Viewing pictures is of course possible with the standard Windows tool, but it offers hardly any options. The opposite is true for Wildbit Viewer. The ‘viewer’ part is only one of the tools in this application, because in addition to a lot of functions, it also includes a real photo editor. In short, Wildbit Viewer is more than just looking at snapshots.
Wildbit Viewer
price
Free for non-commercial use
Language
English
OS
Windows (32 and 64bit versions; also portable)
Website
www.wildbit-soft.fi/software.html
8 Score 80 
- Pros
- Wide format support
- Versatile toolkit
- Negatives
- Not so fast
As soon as you start Wildbit Viewer it is immediately clear to you: if you only want to view photos in a straightforward slideshow, then the program is overkill. Wildbit Viewer tries to combine different functions, because in addition to a ‘viewer’ it is also a photo manager, a photo finder and a photo editor. Handy, but at the same time it makes the interface and operation a bit more complex.
Standard functions
By default, the – not so flashy – interface of Wildbit Viewer contains three panels. One with the folder structure, one for the image files of the chosen folder (Wildbit Viewer can handle about 75 formats, including raw) and of course a panel with a preview of the selected photo. There are also buttons to rotate a photo, to set it as a desktop background, to zoom in and to request the properties (metadata). Photos can also be added to a favorites list, useful for quickly selecting photos for a slideshow, which supports dozens of transition effects.
Additional tools
The greatest strength of Wildbit Viewer is in it Tools-menu. Here you will find, among other things, a metadata editor, with which you can adjust exif and iptc metadata. A batch renamer is also included, with variables such as date, file size, photo dimensions and numerous metadata. Or how about a photo comparison tool – including histograms – that puts all kinds of photo properties side by side and calculates a ‘similarity ratio’ based on that. The built-in search function also impresses. It offers you the option, for example, to search for file size and attributes and even about 70 metadata.
There is also a real photo editor, and that’s not one of the least! The toolbox is a bit like Photoshop, there is layer support and various, although not so user-friendly, effect filters.
A downside is that Wildbit Viewer regularly responds a bit slowly.
Conclusion
Wildbit Viewer is not really intended for those who want to quickly-quickly put a simple slide show on their screen (although that is also perfectly possible). Rather, the tool is aimed at users who would like to see photo management and editing tools united in one program, with a rich array of features.
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