Feedback wanted: a Windows photo viewer for RAW/JPEG culling, HDR/WCG and local AI

[n1viewer]

Developing N1 Viewer for Windows — RAW culling, HDR/WCG color management and local AI

Hi everyone,

I'm the independent developer of N1 Viewer, a native Windows image viewer designed for photographers who work with large image collections.

I'm particularly interested in feedback from people who care about both photo culling performance and accurate image presentation.

A few things that distinguish the project:

• Browsing and culling: adaptive preview preloading, persistent SSD caching, Windows Explorer file ordering, ratings, Pick/Reject, color labels and automatic advance.
• Image comparison: two-image comparison in the main viewer and two- or four-image comparison in Gallery.
• Color management: Standard and Advanced modes, ICC profiles, wide-gamut spaces including Adobe RGB, Display P3 and Rec.2020, plus HDR PQ/HLG and linear scRGB presentation through Windows Advanced Color.
• RAW and HDR formats: CR2, CR3, DNG, NEF (including Nikon HE/HE★), ARW, RAF and other RAW formats, alongside HEIC, AVIF, JPEG XL, OpenEXR and Radiance HDR.
• Local AI: semantic and visual search, reference-image search, similar-image discovery, automatic tagging, metadata suggestions and OCR text search.
• Duplicate detection: exact and near-duplicate search, including images with different filenames, resolutions or compression.

The optional AI models run locally, with GPU, integrated GPU or CPU acceleration. N1 also includes batch metadata editing, a folder tree, Filmstrip and Gallery workflows, and customizable Modern and Classic interfaces.

I'd especially appreciate feedback on three things:

1. How well does your current workflow handle selecting the best images from a large RAW shoot?
2. What do you find lacking in Windows HDR and wide-gamut photo viewing?
3. Would you prefer these browsing, comparison and AI tools in one application, or keep them separate from your RAW editor?

Looking for testers: N1 Viewer is available with a 15-day free trial. I'm also offering a full license key to photographers willing to carry out more extensive testing and share detailed, honest feedback about their experience, including bugs, limitations and areas for improvement.

You don't need to leave a positive review — critical feedback is just as valuable. If you'd like to participate, comment below or contact me directly.

I'm the developer, so I'm happy to discuss technical details and explain how particular features work.

The forum's spam filter doesn't allow me to include links yet, so I've left them out. You can find N1 Viewer by searching for "N1 Viewer" in the Microsoft Store.

Thanks for your feedback!