Zoom lock behavior in vers 1.92 (Dec 17 2007)

[HandsOff!]

I have used several different versions of XnView, and occasionally I will find a feature that I had really liked gets changed, or at least performs differently in the version I am using now.

Feature: Zoom Lock!
Value: Very valuable feature!!
Invoked by: Pressing Ctrl and / (the one on the number pad)
Effect: This allow you to maintain the same zoom level while running through your pictures in the full screen mode!

Problem: It used to be than when I locked the zoom level, it also locked the zoom position (in some earlier version). Now the zoom level is locked, however the position, when I use Page Up, or Page Down to go to the next picture will now be on the upper left hand corner!

This has a tremendous negative impact for me, and I would guess for many other photographers. For lots of types of shots I will have many shots of the exact same thing, differing only in exposure (bracketing sometimes) aperture, focus, ISO value, metering mode, color shift, ect...With the way the program used to work I could select a series of shots, go to full screen mode, zoom to the critical LOCATION of the photo, and then quickly sequence through them to find the best result.

Now, by contrast, the process is much harder. As a general rule, I think it is true that the upper left hand corner almost never is the focal point of my photos. Naturally, it will most often be somewhere near the center.

I think that the perfect situation would be to go to the same coordinates that the picture was centered on in the previous view. Failing that, zoom locking on the center of the picture, and not the corner would be a tremendous improvement!

I apologize for the long post, but considering the amount and quality of work that is put into this product, I wanted to be clear. I think this is a feature that has in the past placed XnView head and shoulders above the alternatives.

On the other hand, if my installation is not working right, maybe I simply need to do some registry cleaning and re-installing.

On the third hand, if the public prefers the zoom lock behavior that I have now, I guess I could go back to the previous version, though then I would miss the improvements that were new to this version.


-HandsOff!

[HandsOff!]

If I am looking at several pictures in a row shot of a bird in a tree for instance, now it is very hard to compare the bird with the zoom and position locked. Even if it is in the center of the frame! I guess I can start installing different versions, but it would be helpful to know if zoom locking on the center, or centered position is functional in the new version.

I am going to install it, and I will soon know if it works for me.