Spect 4+

As an artist who juggles thousands of PSDs, JPGs, and other sorts of visual data, I am in desperate need of an ultra fast image viewer. Let’s face it: the Finder doesn’t cut it. Spect does what it says it does - it’s a fast image viewer - whether I’m viewing images locally or on one of my networked drives. I do have a few feature requests for upcoming versions. First, it would be nice to sort files based on Ascending / Descending order. Second, it would be great if I could keep a set of folder favorites that I could easily move between. I eagerly await further updates. With those two features added in, I would give this app a 5 star rating.

Spect piqued my interest by offering simple browsing of macOS filesystem for images. That simplicity sells it for me. A few weeks prior to its release, I had wondered why Finder didn’t have its own slideshow without using Preview to display images. Imagine my surprise upon finding Spect just as easily lets you run a slideshow of browsed images! Start one any time. Yes, I saw it listed as a feature, paid that no mind, then realized its native glory during use. You do still have to use an app to do this, but you do not have to shift back and forth between apps (Finder browsing and Preview slideshow). They both happen inside Spect.

Its main feature “Fast Image Browser” performs well. The first time you browse a folder with images in it, Spect replaces placeholder icons with previews of each image there as you watch. On my iMac Retina 5K (Late 2014), I see them load quickly, but not instantly (no preloading for instance). However, if I browse another folder of images then return to that previously browsed folder during the same session all of their previews load near instantly. Once loaded, full view of last selected image using spacebar or double-click.

I have already found Spect useful in browsing images with similar file names. Those image previews come in handy discrerning between them quickly. Adjust image preview size with standard slider on status bar, if default set too small.

When I come back from a shoot with hundreds of pictures, the first thing is to figure out which images to keep and which to throw away. It's not uncommon to throw away >70% of the images, so I need to be able to quickly go through all images in full-screen view on my 27" iMac to judge clarity, sharpness and composition. And then decide what to do. No edits needed during that step of the workflow.
Spect allows me to do that by just using the keyboard. Left and right arrow to move in between pictures, command-delete to delete a picture and command keystrokes to zoom in and out. I can go through hundreds of pictures in minuted. Awesome app.
I wish they added a "P' key to mark favorites, because often I'm on the fence and want to revisit decisions later. That's the only thing missing in my workflow.