I am still looking for an inexpensive fast, easy to learn photo editor. Don’t get me wrong – Adobe has the top 3 bitmap photo editors in Lightroom, Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS4.
But all of these Adobe photo editors have 4 consistent problems with the biggest 2 being price and a huge learning curve. So with this inaugural look at Windows 7 it makes sense to look at the newly enhanced Microsoft Paint and see how closely it fits the bill.
Basic Core Features of our Lightweight Photo Editor
Perhaps the only way to guarantee a fast start-up and fast running photo editor is to restrict its core features and that is precisely what Microsoft Paint for Windows 7 has done. So here is our core, basic editing features that we are looking for in a Lightweight Photo Editor:
0)Drag and drop images from File Manager or any other drag+drop source;
1)cropping+image resizing like in Photoshop’s Crop tool;
2)rotate, straighten, flip, perspective-fix commands like in many editors;
3)Color correction like in PaintShop Pro’s Manual Color Correction command;
4)Color Balance like in Lightroom’s Temperature, Vibrance, Saturation, Hue commands;
5)Lightness control like the Photoshop Exposure and Levels commands;
6)Image touch up like Photoshop’s Clone and Healing Brush tools;
7)Text tool like in Techsmith’s Snagit Editor;
8)Paint and fill commands like in many photo editors [no gradients or brushmaking tools];
9)Blur/commands commands like Photoshop’s Smart Blur;
10)Sharpen commands like Photoshop’s Smart Sharpen;
What is definitely off the operating list are complex graphic ops like layers/objects, animations, vector drawing commands, 3D extensions, compositing tools like panoramas and bitmap
fills into polygon surfaces, CAD rendering, etc. This is precisely what MS Paint avoids and provides:
Note the use of the MSOffice Ribbon interface with the complete set of tools and colors strung across the top of the screen. There are two tabs Home and View which change the ribbon of commands. So lets see if how well MS Paint meets our requirements for a Lightweight Photo Editor. It start off with the right price – free:
1a)Cropping – no shading, no perspective, no builtin resizing – well below par
1b)Resizing – by r absolute value, but only one method – below par
2)Rotate, flip, perspective correct – no perspective nor skew – below par
3)Manual Color correction – no tools – a showstopper deficit
4)Color balance and toning – no tools – a showstopper deficit
5)Lightness control – no tools – a showstopper deficit
6)Image touch up -several brushes, no clone or healing brush – well below par
7)Text tool – horizontal, no vertical with options – below par
8)Paint and fill commands – paint + brushes – above par; fills no gradients – below par
9)Blur/smooth commands – no tools – a showstopper deficit
10)Sharpen commands – no tools – a showstopper deficit
If you get the impression that MS Paint is sadly lacking as a LightWeight Photo Editor with 5 features simply not present – then the logical next question is what was Microsoft trying to do with MS Paint ? Create a Paint Program for Dummies, too simplistic for anything but making signs and doing elementary image crops and rotations. That appears to be the target – enhanced MS Paint seems to be an insult. So in effect, 10s of millions of new digital camera users will be saying to Microsoft – “thanks for nothing”. Very strange for a company that makes at least $80 for every new copy of Windows 7 Home Premium sold. MSPaint is just fodder for another Mocking Mac TV Commercial.