Elements, CS5, or Lightroom?

[LJG]

just buy elements, i use it with LR, not a problem

I'm with Darren on this. LR3 is a great program and Elements has the things LR doesn't, so cost wise this is the best way to go.

[ameerat42]

CS5 is the full Photoshop

AFAIK, and more! CS stands for Creative Suite, which has more than just Photoshop in it.

If CS5 is that cheap, Y go for the relatively cut down Elements? (But then I've got CS2 Photoshop, so who knows how much more the latest Elements has got?)

[kiwi]

Sure, if you qualify for thew student verison of CS5 its about the same price as Elements and would make sense on most levels

But Elements is easier to use, more "help", wizards, template cd covers etc etc and now with layers etc still very capable

I still say Elements, mainly based on point 2

[Cyza]

Im on holidays in Poland now, and a few days prior to my trip I was issued with a free mini laptop from my school (cheers Kevin rudd)
but now I had the dilemma do I take my 15.6 inch laptop with CS5 or do I take the oversized netbook with elements on it.

In the the end due to battery life and convenience I took the school issued laptop with elements on it.

So far I've had no problems with elements on it.
Everything I ever did for PP on CS5 I've been able to do on this one.
playing around with raw settings in ACR
patching up things
applying gradient maps etc.
resizing
reducing noise
you name it.

Although the program seems somewhat simplistic after using the "real thing" I've really been enjoying it, and for someone who is new to it I'd strongly recommend starting with elements since I think the learning curve will be far less steep and chances are the extra things you will be paying for in CS5 you won't use much or at all

my late 2 cents

[Ezookiel]

My daughters are still waiting for their free laptops from Kevin Rudd.
Never seem to have eventuated. If they don't get them soon (i.e. by next week) it will be too late, they'll both have left school by then and be at Uni.

[SirLozalot]

I've been making do with CS3 & DPP. Based on comments here it sounds like I should check out Lightroom for cataloging. Thanks for feedback.

[peterb666]

I didn't like Lightroom but it comes in useful if you like doing a lot of batch processing.

I have CS5 and it has a long learning curve and is very powerful. I do most of my editing in the Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) utility that comes with CS5 and Elements. While ACR is the engine behind Lightroom, you don't have direct access to it in Lightroom and that is one of my main gripes about Lightroom (amongst other things).

So in summary, my recommendations:

Elements will probably serve you well but doesn't have "street cred". I would buy it if I didn't have a cheap copy of CS5.

CS5 is great if you can get it cheap but way overpriced if you cannot. It is the standard amongst enthusiasts.

Lightroom you either love or hate and there are plenty that love it but not me.

[Ezookiel]

Got CS5 Extended for $189 at OfficeWorks (thanks for the tip on that price pghollis1, I don't have a CentreCom anywhere near me that I know of, so couldn't really argue for OfficeWorks to match them).
We have sent off the scans of my daughter's ID and shouldn't have any problem getting approval eventually. Just have to use it in Trial mode for 30 days while we wait for the OK from Adobe.
In all honesty, for $189, I'm more than happy to put up with a steep learning curve and know that I won't outgrow my software, or find myself wanting to do something and being held back only by the lack of the right program. At that price it was worth going the whole hog I suppose.
To combat the learning curve, I'll be setting myself a new years resolution of one tutorial on here every week, and might even further investigate courses in Photoshop. There are a few places offering it.

The other big advantage is that when people here go to the trouble of tweaking an image of mine to show me what could be done with it, and they list the alterations they made to improve it, it will be something I can actually go and try out on my original RAW image. It's not much good when people tell you they set "shadows to 139" (or something like that it may not be an accurate example) when my existing software can only do shadows from -5 to +5. Because some of the improvements people here have made to my images have transformed them to ones I'd actually consider keeping.
I haven't grabbed LR yet - a $400 dentist bill I didn't expect to get, has pulled the reigns slightly on my budget - but that won't be too far off.
Thanks so much for all the input and suggestions. You were all really helpful in making the decision.

[OZAmateur]

a late addition to all of this.....
elements is a basic version of photoshop, and cs5 is photoshop with a heap of extra programs..is that correct?

if all i am playing with is photo editing on a basic level will i honestly notice the difference between cs5 and elements?

[ameerat42]

Though there is a lot of difference between Elements and Photoshop, you may perhaps not need the extras.
Am.

[astronobob]

Some very useful info here, thanks

[Miss Jane]

Thanks for all the great info on these programs. I have been trying to figure out the difference between them.
One question, does elements have RAW processing. I am starting out with infra red photography but need to use RAW and adjust the white balance and use channel mixers. I tried to to this in Paint Shop Pro but it didn't give me the full white balance capabilities.

[Speedway]

I am still using Elements 5 and after trialing both Elements 10 and Lightroom 3, I am still using Elements 5.
Keith.

[algywt]

I'm 14 and consider myself to be pretty good with photoshop (cs5). My school gave me a Netbook with elements on it and I needed it for a school project so I decided I would give it a try. long story short after spending over an hour doing something that would have taken me 10 minutes in CS5 I was ready to pull my hair out. I use Aperture to handle my masses of RAW files and then if I decide that something need to be edited I jump into CS5 and get the job done. You should get CS5 as it is just so much better than elements, one day you will need something in CS5 and will be happy you got it. Then just get a program to handle your masses of RAW files and you are done. I like aperture and I am assuming that because you are a photographer not a gamer that you have a Mac so get aperture. That's my 15 cents.

[peterb666]

In answer to some of the recent questions, Elements, Lightroom and CS5 all use Adobe Camera RAW as the raw processing engine. You can directly access Adobe Camera RAW in Elements and CS5. Lightroom sticks a workflow interface over the top. Adobe Camera RAW does an excellent job of processing RAW files.

I have CS5 and use Adobe Camera RAW for about 90% of my processing needs. The differences between CS5 and Elements is not great. All of these programs requre a decent PC and I wouldn't think of running any of them on a netbook. I use a laptop with a separate 1 GB dedicated graphics section and while it was fine when I started using it 2 years ago, it doesn't have the crunch to work with lots of layers that I occasionaly play with in CS5 and not too keen when I increse my image size from 12mp to 25mp.

[Speedway]

I just ordered P S Elements 10 with Premier Elements 10 from B&H for $101.61 delivered Adobe Australia want $243 for the the same thing. $81.61 for P S Elements 10 only delivered. Only problem is the offer ends tomorow 24th. I wasn't going to upgrade but when I saw the price in their newsletter I said why not.
Keith.

[Miss Jane]

What's B&H?

[Speedway]

B&H is an American photographic store.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
For the offer, Here for Elements or here for both.
Keith.

[danny]

If you are a NSW Teacher CS5 masters collection = $85 delivered

[genuinesqueak]

I've been searching the threads and I think my question which is very similar to the original poster's question so thought I'd stick it in here.
I trialled CS6 (then the computer died after only four days of using the trial.. new computer... bugger?) but what I did get to play with I loved and am now wanting it. There's no way I can buy the full version (not in a lump sum yet anyway) I did see the student/teacher versions were a heap cheaper. I read who was eligible and although I am not, I do have children in school... Does that count? How would I go about buying a hard copy and proving it if it's ok?
I've only ever had Elements (quite a few years ago, version 5 I think?) and hadn't heard much of LR.
Thanks for any help.