VERDICT: For a new release Snapfire already looks old-fashioned and terminally unexciting – but at least the basic version is free.

Corel describes its new Snapfire program as a “next-generation modular digital imaging platform” designed to provide “all the tools users need to easily organise, enhance and share their digital photos”. That sounds ideal - especially as Corel is providing the program for free from its new Snapfire.com site.
In terms of organization, Snapfire provides a simple Photo Downloader designed to automatically transfer images to your hard disk. Once downloaded, you can quickly add your photos as resizable thumbnails to Snapfire’s simple folder-based view which can be sorted based on name, date, format, size and rating. There’s also a rudimentary Calendar view which simply marks days on which photos were taken in red, a Photo Tray palette in which you can temporarily store images ready for printing and sharing, and a Photo Info palette where you can add ratings and captions. However there are no keyword tagging capabilities so Snapfire’s basic search is limited to factors such as date and file size.

Snapfire’s photo editing is even worse than its management

Double clicking on a thumbnail opens the image for editing. Snapfire’s Quick Fix command offers one-click enhancement while the Photo Fix dialog offers customisable control over brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth and focus (though the command for randomizing these parameters is bizarre). Otherwise the editing power comes down to cropping and red eye fixing tools and a grand total of two filters for applying either black and white or sepia effects.
When it comes to sharing, Snapfire offers the ability to drag and drop photos onto a range of preset templates for producing multiple prints, album pages, greeting cards, calendars and collages. The process is visual and straightforward but the lack of real hands-on control soon becomes frustrating. Even more disappointing are Snapfire’s electronic sharing capabilities. In practice this boils down to sending your photos as emails with basic control over image size and whether files should be attached to or embedded in your message. The only option beyond run-of-the-mill is the ability to email “Snapfire shows” to other Snapfire users.
However to actually take control of your shows by setting up transitions, soundtracks and pans and zooms you will need to upgrade to Snapfire Plus. This also offers keyword tagging and the ability to backup your files to CD, but at this price it should offer a great deal more. Most obviously, neither version of Snapfire currently offers any integrated web sharing capabilities – visit the Show section of the Snapfire.com site and you are asked to send in your images for consideration and possible display!
This is a first release and Corel clearly has plans to update and expand what Snapfire has to offer but, as it stands, the program isn’t next-generation – it’s half-baked.

EASE OF USE 3/6
FEATURES 1/6
VALUE FOR MONEY 3/6
OVERALL 2/6