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View Full Version : Which Budget Photo Editing Software under $200?



etherial
18-05-2009, 9:47pm
Hi All, I currently have PS Elements 4 (yes thats right it's a bit old!) and am looking to update to something better. PSE4 I was disapointed with from the start, it was always slow (and still is even with 3GB RAM) and the function set isn't particulalry user freindly. It always seems to take me twice as long as it should to do anything.

Anyway I tried to get to Adobe website, but is it just me or what. I can't get into any website that starts with www.adobe.com (http://www.adobe.com) I have had all sorts of problems in the past trying to download things like flash player on 3 different PCs on two different connections no adobe website will open. So all things considered I am not a fan of Adobe...

Anyway that aside, I am looking for a good editor for under $200. I use DPP for raw conversions so I have that covered, its more the retouching etc that I need.

Any advice appreciated.

JM Tran
18-05-2009, 9:52pm
I think you should be able to purchase 2nd hand copies of CS3 with legit serials from clearance sales of offices, or from individual sellers from online forums, thats what I would do.

Bill70
18-05-2009, 9:54pm
Mic, I’m trailing Corel Paint Shop Photo Pro X2 as a free trial for 30 days. I’m finding it quite good & easy to use. I decided to trial this because I have Corel Video Studio & love it to edit video. :th3:

ricktas
18-05-2009, 9:54pm
Photoshop Elements can be worth investing in (though I think it is a bit over $200.00). Paint Shop Pro is worth trialling as well.

jev
18-05-2009, 10:12pm
PaintShop Pro is what I use often too, but I must confess the latest versions do not really provide added value anymore. Anothe roption would be to look at GiMP. Free (you can't beat it's price/performance) and slowly growing into a real competitor to PSE and PSP (if the developers added 16-bit support I would kick out PSP and PSE for good I think).

ving
18-05-2009, 11:00pm
i use paintshop pro 12, vers 13 is avaliable too but 12 works fine and does absolutely everything you could want including a built-in hdr proggy.

gimp can use photoshop plugins i believe and is still free, so maybe thats a goer?

Terri
18-05-2009, 11:47pm
Mic, I recently bought Elements 7 for just unde $200... I like it, but I'm far from expert so probably don't expect much from it. :)

RuthJ
19-05-2009, 8:03am
Is anyone in your family a full-time student. I bought Photoshop CS3 last year at academic pricing for only $216 (postage included). It is the full CS3 extended version...not in any way disabled or crippled. Can be purchased by any high school, tafe or uni student with a full time student card and whose course runs for a minimum of 2 years. When I was looking at buying this, I found a lot of stories and misunderstandings online about the deal. I have a feeling that people tend not to trust what is a very good deal.

ricktas
19-05-2009, 8:21am
Is anyone in your family a full-time student. I bought Photoshop CS3 last year at academic pricing for only $216 (postage included). It is the full CS3 extended version...not in any way disabled or crippled. Can be purchased by any high school, tafe or uni student with a full time student card and whose course runs for a minimum of 2 years. When I was looking at buying this, I found a lot of stories and misunderstandings online about the deal. I have a feeling that people tend not to trust what is a very good deal.

Remember that that the Student version cannot be used for commercial purposes. So you cannot say sell photos edited in the student version. Whether Adobe would ever know or find out is a different thing, but your licence agreement states that it can only be used for educational purposes.

RuthJ
19-05-2009, 8:25am
True...the other caveat is that the license allows it to only be run on one computer and that must be connected to the internet. It's still a great deal for people in the learning stages.

IanB
19-05-2009, 8:43am
I may get shouted here because I have not used this one or know much about it, but you could try GIMP, down load it from the Web for FREE. Could be worth a look.

After that, I have always pointed members to Elements; CS3 does need a fair size PC to operate it, however if you can get CS3 $2/300 I would say get that; I'm trying CS4 and found nothing extra in there for me that CS3 can't do

:)

RuthJ
19-05-2009, 8:47am
CS4 is available at the same student pricing. I bought CS3 before CS4 was released and was offered a free upgrade to CS4...I didn't bother with it....was just getting to grips with CS3.

Calxoddity
19-05-2009, 3:41pm
Hi,
Download a trial of PSE7 and see how you like it - there's nothing to lose!

Whilst you may be able to get CS3/4 as a student special, also consider whether it's going to be suitable for your needs. PSE7 has a much less steep learning curve.

Regards,
Calx

Seesee
19-05-2009, 4:04pm
My advice if money is tight is stick with one of the Elements series...I use CS3 mostly, but also have Elements 5, which I believe is a lot better than E4. Elements 5 is a great program, similar in speed or exactly the same as CS3 in that respect. Elements 7 is an upgrade again and although I haven't used it I would well imagine it would be very good.

My Elements 5 works in a very similar way to CS3, and for the most part works just as well as CS3. PS CS3 and CS4 are a lot more intricate if you want to go down that track, but the Elements 5 to 7 series has many more features than most of us will ever use, very creative, the only thing I really wish the Elemenntshas would be a good Stitching program...however there are add ons that work well.. Digital Camera Magazine once rated Elements 5 to 7 as the second best editing program.....value for money.

Seeing as you are familiar with E4 maybe it will be an easier learning curve by sticking with the Adobe PS software....E7 I would suggest. { and less that $200.00}

etherial
19-05-2009, 5:26pm
Hi guys, thanks for all the advice. It certainly sounds like the front runners are Photoshop (CS3/4 or Elements) is the way to go, followed by Paint Shop Pro or GiMP. I'll have a look at all three.

Still p****s me off that I can't get to any adobe sites for a look/read. This link just won't load: http://www.adobe.com/downloads/ I also found a download link from Cnets Download.com but they wont work either.

etherial
19-05-2009, 5:57pm
Wow, I fixed it. I can now get to Adobe sites. It turned out to be my proxy settings in my browsers. If I turn the proxy on it works, off and it doesn't. Now I can try out the newer PSE!

tonykieuphotography
19-05-2009, 6:19pm
Maybe you could get adobe photoshop cs2 and upgrade when you have the money? :)

Allann
19-05-2009, 6:26pm
Here is something out of left field... similar to Lightroom but a quarter of the price http://www.bibblelabs.com has full support for your camera too, so can do raw conversion in the software.

Miaow
19-05-2009, 6:53pm
One thing going for Gimp is it's free and very powerful :) Irfanview (free again) isn't bad either for a real small program with the basics and it does have the capability to run photoshop plugins also.

etherial
19-05-2009, 7:28pm
Maybe you could get adobe photoshop cs2 and upgrade when you have the money? :)

Hi Tony, re the $200, I put that up as a way of getting discussion about less expensive options for the amateurs and learners among us. At this stage I am looking to learn what I can do, what I like and don't like, how much I might actually use it etc, before I go out and spend more on a fully fledged product.

BTW, I've found this really good site that shows how to do various things:
http://tv.adobe.com/#pd+Photoshop%20Elements
It, along with he comments here, has just about convinced me to update from PSE4 to 7.

Analog6
19-05-2009, 8:16pm
My copy of CS3 arrived today, it cost me $88.50 (new) on Oztion auction site. There is a hitch (see my other post) but it is nothing to do with the software. I have promised to report back once I get it loaded (3-5 days due to glitch).

JM Tran
19-05-2009, 8:19pm
My copy of CS3 arrived today, it cost me $88.50 (new) on Oztion auction site. There is a hitch (see my other post) but it is nothing to do with the software. I have promised to report back once I get it loaded (3-5 days due to glitch).

that is bloody cheap Odille! bargain buy indeed!

etherial
21-05-2009, 10:12pm
Well I downloaded PSE7 and it is much better than PSE4 that I was using. I don't mind it, pretty easy to get around and plenty of online tutorials to help me learn more of the features.

Going on from that I downloaded Premiere Elements 7 as I have a HD camcorder. It is terribly slow and my machine is of reasonable spec. It won't even play a video with awful judder with delays between frames of about a second. It is very resource hungry, not unusual for it to be using 800MB of RAM and I've only been playing with 5-10min clips. I've read a few reviews and many people say it is unstable, but mine hasn't crashed yet, its just plain slooooooooow.

So off to Paint Shop Pro x2 and Corel VideoStudio x2 now for a trial...

Kevin M
23-05-2009, 8:56am
Here is something out of left field... similar to Lightroom but a quarter of the price http://www.bibblelabs.com has full support for your camera too, so can do raw conversion in the software.

just visited that site...looks interesting to say the least.

NB: I picked up photoshop elements 7 for under $160 at Harvey Norman.

Analog6
23-05-2009, 9:53am
In one of my photo mags I was reading about Bibblelabs just yesterday and thought it sounded good. Off to have a squiz.