FastPictureViewer is a small and fast image viewer designed for professional photographers, so simple compared to usual photo viewers that its purpose might not be immediately apparent. The program is optimized to do just one task: browse entire folders of digital photos as quickly as possible, while allowing for rapid sharpness checks (instant flip to 100% view), enabling single-click copy of the keepers to a preset folder along with single-keystroke Adobe XMP and Vista rating / labeling. A small EXIF window coupled with an instant, high-precision RGB histogram give you all the information you need about the picture. That's about it, but it makes for one of the fastest image culling tool available, also ideal for full-screen chimping directly off the camera (or memory card), over USB2. Of course FastPictureViewer can just as well be used for speed-browsing, rating or labeling an existing picture collection, but it does not offer any image editing, enhancing or cataloging function, it's just a bare bone, quick photo viewer.

The free-for-personal-use supports JPEG and the new Microsoft HD Photo (*.hdp, *.wdp) image file format, also known as JPEG XR or "the new JPEG", along with Adobe XMP metadata for rating and labels (in embedded and/or sidecar file form), Windows Vista photo rating and DirectX (Direct3D) hardware acceleration on select graphic cards, along with EXIF shooting data display and real-time RGB histogram.

FastPictureViewer helps you work faster by taking advantage, when available, of the power of multicore processors and the speed of DirectX (Direct3D) graphic accelerators, all working in concert to speed up viewing experience to unprecedented levels.

FastPictureViewer also features first class support for the upcoming HD Photo / JPEG XR image format with rating metadata reading and writing.

With close to 70'000 downloaded copies (as of early September 2008) and given the great feedback we get from our users, we can say with confidence that FastPictureViewer is, by a large factor, the quickest image viewer in existence on the PC.

We've put "fast" back into "fast image viewing", you have to try it for yourself to see what we mean. If you are looking for the fastest photo viewer, look no further, you've just found it and, best of all, it's free for personal use :-)

Noteworthy features:
- Vista support (runs as Standard User with UAC enabled).
- Unicode support, handles image and folder names in any written language.
- Color management let you see your Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB images with accurate colors.
- Support for custom color profiles, to match calibrated monitors and high-end displays.
- Optional hardware accelerated high quality downscaling in DirectX mode, for best display quality.
- Automatic tracking mode, displays the last image added to the picture folder automatically.
- Configurable automatic advance mode, displays the next picture automatically at user-settable interval.
- High precision linear R,G,B histogram with optional compression and per-channel normalization.
- EXIF shooting data display with shutter speed, f-stop, ISO speed, exposure compensation and more.
- Instant flip to the next image using either the keyboard, a mouse click or a scroll of the mouse wheel.
- Easy browsing of tens of thousands (yes!) of images at a time, even in deeply nested multiple sub-folder hierarchies.
- Instant switch between fit-to-window and 100% mode views from a single key press (or click), optional high-quality image rescaling.
- Adobe XMP sidecar files creation and update (stores rating, labels, urgency settings in Adobe XMP-compliant metadata format).
- Embedded metadata writer for JPEG/TIFF/HD Photo/JPEG-XR files (Adobe XMP rating/labeling and Windows Vista rating).
- Mouse 'click-and-hold' instantaneous 100% zoom and configurable instantaneous 50%-6400% right-click magnifier.
- Seamless multiple-subfolders browsing, in one single continuous sequence (easily browse an entire drive or CD/DVD at once).
- Drag & drop support, drop a folder or a set of files on FastPictureViewer to quickly view them.
- Single-click or single keystroke background copy of the "keepers" to a preset folder, without disruption of the viewing flow.
- Plug'n'play integration with optional automatic browsing of inserted media or digital camera: view images straight off the camera.
- Shell integration with "Open with FastPictureViewer..." context-menu options for local folders and drives.
- Supports file associations from Windows Explorer ("Open With...") to e.g. associate JPEGs with FastPictureViewer.exe
- Instant automatic detection of new images added anywhere to the folder tree, while you browse (real-time "hot folder" concept).
- Multi-monitor awareness and huge monitor support, with full-screen borderless kiosk mode available at the press of the F11 key.