Picture Viewer (instead the deafault one) that has a 100% magnifier as a feature?

As I deal with picture-editing quite a lot, I really really need a picture viewer that would show me a 100% magnification of the image in a small circle when I go with the mouse cursor over it...

Don't know if I explain it right but the thing is - in order to assess the quality of the image I need to zoom it to 100% which is supported by the default Windows Viewer.... but I need to click, adjust to where I want to see and so on. I dream of a viewer that shows a small "magnifier" once you go over the image with the mouse. This would save me a lot of time...

 

I do not know if it has this function your wanting but you should check out irfanview. I use it for all image viewing because it opens 10x faster than windows, supports every single image format under the sun, and lets me batch process files and stuff.

Best of all its free and a super small download so it cant hurt to try.

One that does sort of support this feature is Adobe Bridge, you can click on an image and a magnifying glass opens up that you can move around. You can even show more than one image at the same time and have the magnifying glass sync between them to compare details between more than one picture.

As a whole though since bridge is showing a smaller image in the first place and slow to open I find irfanview my #1 viewer 99% of the time. I only use Bridge when I plan to edit a picture with Camera Raw (equivalent to LightRoom)

I also do not like how bridge just opens to your entire computer instead of a target location, wasting even more time navigating to your images. I have my own fix for this that adds "open with adobe bridge" as a right click option for folders.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...-bridge-your-right-click-options-windows.html

 

I will try it out of curiosity... thanks

I have only tried the Picasa viewer but I did not like it at all...

 

Paint.NET
FastStone Image Viewer

Irfanview, as noted above, is also a good choice.

--L.

 

But does any of those have the feature I refer to and need?

 

xnview

and you yourself are going to have to try the suggestions. no one here is going to be able to read your mind and decide for you.........

 

Certainly - I just want to make sure people understand I am not just looking for A picture viewer but for a very specific feature...

 

I just installed Irfanview, but to be honest I am not impressed...

Maybe it is a good alternative to the XP picture viewer, but I find the one that comes with Windows 7 somehow better than Irfanview. Of course the Microsoft one cannot do any processing, but I don't need that - I use photoshop... And the feature I am looking for isn't there either...

I'll check the rest of the suggestions above soon, thanks

If you have any other ideas let me know

 

Have you considered using a Microsoft mouse? They have a magnification option. Click a button and it maginifies, another click and it is off. It is also a live maginifier( or what ever it is properly called) meaning that you can scroll and click with the mouse while it is on. You can even watch a video through the magnifier. This means you can use any editor/viewer you want and edit while the magnifier is on. Most other magnifiers take a screen shot and blow it up. You can't scroll, or click a web page. You can also set the size of the lens and the magnification from 25% to 400%.
Even the cheap mice can do this. I usually set the back button to be the magnifier. If you don't have a back button, set the middle click to magnify. You can change which button does it in the inellipoint program that is downloadable from microsoft.com. Microsoft definately has the best magnifier I have ever found.

 

The windows magnifier just magnifies the current image on screen, when it comes to images though you need to zoom the actual image to see the detail, not just enlarge what is on screen.

 

Additionally, the 'windows magnifier' has naught to do with a 'microsoft mouse'. The magnifier is an optional OS component. The mouse driver (microsoft, logitech, whatever) may have support for controlling the s/w. There are also keyboard shortcuts that control the windows magnifier.

 

I never knew that!! It sounds like a great solution if it really works this way!
Thank you very much! I'll have a look at how much they cost...

 

Vicious, you are probably right. The OP may want to see the higher resolution rather than just magnifying. I was assuming that she had already zoomed in as much as she could and then wanted to magnify what was left. If she wants to have a nonzoomed image and then just zoom a small area to higher res, I do not know how to do that. Windows magnifier will not do that. It just magnifies very nicely.

Newsposter, I already knew that the magnifier was part of the Windows os and could be opened from the ease of access folder. The OP sounded like she was mouse oriented like me. The reason I was suggesting the Microsoft mouse is because most of the controls can be done from the mouse. This makes it very, very fast and easy. Click a mouse button and it opens or closes the magnifier. Holding the button and moving the mouse changes the lens size. Hold the button and scroll changes the magnification level. For most functions it is not necessary to touch the keyboard or to do any point and clicking on panels. You can leave the mouse pointer on the area of interest. This greatly speeds the process. Unfortunately, I think Vicious is right and this may not be good enough for the OP.

I like my vx nano but have never figured out a way to tie it to the magnifier program. If there is a way, I would love to learn it. All I have figured out to do with it is the point and click method. That works but it takes a whole lot longer.

 

To be honest I'm a bit confused now. I'm not sure what the "magnifier program" you are referring to is, but what I need is a way to quickly zoom preferably a part of a picture to 100% of its original resolution.
Example - I have a high-resolution portrait picture and I want to quckly and efficiently see how sharp this particular image is around the eyes (which might not be the center of the image). What I do at the moment is first click on the "Actual size" button in Windows Picture Viewer, then scroll to the area I am interested in and then return to the normal view.... which takes couple of seconds. Now do that for 100 pictures and you will see why I am looking for a different solution

What I dream of is a software or even better a mouse function that will allow me to place the mouse cursor over a particular area/spot of the image, press a button and view a "magnifying glass" with 100% of the resolution of the particular area!

So would a mouse (Microsoft or other) with additional programmable buttons allow me to do so? I've never used one to be honest.

Any suggestions about a solution?

 

Unfortunately the first one is an editor, which i don't need, the second doesn't have the feature, so does the third

 

No it won't. It only takes the pixels on screen and magnifies them. It does not zoom into the image.

Gary

 

Where do you see a "basic version"? All I see is the professional one and no indication of a free version.

Gary

 

Gracy- If you want to test the microsoft magnifier, it is under accessories>ease of access>magnfier>right click and pin to task bar.
Then just try it for a while. If the zooming effect is good enough for you, get a mouse to make accessing it a whole lot easier and faster. I think it is a PITA to to use it with the point to the short cut method and point and click on panels to change things. It is way faster with the mouse. But you can get an idea.

 

Wow, talk about hiding your light under a bushel basket. You really have to dig down to find any indication of a free version.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Gary

 

There doesn't appear to be a free version any more. I installed it and ran the app. After I closed I got a notice that it was a trial version that would expire on April 28, see the attached file.


Edited: Upon digging further into the FAQ it seems that it installs the pro version and after the trial it reverts itself back to the home version. Sorry for the confusion. But to be perfectly honest, I abhor this sort of licensing foolishness.

To the FastPictureViewer folks: Make it straight forward. Tell me what you are offering, don't make me guess or dig thru some damn FAQ to find out what my options are. I am uninstalling the app. I don't care how great it is. I want no part of this sort of marketing, period.

Gary

 

Spot on! This is exactly what I need. Did someone find out what the difference bethween the pro and home versions is? What is gone? I find a few of the features quite nice, but could live without them if the zoom functionality remains

Thanks for the tip!!

 

Yes, I agree with your interpretation. Will see in a month

Thank you very much for this tip! This is exactly what I was hoping to find +Rep

 

It was the first time today that I had the chance to test FastPictureViewer for the purpose I actually needed it for - although it was a rather limited set of pictures I had to go over, I can only say - AWESOME!

I was done before I even realized I have started!! Much faster and much more convenient this way!

So far there are 2 things I don't like much:

1. Program trying to access the internet even after the initial validation (needed even for the trial of the pro!) - I haven't sniffed the connection to see more details, but it doesn't sound reasonable - just blocked it.

2. It created a re-sized CR2 copy of each image - I don't know why, I don't know how, neither did I ask it to do so. I couldn't find an option to disable that either!?

But generally speaking - so far excellent!

 

Dont forget to try out Adobe Bridge it also has this image zoom feature like I mentioned and you can edit in ACR or Photoshop directly from Bridge so it ties all the Adobe products together in a nice way.