This is the first time that I have reviewed a software utility program. Typically, software utilities get overlooked in favor of the glitz and glamour of programs such as Adobe Photoshop, so I decided to say "yes" when I was given the chance to take a look at eFotoXpress. As with many utilities, eFotoXpress does just one thing and tries to do it well. Its sole purpose is to make it possible and quick to email large digital photographs to colleagues, friends or family.

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If you have ever tried to email a few high resolution photographs, you probably already know how long it can take, even with a broadband connection. The average size of a 6.0-megapixel image (JPEG format) is about 1.2MB. Email six photographs to your friends and it can easily take close 7 to 8 minutes, assuming everything goes as planned. Of course, the recipient then has to receive the large email, which would take another 4 or 5 minutes (download speeds are faster than uploads when using broadband). EFotoXpress was created to solve this problem. The picture to the left is a screen shot of the email that eFotoXpress automatically creates. It attaches all images and offers a nice text explanation of what the contents of the email are and where to download the free viewer.

eFotoXpress combines a new JPEG2000 compression algorithm with an easy to understand "explorer" like interface to make it quick and easy to send large photographs through email. JPEG2000 is a new image compression standard that was developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), with the intent to provide superior compression performance compared to existing standards. By using JPEG2000, eFotoXpress can reduces the file size of each image by up to 10x (or more). Thanks to the JPEG2000 standard, eFotoXpress can send 10-15 high-resolution images via email in the time that it would normally take you to email just one image. During testing, a 740kb file took 48 seconds to send by email on a broadband connection, but using eFotoXpress, it only took 4.5 seconds, thanks to the tiny 80k file size.

Using eFotoXpress to email photographs is simple. Select one or more photographs, click on the "Send Photos" Menu option, and select "Send Compressed." The software converts the image(s), saves them to a folder on your desktop, then automatically inserts them into a blank email as an attachment. The software also allows you to add text notes and/or audio clips to each photo, although I was surprised to find that the audio clips are saved in the .wav audio format (very large files,) considering that the intent of the software is to reduce file sizes in order to speed up email sending.

Example Photo 1 Full Size .jp2 image   |   Full size Original

Compression does come at a price, but with eFotoXpress the price isn't always big. There just isn't a way to take a 6.0-megapixel photo and compress it to 80kb without losing some image quality - despite claims made otherwise by the publisher. However, I was amazed at how good most of the 80kb compressed image looked. There were a few photos that didn't hold up well, but others suffered only slight softening and minimal "blotchy" artifacts. From testing, it seems that photos which contain a lot of small detail (trees, blades of grass) will suffer more when compressed than an image containing less detail. Of course, if you tried to use standard JPEG compression to reduce an image to 80k, the results would be terrible.

The photo above (Example Photo 1) was compressed using eFotoXpress, then resized for this page. I have placed links to the full size images (.jp2 and original) for your comparison. The .jp2 image had to be re-saved in .jpg format in order to make it viewable online, however I saved it with very little .jpg compression.

The example below (Example Photo 2) was the worst of the bunch. Fine blades of grass turned to mush when examined at actual (100%) size. This photo was actually my first test photo, and after viewing it I wasn't impressed at all, but further testing, using many different images, revealed much better results.

Example Photo 2

Since the JPEG2000 format is new to the scene, the recipient of the images will need to download a (free) viewer application in order to view the tiny .jp2-compressed images. eFotoXpress includes a viewer with purchase, and recipients may download a free viewer from the eFotoXpress website. I also found a free Adobe Photoshop PLUG-IN, created by Lead Technologies, that allows you to open and save images in the JPEG2000 format.

Statistics:

• Sending 9 (6-megapixel) compressed photos via email took only 48 seconds
• Sending 1 (6-megapixel) "out-of-camera" photo via email took 45 seconds
• Sending 1 (6-megapixel) compressed photo with 3-second .wav audio clip took 8 seconds to send
• Thumbnails created by the software should be kept in a dedicated directory instead of placing them in the each folder that contains the original.

Pet Peeves
I do have a few pet peeves with the software that I would like to share. Every time the software opens, it opens to the [My Documents] folder on my [C:/] drive. My photos are on my D:/ drive, which means I have to use the explorer style navigation to change folders and drives each time. While the audio feature is a neat extra, it's impractical since the audio recordings are saved in the .wav format. The software also does not have an option of "attaching" the free photo viewer in an email, so recipients will have to be instructed on how and where to download the free viewer. Last, but not least, the best compression mode makes images 80kb in size. There should be an option to allow the user to enter in a larger file size, in order to achieve better quality, especially for images with a lot of fine detail. Control, control, control - we all want it.

Conclusion
In the end, eFotoXpress is a software utility for digital camera owners that love to share their pictures with friends or family, but don't want to spend hours uploading images to a photo sharing site. eFotoXpress makes it simple to select a group of photographs, click once or twice, and have all those images ready to go in an email. The compressed images do lose some image quality, but the quality of most of the images will amaze you - knowing that the file size is only 80k. The software azlso allows you to embed a text message and audio file that the recipient can read or hear with your photos or slideshow.

Summary of features that I would like to see in a future version:

• An option to override compressed file size. Currently 80kb is the largest selection available, which in many cases reduces image quality too much.
• Remember the last folder viewed instead of going back to the default folder (which can't be changed).
• Save audio files in a compressed format such as .wma or .mp3. Wave (.wav) files are too large.
• Include an option to attach and send the free viewer to the recipient