Free Photoscape: 5 stars from Snapfiles

[Curt]

Yet another FREE (Korean) image editor & viewer I didn't know about: Photoscape 3.0

Key Features:

• Viewer: View your folders photos, slideshow
• Editor: resizing, brightness and color adjustment, white balance, backlight correction, frames, balloons, mosaic mode, adding text, drawing pictures, cropping, filters, red eye removal, blooming
• Batch editor: Batch editing multiple photos
• Page: Make one photo by merging multiple photos at the page frame
• Combine: Make one photo by attaching multiple photos vertically or horizontally
• Animated GIF: Make one animation photo with multiple photos
• Print: Print portrait shot, carte de visite, passport photo
• Screen Capture: Capture your screenshot and save it
• Color Picker: Zoom in screen on images, search and pick the color
• Rename: Change photo file names in batch mode
• Raw Converter: Convert RAW to JPG
  
  Free download from here

Photoscape
photo editing suite
Our Rating: [attachimg=#] (Excellent) 

PhotoScape is a complete photo editing suite that includes image browsing/viewing, photo editing, picture page printing, photo resizing and renaming, and even RAW conversion.

The photo editor includes standard editing features as well as automatic and custom adjustment options for brightness, contrast, exposure, backlight corrections and more. It also offers a variety of image effect filters and a collection of image frames and masks that can be applied to enhance the presentation of your photos.

Photoscape also includes extensive printing options that allow you to create print layouts to combine multiple photos on a single page according to their print size. You can also create image collages from different layout templates, that can be saved as new JPG files.

Other features include batch editing, GIF animations, EXIF display, slideshow and more. A very complete package that will meet most of your digital image editing needs.

Freeware

Mooii Tech:
http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php
http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/download.php

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/photoscape.html

[Curt]

Startup screen:

[attachimg=#]

And the correct spelling is: PhotoScape.

Microsoft Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista

Screenshots:
http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/screenshot.php
http://www.snapfiles.com/screenshots/photoscape.htm

[Carol Haynes]

I'm sure I have seen that logo somewhere else 

[Nighted]

Yeah, it looks very similar to something....

[patthecat]

My firewall reported outgoing connections -
I wish there's an option to:

1. Turn off the "calling home" part when the program starts.  Don't know if homebase is counting the number of unique users of the software, number of downloads, checking for software updates, etc.

2. Turn off downloading a picture from a Flickr page.  There's an option to not show the picture but only after the image has been cached on the computer??

[patthecat]

Have been playing with Photoscape for a little bit.  This has potential because in addition to being a viewer, it has several modules which a quite useful: placing text and graphic objects on the photo then combining them into one layer, preset photo collage page templates, frames, buttons for one click photo adjustment (auto level and contrast).  Most of these features I typically have used another utility to perform in addition to my general graphic viewer.

It could use improvement such as consistently putting an undo/redo option in modules such as the Editor, Page, and Combine tabs.  I do like context help as you hover the mouse over a control such as a button or slider.

Some annoyances I mentioned in my previous post are the automatically "calling home" for an unknown reason and also downloading of a flickr photo - but I just let the firewall deny these 4 outgoing calls.  I see no options on the GUI or the cfg files to disable them.

Oh yeah and also the icon does indeed look somewhat familiar... maybe ubuntu but without the "appendage part: on the PhotoScape icon?

[Curt]

Potential? Yes. But Speed? No! Maybe it just needs a lot more RAM than I can offer, but response time is far too slow - the lack of speed really was disappointing to me. However it sure has Potential, Yes.

[patthecat]

Curt - which speed issue are you referring to?  Is it the one in the Viewer tab where it generates all the thumbnails when you go to a folder?  Maybe turning the thumbnail cache on would help.  The issue is similar to other viewers such as Faststone Image Viewer which can view folder via thumbnails.  One way to avoid the thumbnail preview this is go to the Editor tab and open the specific filename.

I'm just starting to see PhotoScape on the other download sites such as softpedia, download.com, softonic, majorgeeks, etc.
From the looks of it, even though it says version 3, it's either
1. the first general release and just labeled it version 3 to give it some maturity
2. OR the software was called something else before and has just undergone a name change

Anyways I'll keep my eye on the user reviews, looks good so far.  Right now it's on a standalone Win98 box isolated from the rest of my stuff.

Now if only the author can do something about making the "calling home" aspect and the automatic download of flickr photo  an optional feature 

[Curt]

Did Flickr ever offer something like this?

---

I was merely referring to the amount of time PhotoScape will use from the moment you open the mother-program > to the chosen child-program is ready for use.

[patthecat]

Hmmm, the start-up does not seem that bad on my end - isolated test machine: Win98 Pentium II 128 MB RAM

1.  If your firewall automatically blocks unapproved outgoing connections, this may cause it since it tries to call home to a specific IP 3 times and then 1 time to www.flickr.vip.mud.yahoo.com

2. OR if you're automatically allowing outgoing connections then maybe its your ISP's DNS server slow in doing the domain name resolution to flickr.vip.mud.yahoo.com - Try to copy and paste the address in your browser to see if it's kind of slow...

On Flickr forums some people are noticing slowdown depending on geographical location:
http://www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/40740/page3/

[dhuser]

Nice Find. This is exactly what I was looking for, in terms of a good program to make collages and prints with multiple photos.

dhuser

[Curt]

Good to hear, dhuser
- and thanks a lot for your private response! 

Hmmm, the start-up does not seem that bad on my end -

Maybe I had too little free memory at the time. This time it used 33 seconds to cold-start the main program and then the editor program. A second (re-)start took only 9 seconds before both programs were open. Thats okay, I would say.

[PhilB66]

Photoscape updated

Change Log Version 3.1 (2008.05.28)

Added 'Splitter' screen that divides a photo into multiple parts.
Added 5 film effects such as Cross Process, Velvia, Provia, Portra and Agfa.
Improved 'Mole Removal Mode'.
Added 'Cellophane' filter.
Added 26 pencil icons.
Added 22 real picture icons.
Added 11 balloons.
Added new naming rules (time field) in 'Batch Editor' and 'Rename'.
Support Chinese and German too.
'Raw Converter' supports K25, KDC, SR2, SRF.
Minor GUI improvements.
Minor bugs fixed.

[Curt]

Photoscape 3.5 is ready.

But notice how Chrome is default:

[attachimg=#]

There is one minor bug in Photoscape Ver 3.5 It is our first priority to fix it in the next version and here is a temporary solution. Save As: You cannot select your file extension in 'Save As' now. Only saved as original file extension. But if you write the file extension directly in 'File Name', then you can change it. For example, if you want to change test.jpg to test.png, just write ‘test.png’ directly at ‘file name’ and save it.

Hmm... "we are not amused!"

Fastest download is from http://photoscape.en.softonic.com/download

[joby_toss]

Quick note: version 3.5 is not portable anymore!

[Curt]

New Photoscape 3.6.4: http://photoscape.org/ps/main/download.php . Still freeware.

Version 3.6.4 (2013.06.25)

   Filter speed of Sharpen, Blur, Fake Tilt-Shift, Color Engraving, Smart Blur, Bloom, etc: Improved.
   New filter, Color Temperature added: Editor > Home > Bright, Color > Color Temperature.
   JPEG quality option improved: Editor > Save. Opt in & out available.
   More Crop-Ratios added: A,B,C Series, Letter, Legal Ratio etc.
   Fixed minor bugs.

I use PhotoScape several times a week, but have not noticed any bugs.

--------------------

During installation you should not click the first "I agree", but "Options"!
otherwise you will get some 3'rd party program (Google Drive).  

[Giampy]

Once I tried version 3.6.2. There is/was an unspeakable feature about editing (brightness, contrast, colors etc...).
Even a weak-minded guy understands that changes must be visible in real-time while we drag the sliding buttons. Simple.
In PhotoScape we drag the sliding buttons but changes are visible only when we release the button of the mouse. Therefore in PhotoScape we can reach the right changes only after several blind tries.
With regard to me, my experience with PhotoScape ends here.

[Curt]

The feature must be "unspeakable", because PhotoScape does not have any sliders for editing, and never had. Memory is not always just missing in computers...

[Giampy]

PhotoScape does not have any sliders for editing, and never had

Before writing my comment I have first read my old report about Photoscape 3.6.2 . In my report I don't talk about "sliders" however I read "changes are visible only when the left button of the mouse is released", therefore some sliders for editing there were surely in Photoscape 3.6.2.
Memory of paper never fails.

[Giampy]

PhotoScape does not have any sliders for editing, and never had

Just now I have tried the new Photoscape:

[attach]

[Curt]

I clearly stand corrected. Thank you, and Sorry! PhotoScape obviously has a slider.

I have never seen any reason to use PhotoScape for the feature in question; it is changing the entire picture, when used. For changing of colour balance, I would use an editor with a much more advanced marker / selector, than PhotoScape can offer.

[Curt]

3.6.4 introduced a bug which now has been fixed in 3.6.5

http://photoscape.org/ps/main/download.php