Which is the best free photo editor.

[grounded]

I am currently using Paint shop pro7, however it destroys the exif as soon as you alter a photo, so I need to change, I am trying Photoscape at the moment, but it is not the easiest to use, can anyone recommend a good one that is simple to operate, I need Resize, sharpen, and all the usual tools, a good clone brush is essential as I often have to remove background objects.

[dje]

John I suggest you have a look at FastStone Viewer (which includes editing functions). It doesn't do the more advanced things like layers or masks but it's a good basic editor (and viewer).

Dave

[gaijin]

I always thought that the first port of call for a free photo editor was Gimp ! It, at least, has layers.

[Donald]

I agree that GIMP is, arguably, by far and away the best free/open source software.

However, unless something has changed that they haven't told me about, it too strips out EXIF data from files.

[FrankMi]

It shouldn't be too difficult to copy/paste the EXIF data into your post if that is the biggest issue?

I agree that for a photographer, the ability to do Cloning really helps but Masking and Layers is essential to get beyond basic image processing and produce a really good result.

[Sonic4Spuds]

I agree that GIMP is, arguably, by far and away the best free/open source software.

However, unless something has changed that they haven't told me about, it too strips out EXIF data from files.

I don't know if it is totally fixed on Windows yet, but they have a library that they are working with to get EXIF to stick.

[Mike Buckley]

Hi, Frank!

Layers is essential to get beyond basic image processing and produce a really good result.

I don't want to get into a long-winded discussion about that, but I have seen so many fabulous images post-processed by pros using Nikon's software that by design does not use layers. In fact, I use it especially because layers are not a requirement.

[Inkanyezi]

I use Gimp, and it does not strip EXIF, as anyone can see in the posted image:

[Donald]

I use Gimp, and it does not strip EXIF, as anyone can see in the posted image:

Yahoo! That's wonderful. Nobody changed it. Which version managed to get this incorporated?

[Inkanyezi]

Yahoo! That's wonderful. Nobody changed it. Which version managed to get this incorporated?

# Software / Firmware Version = GIMP 2.4.5

I run it on Ubuntu/Linux with Gnome desktop.

[jcuknz]

Just to chip in with Paint.Net I cannot read EXIF in PN but after using a duplicate layer to add motion blurr to my Ka photo I find the EXIF is still there when I view with PSP ... hope it survived the posting to CiC PN is rather clunky compared to PSP but we got there ... it was very slow adding blurr to the copy of my 16Mp file

I don't know how to read EXIF off CiC so I await your comment as to if it is still there

Edit ... Thankyou Urban.
I wonder when people loose EXIF it is how they save their files. I have no problem with PSP but vaguely remember alternative options in Photoshop, one stripped EXIF ?

[Inkanyezi]

I don't know how to read EXIF off CiC so I await your comment as to if it is still there

It is not hosted by CiC, so nothing is stripped here. On tinypic.com, where it resides, it has all EXIF data intact.

I use Exif Viewer on Firefox/Ubuntu/Linux, a plugin that can be installed from Firefox Tools menu.

___________quote from about Exif Viewer
Exif Viewer v2.00 (August 22, 2012)

Extracts and displays the EXIF (Exchangeable Image File), IPTC-NAA/IIM (International Press Telecommunications Council / Newspaper Association of America / Information Interchange Model), and IPTC Core (Adobe XMP, Extensible Metadata Platform) metadata, as stored by digital still cameras, in both local and remote JPEG images. Also adds “View EXIF Data” items to the “Link” and “Image” parts of the browser context (right-click pop-up) menu, to make it easier to invoke the Exif Viewer.

Written by Alan Raskin
________ /quote

[Carl in Louisiana]

I use Jeffrey's Exif Viewer. In the pink box on the top right hand side it tells you to drag the button to your button bar then all you have to do when on a page with an image is click on it.
http://regex.info/exif.cgi

[FrankMi]

I don't want to get into a long-winded discussion about that, but I have seen so many fabulous images post-processed by pros using Nikon's software that by design does not use layers. In fact, I use it especially because layers are not a requirement.

Neither do I. There are a lot of excellent tools and techniques available to photographers but that doesn't mean that they are required or even appropriate for every image or that you can't ever get a decent image without them. The tools you use to complete a task are entirely up to you.

One of the primary reasons I was willing to invest in Photoshop is the availability of Masking and Layers.

[grounded]

A lot of friendly advice here,I just tried Faststone, Not my cup of tea, I have also tried more recent versions of psp which I also did not fancy, Picasa is good to a point, but it is not really an editor as such, I shall keep searching.

[pnodrog]

Pix Builder Studio opens Tif Jpeg and PDD and supports layers.
Photo Pos Pro opens Tif and Jpeg and supports layers.

Not sure what they do with EXIF but both are easier to use than GIMP.

Good luck and if you find a good one let us all know.

[grounded]

Thank's Kiwi, Pix builder looks pretty good havn't found how to add borders and a few other things yet, gimme a week. at least it saves the exif.