PSE10 or CS5?

[colinj09]

I am going to upgrade from PSE9, but to what?

I can go for PSE10, or CS5 (or6) which is much more expensive.

I am not interested in , so called, artistic creation, but wish to manipulate camera taken images, to improve and alter them.

Will I best be served by PSE10, or by CS5?

[jet_kit]

Hi Colin,
I've been playing with the CS6 Beta and it's got some nifty little bells and whistles. Would I empty my wallet to upgrade from CS5? No!
Equally, if I hadn't already got CS5 (which I bought prior to being aware of Elements' existence) would I buy it in preference to PE10? Again, No!
Check out the capabilities of both, and if PE10 does everything you want then that's the way to go.
However, my first question to you would be, what's wrong with PE9?

[LaPistola]

CS5 has more features and if it was me (ok i have CS5) but it would be CS5.

Elements is far easier to use and is more user friendly but if its true multiplication power you want then Elements lacks Puppet warp, Content aware technology, the vanishing point tool, HDR, channels palette, automatic lens correction, warp tool, better edge detection for tools and I bet there are more. CS5 also help speed things up with programmable actions and stay non-destructive but flexible with smart filters.

If by manipulate you mean correct angles, crop, correct exposure and remove the odd spot you will not need at the whistles that come with CS5 so go for elements.

Just to throw a 3rd option in there, Lightroom. I use lightroom more as it keeps my collections and photos organised, has publish services I define which makes exporting/converting faster and it uploads to online galleries, has what I think is a slightly better RAW editor than camera raw and everything is in one place. If I need the power of CS5, lightroom opens the file in CS5 for me and then stacks it with the original in lightroom so I can quickly access it again.

EDIT: With lightroom I can edit a lot photos quickly which is another reason why I use it more then just Camera Raw and bridge but its only: exposure correction, horizon fix, crop, colour shift, white balance correction etc. If you need more manipulation power then its Elements or CS5 from Adobe's offerings

[GeoffWessex]

Since version 9, Elements has had Content-Aware technology, and free Channels Actions can easily be downloaded and added. It also has Warp (called the Liquifier) and many other things. The other things Pistola mentions are - as stated - missing.

However, I'd have to agree - the single biggest failing of PSE is that the Adobe Camera Raw that it uses has only about a quarter of the capabilities of the ACR in CS. If you're serious about your photography it's very disappointing to find this, though you may find that your camera manufacturer bundles its own version of Raw conversion software, which may do all that the ACR in CS can do. If Raw conversion isn't important to you, you definitely don't need more than Elements. (But Lightroom has the 'full' ACR, as used in CS and - if you don't want to know about creative editng, compositing etc, is enough for most people).

All in all, Elements (unless bought from Adobe) is less than 20% of the price of CS - it's a good deal....... but Adobe want you to buy CS - so Elements has just enough to give a good result but not quite enough for the professional or serious amateur. It's their marketing ploy to get you hooked.

[JonnyM]

CS5 without a doubt. I used CS4 till it stopped working and reluctantly purchased PE10 as that was all I could afford. Evidently a backward step as I knew it would be, just for starters there's no Curves adjustment layers; no 16bit mode; Convert to Black and White is very limited; no Channel Mixer; no 'Soft-Proofing'; ACR is lacking and so on.

Okay you get what you pay for but I wasn't fully aware of how much I'd miss some of the things i've listed, but I was just getting used to CS4. If you've never used CS4/5 then you may not want or need some of its capabilities. If you've exhausted PE9 then I doubt it'll take long for you to do the same with PE10. For me though I'm saving frantically for an upgrade.

I did look at Lightroom's latest version but correct me if I'm wrong but it can't run on XP.

[LaPistola]

Geoff it wasn't he liquidiser I was referring to it was the transform warp. According to Adobe when I looked content aware editing wasn't available in PE. I looked about a month ago to see if PE was worth adding to my arsenal of software pondering whether the PE UI would speed things up. I never bothered.

JonnyM just looked and Adobe say LR3 will work on XP with SP3 installed. LR4 will not.

[JonnyM]

Yes, but there's the rub. It's the extra goodies in LR4 that made me look at it.

[colinj09]

If I opt for CS5 (as opposed to PE10) the best buys are "Student and Teacher" versions.

As I am neither, if I buy the S and T version, will I be able to use it?

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by colinj09

If I opt for CS5 (as opposed to PE10) the best buys are "Student and Teacher" versions.

As I am neither, if I buy the S and T version, will I be able to use it?

Not without fibbing, at least. I've heard (but have no proof) that Adobe are quite strict about enforcing proof for the Student/teacher licence.

Chris

[LaPistola]

Originally Posted by greenwing

Not without fibbing, at least. I've heard (but have no proof) that Adobe are quite strict about enforcing proof for the Student/teacher licence.

Chris

They are!

Jonny whats new worth looking at in LR4. I haven't had change to look into it yet.