CNET Editors' review
Free photo and image tools are getting so sophisticated they more than rival expensive premium tools. Case in point is Zoner Photo Studio Free, an up-to-date graphics app that is packed with features. It can sort and manage image libraries; resize, enhance, and correct images; create albums, slideshows, calendars, panoramas, and other displays; and upload your images to popular photo-sharing sites. It incorporates full-featured Browser and Editor functions, but it also works with a wide range of other photo tools.
Zoner Photo Studio offers Standard and Custom Installation options; we chose the standard installation. A First Run Wizard walked us through the steps of setting up Zoner, though the program can also import settings from previous installations, if available. The setup options included file-type associations, destination folders, whether the program should open images in the Browser or Editor views, and whether or not to integrate it with Windows. We could change these and other settings at any time on Zoner's Preferences menu. Zoner's Browser interface sports the dark-gray tones, white font, and tree-view navigator typical of modern graphics apps, but there's also an interesting built-in folder view in the main window. Zoner handles layers, offers autocorrect functions on its Quick Fix menu, and features a palette of tools such as clone stamps, a morphing mesh tool, red-eye correction, and other useful effects. It works much like other graphics and photo editors, too; although it doesn't resemble Photoshop as closely as some of its competition, many of the functions, controls, and options will be familiar to anyone who's spent much time with similar programs. We browsed to and opened an image and quickly applied a variety of tools and effects to it in the Editor, including watermarks, brush strokes, and cropping. Zoner can use EXIF data to sort image collections automatically. One surprising but nifty extra is the ability to assign GPS data to images using Google Earth.
Zoner Photo Studio Free has all the tools and options to satisfy most users, even pros. It has a stylish interface, well-configured controls, excellent Help and Tutorials, and more settings and features than we can address in this space. Definitely recommended.
Zoner Photo Studio Free - Manage and edit your photos easily - Download Video Previews:Publisher's Description
From Zoner Software:
Zoner Photo Studio FREE is your one-stop solution for downloading and backing up photos, correcting and removing defects, adding creative effects, organizing and tagging your collection, and sharing your unique artistic sense. This beginner-friendly toolkit will have you getting results quickly with aids like the first run wizard, the new Quick Edits bar, and quick-publishing tools for all the ways you want to share. Downloading into neatly organized folders is now just a matter of hooking up your camera. And naturally getting pictures onto Facebook, Picasa, the Zonerama sharing service, and more is a snap. But it's also a professional-grade tool that supports every standard and technology in the industry. Make managing and publishing photo information easy with seamless, silent support for EXIF, IPTC, and XMP. The streamlined interface in eye-saving charcoal gray is as powerful as it is attractive. Bring in pictures from anywhere you can imagine, then apply as many edits as you want to as many photos as you want, all at once. When editing single photos, take advantage of a variety of simple but powerful tools. Take control over exposure with filters like Levels, or use features like Quick Fix to let the program do the work. A serious photo archive demands serious tagging, organizing, and navigation tools, and Zoner Photo Studio delivers, with countless sorting, searching, and filtering features, including a Catalog view to quickly and effortlessly see your photos organized by timeline. Use the Filmstrip to browse photos quickly during editing and full-size viewing. You'll enjoy the workflow, but you know the outputs are the point. We give you countless ways to do it, from 3D photos to panoramas. But of course it all means nothing if it isn't shared, and this photo software has it all in that department too. Zoner Photo Studio will quickly become your second home, and soon you'll find yourself depending on it for all your digital photography needs.
What's new in this version: Version 15 build 6 offers touch control.
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All versions:
3.6 starsout of 36 votes
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Current version:
2.2 starsout of 4 votes
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My rating:
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Results 1-4 of 4
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"NOT FREE -- RANSOMWARE"
Version: Zoner Photo Studio Free 15 build 6
Pros
Works well, for 15 days or extend another 30
Cons
This is not free. Give the developers a mask and a gun so they look the part. BAIT AND SWITCH
Summary
Not Free
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"Does some functions extremely well."
Version: Zoner Photo Studio Free 15 build 6
Pros
I have not found any software which will edit Raw files or EXIF data better then this software.
Also, a good set of tools work extremely well.
Free online backup of photos with the software doing the work.Cons
To use it's best features, you must have the paid version.
There is a limited selection of tools.
The layers tools need work.Summary
This software deals better with RAW files and EXIF data better then anything else I have found. But that experience is limited the first 30 days that you have this software. After that, you must have the Paid Version of this software to use those functions.
The free version will handle all of the editing that a casual photographer, who has a point-n-shoot camera, will need. Pros or serious photographers will need the paid versions.
Online backup and sharing is free, and handled by the software. They also have an online blog where you can comment.
On a previous version of this software I commented that you had to renew the software license each year. That has turned out to be incorrect. You purchase a version and your license is good forever. However, they charge you again for each new version.
In general, as I stated above, the casual photographer will like this free version of the software.
Serious photographers shooting with DSLRs will want the paid versions of this software to add to their library of photo editing software. -
"It's a good product."
Version: Zoner Photo Studio Free 15 build 6
Pros
It's easy to make 3D pictures by combining left and right photos with Zoner Photo Studio.
Cons
Zoner Photo Studio 15 is NOT free. It is a free time-limited trial only.
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"Ransom ware.."
Version: Zoner Photo Studio Free 15 build 6
Pros
Get hook makes you pay every year...
Cons
Ransom ware...
Summary
NOT FREE NEED TO BUY to get proper use...
Results 1-4 of 4
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