Recommend image comparison tool, please?

[rjbull]

I'm looking for a simple image comparison tool.  That is, if I make several variations on a digital photo, I'd like to be able to see them all on screen at the same time, in their original aspect ratios, tiled, and sized so as to fill the screen as much as possible (i.e. be as big as possible, rather than thumbnails).  The attached image is from Faststone Image Viewer 5.2, the first such application I've seen though 4 images is the maximum.  Are there any alternatives, please?

[tomos]

Four images is good going I think.

A possible alternative is ExifPro Image viewer:
I dont have it installed on this machine - but IIRC it will only show two images side by side in the viewer.
But Zoom and drag are simultaneously applied to both images, which is great for getting in there and comparing details (how does that work in Faststone viewer?)

I found it great on occasions where I had to go though a lot of photos and pick out the best (e.g. wedding pics).

[Scott_Y]

VisiPics will search and auto-detect "similar" images, then display all matches together (the screenshots page shows four and five images in a row).
http://www.visipics.info/index.php?title=Main_Page

[Jibz]

I think many photo managers have a feature like this.

Lightroom for instance has two modes to help you choose from a set of images; first there is survey, which shows you the selected images side by side as large as possible, and then you can remove the ones you do not like one by one. Once you have a small set of good images, you can switch to compare, which shows you two images side by side and lets you zoom to check out details and such. It works by having one image be the current pick, and then you can cycle the other image trough the remaining images, and if you find a better one, you select that as your pick instead.

I think Daminion, which has been discussed here before, also added some kind of compare view recently.

[Giampy]

I am rather perplexed. To fine-tune a photo, I realized it's necessary to see it very large, I mean the same size of the final official photo. How can you adjust a photo if it's so small?
It's a mistery to me.

[tomos]

A possible alternative is ExifPro Image viewer:
I dont have it installed on this machine - but IIRC it will only show two images side by side in the viewer.
But Zoom and drag are simultaneously applied to both images, which is great for getting in there and comparing details (how does that work in Faststone viewer?)

yeah, only two images can be compared, but the synced zoom/drag is a great help (Ctrl+Drag will pan just one image). It is paid (~20$ without VAT) and I cannot see if they have a trial (must have...)

Checking focus:

[attachthumb=#]

I think the synced zoom and pan is key to comparing images - but maybe not so essential to compare images where e.g. you've just changed the contrast etc. (?)

[tomos]

I bought Photo Supreme lately (formerly idImager).

I'm still trying to figure it out (have toyed with a couple but never *fully* used an image catalog programme)
It can show six images side by side via the 'Light box'

[attachthumb=#]

- in case you're wondering those images are identical (just copied for the shot)

• zoom via mouse wheel
• mouse-down => blow-up (to 100% - which doesnt work well for my usage - I prefer to zoom manually)
• unable to move an individual image - more relevant when comparing multiple images of a view, as opposed to versions of one file
• 'pan' using scrollbars

I checked out their forum and they seem to be quite responsive to requests, and there's a new major update out soon.

[rjbull]

Thanks, folks - especially tomos, interesting suggestions.

I could have been clearer.  What prompted the query was a desire to decide on my personal preferred ISO rating, and I wanted enough images visible at once, and as big as possible, to do that; and also later to compare compositions.  I wasn't looking for a duplicate detector (yet), and didn't want to buy Lightroom if I could help it; it's enough trouble to stop AdobeARM running all the time

I agree that four images is adequate, though I'd have liked six if possible.  Of course, then they get smaller.  I see the well-liked BreezeBrowser Pro only gives 2, 3 or 4.  It looks like ExifPro Image viewer offers a large subset of the features of BreezeBrowser, at a much lower cost

[tsaint]

Bit late I s'pose, but Xnview (freeware) has a compare tool, allowing up to 4 selected images to be displayed at once. Images can then be removed from the display one at a time to narrow down your choice, with the remaining images expanding where possible to occupy the freed up space.
Alternatively, you could select as many images as you wanted from the thumbnail view and use the "create strip of images" tool and use the resulting to compare images.
Tony

[rjbull]

Xnview (freeware) has a compare tool

Thanks - are you using XnView or XnViewMP?

[longrun]

Both XnView and XnView MP have Compare tools.