Hi Karl - thanks so much for the run down on this program. And you think it sharpens up the images better than photoshop?! I have an overwhelming number of images I'm dealing with right now - sounds like this program will really help - earlier today I had sent the link to another friend and they stated it looked really good and were going to try it out. Thanks so much. Barbara --- karl shah-jenner <shahjen@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > From: "Redsponger" <redsponger@xxxxxxxxx> > To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - > Professionals - Students" > <photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 12:28 AM > : Re: irfanview update > > > : Karl - have you had the opportunity to use this > : freeware much? > : Thanks > : Barbara > > > > Yes, often. it's a mainstay gross image editor for > me, and one I sing the > praise of whenever I get the opportunity .. which > you've given me :) > > What I mean by gross editor is that it's not very > functional for altering > individual elements within an image but for altering > the whole image it's > not just fast but consistent and uses some very > advanced algorithms > > but it's main strength lies in batch processing :) > > for example regarding speed, I did a little > benchmarking test* > > I took a folder with 50 jpeg files (85Mb) and batch > processed them with the > following processes *all at once*: > > 1. rename to "image (advance number by one each > time) + original filename > (so "8066.jpg" becomes "image1_8066.jpg") > 2. resize long edge to 800 pixels (it finds the long > edge & makes > 800x600's) > (resizing is done by resampling using B-Spline > algorithm) > 3. Rotate the image 90 degrees left > 4. sharpen 5% > 5. adjust contrast +5% > 6. adjust gamma 5% > 7. adjust colour balance +Red 5 > 8. Add overlay text (© Karl Shah-Jenner 2007) > 9. Create subdirectory and place the resulting files > in that > 10. Save as jpeg 90% > > it took 37 seconds to process them > > > Doing exactly the same again but this time with the > full Pentax PEF raw > files (496Mb) > took 38 seconds > > doing it again but saving the output as TIF rather > than jpeg, took 37 > seconds - that's almost half a gig of images done in > under a minute (!) > > > > > Created thumbnail contact sheets - irfanview took > 496Mb of RAW's and > created a 3000x2400 pixel (10x8 at print res) jpeg > contact sheet, 100% jpeg > quality of all 50 images in 16 seconds > > I then made a slideshow for our mythical test > customer, processing all 50 > RAW files (496Mb of data) to a 27Mb executable > screensaver in 40 seconds. > > Now if I were a pro trying to save time (and thus > money) I'd be doing my > fiddling with individual elements of an image in > photoshop and doing all > the gross imge editing with irfanview. > > Using the thumbnail viewer also makes this easy - > you can thumbnail preview > all the images in a matter of seconds at whatever > size you like, select all > the images to be rotated left or right and rotate > them almost instantly. > Better still if you are working with jpegs, you can > rotate them LOSSLESSLY. > Select the ones which clearly need similar > processing (say adjust gamma) > and process them, move one > > > > more > > it's resizing algorithms are not just good, they're > *very* good- The > b-spline and lanczos alg's are a massive > improvement over the simpler algorithms photoshop > includes, and it's free > and **HEAPS** faster. in fact Irfanview beat > Genuine Fractals in a UK > magazine roundup of upsizing programs for both speed > and final result - not > bad, a freeware program beating rather expensive > photoshop plugin > > a basic primer on algorithm for resizing can be > found here: > http://www.interpolatethis.com/interp.html > > and some comparisons > http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-resize-for-web.htm > http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-photo-enlargement.htm > > > Superficially irfanview looks like an ugly, clunky > image editor but once > you spend a few minutes learning what it can do > either by using one of the > tutorials or by experimenting you'll see it can > shave hours off the normal > workflow. > > as a file handler: > > If you're prepared to burrow deeper still into what > this odd little program > can do. you'll find it can run in DOS as a *.bat > file using various > command switches. Let's say you have a card reader > that you grab your > images from > > let's say you also set up a file on your PC where > you normally dump files > before processing them > > ..and another file you print from > > using notepad you can write a file that uses > irfanview at the command level > to copy all the images from your card to this 'dump' > file, delete the > originals on the card and format the card, makes a > thumbnail contact sheet > for you and resizes the images into a subdirectory > for quick evaluation, > renaming these with the current date and prefix > 'preview' if you so > choose.. and if you like, printing the contact > sheet. Writing this notepad > file is simple and it's saved to somewhere like your > desktop and called > 'image dump.bat' - so whenever you pop a card in the > reader you double > click the mage dump.bat' and in no time out of your > printer pops a contact > sheet, your images are saved to the 'dump' file, > previews are created and > your card is ready for use again :) > > > An example of this in the real world. Pentax > Australia was trying to get > into the hospitals in medical printing from > endoscopic examinations, they > wanted to sell endoscopes. Sony had this wrapped up > at the time with their > expensive printers integral to their own endoscopes > - the doctor only > needed to click a button on the endoscope > interface/printer and out popped > a grainy 3 1/2 inch image. But the doctors were > hoping for something a > little nicer, some sort of image that could be > around 5x7 - 8x10 in glossy > paper they could show around at conferences and the > like. > > the Pentax representative had been to all the pro > printers and the imaging > experts, they'd consulted industry and medical > photographers and it was not > looking good for them. I spent 20 minutes with a > canon printer and notepad > then took the whole lot around to them with > irfanview loaded on a USB stick > (it'll actually run from a floppy disk ;) > > two BAT files. One called 'grab.bat' to 'grab' the > image and store it in a > === message truncated === ____________________________________________________________________________________ Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you sell. http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/
