Some different ways to show EXIF exposure info in XnView

[dosdan]

I've set up the freeware XnView (http://.www.xnview.com – very powerful, can perform batch multi-step processing & is small – can be run from a USB stick) so that when it shows a slideshow it displays the following exposure information at the top-left in white characters on a pinky-red background:

*Full pathname including extension (so I can know whether I'm viewing raw, tiff or jpeg)
*Shutter speed
*Aperture
*ISO
*EV compensation used (if any)
*FL in use (handy when using zooms)


e.g:

 F:\20090418\IMGP4217.jpg   1/250s  F8.0  ISO 280  EV 0   FL 23mm

The string that does this (in Slideshow | More options | Show information) is:

<Directory><Filename With Ext>    <Exposure Time>s  F<F-Number>  ISO <ISO Value>  EV <Exposure Bias>       FL <Focal Length>mm

This makes reviewing pictures much easier, but when I want to see the full Exif info I use the freeware PhotoMe (www.photome.de). This is upgraded often and handles many camera brands.


Using the same string, you can configure XnView to show exposure info in the Browser thumbnails tooltips, and in the View Fullscreen mode (F11 toggle). It will also show the same on-screen exposure string in the Normal View mode by pressing "I".


In the Browser Preview window there are 5 tabs:
Preview
Properties
Histogram
EXIF
Categories ( e.g. Photos | Animals, Family, Friends, Flowers, Landscape, Pets, Portraits,Travel)


The EXIF info is comprehensive. It does recognise a modern lens such as

Lens Type: smc PENTAX-DA 16-45mm F4 ED AL

But it does not recognise a more recent lens such as the smc PENTAX DA 55-300/F4-5.8 ED. PhotoMe, with its frequent upgrades, does recognise it correctly.


Also, XnView does not correctly decode the Shutter Count for both of my Pentax DSLRs (K100D Super & K20D), whereas PhotoMe does.


However, for general EXIF info viewing, XnView is fine.


Finally, for completeness, here is how to configure Xnview so that the thumbnail labels will show exposure info. Since there is a limited width available for a thumbnail (I've set the program to create 128x85 thumbnails since my cameras have a 3:2 aspect ratio), I've split the exposure info into two lines. The thumbnail labels are selected by using Tools | Options | Browser – Thumbnails | Thumbnail Label. Custom strings can not be created in XnView, but they can be edited there, once created externally.


To add the exposure info, set these two strings in the [Browser] section of xnview.ini using a text editor:

Custom2=<Exposure Time>s   F<F-Number>   ISO <ISO Value>  
Custom3=EV<Exposure Bias>   FL <Focal Length>mm

In the Thumbnail Label screen, the options are numbered from Custom 1, while in the xnview.ini file, they are numbered from Custom0.

In Thumbnail Labels, I selected to show:
Filename (without extension)
Image type
Image properties
Custom 3
Custom 4


An example of the resultant thumbnail string shown:

IMGP0726
K20D [Pentax K20D-format RAW file]
4688x3124x48
1/45s F8.0 ISO 200
EV 0 FL 28mm

I don't know whether it is worthwhile to devote 5 lines of screen space to a thumbnail label (particularly when you can use tooltips to temporarily show it when required), but it does illustrate the flexibility of XnView.


Dan.

[simico]

Great info! Too bad the new linux version (XnViewMP) sucks big time. Instead of rotating one of my pictures xnviewmp deleted it. While browsing my pictures it totally froze X. I don't understand why it is using it's own QT4 libs instead of the standard ones, but after these serious issues I deleted it after 20 minutes. Once this was a great little app and was my favourite picture viewer both on Windows and Linux...