[THAN THE SWORD]

I currently use Corel Paint Shop X and would dearly love to get the new CS4. BUT the price is what stops me.

Is there anything between CS4 and Corel? I am not interested in freeware or shareware. Does anyone think Picassa is better than Corel.

I am in the initial phase of research and probably wont make a decision anytime soon.

Thanks.

[Bramela]

I cant answer on Corel/CS4, but regarding Picassa v Corel, I have both Picassa 3 and Corel Photo Impact 12 , and there is no comparison whatsoever.
I am not sure its what you are interested in but PhotoImpact 12 is far and away a much better and more useful tool.
Trust this may help you a little.

[George Lama]

Picasa is an image gallery and basic manipulation tool.

Corel Paint Shop is an illustration/painting program - the new version is paint shop pro photo, which is geared more for photography and has added tools.

Photoshop is image manipulation and painting/illustration/retouching, etc.

If you want to manage your images, do post-processing, image manipulation, basic color mods, effects, check out Lighroom or Aperture (Mac only). They're much cheaper than Photoshop and probably Corel.

[HouseOfHorla]

I'm with Frogroast on this one - Lightroom's your best option (if you're on Windows). I'm using Photoshop (v7 - yes I know, ancient) less and less as LR covers pretty much everything I need to work on photos. But if you're still looking to add to the image working arsenal why not have a look at the Gimp? It covers pretty much the same as photoshop (maybe not the CS versions) and it's free.

[axl]

I'm using Lightroom 2 and CS3 if I need to do more then basic adjustments. Last Corel I worked with was Paint shop pro 8 so that's rather ancient, but I've always found Photoshop easier. And lightroom is just another step towards easier/simplier workflow.
BR

[mel]

I had Corel Photopaint v11 (old) and recently switched to Lightroom 2 and CS4 when I got a new computer. OMG. There is no comparison. Never again will I bother with Corel. Like Axl said, the workflow. Oh the workflow. Not to mention the power of the products themselves.

[metroeloise]

I had Corel Photopaint v11 (old) and recently switched to Lightroom 2 and CS4 when I got a new computer. OMG. There is no comparison. Never again will I bother with Corel. Like Axl said, the workflow. Oh the workflow. Not to mention the power of the products themselves.

True! I have paintshop pro x2 and slow is too generous a word. I will continue to work with it. Investment and all. But I like some of the features. LR/PS4csx is the combo I am working with and focusing on learning. Wanted to avoid adobe but... good is good. As Mel points out the work flow is too tight to ignore. Then of course there is the power and the informal support.

Price? Got a kid is school? Know a student? Get an educational package. Way cheaper.

[SpecialK]

I gave up on Pentax software a few months ago and got Elements 6.

It does the 3 things I wanted - recognizes PEFs (though I had to get the latest Adobe Camera RAW plug-in for it to recognize the K20D), has a spot-healing brush (missing in Pentax SW)and the all-important leveling tool - (damn Pentax's poor sensor/viewfinder alignment!).

I don't do layers or tags.

It may not be between the programs you mention, however. I've never used Paint Shop.

If you look at any of the "what software should I use threads" you will get all the same answers - everyone has their favorite, though Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom and GIMP come up a lot.

Oh, GIMP and Picasa are free, though.

[marcdsgn]

Another valid option is to purchase Photoshop CS3. Price will be right down now that its superceded and, quite frankly, Photoshop's capabilities re. photo PPing reached its apex several years ago. It's great ... that's all you can ask for, so there's not much room for improvement. Additions in upgrades are usually more to do with the inclusion of automated tasks (which simply make use of its pre-existing components anyway) and better compatibility with the rest of the Adobe Suite and "current" third-party releases. We have CS, CS2 and CS3 currently operating in our studio. None outshines the others much.

[Grimlock]

Well, if ya have Elements 4 at least, this link provides one more option for getting CS4. It's still working, BTW-I used it over a week ago to get mine.

I tried a demo of Paint Shop Pro X2 (before they released their "refresh"), and while it did have a trick or two up it's sleeve, I just didn't find it compelling enough to not keep using my copy of Elements 5.

For that matter, I'm still using Elements 5 right now. CS4 is intimidating just to fire up, and while my rig can run it easily enough, I'll have to sit down with a decent hunk of time (and Scott Kelby's book when it comes out next month) and learn it first-and it took me a few weeks (and about 400 shots) just to get comfortable doing Camera Raw with Elements 5 just a couple of months ago. I personally feel that for the majority of general photography and portraiture, Elements is more than sufficient.

(So why'd I grab CS4? I want to start learning how to do higher-end portraiture and such. I'm not thinking about opening a studio or such, but I've always thought if I'm not trying to learn new techniques and such I'm not trying hard enough, and I'd need more than the 30-day demo for that sort of thing. There's a few techniques in a book that I've been perusing [Skin by Lee Varis] that are only doable on at least CS3.)

[FHPhotographer]

I currently use Corel Paint Shop X and would dearly love to get the new CS4. BUT the price is what stops me.

Is there anything between CS4 and Corel? I am not interested in freeware or shareware. Does anyone think Picassa is better than Corel.

I am in the initial phase of research and probably wont make a decision anytime soon.

Thanks.

I used CS for a while and upgraded to CS3 last year, tried out Lightroom and I'm teaching a basic Elements intro class at our community center. I also use Corel Painter X quite a bit, but for very different projects.

Generally, I find Adobe products to be the most powerful and feature rich, but CS3 is really at its best only on powerful/fast computers. On top of that, the full-on versions have ferocious learning curves; very few can jump straight into CS3 - 4 without easing into the process with Elements. If you think PS is the way to go, perhaps look around for PS Elements 6 (cheap now with 7 out), put some time in and see if it gives you what you want. You may find the Paint Shop Pro/Elements level is like a K100D and the CS3-4 is like a K20; it's nice to have all the features and the high resolution, but you may find that a K100 does everything you need to do for less money and complexity.
Good luck,
Brian

[FHPhotographer]

I'm with Frogroast on this one - Lightroom's your best option (if you're on Windows). I'm using Photoshop (v7 - yes I know, ancient) less and less as LR covers pretty much everything I need to work on photos. But if you're still looking to add to the image working arsenal why not have a look at the Gimp? It covers pretty much the same as photoshop (maybe not the CS versions) and it's free.

Can't agree. LR is great for workflow and organization but if you're not processing several hundered images at a time, it's too expensive and does little Elements 6 can't do on a single image. Plus LR costs three times as much (the last time I looked). In fact, for most people, most of the time , Elements or Paint Shop do most of what normally needs to be done at anything this side of professional photography.

An analogy is the difference between a Ferarri and a Mazda Miata. They are both fun to drive and both have a capacity that far exceed the abilities of 99% of the drivers on the road. If you've got the money, and the time and skill to learn how to use it right, the Ferarri is great... but most of the time the Miata is going to be just as much fun fun heading across town for a movie.

[Urmas R.]

I am using both CS3 and Corel Photo-Paint X4. I have not found a single thing that I can do with one and can't accomplishs with the other. Corel is in my oppinion significantly faster, especially to load in the beginning. On the other hand, for special effects I think there are more plug-ins for Adobe. Changing from one to the other takes quite a bit of time in the beginning, since most of the commands have different names (for instance Layers=Objects in Corel).

For a raw editor/converter I use Silkypix.

[creampuff]

The new Photoshop CS4 really rocks. Have to say I'm impressed by some of the new features.

[THAN THE SWORD]

Thanks to all who gave their 3 cents worth. I am still looking and trying to figure out what to do. I found CS3 at Office depot for 199.99. I read the box over and over and it appears to be the full version and not a upgrade or something. The price looks to be good and in my range.

But the question is this now - what is the difference between the CS3 at Office Depot and the the extended version that is found out there on Ebay for around $289? Is it just the 3d modeling and the video capabilities? I have only ever shot and edited 1 video and that was more than enough for me. Is it worth it to get?

One of the main reasons I have not mentioned before that I want CS are all the tutorials and training material out there. Corel has next to nothing and it is hard to try and translate from Adobe to Corel.

Any thoughts? Any deals out there for a cash poor photographer?