Friday, July 4, 2003
Is that a Picture on Your Pocket PC, or are You Just Happy to See Me? - PocketLoup Review
Posted by Chris Spera in "SOFTWARE" @ 09:00 AM
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got the digital camera bug pretty bad. So bad, in fact that when the Olympus E-10 was introduced in 2000, I bought one a few months after its release. All of us digital camera mavens should have at least one app on their Pocket PC so they can show off their latest round o’ family photos; or at least I think so. PocketLoup from GlassLantern Software is such an app, and it allows you to do more than just view pictures.
That Olympus E-10 is quite a camera. It should be. Back in February of 2001 when I bought it, it cost me enough. As a result, I use it year round, in just about every setting you can think of. If it moves, I’ll probably take a picture of it. However, let’s get real… just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. Having a picture of your {insert picture subject identifier here} doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a picture you want to keep. This is where PocketLoup comes in. It allows you to view your digital camera pictures on your Pocket PC and do some other interesting tasks.
Let’s take a look and see if PocketLoup is the right app to add to your digital photography toolbox.
Camera Settings
For the purposes of this review, I am using most of the automatic settings on the camera. The only real modification that I am making is the change in file format and size. The default file format for Olympus, its RAW format, isn’t currently supported by PocketLoup. GlassLantern is currently working to resolve this.
However, getting back to the camera and its settings… My E-10 is set with the following settings:
Image Manipulation…well, sorta
PocketLoup is a fairly simple program from a feature perspective. The app supports two different image viewing modes: individual image view and thumbnail view. From here you can examine individual images and view thumbnails of all of the images from your camera.
Figure 1: PocketLoup Thumbnail view. View all of your images on your Pocket PC
Figure 2: PocketLoup Thumbnail view. View all of your image’s camera settings on your Pocket PC.
PocketLoup is a serious digital photography tool. Its primary function is to allow you to review your photos immediately after you shoot them. With its ability to read your camera’s native image thumbnail and camera settings, you’ll be able to not only view your pictures, but the camera settings used to take the shots as well. If you need to make adjustments to your camera settings, PocketLoup can easily display an image’s Histogram so that you can check color dispersion and white balance.
Figure 3: Your complete image with camera settings and histogram.
Focus on the Camera
The focus of PocketLoup is your camera, not necessarily the finished product. From a consumer standpoint, the program, in my opinion, doesn’t offer much. I can look at the images I took, decide which ones I want to keep, etc. I can also adjust the Gamma output of the image, but the effect doesn’t modify the image, just the presentation of it on your PPC’s screen.
Figure 4: PocketLoup’s Gamma Adjustment on your PPC Screen. PocketLoup also supports 12bit displays, like the ones used in the iPAQ 3600 series.
With PocketLoup, users really have a choice of a few basic functions:
Figure 5: Choose Menu—Send via email, and your thumbnail is attached to an e-mail message inside Pocket Inbox.
Figure 6: Choose which file formats to read, and the folders to read them from. If Digital Camera Folders Only is not checked, PocketLoup reads files from your entire PPC.
Gotchas
While many of you will wonder why, I had a hard time with this review. PocketLoup’s features and functions concentrate on your camera as opposed to other picture viewing apps, like Resco Picture Viewer, which concentrates on your pictures. While it will read and use most RAW camera formats, it doesn’t yet support the Olympus RAW format.
While I really like PocketLoup for what it does, I initially found it a bit confusing. It was a bit too simplistic in what it does. It took me a while to stop expecting it to bombard me with features and just look at what it DID offer. While I like what I see, PocketLoup could offer more…
PocketLoup’s intended user is a serious digital camera prosumer or professional. However, someone like my wife, with a point and shoot digital camera would have no trouble using PocketLoup; but would only find its picture viewing options helpful. In a fit of frustration with the application (because she also expected it to do more than it did…) she said she’d probably never use it because she could view and delete pictures right from her camera, so what was the point..? So much for the average consumer, eh?
The software can be downloaded from Handango or purchased for $34.95 (affiliate link).
Specifications
Any Pocket PC running PPC 2000 or PPC 2002 (Windows Mobile 2003 has yet to be tested)
135kb of free RAM is required to run the application.
Conclusions
PocketLoup is incredibly fast at reading thumbnails from your digital camera. So fast, in fact that I was amazed that it could crunch through 90-100 images from my E-10 in the blink of an eye. I used a Casio E200 to read data from a SanDisk 256MB CF Card that I use with my camera. My Dell C610 can’t read these pictures this fast with 640MB of RAM via Paint Shop Pro.
However, for $34.95, I think the app is over-priced. Other applications, like Resco Picture Viewer, are less expensive, and offer a number of different features that might be more valuable to the consumer market.
If you’re a prosumer or professional photographer, PocketLoup might be the tool you need. It quickly reads most RAW camera formatted files, allows you to analyze a photo’s histogram (so you can adjust your camera settings), and will let you save and e-mail picture thumbnails. (While the e-mail feature is something consumer’s will find useful, it doesn’t justify the $35 dollar price tag…)
All in all, PocketLoup is a good application; but in my opinion, even from a prosumer’s or professional’s perspective, lacks the compelling features to urge me to purchase it. Perhaps your experience with the application are different. Why don’t you chime in, below, and let me know what you think...?
That Olympus E-10 is quite a camera. It should be. Back in February of 2001 when I bought it, it cost me enough. As a result, I use it year round, in just about every setting you can think of. If it moves, I’ll probably take a picture of it. However, let’s get real… just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. Having a picture of your {insert picture subject identifier here} doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a picture you want to keep. This is where PocketLoup comes in. It allows you to view your digital camera pictures on your Pocket PC and do some other interesting tasks.
Let’s take a look and see if PocketLoup is the right app to add to your digital photography toolbox.
Camera Settings
For the purposes of this review, I am using most of the automatic settings on the camera. The only real modification that I am making is the change in file format and size. The default file format for Olympus, its RAW format, isn’t currently supported by PocketLoup. GlassLantern is currently working to resolve this.
However, getting back to the camera and its settings… My E-10 is set with the following settings:
- 1/4s
- f2.2
- ISO320
- SHQ (Super High Quality)
- 2240x1680 Resolution
- 1/2.7 JPG Compression
Image Manipulation…well, sorta
PocketLoup is a fairly simple program from a feature perspective. The app supports two different image viewing modes: individual image view and thumbnail view. From here you can examine individual images and view thumbnails of all of the images from your camera.
Figure 1: PocketLoup Thumbnail view. View all of your images on your Pocket PC
Figure 2: PocketLoup Thumbnail view. View all of your image’s camera settings on your Pocket PC.
PocketLoup is a serious digital photography tool. Its primary function is to allow you to review your photos immediately after you shoot them. With its ability to read your camera’s native image thumbnail and camera settings, you’ll be able to not only view your pictures, but the camera settings used to take the shots as well. If you need to make adjustments to your camera settings, PocketLoup can easily display an image’s Histogram so that you can check color dispersion and white balance.
Figure 3: Your complete image with camera settings and histogram.
Focus on the Camera
The focus of PocketLoup is your camera, not necessarily the finished product. From a consumer standpoint, the program, in my opinion, doesn’t offer much. I can look at the images I took, decide which ones I want to keep, etc. I can also adjust the Gamma output of the image, but the effect doesn’t modify the image, just the presentation of it on your PPC’s screen.
Figure 4: PocketLoup’s Gamma Adjustment on your PPC Screen. PocketLoup also supports 12bit displays, like the ones used in the iPAQ 3600 series.
With PocketLoup, users really have a choice of a few basic functions:
- Examine all of your digital photos (you can limit your selection to just the digital camera folder on your storage card…) in thumbnail only, or thumbnail plus camera settings views.
- Pick and choose which images to keep and delete.
- Extract thumbnails from your larger images. My wife’s Casio digital camera does this automatically. My Olympus doesn’t. This can be a real big help if you want to send quick shots to friends and family.
- Quickly e-mail thumbnails to friends and family.
Figure 5: Choose Menu—Send via email, and your thumbnail is attached to an e-mail message inside Pocket Inbox.
Figure 6: Choose which file formats to read, and the folders to read them from. If Digital Camera Folders Only is not checked, PocketLoup reads files from your entire PPC.
Gotchas
While many of you will wonder why, I had a hard time with this review. PocketLoup’s features and functions concentrate on your camera as opposed to other picture viewing apps, like Resco Picture Viewer, which concentrates on your pictures. While it will read and use most RAW camera formats, it doesn’t yet support the Olympus RAW format.
While I really like PocketLoup for what it does, I initially found it a bit confusing. It was a bit too simplistic in what it does. It took me a while to stop expecting it to bombard me with features and just look at what it DID offer. While I like what I see, PocketLoup could offer more…
PocketLoup’s intended user is a serious digital camera prosumer or professional. However, someone like my wife, with a point and shoot digital camera would have no trouble using PocketLoup; but would only find its picture viewing options helpful. In a fit of frustration with the application (because she also expected it to do more than it did…) she said she’d probably never use it because she could view and delete pictures right from her camera, so what was the point..? So much for the average consumer, eh?
- No Auto Leveling/ photo touching options.
- Not all native file formats (RAW/ ORF) are supported.
- Not intended for your average consumer (in my humble opinion…).
The software can be downloaded from Handango or purchased for $34.95 (affiliate link).
Specifications
Any Pocket PC running PPC 2000 or PPC 2002 (Windows Mobile 2003 has yet to be tested)
135kb of free RAM is required to run the application.
Conclusions
PocketLoup is incredibly fast at reading thumbnails from your digital camera. So fast, in fact that I was amazed that it could crunch through 90-100 images from my E-10 in the blink of an eye. I used a Casio E200 to read data from a SanDisk 256MB CF Card that I use with my camera. My Dell C610 can’t read these pictures this fast with 640MB of RAM via Paint Shop Pro.
However, for $34.95, I think the app is over-priced. Other applications, like Resco Picture Viewer, are less expensive, and offer a number of different features that might be more valuable to the consumer market.
If you’re a prosumer or professional photographer, PocketLoup might be the tool you need. It quickly reads most RAW camera formatted files, allows you to analyze a photo’s histogram (so you can adjust your camera settings), and will let you save and e-mail picture thumbnails. (While the e-mail feature is something consumer’s will find useful, it doesn’t justify the $35 dollar price tag…)
All in all, PocketLoup is a good application; but in my opinion, even from a prosumer’s or professional’s perspective, lacks the compelling features to urge me to purchase it. Perhaps your experience with the application are different. Why don’t you chime in, below, and let me know what you think...?
