Contactsheet

[John Geerts]

Does anyone still uses 'contactsheets'? 

It's a standard functionality in PS/CC and I find it useful for selecting images.  Like in this case were I needed 300*200pix  'post-card-like' images to select for use on a website. 

[pluton]

Yes, Lightroom(and Aperture and Capture One)all have this functionality as the normal way of browsing the files.

[elsa hoffmann]

I should use it more - It is a very handy thing
I kind of need to be reminded to use it!

[Andrew]

And IrfanView...

[ColinM]

Do you mean as a way of producing printed contact sheets, or to view on screen?

I gave up using LR or Bridge as a way of browsing my files for images a long time ago. Despite plenty of CPU and Ram, I find each program and their ergonomics too slow and unsuited for this particular task.

I find alternatives (e.g. FastStone) much quicker & with faster 100% viewing, even if I then go into PS or another program to PP. I guess a database that let's you search by keywords (as per LR) is also as useful if you've catalogued your images....

[John Geerts]

Do you mean as a way of producing printed contact sheets, or to view on screen?

I gave up using LR or Bridge as a way of browsing my files for images a long time ago. Despite plenty of CPU and Ram, I find each program and their ergonomics too slow and unsuited for this particular task.

I find alternatives (e.g. FastStone) much quicker & with faster 100% viewing, even if I then go into PS or another program to PP. I guess a database that let's you search by keywords (as per LR) is also as useful if you've catalogued your images....

Actually for a fast print of the selected files in a directory (even if they are .NEF). 

I am using Bridge at the moment as it will load all raw files (used ViewNX2 before but that takes only Nikon) but the file-naming is not very flexible.  What product of FastStone is the best, you think?

[ColinM]

I am using Bridge at the moment as it will load all raw files...
What product of FastStone is the best, you think?

Try here
http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm

These things can vary incredibly down to personal taste and the particular part of PP workflow that's important to you. Luckily this can be tried for free so if it's not to your liking there's no loss.

I've yet to find one that does all things I need. I resisted View NX for ages, then found the star rating was useful in culling my initial shots though other parts of it weren't good. FastStone is quicker for me and gives a good instant zoom, but (when I last looked) didn't allow a star rating. Sigh...

Though I've got the Photog's CC subscription I don't do enough PP to need all the extra tools it offers (maybe that shows in my images....). So after a few months persisting with it, I found myself going back to NX2. Luckily that still supports my camera body.

Finally, you mentioned printing John.
Until Adobe improved PS, I used to find a tool called Qimage quite useful. Although I now rarely print at home, I often resize images to send to an online printer. There were several features in Qimage that seemed useful (though Adobe may now cover them all).

[John Geerts]

Thanks Colin.  I don't think there is a perfect solution.    FastStone Image Viewer 5.5  looks okay, fast, lot of options and freeware without ads.  Only a small problem when loading and renaming files in 'Japanese signs' or so