Update: FastStone Image Viewer 5.9 released

[HansV]

FastStone has released version 5.9 of its image viewer, editor and converter, free for home users.

Change log:

• Improved the Straighten/Rotate tool. You are now able to auto-rotate an image by tracing a line along the edge of a building or the horizon
• Improved drag-and-drop between dual instances
• Other minor improvements and bug fixes

[BobArch2]

Just curious, have you ever compared FastStone Image Viewer with Irfanview? I know, I know, I could always download FastStone Image Viewer and do my own comparison!

[Rudi]

Hi Bob,

I'm sure other will comment with personal experiences, but I thought I'd post these two links that do a bit of a report style comparison between the two in question and others. It makes for some interesting info if you are looking to learn about their pros and cons.

- Best free image viewer — IrfanView vs XnView vs FastStone vs Picasa vs Zoner
- Comparison of Best Free Digital Image Viewer

[stuck]

I'm an IrfanView man. I have looked at Faststone but the 'retro' styling of Irfanview's interface fits better with my inner dinosaur.

I particularly like IrfanView's 'Save for Web' option, which invokes the RIOT plugin. I use it to reduce my 10 Mb photo files down to The Lounge limit of 250 Kb. The quality of these tiny files is remarkable. I've printed some such files using a colour laser printer onto ordinary A3 paper, (i.e. at least 12x8 inches but up to 16x10 inches). They wouldn't win any completions but they're good enough to brighten up to the office walls at work.

Ken

[HansV]

It's a matter of taste - IrfanView is far more powerful than FastStone Image Viewer, and its extensibility is a definite pro, but I dislike its 'retro' interface. The FastStone program is sufficient for my modest needs, and since I also use FastStone Capture and FastStone MaxView, I like the consistency of the interface between those three.

[BobArch2]

Thanks folks. I, like Stuck, have always been an IrfanView fan. Maybe I will just test out FastStone Image Viewer in my spare time. When one is retired, one is supposed to have a lot of spare time... HA!