 PM
I had read that Picasa 3.6 a free download would allow processing of RAW images. So, I downloaded and once the program started converting my photo files to Picasa it would not stop! It was going through my files for the 4th time, when with my son's (the computer guy of the family) phone advice was able to stop the repeating downloads and uninstalled the Picasa program. Has anyone else had this happen?
That's what Picasa does, which is why I don't use it. When you are setting it up you can tell it which folders you want it to use, but every time you open it, it will have load folder you've told it to use. If you have a lot of images, it can be a pain.
On the other hand, it's a pretty good free image viewer and light editor for point-n-shooters. Because it reads RAW, you can use it to review your RAW images on a somebody else's computer when you are away from home.
I use FastStone Image Viewer. It's free and it will let you view RAW files. It is currently my preferred image viewer.
Posted by Larry Fischer on January 2, 2010 at 9:35 AM
I like FastStone, also. Very easy to pull out the metadata and can open other photo programs with it. It is fast!
Its free but they do accept contributions.
I donated a small sum ($10) and received a personal thanks.
Nothing is free. A few dollars for someone's intellectual property and work is fair.
Posted by Jim Bullard on January 2, 2010 at 10:21 AM
What Picasa does is "watch" folders for any changes to the files, either additional images or edits done in another program. Consequently it goes through every file in folders you have set to be watched every time the program is opened. The alternative is to tell it not to watch folders which means that if you do external edits, they won't be reflected in the thumbnails. It's a nice idea to have your thumbnails all constantly up-to-date but it eats up a lot of processor time.
Lightroom handles this problem by only updating the preview thumbnail of externally edited files when you select them for viewing and new files created in a folder are only brought in when you synchronize a folder. I do nearly all my image viewing and all the cataloging in Lightroom. I have other browsers for 'incidental' images, stuff people send me in email, images from the web, etc. I like Smart Pix Manager. I have used Faststone (okay), and the basic ACDSee (which is pretty nice) and Studio Line Basic (didn't like that at all). IrfanView gets very high ratings on tech sites like CNET and ZD Net but I haven't tried it in years. I gave it a whirl many moons ago when it was still pretty crude and and didn't like it then. It has changed a lot since then though so if you're looking for an image browser it might be a good choice. I already have at least one more browser than I need.
If you are shopping for an image browser, look for one that reads & writes EXIF and IPTC data including keywords in a format that other browsers and Photoshop will recognize. The last I knew Picasa's keywording was proprietary. There's no bigger PITA than entering a whole lot of metadata on your images only to lose it when you switch to another software package.
Discussion
3 repliesOn the other hand, it's a pretty good free image viewer and light editor for point-n-shooters. Because it reads RAW, you can use it to review your RAW images on a somebody else's computer when you are away from home.
I use FastStone Image Viewer. It's free and it will let you view RAW files. It is currently my preferred image viewer.
Its free but they do accept contributions.
I donated a small sum ($10) and received a personal thanks.
Nothing is free. A few dollars for someone's intellectual property and work is fair.
Lightroom handles this problem by only updating the preview thumbnail of externally edited files when you select them for viewing and new files created in a folder are only brought in when you synchronize a folder. I do nearly all my image viewing and all the cataloging in Lightroom. I have other browsers for 'incidental' images, stuff people send me in email, images from the web, etc. I like Smart Pix Manager. I have used Faststone (okay), and the basic ACDSee (which is pretty nice) and Studio Line Basic (didn't like that at all). IrfanView gets very high ratings on tech sites like CNET and ZD Net but I haven't tried it in years. I gave it a whirl many moons ago when it was still pretty crude and and didn't like it then. It has changed a lot since then though so if you're looking for an image browser it might be a good choice. I already have at least one more browser than I need.
If you are shopping for an image browser, look for one that reads & writes EXIF and IPTC data including keywords in a format that other browsers and Photoshop will recognize. The last I knew Picasa's keywording was proprietary. There's no bigger PITA than entering a whole lot of metadata on your images only to lose it when you switch to another software package.