PDF Reader that increases the contrast of the pages?

[nordloewelabs]

is there a program that can make both text and pictures of PDFs gain more contrast while browsing them? i dont need to permanently change the original PDF (even though that would be good), i just need to to "un-fade" the pages so that i can read them easier....

i know i can open each page of the PDF on Photoshop and fix them there, but that takes too long. a free PDF Reader that could change the pages on-the-fly (like a video player) would be ideal.

any suggestions?

 

[NoelS]

nordloewelabs,

I use FoxIt Reader for my pdf files. It has a small footprint and can also be used for editing pdf's. Go here to get it: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php Download it and try it out. i think it beats Adobe by a mile. Writing pdf files uses a different application if you're interested. Easy install for FoxIt and it works after you click on it the first time.

I'm not sure this will solve the contrast problem you're talking about, but I hope so...

Noel

 

[nordloewelabs]

I have Acrobat, Foxit and Sumatra on my machines and none of them let me adjust contrast of a PDF file.

 

[QuixoticOne]

You can do it in the Adobe software for the most part, though it could/should have better controls for sure.

And IMHO Adobe s/w sux rox, so Foxit is probably a better choice, though I don't know its options.

If you're using acrobat reader --
Edit -> Preferences -> Accessibility
then [X] Replace Document Colors

then [X] Custom Color: Document Text: Black, Page Background [Grey]
is actually lower contrast, I suppose, but it's usually easier on the eyes.
You can pick something else like green on blue or white on black or whatever works for you.

Or of course
[X] use high contrast colors [color combination .....]

Of course those only work for documents that aren't just pure graphic images of pages; if there's nothing but a scanned image, you'll need to change the way the images look
which I don't think you can as easily do with Acrobat Reader.
For that you could use a system wide gamma/brightness/contrast setting; usually if you have a modestly advanced graphics card its control panel will have options to change gamma / contrast / brightness / hue. e.g. NVIDIA control panel, ATI Catalyst Control Center/Panel etc. It will affect the the whole system, but you can always change it back when you're done viewing the file.

Windows also has some built in Accessibility options under the Accessories menu in the start menu (I think)... screen magnifier, and a few other things... maybe something there could help, though I doubt it.

You can use programs like PDFTK to output the PDF pages to images or something like that that you could view with an image viewer or something.

 

[nordloewelabs]

Originally posted by: QuixoticOne
And IMHO Adobe s/w sux rox, so Foxit is probably a better choice, though I don't know its options.

I use Foxit most of the time, but for some PDFs I use Sumatra. Foxit has problems with some graphics.... sometimes they look very jagged.

Of course those only work for documents that aren't just pure graphic images of pages; if there's nothing but a scanned image, you'll need to change the way the images look

that's exactly my problem: text that was encoded as images. I guess I'll have to use the Graphics Card or Monitor settings to handle this....