Don Price wrote:
you can't buy CS3 new and it won't open your Raw 50D files anyway,
Don
Totally wrong!
Camera Raw 4.6 update
This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original Camera Raw plug-in that was installed with Adobe Creative Suite 3, Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 and Premiere Elements 4.0 software
Canon 1000D (Digital Rebel XS/EOS Kiss F)
Canon 50D
Fuji FinePix IS Pro
Kodak EasyShare Kodak Z1015 IS
Leaf AFi II 6
Leaf AFi II 7
Leaf Aptus II 6
Leaf Aptus II 7
Nikon D700
Nikon D90
Nikon Coolpix P6000
Olympus SP-565 UZ
Pentax K2000 (K-m)
Sigma DP1
Sony A900
And I bet if you shopped around some of the software sellers you will still find CS3 for sale.
I started using Canon's DPP which will come free with your 50D and could not get the results I wanted so I downloaded Lightroom for a free 30 trail. I really liked it and just purchased it. I think it is faster and easier to use compared to Photoshop or DPP and can do what I need for post processing.
Plus with Lightroom you can organize and catalog images. Lightroom is a cross-platform product so if you switch for PC to MAC or vice-versa you do not need to pay any additional fees.
Before using DPP or Lightroom I suggest investing a few hours to watch the online videos and you will get more out of the products a lot faster.
mdbassman wrote:
check the web it is full of comments about problems with CS4. For you it is fine but for many others it might not be and there were problems.
Glad it works for you!
Dan
i just saw someone on another site mention somethin gbaout graphics card issues, anyway my card was purchased for gaming and blu-ray so it's pretty up to date probably why i have no issues (i thought you could always turn off HW accel though which would seem to make the issue go away, perhaps there are more issues, but as i have yet to encounter any no point in wasting time googling about them)
There is an 'upgrade path' from PSE to full PS which reduces the cost by $100 (today's prices) so anyone buying PSE and then deciding they want full PS won't waste their money.
PSE v7 also allows the user to run - but not create - actions (as long as they don't include adjustments that PSE can't make) and there are at least a couple of addon tools available that provide layer masks.
For the sake of argument, assume 4 scenarios in the MS-Windows world, these are my personal suggestions and your mileage may vary...
(Prices are in US $ from NewEgg.)
Scenario 1: Cost. $0
No money, no prior experience w/ any tool, willing to use open source
software.
Google's Picasa 3 as a substitute for Lightroom
GIMP as a substitute for Photoshop
Canon's DPP and ZoomBrowser for bulk operations.
Scenario 2: Cost: $140
Money is available (but not a lot), goal is to use Photoshop in the future
Adobe Photoshop Elements (current release)
Canon's DPP and ZoomBrowser for bulk operations.
Scenario 3: Cost: $300
Money is not tight, but most of work is managing and printing photos, occasionally
want to edit images.
Adobe Lightroom 2
GIMP
Scenario 4: Cost: $1,000
Money is not a limiting factor/ want to heavily manipulate Images
Adobe Lightroom 2
Adobe Photoshop CS4
I have used (and still do) all this software (well CS2 and LR1.5) to manage and edit the 100K or so images my family has taken in the last nine years. (Around 250GB of jpegs and Canon Raw images)
My primary tool is Lightroom 1 and Photoshop CS2. This combination works pretty well but takes forever to load up and Lightroom 1 in particular is a major resource pig. I keyword heavily in Lightroom and do a lot of post processing in it or Photoshop.
My wife uses Elements to load and index her images into albums. She is switching to Picassa 3 because she finds the interface easier and the application much faster. She seldom edits images but does build albums, print images, and make slide shows of her travels.
My netbook (which we use for traveling) has Picassa 3, and an instance of PS (in case I have to edit an image in the field) . Picassa recognizes the keywords provided by Lightroom and Elements, but has a clunky interface to them.
A Linux (Ubuntu) box has the GIMP and FStop running for experimentation and testing.
wilsonprince wrote:
are the academic licenses durable? Do they expire?
That depends on the software (obviously), but if Adobe is anything like Microsoft with academic licenses, they don't expire. I mean... they aren't really provided a service, but more of a product. If we're talking about Virus Scan or something, that would probably be a different story.
Academic versions are intended to get students going on the product so that, a) they continue and follow the upgrade path in perpetuity, and b) to create an army of workers for business who are trained on the software, making the software the industry default. The academic versions are full versions, which do not expire, and can be upgraded to later versions of the commercial product for a normal upgrade fee. It's a good investment for the software company to gain market share in the business community, when the students graduate.
ajlcary wrote:
For the sake of argument, assume 4 scenarios in the MS-Windows world, these are my personal suggestions and your mileage may vary...
(Prices are in US $ from NewEgg.)
Scenario 1: Cost. $0
No money, no prior experience w/ any tool, willing to use open source
software.
Google's Picasa 3 as a substitute for Lightroom
GIMP as a substitute for Photoshop
Canon's DPP and ZoomBrowser for bulk operations.
Scenario 2: Cost: $140
Money is available (but not a lot), goal is to use Photoshop in the future
Adobe Photoshop Elements (current release)
Canon's DPP and ZoomBrowser for bulk operations.
Scenario 3: Cost: $300
Money is not tight, but most of work is managing and printing photos, occasionally
want to edit images.
Adobe Lightroom 2
GIMP
Scenario 4: Cost: $1,000
Money is not a limiting factor/ want to heavily manipulate Images
Adobe Lightroom 2
Adobe Photoshop CS4
I have used (and still do) all this software (well CS2 and LR1.5) to manage and edit the 100K or so images my family has taken in the last nine years. (Around 250GB of jpegs and Canon Raw images)
My primary tool is Lightroom 1 and Photoshop CS2. This combination works pretty well but takes forever to load up and Lightroom 1 in particular is a major resource pig. I keyword heavily in Lightroom and do a lot of post processing in it or Photoshop.
My wife uses Elements to load and index her images into albums. She is switching to Picassa 3 because she finds the interface easier and the application much faster. She seldom edits images but does build albums, print images, and make slide shows of her travels.
My netbook (which we use for traveling) has Picassa 3, and an instance of PS (in case I have to edit an image in the field) . Picassa recognizes the keywords provided by Lightroom and Elements, but has a clunky interface to them.
A Linux (Ubuntu) box has the GIMP and FStop running for experimentation and testing.
