Most Important New Features and Improvements in Version 10

Interface

A pleasant work interface is important for any program.

We have thus optimized and reworked the ZPS interface once again for version 10. For example, it now includes new controls and graphical elements. Several windows have been completely reworked.

There is a new "Vista-style" Browser skin (jumbo icons, title bars, highlighting, etc.)
Color sliders have been added to the Enhance Colors, Adjust Color Temperature, Acquire from Canon RAW, and Acquire from DNG windows.
Full support has been added for overlay icons in the Browser and Navigator.
An improved drag-and-drop indicator has been added, with thumbnails, descriptions, and an operation icon.
File can now be selected via framing in the Thumbnails mode.
The sharpening functions have been combined into one (unsharp mask and detail sharpening methods are now both in one window).
The interface for entering a color temperature in the lighting temperature adjustment window has been improved.
You can now preview directly in the main Editor window.
Two right-click-menu items (Copy to... and Move to...) have been made more accessible, and a new Follow Link item has been added.
Double-clicking in Preview/Information now brings up an Editor window.
You can now permanently (not just visually) rotate pictures during slideshows.
Windows XP and Windows Vista skins are now supported.

Previewing directly in the Editor for the filter windows lets you see the results of your changes at full resolution, just like when you are working with the direct tools on the Editor toolbar.

Zoner Photo Studio is now fully Vista compatible

The interface has also been considerably modified to match. When you've installed Zoner Photo Studio on Vista, you can make use of the attractive Aero visual styles.

Editing Tools

The photograph editing tools seems to be the most-watched part of the program. The latest version's improvements here focus on exposure problems typical for digital photography and on retouching.

You can now control the retouching tools using a pressure-sensitive tablet, letting tablet pressure modify a parameter of your choice. There are more new tools as well.

New algorithms have been implemented to improve results for several kinds of edits.

You can now compose HDR (High Dynamic Range) photographs, which combine photos with a wide exposure range ("sandwiching").
A Gradient Filter tool has been added. It is the software equivalent for the physical gradient filters that you can put in front of a camera lens.
The new Effect Brush tool in the Editor enables painting-on of edits to brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness.
Pressure sensitive tablets are now supported for the Editor's retouching tool.
You can now change the Diameter, Opacity, and Blurring values for the retouching tools using the keyboard.
The new Variations filter lets you view and pick from several different color/brightness variations.
The new image compare function lets you examine the details of several photos at once, like on a light table.
The blurring filter window now including directional, rotational, and "zoom" blur.
A watermarking option has been added for text and image overlays.
A new noise removal algorithm has been added.
The algorithm for editing saturation has been improved.
The Adjust Color Temperature filter can now take advantage of a GPU for calculations.

Work with Picture Information (Metadata)

Information about how a photo was taken, as well as user-added descriptions and keywords, are an integral part of any digital photograph. The shift to Unicode encoding is a major improvement, as it enables multilingual photo descriptions to be added and displayed within ZPS. More types of picture information than before are now supported, and the tools for batch-assigning information have been improved.

We have shifted to Unicode encoding for information both in the metadata (XMP) and in the environment.
Information can now be batch-assigned to all pictures in both a folder and its subfolders.
New categories have been added to the list in the variable text window.
Batch assigning of picture information has been improved.
Location has been added to the IPTC records ZPS creates.
We now support the focal length range information added by Olympus's DSLR cameras.

Work with Shot Locations (GPS)

Both tourists and enterprise digital photography users are getting more and more use from the ability to assign geographic coordinates - shot locations - to photos. One important frequent user request here has been fulfilled: we have added the ability to read coordinates directly from Google Maps. You can now search for photos taken within a certain distance of a certain location.

Direct display in OziExplorer and reading of coordinates from it are now supported.
You can now search for and filter photographs by their distance from a selected location or a reference photo.
You can now copy current coordinates to the Clipboard for transfer from picture to picture in the GPS data window.
There is a new informational status bar in the window for adding GPS data.

DVD Slideshows

Tabletop DVD players are by now an everyday part of modern households, and wide-screen televisions for home theater are as well. This has also meant growing enthusiasm for DVD photo presentations, and a rise in the level of quality demanded of them. This is why Zoner Photo Studio offers reworked DVD slideshows, with improved quality for the slideshow's sound and pictures. The DVD slideshow wizard has also been expanded to include new options, and the popular "Pan&Zoom" transition effect has been added to its repertoire.

"Pan&Zoom" Effect in Slideshows
Expanded menu appearance options (soft shadows, icons in menus, etc.).
Automatic chaptering for slideshows
Import from Ogg Vorbis audio format
Higher-quality sound samplingReworked video rendering code
Configurable tremor suppression
Interlaced video rendering (CRT-compatible)

RAW File Processing

Most advanced photographers take shots in RAW format so as to achieve best results. These files contain all the "raw" data acquired by the camera; these are only translated into normal graphics files after their transfer to the computer. The new version brings a new way to work with RAW files: using an external DNG (Digital Negative) convertor. We have also increased the range of RAW formats where ZPS can directly read thumbnails and added new tools for working with them.

You can now acquire photos from DNG, including several options affecting the conversion process (exposure correction, color temperature, etc.).
Full-fledged conversion for the majority of RAW formats using an external DNG convertor.
DNG support has been improved, enabling e.g. the saving of descriptions directly into a DNG file.
A new method is used for connecting to DCRaw.
Support for the Mamiya (MEF) format has been added.
Support for the Epson Raw File (ERF) format has been added.Support for the Mamiya (MEF) format has been added.
RAW is now supported for new Canon cameras like the Canon EOS 400D and the 1D Mark III.
A warning window has been added for cases where RAW files will be read in at preview quality.
You can now access HDR tools directly from the RAW conversion windows (color and exposure corrections can be made during RAW conversion)

Support for Graphics Formats

As the demands for photo storage and the number of hardware platforms on which people work with photos have grown, so too has the need for new and specialized graphical formats. This leads to users demanding that reading and writing of these formats be supported. Zoner Photo Studio now includes a full-fledged implementation of the up-and-coming HD Photo format (previously Windows Media Photo). It can also now read the JPEG 2000 Codestream format, the "portable bitmap" format group, and more. Another important new feature is the new Web JPEG convertor aimed e.g. at users who wish to place their photos on web photo galleries. The convertor automatically determines the right compression level needed to fit within a user-requested maximum JPEG file size. Another, related, new feature is support for the WIA protocol for work with devices that do not support USB Mass Storage.

A Web JPEG convertor has been added, it can compress pictures to exactly fit a requested maximum file size.
Reading and writing of HD Photo (Windows Media Photo) is now supported.
JPEG 2000 Codestream is now supported.
PNM, PPM, PAM, PBM, and PGM (the "Unix" formats) are now supported.
The PSB (Adobe Photoshop) format is now supported (read-only).
The WBMP ("wireless" bitmap) format is now supported (read-only).
ICO files with internal PNG compression are now supported.
Photos can now be downloaded over the WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) format. This is a universal interface for cameras that do not present themselves to the computer as an extra drive, e.g. Canon cameras.

Other

Besides the above, other, no less interesting improvements have been added in other categories.

The Canvas and Borders window can now preserve the ratio of sides (for the outside of the frame).
The batch filter can now work with color profiles.
You can now create an empty picture with dimensions of your choice in the Editor.
File operations can now take place in the background.