Fraps or Irfanview for screenshots?

[Paul Riley]

Good day all,

I was wondering which software you prefer for capturing screenshots,either Fraps (which I have just downloaded and have yet to try) or Irfanview? ,which is ok for converting .TGAs to .JPEG but I am not too impressed with the image quality of the screenshots,as there are usually strange colours,false lighting and sometimes artifacts present in the images.Last night for instance I managed to capture a close up of a 2 torpedo spread impact against a medium merchant,and as I had the game paused ready for the shot the scene looked bloody amazing,with a huge funnel of water bursting high above the ship,yet when I later looked at the image through Irfanview the water funnel looked like a group of squares joined together.Maybe I need to 'tweak' the image to get better quality out of it? If I DO could you give me some tips on what I could do to improve the quality?
I have heard some very good comments about Fraps and the ability to also record the action from your games is enough to make me want this software,I am even prepared to buy the 'full' product if the free version is any good.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers