Digital imaging on the cheap, Part 1: $38 image editor is a best buy

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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Digital imaging on the cheap, Part 1: $38 PhotoBrush image editor is a best buy for Windows; for Linux, Corel Photo Paint is free

Oct. 8, 2000

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, The Syracuse Newspapers

Three good image editors for the Mac

   There was a time when the typical home computer was used for word processing, e-mail and browsing the Web. But times have changed. Digital images have become a household word.
   Over the next four weeks, I'll take a look at the four main areas of importance in digital imaging -- image viewing and editing software, cameras, scanners and printers. I'll also include some tips on photographic-quality printer paper and I'll have some advice on getting the most out of inexpensive equipment.
   Best of all, I've got great news about a new $38 program for Windows that does a fantastic job of editing and manipulating digital images. It ranks right up with programs that cost many hundreds of dollars.
   Before I tell you about that incredible bargain, I'd like to encourage you to read my earlier series on digital photography. Go to my Web site and look for "Dealing with digital images" in the "Computers" section. The address of the Technofile site is http://twcny.rr.com/technofile. (My site doesn't have "www" in front of the name.)
   Those articles praised ACDSee as the best image viewer for Windows. It still is, and in fact it's even better than before. See those earlier articles for more about ACDSee, or just go to http://www.acdsee.com and download it for a free trial. I've used or tried out more than 40 image viewers for Windows, and there's nothing as good or as fast as ACDSee. (Two important tips: Set up ACDSee to take over ALL file types, and don't forget that all you need to do to is press the Enter key while you're viewing an image to browse all the others in the same folder.)
   ACDSee comes in a Macintosh version, too. The Windows version costs $50 and the Mac version costs $30. There's no Linux version, but Linux users have XV for all-around image viewing and CompuPic for normal viewing and the display of thumbnail views. (They're both free. XV comes with every Linux installation, but you might want to use the free LuraWave-enabled version instead, from http://www.luratech.com. Compupic is free from http://www.photodex.com.
   There are many image editors for Windows. The king of the hill is still Adobe Photoshop, and thousands of professionals use it every day on Macs and on Windows PCs. Photoshop costs too much (hundreds of dollars even at discount) for most consumers and is hard to use. (Please don't write to tell me it's easy to use, because I'll worry about your sanity. Photoshop reeks of geeky stuff no one should be forced to learn.)
   But who cares if Photoshop costs a zillion bucks and takes 55 years to learn? There's something just as good, and it costs only $38. It's Photo-Brush, a new image editor for Windows from http://www.photobrush.com. The price is going up soon, so get it now.
   You can download and try Photo-Brush for free. The second best thing about Photo-Brush is that it uses the same plugins (helper programs) that Photoshop does. The best thing about Photo-Brush is that is has it own plugins that are even better than some of the ones made for Photoshop. (If you search on http://www.google.com, you can find all kinds of free Photoshop plugins. They'll work with Photo-Brush.)
   Linux users already have The Gimp, an outstanding and free image editor. But if you use Linux, be sure to download another free image editor. It's easier to use than The Gimp and, in some ways, a lot more powerful. It's Corel Photo Paint. Corel is giving away the Linux version of Photo Paint. Go to http://linux.corel.com/products/pp9/download.htm (spelled without the "www") to download it. I've been using Corel Photo Paint almost exclusively on my big Linux PC.
   Mac users are lucky. Macs were born to make great graphics. I've put together a list of recommended image editors for Macintosh computers as a companion to this article on my Web site. You'll see it listed along with this article on the main page on my site.
   Next: Is a high-resolution camera worth buying? Can you use that good old 35mm camera for digital photography?