Too bad it doesn't have the batch file rename feature in it, right? We could save a lot of time sorting our photos if it has this feature, thought it has one.

software did not have license registration number.
Installation was done on time.

Unzip the package you`ve downloaded and run Setup.exe which is included in the package, to
install and activate the software.

You have to install it before the Giveaway offer for the software is over.


Terms and conditions

Please note that the software you download and install during
the Giveaway period comes with the following important limitations:
1) No free technical support
2) No free upgrades to future versions
3) Strictly non-commercial usage

#94, your download may be corrupt

After installing on XP, fired up the main program window.
Under Editor (extreme right), in the Help tab, I could click on "About" and see "Version 12 (build 6) Home" and see my name in license owner. However, in the Help tab, clicking on "License" shows that the License field is empty. Is this normal?
I don't want to use this for some days, and later discover there's no valid license.

@ #95: I think Eric mentioned that some filters may have intellectual property issues and that you will have to ask tech support for help on those.

The program has a function that allows the installation of .8bf PS-compatible filters from another folder, but I can't get it to work. Is this feature disabled in the GAOTD version? An answer from the developer would be appreciated. Without those filters, it's a lot less useful, at least for me.

Hello.

I saw this giveaway and thought "oh great , another image editing software to waste my space" , But I was wrong!

-I love the way they set it up! You explore in the program and it takes half a second to switch to edit a picture you have selected , I didn't have to wait for Paint.Net , GIMP , or PhotoImpact to load.

-The GUI looks very nice and isn't a burden.
-I like the theme they gave it.

-The tools are pretty much up to standard with all the other image editors , at least from what I have seen so far.


WORTH THE WAIT FOR THE DOWNLOAD 4.5 Stars!

Nice program. Easy installation. Thank you.

Sorry back again! For a year I have been looking for a good slideshow maker, sadly not included in this version, so I tested the trial version that does. The versions that allow you to make a CD produce a superb slideshow, also viewable from your hard drive. It automatically adjusts the length of time the image is displayed to the length of time of the audio file it belongs to (i.e. 1.jpg would belong to 1.wav) For this reason alone it is good value for money.

I want to try the Droste effect, which I think looks really cool, but the help isn't very helpful with this -- can anyone tell me how to do this?

we2FABF.tmp
Anyone using Norton 2010 might have a message come up on install from norton asking about this program. This launches the install for Zoner Photo Studio. If you remove the file it will cancel the setup.

OS: Windows Vista 64x

@ Erik Piper

REMOVING EXIF INFORMATION

According to the HELP file, to remove EXIF information, from MANAGER, we are supposed to Use Information | Manage Information | Remove EXIF Data to remove all EXIF picture information from a picture, including its color profile. The actual picture data is unaffected by this function.

I do not know why, but "Remove EXIF Data" does NOT exist with my install - and yes, I have reinstalled the software and the same problem exists.

Is there a fix, or settings modification?

Regards,

Martin

Installed, cleared file associations & activated on XP SP2 with no problem.

Overall I am quite impressed. The app implements simple "point & shoot" operation yet there are hundreds of customizable preferences, options and function settings for precise control of the application. For example, I was concerned about the automatic search for images feature as I have many thousands of images on my system and did not want to wait hours for ZPS to find and catalog them. Fortunately, this feature is totally customizable including definable "look-in" and "exclude" folders. The installer gave me complete control on program placement and the preferences dialog made it easy to override the default folder locations for thumbnails, settings etc. Custom, named editor settings may be saved and reloaded.

The UI does seem to be fairly intuitive and only needed a little poking around to find where choices are located such as image tabs in the upper left and manage/view/edit modes in the upper right. A short hover over the multitude of well organized icons displayed a tooltip defining its function. As a quick test I took a party photo that had a strong reddish tinge, clicked on the "Adjust color temp" button, and within a second or two the skin colors were perfect. Correcting for red eye also worked quite well using default setting. Extensive additional adjustments for a large number of parameters are available for fine tuning or tweaking. This tool may even be adjusted to correct any color.

Here are the before & after images:
Before edit
After edit

A pleasant surprise was the ability to precisely adjust and/or enter pixel coordinates of the crop boundaries using either the keyboard arrow keys (w/ & w/o shift) or the "Edit | Specific crop" function.

About the only complaint I have is upon clicking on tutorials from the configuration wizard it launches Internet Explorer instead of launching the default browser as defined in the registry. This is anathema to those of us that abhor IE and do NOT want to be exposed to vulnerability infested software.

I would also suggest adding a link in the help menu to the online tutorials.

Thank you for this giveaway, it's simple and easy to use,installed with no problem on win xp sp2,nice interface,nice features,for basic photo organizing and editing it's great, and best of all it's free.

The Xpress edition starts as a Pro version and then 30 days later reverts to Xpress edition. If I remember correctly I believe the Home edition has more features than Xpress, though many may incorrectly assume it is better because it starts with the Pro features.

OMG! I've been a devout user of ThumbsPlus since Ver. 3.0. It's now up to Ver 8. I was just about to upgrade. Since downloading this this morning, I'm lovin' it! It does so much more than Thumbs, and I never expected to find something I liked better! Hope I don't lose it in a crash!

Great program!

The RAW editing options are pretty impressive, thanks!

I currently use PS Elements, but will check this out thoroughly - there are a lot of things about PSE I don't like.

I'd just say, I like the thought that has gone into the interface.
If you have lots of photos, and your image browser software (that maybe came with your camera) is lacking, grab Zoner Photo Studio 12 Home from GAOTD.

Is it available in czech language, too?

Or this is only english promo.

It took two tries on the first link and a third try on the Mirror #1 link to completely download the program. Even on the third try it stalled at about 61MB and I had to pause and restart the download in Firefox to get the complete package. Weird. Even though I deleted the failed downloads, the second and third tries picked up right where the failed download ended. Installed very easily on XPSP3 and so far the interface far exceeds that of Picasa 3 from Google. I think this is going to be a keeper!!!!

Fantastic tool! Includes very well designed dual-pane image browser. Cataloging, albums, metadata editing, etc. Strong adjustment toolset, too. Very configurable. Installed and ran perfectly on XP and Vista.

Love it. Thank you very much!

Xpress edition of ZPS12 has LESS features than Home edition. This version is offered to the readers of certain magazines - they receive a license code after registration on zoner.com. Unfortunately, there is no comparison table for Xpress edition online.

Today's Home Version giveaway contains many more features than the Xpress version.

So those of you who have downloaded previous Xpress giveaways may want to replace them with today's giveaway. (The website is no help on features - but if you start Photo Studio Xpress, open the Help file, and search on 'Variants', the differences between the versions then available is listed in detail. Basically it's Pro > Home > Xpress > Classic.

From the manual:
The Home version is missing the following functions relative to Pro: Effect brush, gradient filter, HDR, acquire
from DNG, PDF slideshows, acquire from Canon RAW, support for work with 16 bits per channel, Iron tool, copy-
ing of one part of a picture to another, Curves filter, color toning, noise reduction, channel mixing, PDF export, FTP
upload, color management/color profiles, digital signatures for photos (verification is supported, but nothing else),
Batch filter, Sharpen filter, Custom filter, support for 8bf plugins, search-and-replace in photo descriptions, DVD
burning, and Video CD burning.

The XPress variant is missing the following functions relative to Home: the lasso, polygonal lasso, clone stamp,
fill, paintbrush, and magic wand tools, dynamic thresholding filter, image comparison, Variations filter, acquiring of
images from the Web, panorama maker, 3D photo maker, Levels filter, keywords filter, Web albums, Web galleries,
EXIF backups, removal, and restoration, removal of EXIF thumbnails, CD/DVD burning, multiple media archives,
batch conversion, calendar maker, contact sheets, paper saver, slideshow transition effects, filter presets, custom pro-
gram launcher, shadow brightener, Unsharp Mask filter, automatic exposure improvement, combined image edits,
chromatic aberration correction, barrel/pincushion correction, perspective correction, anti-vignetting, de-interlac-
ing, old photograph effect, add grain effect, fading borders effect, soft shadow effect, visual text entry in the Editor,
descriptions pane, customizable holidays, grayscale, collinearity editing, adjustable canvas size, picture-in-picture,
emboss effect, pencil drawing effect, explosion effect, oil painting effect, waves effect, contour detection effect, and
3D button effect.

To find out which version you have, the program itself isn't much use - I had to painfully scroll back to 28 June 2008 on the GAOTD calendar to see which one I had.

However, today's giveaway looks good, I'm going to install it, thanks GAOTD and Zoner.

I have downloaded and installed this program and then gone through all the negative comments and suggestions and found pretty much all of them to be unfounded.
Please open the product and fiddle with it before commenting that it can't do something.
You cannot make an accurate review of any software from looking at a webpage - even the programmers own webpage.
Today's giveaway does support RAW formats, it does do batch processing, it does print the 4 x 6 sheet, and it does have a lot of editing features - including filters and effects.
It has an editor, a viewer and an organizer.
Actually it has two editors - a quick editor for minor edits and another editor that has many tools.
I have used Photoshop since version 6 and Photoshop Elements and Lightroom since they were introduced.
ZPS has pretty much all the stuff an average user would need - remember this is the home version: it is kind of like the best of the three mentioned Adobe products but from a different publisher.

If you are thinking of passing this by based on the complaints about it hijacking your file associations, RECONSIDER. I am a Vista user, and I had NO problems. After completing the setup and activation, Zoner opens and walks you through some configuration steps. The third and last of these is about your file associations. It gives you the choice to use Zoner as default for all, which is pre-checked, so un-check it, then hit the button for custom selection of file associations. The list that displayed on my screen had the first two greyed-out and dedicated to Zoner (I'm guessing proprietary formats peculiar to Zoner,) but everything else had a blank checkbox. At that point you could SAVE and have all the associations as they were, or check any that you want to go to Zoner. There were about twenty listed with UNKNOWN program associations, so I figured nothing lost giving these to Zoner, manually checked only those, and then saved.

Then with ZONER open, I clicked on one of my jpegs, and it opened in Windows photo viewer, as it did before, not zoner. I was pretty satisfied that nothing had been hijacked. Thats as far as I went, but I'm glad I ignored the naysayers, because it sounds like a gem. Thanks to the folks at Zoner and GAOTD - much appreciated.

Hi., This is a great program thanks for developer and for GAOTD team. I think the Zoner Photo Studio 12 Express and the Home 12 is the same, the download links are the same for both.
J.

#33

You can batch watermark using Zoner Photo Studio - I explain how below.

You can also batch watermark twenty images totaling up to 10 Mb at a time online at

http://watermark-images.com/

or you can download the free waterMark V2

http://www.photo-freeware.net/watermark-v2.php

both work fine.

Zoner Photo Studio 12 has a very nice GUI and offers a few more editing abilities than Picasa 3 (which I use when I only need to make a few minor edits quickly).
ZPS is not as robust a program as Photoshop but is on par with Photoshop Elements.
ZPS allows you to customize the workspace with one or two viewing panes, which is useful when you have many files to work on.
You can apply quick fixes to your photos or open them in the photo editor for more robust editing.

You can use this program for batch editing - even to batch watermark images as long as you already have your watermark saved as a gif:
(watermarking is a permanent edit - so save original images and work off copies).

1) Copy the folder that contains the photos that you want to watermark (if you haven't already saved the originals elswhere).
2) Open that folder in ZPS and click 'Organize/Selection/Select All'
3) Next click 'Edit/Image Overlay'
4) Click 'Select Image' button and locate your saved watermark image
5) Position watermark where you want it, set transparency, etc and click 'Apply' button to apply to image in viewer window or 'Apply to All' to apply watermark to all the images at once (This will put watermark in same position on each image so you may want to just use 'Apply' and cycle through images to make sure the placement works for you so you don't put watermark in wrong place).

for #8 and #18 regarding file associations.... NOT TRUE!!

During the 'first run' setup process, there is a window where you can Uncheck the 'associate all files' and a [customize] button where you can select which associations you want... (this is in Vista Home).

Under that is a check to "integrate with Windows" which I had to look up in the help file and found that it is the option to put a link to this program in the right-click drop-down menus. your choice if you want to do that.

I almost did not download this offer because of the comments about file associations; however, I am glad someone else mentioned that it is not a limitation... so I figured I would add some details about where that checkbox is found, since I'm sure it's easy to miss during the initial setup sequence.

Hey Eric,

That's not quite my issue with PS filters. When I click to add a directory so that I can point to my PS filters, nothing happens. Still, again, if this is the only problem with Zoner Home, then I'm not going to fret over that issue. Like the interface. I just wish there were layers, but I do understand that Zoner is really going for the Photo users that need to enhance that. I really do like the gradient map feature and will play with that in my flow when opportunity arises. :)

I LOVE IT!! kewl beans easy & smart!
Thanks GAOTD!

BTW I did not check ANY file type associations by using that feature on install as per #8's warning which that person obviously missed the option. This is so kewl!! I'm in love!

Thumbs up!

This hard core Photoshop user was pleasantly surprised by this!

It's like a lightweight version on Lightroom and Photoshop combined. Now don't be thrown that I say 'lighrweight'. Adobe software is VERY powerful and chock full of features.

For anyone not currently using any of the higher end raster editiors, this is for you, download this! If you are using for example Picassa, take a step up and try this!

One of the issues with Photoshop and Lightroom is that they are resource hogs..you need a lot of power to run them. This program doesn't seem to tax the CPU a whole lot.

Oh....during install, pay attention...someone mentioned that it took over file association. It does have them all checked by default, so un-check them during the install.

I recommend this to those using lessor photo editors, and heck, even if Photoshop and/or Lightroom is your workhorse it will be fun to play around with this one too. It will open your .psd files. It also has the Airtight flash output options...Simpleviewer etc.

While for me nothing will ever replace my Adobe products, I may keep this installed just for the heck of it.

Zoner obvious put a LOT of work into this and it shows in this software!

I have to agree with the few comments that this offer is a sham. First, it is offered many places on the internet (see comment 34). Second, it does not contain all of the features advertised at the top of this page. Granted they will sell you the pro version and even give you a 50% discount. But that just smells so much like the old switch and bait. Offer something with less features to entice some one to buy at a "low" price. Erik Piper, could you comment on 34's comment.

@ Erik Piper
Erik,

Thanks for staying with us for so many hours! Most valuable info!


@ Aslam, #34

Aslam,

Your quote: “You can get better version “Zoner Photo Studio 12 Xpress “ edition for free from here (…)” is misleading...
The link you posted concerns a 30-DAY TRIAL VERSION.
In my book “FREE” means something different alltogether… It certainly does not mean “get four reminders dayly that your trialversion expires in XX days”.
I’m not saying it is better or worse than today’s GOTD. But today’s offer is really for free –and is getting some realtime support by Erik Piper on top...
Perhaps you may suggest Zoner Photo Studio 12 Xpress as a future candidate for Giveawayoftheday to the “selection”-team?

Patrick

PS: My first post got lost somewhere. Sorry if this is a repeat…

to Erik Piper @12.

So the features list at the top of the page does not fully apply to the Home version, but to the Pofessional version. This was not clear from the description.
I appreciate that you made it clear in the discussion, but nevertheless I think this is kind of cheating.
Still you did not make clear what are the features of the Home version. To find out we are obliged to visit the Zoner website.
About the same thing happens where the Xpress version is offered at different websites. The features of the Pro version are given, not stating clearly that they do not apply to the Xpress version. Only for-free-on-internet.com points out that the features given are those of the Pro-version. Still the features of the Xpress-version are not given. And the Xpres version is not mentioned on the Zoner website. So how to find out what you actually get?

The comparison of the Home Edition and the Professional Edition says that the Home Edition lacks Professional quality with 16 bit/channel support, while this site includes it. Can someone clarify this?

Zoner Photo Studio 12 Xpress Edition can also being grabbed here for free and legal, in that case you should have missed this out..
Look at this: http://multiwebsearch.freeforums.org/zoner-photo-studio-12-xpress-edition-t4524.html

Hi zoner team!
Think about a full (pro) version for us!
Your software is pretty good but non PRO is like a "black interface" Picassa.

Thanks

Installation was quick and simple. The only feature I have tried yet is the automatic creation of a panorama from a series of overlapping images and I have to say that it is absolutely amazing. The wizard was intuitive and it automatically recognized the edges of each image, stitched them together and then cropped the combined images into a single clean rectangular picture. There were options along the way for me to exert additional "control" but no intervention on my part was required to yield a single image combined from eight separate ones. Fantastic!

Must have! This comes very close to photoshop CS3.

Associations can be customised during installation - untick "associate with all known files" and go to custom associations to choose. Anyways, this is with windows 7 x64 bit. It is compatable with windows 7.
Just so you know don't leave the .zip (or .rar) file open (unless you have saved it) or windows will automatically delete the temporary file.

Prying1,

The program never auto-upgrades. When a new version is released, a window is shown on startup informing you of this. If you download and install the new version, it is a completely separate program from the old version, and the old version isn't auto-deleted, so you can keep on using it freely.

HappyPerson,

In theory that link is working fine. That is, we tested it over here and it worked for us. However, that isn't much of a help if it's not working for you. Here's what you can do instead:

1) Go to the "ordinary" shopping cart for Zoner Photo Studio using this incredibly long link:

https://store.zoner.com/430/?scope=cart&cart=58308&__utma=1.4184193026561509000.1247653622.1265725023.1265731393.34&__utmb=1.2.10.1265731393&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1265725023.33.3.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=zoner%20compare%20the%20editions&__utmv=-&__utmk=26755133

2) In the coupon-code field at the top of the form, enter the coupon code for the GOTD discount offer, which is:

GOTDZPS12

That's it! Just continue the order as normal from there.

I use image editing software daily for my used and collectible book business. When version 11 was the GOTD, I gave it a whirl and found that it (Pro Version) is the perfect tool for my business. Believe me, I tried every option out there.

While I furiously resented "that other company" that seemed to bombard me with pricey upgrades, I just rushed to the Zoner site to purchased V12. Thanks GOTD for introducing me to this great addition to my toolbox.

I just installed the program on Vista pro, all went well.
I have used AcDsee for years and I would have to say messing
with Zoner for 15 minutes--I'm sold.
I may have to switch my old habits.
This is great for viewing my work from photoshop
Thanks alot GAOTD

It is possible to make a DVD using this program; go to Zoner Photo Studio folder and then “Program” folder in it you will find the program “ZVS.exe” run this to make your DVD.

Wow this program is nice, I love how I could import my Canon photos, over 800 that were on it and specify the folder structures as I wish. The software that came with my Canon PowerShot doesn't even recognize my camera via Windows 7. I'll explorwe more but so far this is a winner.

I apologize for commenting before looking into on the tutorials (unfortunately it is on the web and not in the built-in Help section of the program - based on not being to find the keywords panaroma).

Creating panaromas is very easy ... Take a look here:

http://www.zoner.com/ww-en/support/tutorials/panorama

Please accept my apologies. Thanks.

SG

Hello,

Thx for the wonderful program. One of the reasons I downloaded this was when I saw the home v/s professional comparison PDF (first comment), it said this program allows you to create horizontal or vertical panaroma pictures. After I installed version 12, I am unable to find this option nor could I look up the following keywords "panaroma" nor "stitch" in Help menu. Anybody want to shed some light on this?

SG

GOTD Team (Bubby) & Zoner Team (Erik Piper)-The 50%-off-discount-code link/offer (for Zoner PhotoStudio Pro) is defective. It takes users to an empty shopping cart with no info. in it. Please fix the link so GOTD users may take advantage of this offer. Thx.

Erik Piper - re: #29 - Zoner Photo Studio "phones home" so it can pop up a window if there are updates (patches) available or if a new version has come out. Maybe this is what is bothering Online-Armor?

Will this program then auto-update and cease to work because, as said under the GOTD terms and conditions, "No free upgrades to future versions" - I've had more than one GOTD offering auto-upgrade itself into no longer working unless I paid for a new code.

If so, is there a way to turn off the 'phone call'?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for being here and answering questions in an upfront manner. Makes me feel better about your products as I'm sure it does others.

Thanks SPLIT BRAIN for the useful link!
I installed Zoner Photo Studio 12 and would say is an affordable all-in-one solution that comes packed with a number of features that make it stand out from other photo editing applications in its price range.
The tutorials found on the web site are very helpful, if you are interested, visit their website: http://www.zoner.com/ww-en/support/tutorials
Thanks much GOTD and Zoner!!!

How similar is this software to Picaso? Can I do most of the same stuff with Picaso as I could do with this program?

Thanks

Patrick,

This issue does not exist on Windows XP, since Zoner Photo Studio uses a window of its own for managing associations on that system.

(Zoner Photo Studio 12 does not run on Windows 2000 and lower. Windows 7 presumably has the same problem as Vista since it should have the same default programs window, but I don't have a Windows 7 installation around to check.)


B (comment 31),

Yes, Zoner Photo Studio stores photo information inside picture files themselves (via EXIF) rather than in a database.


JohnClod,

Yes, text can be drawn on top of pictures in batch. This writes directly to file and becomes a part of the picture, so be sure to back up your pictures before you do it in case you make a mistake.


Everyone,

Thanks to everyone for all the feedback, both the praise and the criticism. It's really appreciated!