Swipe View is also my preferred view but damn does it come with its drawbacks.
To address your picture issue first, I also experience the same effect however my workaround is to drag diagonally while zoomed.
One other issue with images combined with walls of text. There is no way to make the wall of text disappear unless I find i separate post with an image tap it to make the title and words disappear the return to the post, or go into comments and tap the photo.
My other issue is "Mark as read / hide read" does not work unless you go into the comments. Swipe View gives you the whole post minus comments. I believe it should count it as read.