At 2x, the Enlarger PRO-enlarged image is really pretty nice.

We then decided to see how the program would perform compared to Photoshop's own Image Size function. Image Size is used to reduce and enlarge images, adjust their bit depth, and otherwise tinker with image size.

Figure C shows the results of Photoshop's Image Size command, enlarging the original 400%, and compares it side-by-side with an image enlarged 4x with Enlarger PRO.

FIGURE C


Look at the eyes and the hair. Enlarger PRO does a better job. Roll over picture for a larger image.

There's no doubt that Enlarger PRO does a better job. However, there's also no doubt that Enlarger PRO does not do a fabulous job. It's good. It's better than Photoshop. But it's not nearly as good as the original or as our eyes would really like to see.

The program itself is incredibly easy to use. As you can see in Figure D, there's a very simple interface. You select your file, select the enlargement factor, and click Process.

FIGURE D


Here's a full-screen version of the program. Roll over picture for a larger image.

You'll note that we're showing a maximized, full screen image of the program. When we first launched the program, the window was resizeable, and took up about a third of our screen. However, when we later relaunched the program, Enlarger PRO threw a bit of a wobbly and wouldn't show up except in maximized view. When we tried to resize it the window or restore it, the window simply vanished.

One thing that's very nice about the program, in addition to its one-button simplicity, is the addition of a batch processing capability. Just drag and drop the files you want to enlarge into the pane at the upper left side of the screen, hit process, and all your images will be processed at once.

This is a tough program to rate, simply because the problem it tries to solve is so challenging. We did try other pictures and while most worked like our clip art example above, some resulted in truly horrible enlargements. That's not necessarily the fault of the program -- if you don't give it good pixels to begin with, you're not likely to get good pixels back out.

Unfortunately, we can't rate Enlarger PRO as an exceptional or best-in-class product, but it is a solid, working product (except for the weird screen thing described above). Priced at $39US, if you need something that generates enlarged digital images with a nice degree of improvement over Photoshop, you might well want to consider Enlarger PRO.

We give Bearded Frog's Enlarger PRO a hippity-hoppity 3 out of 5.

OUR RATING: 3 of 5

David Gewirtz is the author of How To Save Jobs and Where Have All The Emails Gone? For more than 20 years, he has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and is a member of the instructional faculty at the University of California, Berkeley extension. He can be reached at david@zatz.com and you can follow him at http://www.twitter.com/DavidGewirtz.