This is a goodlooking and full-featured piece of software. Even though I installed the previous giveaway of Zoner Photo Studio 12, I haven't had an opportunity to explore all of its features yet. I'm very pleased to have it so thanks to Zoner Software and GOTD for the giveway.

However, I did have a couple of issues with installation. I installed Zoner Photo Studio 13 without uninstalling Zoner Photo Studio 12, on the assumption that it would replace it. Instead it left the previous version installed, and created a parallel set of folders in Application Data, My Documents and Program Files. While installing, it asked whether it should import all of the settings from the ZPS12 but didn't ask if the user wants to uninstall it. I think it should do that.

A worse issue arose when I tried to uninstall ZPS12 manually. The uninstaller simply hung. I was forced to cancel the process, whereupon Windows Explorer crashed and I was forced to reboot. In the end, I had to delete ZPS12 from the registry and Program Files manually. Not very elegant. Then when I ran ZPS13, my Windows debugger was triggered. So I installed ZPS13 again, just in case removing ZPS12 had somehow damaged ZPS13. None of these problems would have arisen if Zoner Software had started from the reasonable assumption that a user MIGHT only want one version of Zoner Photo Studio on their system, and had asked that question.

Zoner Software, I would greatly appreciate some clarification from you on one point. As we would expect, the terms of the giveaway are "No free upgrades to future versions". However, there seems to be no way to turn off the automatic update checks. Also, your terminology implies that the next version will be ZPS14. So it's not clear whether it is safe, under the term of this giveaway, to accept new builds of ZPS13, using the automatic update checks which can't be switched off. Please let us know.

Julia  –  13 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+70)

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I was wrong. It seems that all versions of this soft share the same Help file. According to publisher website, Zoner Photo Studio 13 Home has no RAW module, Professional version has this feature.

Vladimir  –  13 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+58)

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Hello rizla01,

I definitely agree with the advice to check the comparison chart, and thank you for linking to it. Whether the glass is half empty or half full is a more individual decision, but I'll still take the liberty of highlighting a couple of large advantages of Home over Free.

First is the ability to work with selections in the Editor. This is in Home and not in Free. Almost any time you want to do any thing with just one area in a picture, being able to work with selections is very important.

Second is the ability to work with GPS information, that is, info about where a picture was taken. This is a lot of fun for vacation photos or any kind of travel photos. We also have corporate and government users who turn this kind of power into profit or public benefit too.

These are nowhere near the only differences! But I'd say they're two good examples of cool or useful things only available in Home or higher.

Erik Piper - Zoner Software  –  13 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+51)

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Hello all,

lots of comments since I last looked! So, here are lots of answers!

Angie tam -
we're gathering up comments and suggestions just like the one in comment 11, but we're doing it in a special place this time. Scroll up above the comments to the Share Your Ideas section and use the "Give Your Feedback" button there to make sure your idea won't be missed. This is extra-important because for this GotD, we're giving out prizes for the 3 best suggestions.

You don't need to uninstall version 12 before installing version 13. It's harmless to keep the old version around, except for the bit of extra hard drive space.


Julia -
the uninstallation troubles are unsettling to hear about, and definitely be sent to our support line. Off the cuff I don't know what to say about them except that fortunately, they are unusual.

Regarding updates and upgrades: Updates are different from upgrades. Updates are improvements and fixes within the same version number. Upgrades are new version numbers. Updates are free; only upgrades cost money. The update checker *makes* updates, but only *informs about* possible upgrades.

Keep the comments coming!

Erik Piper
Zoner Software Customer Support

Erik Piper - Zoner Software  –  13 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+47)

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Zoner is such a well done, well thought out app that I found myself continually holding it to a higher standard, expecting [& searching for] Photoshop-level features that just weren't there... that isn't a criticism of Zoner -- the lowest price I saw this morning for Photoshop CS5 from a known retailer is $660 -- it's my honest reaction to software that seems very professional, very well done. As an organizer/viewer it's pretty complete, with it's biggest negative being no facial recognition -- something that's included in competitor Adobe's Photoshop Elements [which Adobe has been pricing quite aggressively]. As an image editor it falls shy of pro-level work without real layer support. You can still do quite a lot of editing, but without layers many things take longer, & others just aren't possible. While the Home version isn't too bad a deal for $45, before I bought it, or paid $70 for the Pro version, I'd want to take a good look at PaintShop Photo Pro X3 [Google/Bing for pricing on the Ultimate (~$90) & regular (~$40) versions] -- info & d/load trial: http://goo.gl/d5gR . [Note that what was once a web design favorite, PaintShop Pro is now a very high impact install, & not as responsive as Zoner, but does more & has layers. I've never been a PaintShop Pro user (Photoshop since v. 2 or 3 or something), but knew of it & downloaded/installed the trial this morning just to compare... feature per dollar it wins easily.]

Using Zoner is in a word: Easy. Browsing to/for images & videos is very intuitive & the program window free of clutter. For organizing/sorting there are more built-in criteria than most would ever dream of using. The viewer will handle many video formats, & handled HD as easily as lower rez DVD-sized video previews/playback. They might save new users some time disabling the Editor tab when you have video in the viewer, rather than finding it won't work once you're in the Editor. Editing worked mostly like expected, though with the default dark gray window it sometimes was hard to find the cursor. It would also help if the developers showed the name of the tool, + any hints on the bottom status bar, as some of their icons aren't the usual designs we're familiar with. Filters have different options for previewing effects, including the opened image window itself, which is nice. Re-sizing prompts a message that the original will be altered, which is IMHO a rather large negative -- a re-size & then Save-As [for e-mail, web, slideshows etc...] is one of the most common tasks. Other than layers I would [realistically] have liked to have seen selections based on colors, cursors that hint at the tool [e.g. a cursor that looks like a brush], some sort of undo history, & GPU [graphics card/chip] acceleration.

Installing Zoner has a moderate impact on Windows -- I'd probably judge it more harshly if I hadn't monitored the PaintShop Pro install soon after. Uninstall [to check out the Pro version trial] was worse than most regarding folders left behind, better than many at getting rid of most registry entries. The program folder itself holds 591 files, 16 folders, & takes up ~175 MB. In XP Pro I also got folders in My Documents, User\ Application Data, & User\ Local Settings\ Application Data. Monitored registry adds = 1552 [with < 12 garbage entries like MRU]. In win7 32 I got added folders in My Documents, User\ AppData\ Local, & User\ Appdata\ Roaming. Monitored registry adds = 3728 [with maybe 100 garbage entries like ...\Shell\Bags\...] -- *probably* why I added Zoner in XP Pro but not 7 when it was on GOTD last.


A quick example of one way I use layers in Photoshop that might be relevant to the average, home user, showing one reason why I think they're so important... Most digital cameras have small flashes. But higher ISO settings add noise, & the lens doesn't let in much light, so you often have to use that flash. And you often get pictures like a couple my wife took on Xmas -- 1 or 2 people in the center well lit, the rest of the image darker than you'd like it. Using P/Shop & layers it takes just a minute to fix it: I duplicate the base layer, lighten it enough so the outer portions look good, add a layer mask, then add a circular gradient to that mask -- sometimes I might add a little fine tuning, adjusting the layer's transparency etc. but that's it. From the quick look I took at PaintShop Pro it *looked* like it *might* take 2 or 3 times longer [I don't know the software], but 3 or even 5 minutes still isn't all that bad. Without layers & a gradient layer mask [or some sort of gradient mask], you could be sitting there a while -- one way would be to inverse-select the center, feather [a lot], lighten, then deselect & keep repeating that, working your way to the outer edges.

mike  –  13 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+41)

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