Photoshop Elements 5.02

I know this is not the retouching forum but I only hang out here as an Oly user/fan. The question I have for the fine folks here is if anyone uses the new Elements? Also, do those using Elements like it? Recently I built up a new computer and went to Vista Ultimate. My old Photoshop CS2 is supposedly not compatible with Vista, as I read in the forums at Adobe. I did not want to do the upgrade to CS3 at the new prices so tried the new Elements out. I also updated it to the Raw to 4.0 and see it has new controls..or I think they are new. At any rate, I was awed because most if not all of CS2 features I used are in Elements 5.02. There is a few work flow issues to deal with for me, but as I become more familier with its feature set and operational modes, I sure like it. It has some nice Art Features as well as PP controls I really like. I can not give a detail rundown of those new features as I am not much of a writer. I was just curious if anyone has used the new Elements and if they liked it as well as I did. Thanks.

Regards,
Mike T.

I have Photoshop CS2 and Elements 5, and find I do 99% of my post processing with Elements. I've even downloaded a "curves" plug-in, so I'm yet another step closer to having everything I want in a much more affordable package. I don't plan to ever get PS CS3.

In fact, I plan to switch to a Mac, and will then have to step back to using Elements 4, as version 5 isn't available for Macs, and I don't want to run any Windows based programs after the switch.

Once you get used to the minor workflow changes, Elements will probably do everything you'll ever need.
--
Rob
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Motorsports Photographer
http://www.robbyephoto.com/

Yes, I like it pretty well too, even though I've never been all that big a fan of Photoshop, or Adobe, in general. I find that it, when partnered up with Lightroom, to be all the editor I need. (I still hate the PSE organizer!- IMO, it's the perfect incentive to buy LR!).

Bear in mind though, you DO lose the ability to create and use actions. so if you rely heavily on that extra level of automation that Photoshop proper brings to the table, you may feel somewhat constricted. Though the batch capability built in to LR, if you buy it, may reduce your need for actions somewhat.

PSE coupled with Lightroom costs about as much as CS2, so you aren't really saving any significant money that way. But I have found that combination of software is a very comfortable fit for me.
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Never trust a man who spells the word 'cheese' with a 'z'

Rob, where did you find the "curves" download? I use Elements 5.0 pretty much 90% of the time and print with Qimage.
TomW
--
...a bad picture is like a missed putt, it's never your fault.

http://free.pages.at/easyfilter/curves.html - pretty good curves tool and it's free.
--
Never trust a man who spells the word 'cheese' with a 'z'

I purchased PSE5 a couple months ago. It's something that I really want to like, as it gives much more control and ability than the demo of studio that I had been trying. However, I find that it is more work to get similar colors in PSE5 as opposed to studio. Ofcourse, studio is much slower to work with, at least on my computer.

The only concern is that PSE5 and ACR seems to really flatten the colors of my RAW images. I recently changed the order in which I've been using the sliders and it seems to help. However, it still dosn't seem quite right yet.

Although the images PP in PSE5 sometimes seem more true to life, they miss the color and tones which many say make Oly images great. I really don't know if it takes this much to get what I want out of PSE5, or if I don't know what I'm really doing yet. I keep wondering if others find this to be an issue?

Mike Tussy said:

I know this is not the retouching forum but I only hang out here as
an Oly user/fan. The question I have for the fine folks here is if
anyone uses the new Elements? Also, do those using Elements like
it? Recently I built up a new computer and went to Vista Ultimate.
My old Photoshop CS2 is supposedly not compatible with Vista, as I
read in the forums at Adobe. I did not want to do the upgrade to
CS3 at the new prices so tried the new Elements out. I also > updated

Click to expand...

How much is the CS@ to 3 upgrade? Can't be that much, can it?

Mike Tussy said:

it to the Raw to 4.0 and see it has new controls..or I think they
are new. At any rate, I was awed because most if not all of CS2
features I used are in Elements 5.02. There is a few work flow
issues to deal with for me, but as I become more familier with its
feature set and operational modes, I sure like it. It has some nice
Art Features as well as PP controls I really like. I can not give a
detail rundown of those new features as I am not much of a writer.
I was just curious if anyone has used the new Elements and if they
liked it as well as I did. Thanks.

Regards,
Mike T.

Click to expand...

Biggest things were mentioned already, no scripts, no true layer masks (although there are some work arounds), no batch processing of RAW files, little to no editing of 16bit images. Most controls are grayed out in 16bit mode.

Version 5 has curves built in, maybe not as advanced as CS but I never could figure out how to use the "regular version) anyway.

I'm still looking for a one stop shop or as close as I can get. I may demo version 3 of Lightzone. I demoed version 2.4 and found it really slow and couldn't quite figure it out.

Version 3 has something that sounds similar to Canon's Picture Styles.

Seems no matter what I try I end up back with PSE though.

Gene

Mike

I am running CS2 on Vista Business with out any problems (yet). If you have problems running CS2 or bridge right click on icon and use (run as administrator) you normaly only have to do this once.
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Collin

I like Lightroom for tone, colour and crop. I use PSE5 for everthing else. Don't feel the need to spend another £500. I am impressed by ACR 4 this might make me change.
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The older I get the better I used to be!

Glen,

Thanks for the heads-up on the curves download. I have Elements 3.0 and so far have been using the levels adjustment to lighten underexposed pictures. Would you say that the curves would be a better idea for things like this?
Bob

Thanks Gene... The cost of Elements was $99.00 and CS3 Upgrade is $199.00 and I thought about it. I would have to install several iterations of Photoshop to get CS3 upgrade to work, I suppose..not sure..I have kept upgraded since 5.0 every other release and always had to start at 5.0 which was the full package....I suppose I could have tried to see if it would work with an older upgrade disk disk inserted. Anyway...I never batch processed so that would not be missed and 16bit I seldom messed with. Interesting about the 16 bit controls not useable for many things..that might be a problem to many so Elements may be too restrictive to some. I did find the PSE organizer a little akward to use. Appreciate seeing your comments.

Regards,
Mike

Thanks Collin. I stay in Administrator here for operation as I transition. No one else uses this PC and it is about as tight as I can get it on the net. Right now I have two systems and an IOGEAR switch as I transition from XP Pro to Vista and maybe if I find PSE too restrictive, I may eventually get the CS3 and go for that...but from what I see in PSE everything I used in CS2 is available in PSE. I have not gone in too deep with it yet so things may change later and I will put PSE on the laptop instead...

Regards,

Mike

Well, as near as I can tell, they pretty much generate the same effects on the image overall.

What seems different is the user interface, Curves gives you a visual representation of the same things that levels gives. I think it is marginally better to have that visual representation, particularly if you want to have several photos with the same 'look'. (i.e. its easier to set your 'levels' visually by recreating the same curve for each photo, then any 'fine tuning' you may need is easier with the levels tool)
--
Never trust a man who spells the word 'cheese' with a 'z'

I am surprised that updated drivers are not available for CS2. You shouldn't have to update! I am using it with Vista Home Premium. I am a little fonder of PSP11 ... probably because I have used it much longer. I also am very fond of Raw Therapee for initial raw photo work.

easy.Filter is the curves plug-in I have. I've tried it, as well as the curves in CS2, but I always come back to Levels, Highlight, and Shadow. I prefer them because every adjustment can be quantified in numerical terms. I can simply get my head around that better.
--
Rob
-------------------
Motorsports Photographer
http://www.robbyephoto.com/