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The Best image viewers for windows can crop, rotate, convert, sharpen, etc. the images. Here I would like suggestions for read-only viewers.

I am a photographer and would run this on a laptop for clients to browse, examine, and review the album of my photoshoot with them (and just that album! :) ) and to pick or star the photos they like.

(I want this review done immediately on site, so that I can do immediate reshoots as needed. So no online services suggestions, please.)

I would prefer programs that are free for commercial use.

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William C
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  • I started a bounty to get suggestions for read-only viewers with a rating or starring capability. Again +1 goes to viewers that are free for commercial use. – William C Aug 21 '11 at 13:17
  • I need the same for my 6year old kid. (no accidental deletes) – user12363 Jan 24 '16 at 14:40

5 Answers5

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FastPictureViewer. It's much quicker than anything else I've tried (especially the free ones) and the Pro version allows things like starring.

Diogo
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ZXTT95
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  • Hi. I started a bounty to get suggestions for read-only viewers with a rating or starring capability. That was part of the original question. Again +1 goes to viewers that are free for commercial use. – William C Aug 21 '11 at 13:19
  • @William C FastPictureViewer is a viewer (not editor), with a rating system (and there is a free version for trial). Is this not what you asked for? Are you insisting it be "Free" to award the bounty? If so, perhaps clarify your question to indicate that's a must-have prerequisite for answers to be accepted. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Aug 24 '11 at 21:29
  • @techie007: I am not insisting, and I believe my comment I added when I started the bounty is clear with what I want. Thanks. – William C Aug 25 '11 at 16:14
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No, this question is valid here since you are asking a question about a software for viewing pictures.

I would go with Windows Photo Viewer. This program already comes with Windows 7 so you don't have to install anything else. You can set it as your default image viewer by following the steps given below:

  1. Right clicking on any image (with a format that you want to be associated with the Windows Photo Viewer and select Properties.

  2. Next, click on the Change button next to the Opens with: label:

    enter image description here

  3. In the dialog that opens up, select Windows Photo Viewer and select OK:

    enter image description here

Now, lets say you have associated all .png files to be opened by Windows Photo Viewer. The next time you are showing the client any .png images, just double click on the image and it will be opened within Windows Photo Viewer. Once the image opens you shall see a toolbar at the bottom of the window:

enter image description here

Click on the round button in the center and it shall open the image in full-screen/slideshow mode. If you right click on the image, you can see a few options to select the speed of the slideshow:

enter image description here

Personally, I would select Pause or just press the Space on your keyboard to pause the slideshow. Now you can navigate through the images using the <- and -> buttons on your keyboard. This way you can take your time showing the images to the client, in a grand full screen fashion.

Hope this helps.

TookTheRook
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  • Yes, the viewer built into Windows is what I use today. The rotate button is destructive though and [not always lossless](http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/12361/are-windows-photo-viewer-rotations-lossless). – William C Aug 18 '11 at 15:41
  • It is, but the question specifically stated you were looking for a read-only viewer, and not to crop, rotate, sharpen etc. – TookTheRook Aug 18 '11 at 15:45
  • True, and so is the delete button. I guess I can create a copy of the entire photoshoot and let them browse that. I appreciate the detailed instructions. – William C Aug 18 '11 at 15:49
  • +1 for the same answer as me with better pictures. – Tyler Faile Aug 18 '11 at 15:50
  • No problem. If you actually wish to rotate the images yourself before showing it to the client, you can use any of the applications listed [here](http://jpegclub.org/losslessapps.html). However, if you need an application that has a read only mode like Windows Photo Viewer AND supports loss-less rotation, then that's a different question. – TookTheRook Aug 18 '11 at 15:53
  • I just tried out [Fast View Image Viewer] (http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm). Seems suitable for your needs. Make sure you go into settings and uncheck `show file name in full screen mode.` – TookTheRook Aug 18 '11 at 16:01
  • @Jay: Hi. I started a bounty to get suggestions for read-only viewers with a rating or starring capability. That was part of the original question. Again +1 goes to viewers that are free for commercial use. – William C Aug 21 '11 at 13:19
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Try Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, just put all of the items for your current album in one folder and use preview on one.

enter image description here

Tyler Faile
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  • Yes, the viewer built into Windows is what I use today. – William C Aug 18 '11 at 15:28
  • Hi. I started a bounty to get suggestions for read-only viewers with a rating or starring capability. That was part of the original question. Again +1 goes to viewers that are free for commercial use. – William C Aug 21 '11 at 13:19
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IrfanView is fast, and for photographers has the benefit that it can display EXIF data from JPEGs. It can also display RAW images - there is a plugin for Canon RAW. It has slideshow and thumbnail options but I find it useful to run it full screen and use the keyboard to move through the photos.

Interesting article: Using IrfanView to View, Sort, and Tag Photos

RedGrittyBrick
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  • Does IrfanView have a read-only mode?? That is, where the only allowed actions are view as gallery, next, previous, zoom and star (or possibly non-destructive/non-persistent rotate)? – William C Aug 18 '11 at 15:40
  • It has many [command line options](http://www.robvanderwoude.com/files/iviewcli.txt) which you could use in a desktop shortcut icon, however I didn't see read-only there - you'd perhaps have to make the folder read-only beforehand (and undo that when needed) – RedGrittyBrick Aug 18 '11 at 15:59
  • Sorry, if I'll make the folder read-only, then my question would be already fully answered by [Best image viewers for windows](http://superuser.com/questions/6925/best-image-viewers-for-windows). – William C Aug 18 '11 at 16:30
  • Hi. I started a bounty to get suggestions for read-only viewers with a rating or starring capability. That was part of the original question. Again +1 goes to viewers that are free for commercial use. – William C Aug 21 '11 at 13:19
  • IrfanView is **not** free for commercial use. – Andreas Apr 16 '15 at 06:18
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Here are some free image viewers that are not editors :

Vallen JPegger
Reads 40 different image file formats, no installation required (can be included with your album)

Sheilsoft CDview
Intended for CDs, it can act as a front-end for an album.

ImgViewer/32
Can do some image editing, but the toolbar can be hidden.

These products were chosen from among a very much longer list found in this article :
Free Image Viewers and Browsers for Windows

harrymc
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