JPEG Resizing/compression tool?

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 26 Oct 2008, 09:38

I have a problem. Since installing FrontPage 2003 on my PC, it has upset Windows Picture Manager and the (albiet poor) JPEG compression/resize functions no longer work. It seems the PM in Office 2007 or whatever it is I'm using clashes with FP

I need FP2003 for my website editing.

Is there a good, simple freeware JPG tool that I can use to adequately resize/compress and crop pictures? The lack of this tool is now hampering my ability to post pictures both on the forum and on my website.

The big "heavy" tools like Photoshop are just tooooo complicated for me

and do my head in.

The simpler the better as far as I'm concerned and it must work under Vista. All I need is something to compress/resize/crop and maybe adjust exposure. Anything else is pointless as I'm not arty enough to be able to use it.

Thanks

reblack68 · Unread post by **reblack68** » 26 Oct 2008, 09:49

I just use Microsoft Photo Editor. It comes with MS Office but it doesn't install unless you tell it to. I have Vista and both the '97 and 2000 versions of Office work fine.

TBONE · Unread post by **TBONE** » 26 Oct 2008, 09:52

http://www.download.com/1770-2001_4-0.h ... =downloads

some good stuff there
http://www.download.com/1770-2001_4-0.h ... =downloads

Unread post by **myglaren** » 26 Oct 2008, 10:09

Irfanview allows you to resize/resample jpegs and save them as other formats if you want.
Free from Filehippo

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 26 Oct 2008, 12:37

myglaren wrote:Irfanview allows you to resize/resample jpegs and save them as other formats if you want.

Thanks Steve, that looks good. I've had a play! Still far more complex than I need but getting simple, functional software is a bit of a holy grail these days....

At least I managed to fathom out how to drive it without resorting to RTFM

Thanks also TBONE, useful stuff there...

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 26 Oct 2008, 13:51

I've had a good play with IrfanView and installed the plugins. I like it.

This is the result of a resample to 640x480 and a web compression. It started off as a 400Kb file and ended up nearly a tenth of the size roughly. Quality looks excellent.

This is a contaminated diesel pump. More on this later in another thread.

Unread post by **myglaren** » 26 Oct 2008, 14:12

Glad you found it useful Jim.

I use it as my default viewer on Vista and have squished a few jpegs with it - normally I would use The GIMP on the Ubuntu machine but sometimes IR2lazy.

What camera options do you have though - mine gives me a range of image size options from RAW down to absolute crap and it is usually when I get a RAW image that I have to squish it down.

That constipated diesel pump looks as though it could do with a good dose of salts

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 26 Oct 2008, 14:35

myglaren wrote: What camera options do you have though

None, as far as I know. The camera in question is a very elderly Olympus point 'n' shoot that I have had for donkeys. It's a 2 megapixel and seems to take pictures at 1200x1600. Never seen an option to change this.

My girls laugh at it and really think it's a piece of junk

It appears to me to do a better job of taking my sort of workshop pictures than my 10 megapixel all singing, all dancing Canon.

Also the Olympus is so old and scruffy now I don't mind using it with oily fingers

I'd never take the Canon near the workshop.

Really appreciate you pointing me to InfanView Steve

That pump needs a good dose of something. It's still partially seized and it's practically stripped now. Disassembly of the lift pump will be interesting...

Unread post by **myglaren** » 26 Oct 2008, 14:52

I keep thinking of dragging my lift pump out to check it as I ran the car on Bio for a while (it costs more than dino these days).
Unfortunately I seem to be far too busy with my procrastination tasks to get to it.

Very good photo's for a 2mpx. Olympus generally seem to stick decent glass in the front, makes all the difference in the world.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 26 Oct 2008, 14:54

I've looked at my camera menu Steve and it offers a native 640x480 resolution. It comes out raw at 120Kb.

Compressed to 50Kb with InfanView and gave the result below. I tried to use the same shot although i think thuis one was from a tad further away.

Subjectively, it seems better to take pictures at 1600x1200 resolution and use InfanView to resample it to 640x480..

James.UK · Unread post by **James.UK** » 26 Oct 2008, 14:57

Hi Jim.

Irfanview is a good programme..

But -- "Iphoto 6" is about the simplest pic edit programme around I think. I got it as software for an old Scanner i had, but it worked on Win 95 then Win97 Win98SE and now its running on WinXP pro.. Dunno if it will work on Vista though..

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/softwa ... 1QodOUmlxw

I think its made by "Ulead" .. The size is 11.5 MB on my PC.. Too big to transfer via Hotmail i think, but I can send it to you via Gmail if you have it? as that allows transfers up to 15 MB

If -- you don't have Gmail (googlemail) I can send you an invite so you can join it.

But hopefully the free download on the above link will work ok..

.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 26 Oct 2008, 21:11

Thanks James

I downladed PhotoPlus 6. Bit of a learning curve on that but it looks good. A useful complement to the InfanView when I want to do something really special to a picture.

Today, playing with all this image editing software has made me think a bit about setting up the camera properly and not just pointing, shooting and hoping...

Some good has come of all of this

James.UK · Unread post by **James.UK** » 27 Oct 2008, 02:53

Hi Jim.

I have a Sony P200 and take all my pics on max rsolution, that's 7.something Megapixels, then I put them in a folder with a subfolder..The pics can then be saved to the subfolder if and when i edit any.. That way I always keep the originals at full res..

I find the prob with modern digi cameras is, you need to keep very very still when using high res if you want a really sharp image.

but -- the good news is you can take several pics of the same thing at no extra cost, then after transfer into the PC, pic out the best ones and delete the others.

Now all I need is an 8 year old to show me how my Mobile phone works!!

.

Homer · Unread post by **Homer** » 29 Oct 2008, 07:42

myglaren wrote:Irfanview allows you to resize/resample jpegs and save them as other formats if you want.
Free from Filehippo

I agree, but why not get it from the Irfanview website and while you are there make a small donation.

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 29 Oct 2008, 11:25

Hi Jim, I had an olympus 2MP camera.. was great, robust, and had plenty of features including a viewfinder! great for saving battery power not having the screen on all the time.. also, try looking into the screen on a sunny day on a dig camera, tricky...

there were some tricks you could do like really long shutter speeds (had to press certain buttons in order)

Took good pics,

also great for the mucky world of engine photography

think it was one of these

should have kept it...