Software suggestion?

[lorenzo]

Hi, Everyone

I'm a big newbie to photo's, but I just purchased a new
camera, which is my first camera ever. Just got a nikon
5200.

Anyways, I'm looking for some software, which is fairly
in-expensive thats good for resizing images. I've got a
website and often need to re-size images / shrink the
file size also. What would you suggest is a good buy
and good software. I don't really need anything for
editing pictures, just resizing file size and pictures?

I don't really want to install a bunch of different software
but just want to buy something that you all suggest
would do the above.

lorenzo
lorenzo@nethere.com

[PixChick]

Hi, Everyone

I'm a big newbie to photo's, but I just purchased a new
camera, which is my first camera ever. Just got a nikon
5200.

Anyways, I'm looking for some software, which is fairly
in-expensive thats good for resizing images. I've got a
website and often need to re-size images / shrink the
file size also. What would you suggest is a good buy
and good software. I don't really need anything for
editing pictures, just resizing file size and pictures?

I don't really want to install a bunch of different software
but just want to buy something that you all suggest
would do the above.

lorenzo
lorenzo@nethere.com

Have you looked at the software that came with your Nikon--it may very well have a resize option:)

If not, you can try looking on the Corel or Jasc websites (Corel actually just bought Jasc, but there are still two sites). They may have some software that does what you are looking for. Probably at least $40 US for the cheapest. Don't know how much you are looking to spend.

PixChick

[b.j.c]

If you want a really simple program, try Irfanview:

http://www.irfanview.com/

Its freeware, small to download, simple to use, and generally very handy. You can resize images and fiddle with colors, contrast, brightness, gamma correction, sharpness, etc. Lots of plugins for viewing near any file type too.

Benjamin

[judge9847]

If you want a really simple program, try Irfanview:
http://www.irfanview.com/
Its freeware, small to download, simple to use, and generally very handy. You can resize images and fiddle with colors, contrast, brightness, gamma correction, sharpness, etc. Lots of plugins for viewing near any file type too.
Benjamin
Absolutely. Or try the GIMP. It's slightly more cumbersome to install though if you can find a magazine that gives it away that won't be an issue. It's at:
THE GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/)

I'm not a user of either the Gimp or IrfanView but they both have a strong following with some strong opinions about their respective merits. Don't be afraid to try them both. They're both free.

Because I don't know either program, I don't know if you'll also have to get hold of an opitmizing program. I see you're going to use a web site for your pictures so I'm guessing you'll want to put the biggest (in pixel measurements like 640x480 or 800x600) on there for people to see.

To do that and maintain a reasonable download time for viewers with dial-up connections particularly, you'll need to optimize them. (Unless your web page creation package does that for you of course, which I know some do.) But I'm going to assume you haven't got that!

If you simply resize your images, you'll find you have to shrink them to something that's really unacceptable in terms of pixel size just to keep the file size (in kilobytes) down to something sensible.

So what you do is resize to say 800x600 but depending on what size the file was when it came out of the camera and what your photo editing package does to it, you could find that it's still around the 1.5 MB file size. A user would wait a long while for that to appear on their monitor!!

You then process your newly resized image through an optimizer (Paint Shop Pro has one built in via. the File, Export menu - but I can't tell you about anything else) and you can reduce the file size in KB to something that would be acceptable on your web site.

You shouldn't worry that there'll be an unacceptable loss of quality by doing that. It's true that a loss will occur but it's been proven that it won't affect what the viewer sees on their computer's monitor. The human eye just cannot pick up that sort of detail so the end result is something that's perfectly acceptable.

I use PSP so I don't need an optimizer. I don't know if IrfanView or the Gimp have one. But do a Google, or go to a web site like zdnet. com or Tucows.com and search and I'm sure you'll find plenty of standalone optimizers. I'd be very surprised if some of them weren't free as well.

Good luck with what you're doing.

[haikai]

If you want a really simple program, try Irfanview:

http://www.irfanview.com/

Its freeware, small to download, simple to use, and generally very handy. You can resize images and fiddle with colors, contrast, brightness, gamma correction, sharpness, etc. Lots of plugins for viewing near any file type too.

Benjamin

i totally agree with this recommendation. i've been using irfanview for years and it's still my favorite all-around picture viewer and quick, simple batch file processor. if you don't need the power and features of a program like photoshop then i don't see why you would want to pay for a program at all since there are great applications like irfanview out there for free.

hai

[judge9847]

i totally agree with this recommendation. i've been using irfanview for years and it's still my favorite all-around picture viewer and quick, simple batch file processor. if you don't need the power and features of a program like photoshop then i don't see why you would want to pay for a program at all since there are great applications like irfanview out there for free.hai
Glad to hear from a user! Tell me, does IrfanView have an in-built optimizing function or not? That's useful information to have. Thanks.

[haikai]

Glad to hear from a user! Tell me, does IrfanView have an in-built optimizing function or not? That's useful information to have. Thanks.

yes, you can save jpegs at various compression levels, and you can even batch process multiple files with the same settings. you don't have as many options or controls as in, say, photoshop, but it gets the job done.

on top of that, irfanview can view just about every image format in existence. there are also quite a few plug ins to do things like play movies (including quicktime and realmedia), play audio (mp3's and the like), etc. it won't replace other dedicated programs that do these things, but it's nice to have a universal fall-back option... it's almost like a mini-operating system that is super quick to use :cool:

hai

[judge9847]

Great!! Sounds like just the tool !!

And many thanks for the information. It always helps to get the inside line on it all.

[lorenzo]

Thanks guys,

This is a great little piece of software and exactly what
I was looking for. I don't think I would have ever known
about it without posting the original question.

Very much appreciated.

Lorenzo

[rvtoorn]

Dear Lorenzo,

And there is other nice software too.

I use Iview Media Pro (see there site) for cataloging my photos, many profesional photographers use it. Its excellent. Much better than any other program (also Nikon's or Iphoto on Mac). If you use mac I can provide serialnumber.

For reseizing or correcting images Photoshop is best. Especialy photoshop 8 cs with its Shadow/highlight under Image > adjusments. Also of course you can correct perspectives ect in photoshop (so that buildings dont fall).

The very best,

Roemer