- In this report
- Overview
- Ratings
- Commercial products
ELECTRONICS FORUMS  Get real-world advice from others about choosing a new TV, digital camera, computer or cell phone. |
July 2007
Photo software
Some cameras’ programs are fine for organizing and simple editing
All the small cameras we tested in this issue come with a CD that lets you organize and, in some cases, edit photos on your
computer. You can spend $80 and up for add-on programs, but for basic functions, bundled software might be all you need.
Such software has become much better, according to tests carried out by International Consumer Research & Testing, a worldwide group that includes Consumer Reports. The best camera software, from Pentax, scored as high overall as the top-scoring commercial program.
Still, more advanced photographers will probably want to use other software, including programs that come with computer operating systems or can be downloaded free of charge. The programs with cameras tend to emphasize editing or organizing, but not both.
You wouldn’t select a camera for its software. Pentax digital cameras, for example, generally haven’t done well in our tests. But our Ratings
HOW TO CHOOSE
Assess your camera’s software. If the software performed well in our tests, use it. A caveat: Camera software is proprietary, so you may not be able to use all features with images that originate from cameras of other brands.
If you’re an old hand who’s satisfied with the computer program you now use, you’ll most likely want to stick with it, at least for some tasks.
Consider your computer’s program. Apple and Microsoft are building more and more photo-editing and organizing features into their operating systems. Apple offers iPhoto as part of the iLife package with OS X, and Microsoft includes Windows Photo Gallery with Vista.
Although Photo Gallery provides some basic editing abilities, it’s more geared toward organizing your photos. As soon as you save a picture, for example, Photo Gallery asks you to rate the photo and add a tag (or tags) to the image, making it easy to locate pictures by subject later.
You can remove red-eye in Photo Gallery, as well as crop, flip, and rotate pictures. Slider controls let you adjust brightness, contrast, color temperature, tint, and saturation. (Microsoft Office Picture Manager adds controls for adjusting midtones and more.)
The editing features in Apple’s iPhoto are more robust than those in Vista. In addition to simple editing such as red-eye removal and cropping, you can retouch photos to remove blemishes, for example. A toolbar lets you add effects such as matte, antique, sepia tone, or black-and-white finish, or blurred edges. iPhoto’s brightness, contrast, color, and sharpness adjustments allow for more fine-tuning than those of Photo Gallery.
Apple provides a variety of options for sharing photos once they’re edited, such as creating greeting cards, calendars, Web pages, and even hardcover books.
Check out online offerings. All three freeware programs we tested performed similarly overall but had different strengths. Picasa, available from Google, received high scores for correcting contrast and color, for example, while IrfanView was the best at some organizational tasks, including sorting, resizing, and renaming. Snapfire 1.0 was the best of the bunch for searching for images and for creating photo albums and slideshows.
For serious editing, buy software. Bundled programs and freeware are fine for basic organization and editing, including changing size or shape, brightening, and removing red-eye from flash photos. But if you want to get more creative with your photos, you’ll need a commercial program (see Commercial products, available to ).
Such software has become much better, according to tests carried out by International Consumer Research & Testing, a worldwide group that includes Consumer Reports. The best camera software, from Pentax, scored as high overall as the top-scoring commercial program.
Still, more advanced photographers will probably want to use other software, including programs that come with computer operating systems or can be downloaded free of charge. The programs with cameras tend to emphasize editing or organizing, but not both.
You wouldn’t select a camera for its software. Pentax digital cameras, for example, generally haven’t done well in our tests. But our Ratings
(available to subscribers)
can help you decide what program, or combination, to use.HOW TO CHOOSE
Assess your camera’s software. If the software performed well in our tests, use it. A caveat: Camera software is proprietary, so you may not be able to use all features with images that originate from cameras of other brands.
If you’re an old hand who’s satisfied with the computer program you now use, you’ll most likely want to stick with it, at least for some tasks.
Consider your computer’s program. Apple and Microsoft are building more and more photo-editing and organizing features into their operating systems. Apple offers iPhoto as part of the iLife package with OS X, and Microsoft includes Windows Photo Gallery with Vista.
Although Photo Gallery provides some basic editing abilities, it’s more geared toward organizing your photos. As soon as you save a picture, for example, Photo Gallery asks you to rate the photo and add a tag (or tags) to the image, making it easy to locate pictures by subject later.
You can remove red-eye in Photo Gallery, as well as crop, flip, and rotate pictures. Slider controls let you adjust brightness, contrast, color temperature, tint, and saturation. (Microsoft Office Picture Manager adds controls for adjusting midtones and more.)
The editing features in Apple’s iPhoto are more robust than those in Vista. In addition to simple editing such as red-eye removal and cropping, you can retouch photos to remove blemishes, for example. A toolbar lets you add effects such as matte, antique, sepia tone, or black-and-white finish, or blurred edges. iPhoto’s brightness, contrast, color, and sharpness adjustments allow for more fine-tuning than those of Photo Gallery.
Apple provides a variety of options for sharing photos once they’re edited, such as creating greeting cards, calendars, Web pages, and even hardcover books.
Check out online offerings. All three freeware programs we tested performed similarly overall but had different strengths. Picasa, available from Google, received high scores for correcting contrast and color, for example, while IrfanView was the best at some organizational tasks, including sorting, resizing, and renaming. Snapfire 1.0 was the best of the bunch for searching for images and for creating photo albums and slideshows.
For serious editing, buy software. Bundled programs and freeware are fine for basic organization and editing, including changing size or shape, brightening, and removing red-eye from flash photos. But if you want to get more creative with your photos, you’ll need a commercial program (see Commercial products, available to ).
