Smart Photo Tools

Sometimes less is more; but then again, sometimes it's not. Case in point: Smart Photo Tools, an underpowered photo-editing suite that splits a meager feature set among three separate utilities. The first utility lets you search your computer for images using a variety of search parameters (date, ISO, exposure); it worked pretty well, but the quasi-command-line interface put us off. The second tool keeps statistics on your images and generates handy charts--again, not bad, but hardly worth breaking out into a separate program. The third module, Smart Photo Prepare, lets you batch-process images by cropping them, addding text or a logo, adjusting brightness and contrast, and rotating the picture. It's the most impressive of the three, but we've seen freeware programs that do more. Casual photographers might get by with Smart Photo Tools, but even they can find better, cheaper options.