Zoner Photo Studio PRO 15 Review

The current software market for graphic processing tools is filled with numerous apps claiming they have everything it takes to suit our photo needs. Most of them are disappointing due to various reasons, such as a weak feature set, overly complicated options, or high resources usage. Luckily, balanced utilities come every once in a while to break this pattern and actually be good for something.

Zoner Photo Studio is an all-around photo manager that comes equipped with tools for importing, organizing, viewing and editing image files. It offers support for numerous popular file types (including RAW images) and sports an extensive set of customization options, both basic and advanced. While the application seems complicated to work with, less experienced uses may resort to it as well, provided that they take their time to explore all features.

NOTE: Zoner Photo Studio 15 was tested on 64-bit Windows 8.1 Pro.

License, installation, interface

The trial version runs for 30 days and there is no restriction to it, so there is plenty of time to find out everything about it. Once this period ends, users may purchase the full package for $89.00 / €66.39 (without VAT).

The installer unwraps quickly and Zoner Photo Studio can be set as the default image viewer for supported file types. In the interface department, the tool is pleasant and seems to have adopted the popular dark grey theme present in programs like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to look professional. All its main modules are organized into separate panes: import, manager, viewer, editor, and RAW. Multiple tabs are supported, making it possible to juggle multiple parts of a project at a time.

Import photos

The import section allows users to select the source for obtaining photos, whether it is a local, removable (e.g. USB disk, camera) or network drive or directory. The images can be acquired from a scanner, retrieved from the Clipboard, grabbed from the screen, fetched from websites, as well as extracted from PDFs and other types of files.

Moreover, the software utility can automatically assign author and copyright information to the photos, rotate them to the right angle by taking into account EXIF orientation, copy only the pics which do not already exist in the target folder to avoid creating duplicates, mark the files as read-only to prevent other users from modifying them, as well as disable the thumbnail view from the main frame. File names can be converted to lowercase or uppercase.

Manage photos

The photo manager has numerous features ready to be experimented with. Images can be located for previewing using the Explorer-based folder structure. Just like in the import section, users may preview their thumbnails as well as sort the items by various criteria. A search function is available. The pictures can be rotated left or right, deleted, renamed, copied or moved to other locations, as well as added to a preferred catalog file for easy access.

Users may give ratings, view and assign GPS data, and configure settings to immediately send the pics via email using the default desktop client. A few tools help users modify the hue, saturation, vibrance, lightness, brightness, contrast and other color aspects, resize the images, as well as convert them to other file formats (JPG, GIF, HDP, JXR, PNG, TIF, TGA, BMP, BMI, PCX).

Image information can be managed in many ways. For example, it is possible to create, import and export descriptions, edit keywords and scan the entire library for them, as well as to generate lists with file names. Users may also assign audio notes to the pictures, add digital signatures and verify them to ensure ownership, and label the pics with colors to find them easier.

When it comes to organizing the photographs, Zoner gives users the possibility to create directories, web albums and CD compilations. They may select only portrait or only landscape pics, or resort to an advanced tool with filters for ratings and labels, in order to either select files, remove or add new ones to the selection, or to refine the selection.

Once the project is ready for export, users may create a panorama out of multiple pics or blend them all together, put together 3D images, convert them to HDR via exposure blending or tone mapping, design a postcard, or create a PDF slideshow. Noise or moving objects can be removed, while the photos can be aligned.

The photo manager's workspace can be customized by hiding the navigator, preview pane, image information and toolbars, as well as saved for further projects and restored to default.

View photos

The third panel holds the area specifically dedicated to displaying pictures. The selected image is shown in the larger part of the screen, while the remaining ones from the current location can be explored in a thumbnail strip on the bottom. The viewer borrows some previously mentioned elements found in the import and manager sections.

Edit photos

Zoner Photo Studio's image editor contains both standard and advanced settings to meet the requirements of users from both categories. It is possible to rotate, flip and resize the pictures, resize the canvas and add borders, crop any part of the image, apply a text or image overlay, as well as to change the color depth.

There is a wide range of effects available as well, from the classical grayscale and old photograph filters, to adding grain, converting to oil paint, detecting contours, equalizing the histogram, and changing the texture. If a specific effect does not exist on the list, it can be added as a plugin from an external file.

As far as selection tools are concerned, it is possible to use rectangular, elliptical, Lasso, polygonal or magnetic Lasso, magic wand selection or a special brush, as well as to fill it with color or the surroundings.

Program settings

The UI is customizable in appearance when it comes to the color theme (e.g. light, gray or black instead of dark), icon color and contrast for the toolbar, displayed buttons, keyboard shortcuts, and menu elements. It is possible to edit the type of information shown in the status bar, exclude supported file formats when taking into account images in directories, exclude specific folders from the image catalog, as well as choose the browser thumbnail width and thumbnail style.

The Good

The Bad

The Truth