Five Apps: Advanced screen capture

By matt nawrocki October 18, 2013, 10:48 AM PDT

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Five apps for screen capture in Windows

Thisrngallery is also available as a TechRepublic article.

Thernability to combine written words with pictures or videos helps convey the exactrnmessage you are looking to present. For instance, if you are working on arnsoftware user’s guide, screenshots can show your clients exactly what you meanrnin a particular context. Although the Windows Snipping utility that comesrnbundled in Windows since Vista might qualify and work fine for your needs, yournmight also be looking for features like extra editing functionality andrnrecording capabilities. Here are five apps that act as proper extensions of anyrnbasic screen capture system.

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Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

SnagIt 1

Five Apps

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1. SnagIt

rnrnFor those interested in arncomprehensive package, SnagIt by TechSmith is one of the bigger names inrnscreenshot and video recording apps. In addition to offering multiple modes ofrncapture (i.e. full screen, window, region, et al), images and videos that yourncreate are automatically saved in an organized and catalogued fashion for quickrnretrieval. Basic editing capabilities exist as well, allowing for quick crops,rndrawing lines and shapes and countless other effects. SnagIt can be acquiredrnfor $49.95.

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Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

SnagIt 2

Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

Jing 1

2. Jing

rnrnTechSmith also has a littlernbrother to SnagIt in the form of Jing. Although much more simplified in termsrnof features and capabilities, the app is free to download and use. Essentially,rnyou have most of the same image and video capture functionality with a subsetrnof the editing tools that typically come with SnagIt. It even includes arnsimilar control-panel “bubble” which can be dragged around for easyrnaccess to the Jing.

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Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

Jing 2

Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

CamStudio 1

3. CamStudio

rnrnIf you need to create anrnon-screen video recording versus simple screenshots, CamStudio is a worthyrncandidate for the job. The user interface simply stays out of your way and yourncan create projects ranging from tutorial videos to product demos andrndistribute them as AVI or SWF format files. As a nice bonus, CamStudio offers arnfree lossless video codec which is also rather efficient on bitrate, whilernproviding a quality video, devoid of artifacts and chunking.

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Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

CamStudio 2

Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

TinyTake 1

4. TinyTake

rnrnCombining an elegant userrninterface with the ability to quickly push screenshots and video recordings tornthe cloud seems to be the forte of MangoApps, creator of Tiny Take. I findrnTinyTake to be similar to SnagIt in its image editing and annotation tools, allrnwith a price tag of $0. The only minor annoyance I’ve noticed is that, in orderrnto properly use TinyTake, you need to create an account using arn”business” email account, ala no personal Gmail, Live or Yahoo!rnemail. Fortunately, I was able to mitigate this concern, using another personalrnemail address that is attached to a custom domain name.

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Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

TinyTake 2

Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

Greenshot 1

5. Greenshot

rnrnFor the open source enthusiastsrnout there, you haven’t been forgotten either. Greenshot is a screenshot utilityrnfor Windows provided under the GPL. It takes images and handles edits withrnaplomb. There are also plugins that offer integration with Atlassian’s JIRA andrnConfluence, making quick snaps and uploads to a wiki page painless.

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Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

Greenshot 2

Credit: Images byrnMatthew Nawrocki

By matt nawrocki

An avid technology writer and an IT guru, Matthew is here to help bring the best in software, hardware and the web to the collective consciousness of TechRepublic's readership. In addition to writing for TechRepublic, Matthew currently works as a Cus

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