Photo Insight

Despite the fact that every operating system comes with a built-in image viewer, they might sometimes be a bit too cluttered and difficult to use, especially if you just want to view the pictures and nothing else. There is also the matter of resource consumption, which can be a problem if your computer works on old hardware.

Photo Insight is an application that takes almost everything out but the basics when it comes to viewing pictures, by providing you with a simple and clean user interface, devoid of any buttons or options. It is based on the versatile Qt framework, which excels when it comes to resource consumption and overall speed.

In order to open an image, all you have to do is start the application and access the File menu to begin the import process. Although you are not offered too many alternatives format-wise, the utility is still capable of opening PNG, JPG and BMP images, which are already the most popular photo extensions.

Beside the already mentioned image formats, Photo Insight can also open another type of documents, namely scalable vector graphics. Unlike conventional photos, these can be resized indefinitely without losing quality in the process and without recurring to any type of complex resizing algorithm.

Once the file is opened, you cannot perform any other action on it, regardless of its type or extension. However, you can increase its size, by resizing the application window using your mouse. As you might expect, it is not very practical to do so, especially when it comes to larger images, which usually exceed the resolution of your desktop screen and they need to be scaled back to fit your monitor.

There are a few things that Photo Insight can help you with, in case you are on the lookout for an image viewer stripped down to its basics. It is not, however, a recommended application for regular, day-to-day use, since it lacks almost every other kind of feature and function.