Image viewer to comapre images (1 Viewer)

Image viewer to compare images

I'm not sure if this is the best forum to ask this in, please suggest another if it isn't.

I want to be able to easily compare images side by side on my computer screen. I've been trying to use multiple instances of Irfanview and ACDSee, but it's really clumsy. I want this so I can easily compare the multiple shots of the same image to choose the best focused one, or to compare the results from two different lenses, etc.

In searching for (free) image viewers that can do it, so far I've come up with Wildbit and Fastone, but neither do quite what I want.

Wildbit, only shows 2 side by side in a fairly small, non resizable window. You must zoom and pan each one individually. I think it's designed primarily for checking if two images are basically the same.

Fastone can show up to 4 together (with EXIF info, very handy), and can zoom and pan individually or in synch. Just what I want, except that once you've chosen which 4 you want to compare, that's it. If you want to change one to a different image, you have to exit and select a different one, then chose the compare option again.

Am I being fussy? Does anyone know of a viewer that can do what I want?

(I 've also noticed that neither of these can jump from image to image with anything like the speed of ACDSee.)

If you shoot with a Canon camera then the free Zoombrowser software that cae with your camera will let you compare two, three or four images on screen at once and tabbing through images is quick. You can synchronise zooming and panning or do those things independently. If you don't have a Canon camera then I don't know of other free alternatives. Between Zoombrowser and Lightroom I have my bases covered.

tdodd said:

If you shoot with a Canon camera then the free Zoombrowser software that cae with your camera will let you compare two, three or four images on screen at once and tabbing through images is quick. You can synchronise zooming and panning or do those things independently. If you don't have a Canon camera then I don't know of other free alternatives. Between Zoombrowser and Lightroom I have my bases covered.

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Thanks, I never thought of that program. I used it for a while with my A40, never bothered to install it with my S3. Not sure if that feature was in those versions, but hopefully I can upgrade to the latest and give it a try.

I suppose I should check what came with my Olympus E-520 too.

I agree that this can be a problem. One way I deal with it is as follows:

Say I have 6 shots of essentially the same thing - e.g. a duck, with 6 shots taken within seconds of each other. You want to find the sharpest one. So how to determine which is sharpest?

What I do is open the first 2, zoom to 100% on each, and compare side-by-side (with whatever program you like - 2 runnings of Irfan, 2 windows in XNView or Faststone, etc).

Close whichever one is LEAST sharp.

Open the 3rd image and compare it against the one left open from the first step. Again, close whichever is least sharp.

Keep doing this - opening the next image and comparing against the sharpest from the prior comparison - till you have gone thru all of them. The final image left open is the sharpest.

This method makes it easy because you are only opening one image at a time, so it is easy to progress thru them.

Even if you want to start with more images - say 4 using windows in Faststone, decide on the ONE that is sharpest and close the other 3, and then proceed as above, opening image 5 and continuing till the end.

This idea only works if ALL the images are well exposed and well composed, of course. You don't want to wind up chosing as a final image the sharpest but one which is poorly exposed or has a branch right thru the head of the duck. So you need to weed out the bad images first.

RAH said:

I agree that this can be a problem. One way I deal with it is as follows:

Say I have 6 shots of essentially the same thing - e.g. a duck, with 6 shots taken within seconds of each other. You want to find the sharpest one. So how to determine which is sharpest?

Click to expand...

Lightroom is fantastic for this. You select your images in the Library Module and press 'C' for compare. This opens up the first two side-by side. You can easily zoom and pan the images - either individually or synchronously (sp?). When you've decided which is best you click the 'X' button in the bottom corner of the poorer image. The next image is automatically loaded (at the same zoom and pan if you've got them synced). You repeat the process until you 'X' the final candidate, leaving you the winner. Go back to the library module and the winner is selected, ready for processing/tagging/flaggin etc.

I do it slightly differently - using flagging and filtering so I end up with only the selected image visible in the library and the rejects all set for deletion. But the above method is the simplest.

tdodd said:

If you shoot with a Canon camera then the free Zoombrowser software that cae with your camera will let you compare two, three or four images on screen at once and tabbing through images is quick. You can synchronise zooming and panning or do those things independently. If you don't have a Canon camera then I don't know of other free alternatives. Between Zoombrowser and Lightroom I have my bases covered.

Click to expand...

Yes, this is exactly what I was looking for. I've installed v5.6 that came with my S3, and it has the compare feature. Unlike Fastone, it lets me continue scrolling through the images, and also lets me display the EXIF information, which I sweated over to get IrfanView to do (and it does it very well once you work it out).

This software seems to keep a database of images, which I've never liked, but now I see the value. It gives each image a "star rating" or 1, 2 or 3 stars. The default is two.

So I show four images together, zoom and pan them so I can compare quality, and then reduce the star rating of the duds to 1. Then I get out, filter the view to only show 2 or more star images, and start again. This lets me narrow down the best ones, which I give 3 stars, without having to delete or move any.

I assume there is other software around to do this kind of thing, but judging by the number of forum postings from people desperately trying to get hold of a free copy of ZoomBrowser, this one is fairly good.

Thanks very much for posting this suggestion.