ACDSee 18 and Pro 8 deliver smarter, easier photo editing

ACD Systems has unveiled the latest versions of its flagship photo editors, ACDSee 18 ($79.99, $39.99 upgrade) and ACDSee Pro 8 ($199.99, $59.99 upgrade).

Both editions include a new Explorer extension, PicaView, which previews an image from its context menu and launches ACDSee with a click.

There are new auto EQ tools, optimizing exposure, lighting and contrast as soon as you open the image.

It’s now possible to preview images in a few filters -- Lomo, Orton, Black and White, Sepia -- directly from the View mode, while Edit mode gains some new effects of its own.

There are new ways to work with your ACDSee Cloud images. You can upload and download photos, organize them, control privacy settings and share them with whoever you like, directly from ACDSee’s Manage Mode.

The high-end ACDSee Pro 8 also gains a History window, tracking every change you’ve made to an image, and allowing you to restore any version with a click.

There’s also more precise editing, with the new ability to select and tweak pixels by their tonal range, while an Edit Mode Fill tool can enrich a specific tone with your own choice of background color.

Elsewhere, both programs have a few interface tweaks -- improved folder navigation, simplified selections -- but there are no radical changes, and if you’re an existing user then you’ll feel at home right away.

30 day trials of ACDSee 18 and ACDSee Pro 8 are available now for Windows 7 and later.