Canadian developer FastStone Software has released Faststone Image Viewer 8.0, a major new release of its powerful - and free for personal and non-commercial use - image toolkit for Windows PCs.
Version 8.0 adds two larger thumbnail size options to its Settings dialog along with the ability to preserve settings when using the Adjust Curves and Adjust Levels tool.
Despite the name, FastStone Image Viewer is more than just a simple tool for viewing images. Users can view multiple files courtesy of its two-pane File Explorer interface, with the ability to view a folder full of images as a slideshow, complete with access to detailed file properties (including EXIF data).
The app also provides tools for creating printable contact sheets and image strips, plus supports creating multi-page image files in supported formats (TIFF, animated GIF or PDF). Users can also extract individual images from multi-page files in turn.
There’s also screen capture capabilities built in alongside the ability to scan photos and other images directly into the program. FastStone Image Viewer also supports metadata editing via tags, provides a range of image-editing functions and offers powerful batch renaming and converting tools that are best in class.
Version 8.0 builds on these features with a new Keep Settings option for its Adjust Curves and Adjust Levels tools and gives users the opportunity to provide a title when building image strips.
The Scan tool gains a simplified Save dialog, while the program promises 'enhanced' handling of longer filenames and paths. Users also gain the ability to rename files simply through changing the case of letters.
FastStone Image Viewer 8.0 is available now as a free (for personal or non-commercial use) download for PCs running Windows 7 or later. A perpetual, non-expiring license for commercial use costs $34.95. A portable version is also available for download.
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