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GOOD Image viewer for OS X?

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TwistedMelon

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I've tried what seems like all the image viewers I could find that will run native in OS X. My impression of all of them has been less than enthusiastic. In fact I've thought they were all terrible - as viewers. Some of them did a few interesting things, but they all suffered from very poor interface design.

Even the award-winning (and my personal favorite for Windows) ACDSee was a pretty shabby effort, IMO.

I want (need) something that approaches the level of viewing capabilities of ACDSee for Windows (even something at the level of ACDSee 3.1). When I click on an image in the finder, I want to have it show up in a viewer window at its original (non-scaled) size. I want to have some controls for easily panning the image around (cursor keys would be nice), zooming in and out, one-key to fit-to-window, one key to go to next image in the same folder/path, key for previous, etc. I'd like this without having to have a seperate file-browser window open.

ACDSee for Mac OS, unlike the Windows version, seems to always want to treat viewer windows seperately from the browser window. It won't close the browser (or replace it with the image) when double-clicking an image. And I've found no way to configure it to behave the way I'd like. It's not a very good mirror of the functionality that established their Windows product as the best-of-platform.

Do I hear any suggestions? The built-in helper in Previewer in Mac OS X is simply unusable for anything in my opinion, so that's obviously out of the question. :)

Bruno
 
I faced the same dilemma some months ago. I went through every viewer application I could find and bought most of them, in search for a Mac equivalent to Windoze's ACD See. I have iView Media Pro, ACD See v1.65, Portfolio 6.1, Curator, and Graphic Converter. While I have several issues with it, I've determined that Graphic Converter is the best choice for a viewer for me. Download an evaluation copy. I think you'll buy it. It'll do what you want, but you'll not like it as well as ACD See for Windoze. Such is life.
TwistedMelon said:
I've tried what seems like all the image viewers I could find that
will run native in OS X. My impression of all of them has been
less than enthusiastic. In fact I've thought they were all
terrible - as viewers. Some of them did a few interesting things,
but they all suffered from very poor interface design.

Even the award-winning (and my personal favorite for Windows)
ACDSee was a pretty shabby effort, IMO.

I want (need) something that approaches the level of viewing
capabilities of ACDSee for Windows (even something at the level of
ACDSee 3.1). When I click on an image in the finder, I want to
have it show up in a viewer window at its original (non-scaled)
size. I want to have some controls for easily panning the image
around (cursor keys would be nice), zooming in and out, one-key to
fit-to-window, one key to go to next image in the same folder/path,
key for previous, etc. I'd like this without having to have a
seperate file-browser window open.

ACDSee for Mac OS, unlike the Windows version, seems to always want
to treat viewer windows seperately from the browser window. It
won't close the browser (or replace it with the image) when
double-clicking an image. And I've found no way to configure it to
behave the way I'd like. It's not a very good mirror of the
functionality that established their Windows product as the
best-of-platform.

Do I hear any suggestions? The built-in helper in Previewer in Mac
OS X is simply unusable for anything in my opinion, so that's
obviously out of the question. :)

Bruno
Click to expand...
--
Mike Flaherty
http://imageevent.com/mflaherty/mikesgallery
 
Try it you may like it.
 
Since I've already sprung for Photoshop, I use the browse feature. It will read any document that's readable in Photoshop. If it's not readable in Photoshop, I'm not working with it anyway. I have no problem with the preview feature in OSX, except that it will not read 16 bit tiffs.

The browse feature in Photoshop lets you read each file, shows the exif data, and shows a slightly larger thumbnail. To view it full size, open in Photoshop.

Works for me. Others may want more features, but I just want to be able to check out my image files.

Take care.
TwistedMelon said:
I've tried what seems like all the image viewers I could find that
will run native in OS X. My impression of all of them has been
less than enthusiastic. In fact I've thought they were all
terrible - as viewers. Some of them did a few interesting things,
but they all suffered from very poor interface design.

Even the award-winning (and my personal favorite for Windows)
ACDSee was a pretty shabby effort, IMO.

I want (need) something that approaches the level of viewing
capabilities of ACDSee for Windows (even something at the level of
ACDSee 3.1). When I click on an image in the finder, I want to
have it show up in a viewer window at its original (non-scaled)
size. I want to have some controls for easily panning the image
around (cursor keys would be nice), zooming in and out, one-key to
fit-to-window, one key to go to next image in the same folder/path,
key for previous, etc. I'd like this without having to have a
seperate file-browser window open.

ACDSee for Mac OS, unlike the Windows version, seems to always want
to treat viewer windows seperately from the browser window. It
won't close the browser (or replace it with the image) when
double-clicking an image. And I've found no way to configure it to
behave the way I'd like. It's not a very good mirror of the
functionality that established their Windows product as the
best-of-platform.

Do I hear any suggestions? The built-in helper in Previewer in Mac
OS X is simply unusable for anything in my opinion, so that's
obviously out of the question. :)

Bruno
Click to expand...
 
Mike Flaherty said:
Hi, Mike. As I said in my thread above, I not only tried it, but
purchased it. Serves poorly as an image viewer, particularly when
compared to ACD See for Windoze.
Click to expand...
It would be nice to get thru a thread without having to see that over used and tired spelling of Windows. Please no more Windoze
Ken A
 
I'm not one for keeping applications open all the time. I have enough memory for it, but I just get tired of the clutter. I'm really looking for something that will launch very fast and pull an image up right away - on demand.

I too quite like the file browser in Photoshop. But I still want a dedicted viewer application. Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm going to take a look at the latest recommendations. Think I may have missed those.

Bruno
 
Hi, Ken. Certainly, you're entitled to your opinion; as I'm entitled to mine. I respectfully suggest you sit back, take a deep breath, and forget about it...
Ken A said:
Mike Flaherty said:
Hi, Mike. As I said in my thread above, I not only tried it, but
purchased it. Serves poorly as an image viewer, particularly when
compared to ACD See for Windoze.
Click to expand...
It would be nice to get thru a thread without having to see that
over used and tired spelling of Windows. Please no more Windoze
Ken A
Click to expand...
--
Mike Flaherty
http://imageevent.com/mflaherty/mikesgallery
 
Mike Flaherty said:
Hi, Ken. Certainly, you're entitled to your opinion; as I'm
entitled to mine. I respectfully suggest you sit back, take a deep
breath, and forget about it...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the mini Yoga lesson,but my point was that Mac users know that Windows is an inferior OS. The dated Windoze bit doesn't have to used any more to remind us that Mac is the best OP system out there. Put the Windoze thing to bed or better yet, ..."forget about it...".
Ken A
 
Hi,

I'm also coming from Window and deeply missed the facility of Thumb Plus for which I never found any equivalent in Macs.. I've been using Canto Cumulus, but it isn't as easy to view pictures with it and it can be very slow..

However, recently I've found Iview Media Pro and think it is great and offers me approximatively the same as thumb plus did for window.. What I like is that it allows you to edit the pictures you have just taken rapidly, extracting the JPG from the raw files; then you can view the pictures in three different way : a list, a collection of thumbs or one by one and as you click on the arrows it would become like a slide show. You have the possibility to view the EXIF information (although not all, or I didn't find how) and to anotate the picture, to give them keywords or categories.

I don't think that it makes slideshows which you could give away to friends with a runtime version.. but there is a little applescript which is quite convenient (for osx) : as you drop a folder on it, it makes a http://www pages, which you can view in Internet explorer : you have the mame of the pictures in a left frame and when you click on the names, the pictures shows in the main frame..

I don't remember exactly from where I downloaded it, but I started there :

http://a16.g.akamai.net/7/16/51/c64d8d9baf1976/www.apple.com/applescript/macosx/
Mike Flaherty said:
Mike Eckstein said:
Try it you may like it.
Click to expand...
--
Mike Flaherty
http://imageevent.com/mflaherty/mikesgallery
Click to expand...
--
Christiane
 
I'll take a look at PhotoMechanic when I'm back at the office. I don't hold much hope for it though. Doesn't handle much beyond JPEG and TIFF, the website lacks detailed specs and screen shots of the program and the price along with upgrade policies are ludicrous. I guess they're suited for the people showcased on their site: AP newswire folks with money to burn.

But we'll see. :)

Bruno
 
Ken A said:
Mike Flaherty said:
Hi, Mike. As I said in my thread above, I not only tried it, but
purchased it. Serves poorly as an image viewer, particularly when
compared to ACD See for Windoze.
Click to expand...
It would be nice to get thru a thread without having to see that
over used and tired spelling of Windows. Please no more Windoze
Ken A
Click to expand...
Ken-
You're right. You and Homer Simpson. From now on, it's Windohs for me.
 
They just release this Image Viewer and looks realy promissing and is only 24usd.

I'm testing it and look better than Graphics Converter.
Mike Flaherty said:
TwistedMelon said:
I've tried what seems like all the image viewers I could find that
will run native in OS X. My impression of all of them has been
less than enthusiastic. In fact I've thought they were all
terrible - as viewers. Some of them did a few interesting things,
but they all suffered from very poor interface design.

Even the award-winning (and my personal favorite for Windows)
ACDSee was a pretty shabby effort, IMO.

I want (need) something that approaches the level of viewing
capabilities of ACDSee for Windows (even something at the level of
ACDSee 3.1). When I click on an image in the finder, I want to
have it show up in a viewer window at its original (non-scaled)
size. I want to have some controls for easily panning the image
around (cursor keys would be nice), zooming in and out, one-key to
fit-to-window, one key to go to next image in the same folder/path,
key for previous, etc. I'd like this without having to have a
seperate file-browser window open.

ACDSee for Mac OS, unlike the Windows version, seems to always want
to treat viewer windows seperately from the browser window. It
won't close the browser (or replace it with the image) when
double-clicking an image. And I've found no way to configure it to
behave the way I'd like. It's not a very good mirror of the
functionality that established their Windows product as the
best-of-platform.

Do I hear any suggestions? The built-in helper in Previewer in Mac
OS X is simply unusable for anything in my opinion, so that's
obviously out of the question. :)

Bruno
Click to expand...
--
Mike Flaherty
http://imageevent.com/mflaherty/mikesgallery
Click to expand...
--
E-20, C-3030 and E-100rs happy owner
 
TwistedMelon said:
I've tried what seems like all the image viewers I could find that
will run native in OS X. My impression of all of them has been
less than enthusiastic. In fact I've thought they were all
terrible - as viewers. Some of them did a few interesting things,
but they all suffered from very poor interface design.

Even the award-winning (and my personal favorite for Windows)
ACDSee was a pretty shabby effort, IMO.

I want (need) something that approaches the level of viewing
capabilities of ACDSee for Windows (even something at the level of
ACDSee 3.1). When I click on an image in the finder, I want to
have it show up in a viewer window at its original (non-scaled)
size. I want to have some controls for easily panning the image
around (cursor keys would be nice), zooming in and out, one-key to
fit-to-window, one key to go to next image in the same folder/path,
key for previous, etc. I'd like this without having to have a
seperate file-browser window open.

ACDSee for Mac OS, unlike the Windows version, seems to always want
to treat viewer windows seperately from the browser window. It
won't close the browser (or replace it with the image) when
double-clicking an image. And I've found no way to configure it to
behave the way I'd like. It's not a very good mirror of the
functionality that established their Windows product as the
best-of-platform.

Do I hear any suggestions? The built-in helper in Previewer in Mac
OS X is simply unusable for anything in my opinion, so that's
obviously out of the question. :)

Bruno
Click to expand...
--Hey man, You might give Photogrid a try. It's a shareware I've been using for a while in OS 9.2. I know they have an OSX version. I haven't tried it, but they have a trial version you can try out to see if you like it. Not sure what all capabilities your looking for, but it's not bad for the price. Check Version Tracker for OSX.
Sol
 
Luis E Limon said:
They just release this Image Viewer and looks realy promissing and
is only 24usd.
Click to expand...
Just downloaded it. In my not so humble opinion, it sucks. It's slow. It's buggy. It has virtually no preferences. It clutters the window with a bunch of controls I don't need nor ever want to see. It doesn't display the info I DO want to see (such as magnification ratio).

Seperate viewer and browser? What were they thinking? It's an attempt at copying ACDSee, but they failed to bring over everything that made ACDSee great.

Oh well. Next..

Bruno
 
I totally agree. It's definately the best browser that I've seen and very full featured, it's had many years of refinement and the author is not slowing down one bit!

One recommendation, before you use it to view pictures and browse folders - be meticulous about going through EVERY preference in the program. It's default set-up is set to modify many different aspects of your files as you view them, not bad changes but things you should be aware of!

cheers,
Jacques
Mike Flaherty said:
I've determined that Graphic
Converter is the best choice for a viewer for me.
Click to expand...
 
I have downloaded the Ulead viewer. I think that Iphoto is much better and it doesn't cost anything. The, too, if you are using PS 7 it has some very powerful features too,

Iview media pro or whatever is a 2.5mb programe selling for $50-$90. Somehow I cxan't see paying any money for this little program. Maybe $10.00 as a shareware fee.
Luis E Limon said:
I'm testing it and look better than Graphics Converter.
Luis E Limon said:
TwistedMelon said:
I've tried what seems like all the image viewers I could find that
will run native in OS X. My impression of all of them has been
less than enthusiastic. In fact I've thought they were all
terrible - as viewers. Some of them did a few interesting things,
but they all suffered from very poor interface design.

Even the award-winning (and my personal favorite for Windows)
ACDSee was a pretty shabby effort, IMO.

I want (need) something that approaches the level of viewing
capabilities of ACDSee for Windows (even something at the level of
ACDSee 3.1). When I click on an image in the finder, I want to
have it show up in a viewer window at its original (non-scaled)
size. I want to have some controls for easily panning the image
around (cursor keys would be nice), zooming in and out, one-key to
fit-to-window, one key to go to next image in the same folder/path,
key for previous, etc. I'd like this without having to have a
seperate file-browser window open.

ACDSee for Mac OS, unlike the Windows version, seems to always want
to treat viewer windows seperately from the browser window. It
won't close the browser (or replace it with the image) when
double-clicking an image. And I've found no way to configure it to
behave the way I'd like. It's not a very good mirror of the
functionality that established their Windows product as the
best-of-platform.

Do I hear any suggestions? The built-in helper in Previewer in Mac
OS X is simply unusable for anything in my opinion, so that's
obviously out of the question. :)

Bruno
Click to expand...
--
Mike Flaherty
http://imageevent.com/mflaherty/mikesgallery
Click to expand...
--
E-20, C-3030 and E-100rs happy owner
Click to expand...
 
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