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July 9, 2010
Maintain Zoom Level Across Multiple Photos
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1004&message=35755764
"Does anyone know of any software that runs on a PC which will allow me to zoom in on a photo, and then change photos while maintaining the current zoom level?
For instance, if I take 20 photos of a small bird, I'd like to be able to zoom in on the bird, and then flip through the series of photos without having to re-zoom in on each picture. Sounds simple enough, right? But you can't do it with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.
I shoot a Canon EOS 50D, and I have this functionality in the camera. I can zoom in, and then scroll through all of my photos without ever losing my zoom level. Why can't I do this in Windows?
Each time I change images using Windows Picture and Fax viewer, I have to zoom in all over again which kills me. I tried installing Canon's Zoom Browser, and I figured out how to zoom in on about 4 photos at once, so I can zoom in on 4 at the same time, which is slightly better, but again, if I click to go the the next photo, it throws away my zoom level and I'm zoomed out again when I change images.
If you know of any software that will do this, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks."
Update: Thanks to Ludvig, we have a winner! Ding! Ding! Ding!
I shoot a lot of images (26,000+ so far this year), and if you're shooting birds, you want to know "how does this image look, compared to the other 20 I shot of the same bird". With the other software I've found, this is impossible to know. I want to zoom in very tight on the beak or the eye and blow through 20 images, without having to rezoom in on each image.
The answer is Cam2PC: http://www.nabocorp.com/cam2pc/
I downloaded and installed the freeware version of Cam2PC and it does exactly what I'm looking for. I did a Right-Click, Options, Viewer, Display Properties, Uncheck "Auto-Center", Select the "Zoom Lock" radio button. Then, zoom in/out using +/-, drag photo around with the mouse, and go through the images with Page Up/Page Down. I'm surprised people aren't screaming for this feature in other browsers, especially in the age of digital photography.
Update 2: We have another contender. You can also do this with IRFanView as follows:
1. Open the first image.
2. Zoom to the desired level.
3. On the IrfanView menu, Select View - Lock Zoom (Shift+L)
4. Select View - Keep Scroll Position (no keyboard shortcut).
5. Browse other images.
Update 3: OK, well, now that I've tried using both IRFanView and Cam2PC to view multiple photos with the zoom locked, I have to say that Cam2PC beats IRFanView hands down. Why? Because it's faster. It zooms faster. Changes photos faster. Cam2PC is the way to go. It's insane. I can't believe I lived this long without it. Kicking myself now.
Posted by Rob Kiser on July 9, 2010 at 12:45 AM
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