Do you think it is worth upgrading to Photoshop CS from PSP 7. Is spending out the cash for the upgrade and change to Photoshop worth it, i.e. is PS more advanced. I have never used PS only PSP. Looking at some of the work in forum/gallery it nearly all seems to be PS. Opions apreciated. Steve

Message edited on: 02/23/2005 00:40

I have asked this ? many times. Have tried the CS demo twice and like it for a lot of things. PSP to me is way faster for layering and alpha selections.It has an instant screen cap and way better red eye correction IMHO.I also like how you can right click the images in PSP to do copy and pasting, and other functions. Image mappping and slicing is easier too. Though I find that PhotoshopCS saves a better colour and sharpness. Has good website functions. Here it cost over $900 so I am hesitant. I did a few tests once with someone who swore by CS.They did some special things to an image and said I could not do the same in PSP,which I proved wrong. I also like working with text much better in PSP. Together with PSP8 and Photoshop Elements2 I can do quite a bit. Guess I could go on and on about it.

Steve, we got Photoshop Elements 2.0 when we bought our Wacom tablet. it came with it in the package. We also have PSP7, which Kemal and I both use. kemal said he found PSP more user-friendly, but he think they have less powerful brushes than Photoshop. He also says Photoshop's cloning tool is better than PSP. i've never used PS either Steve, but kemal has and says he prefers PSP. I will stick with PSP because i need user-friendly stuff! i guess it's all about taste and what you want.

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Personally I find it difficult to justify the expense of Photoshop CS. It does not have enough extra to justify five times the cost of PSP in the parts I use. As a hobby photographer I would not use PS to the full potential of the programme. The one advantage I see that it does have is the photo-journals and magazines almost exclusively use it in their articles/tutorials. There was a thread short time ago that covered a similar subject to this and gave a link to web site comparing PS CS, PS Elements, and PSP. The article was written before 16 bit was available in PS CS and PSP9 but since now both are capable of 16 bit work I think the article is still quite valid. I have included a link if you want to take a look. Richard

Never having uses PSP it is hard to me to judge, but I can't imagine not having the tools of Photoshop at my fingertips. Even the older versions are awsome, though CS is truly an comprehensive program and the one to own. It may not be as easy to use, but it is the most powerful. If PSP meets your needs as a hobbyist, then I say stick with it. As a professional, I feel I need Photoshop and all that it offers.

This is a question that we all ask at one point or another. I dont think you can even start to make a comparison between PSP7 and CS PSP8 however is a much better and more powerful version of PSP as is PSP 9 And much closer to PS in terms of what it has to offer. PSP 8 has some really useful features, like the repeat tool, PS can do this too with actions but it is a little harder to set up. Really it boils down to will you use PS CS to its full potential, most people probably wont or dont. dBgrafix Has raised some good points, I too prefer PSP for adding text, but seldom use it now, Im not sure if you can make comparable results with PSP that you can with CS (very close though) due to its lack of colour management, but I believe that aside PSP is a good program. Photoshop Elements (PSE) has a certain amount of colour management. Red Eye correction in Elements 3 is superb, and PSP8 is very good PS and PSE are both better at compressing images than PSP, PS Elements 3 is much improved over version 2 with several CS tools that have been cut down but still very usable. With PSE and PSP you get a lot of what I call handholding features (user-friendly help and tips) with the full blown PS you get very little handholding, as it assumes that you know what you are doing. Oddly enough I find CS easier to use than PSP especially layers and selection tools. The bottom line I guess is, if you intend to do allot of work on your images, need excellent colour management and want to work with 16bit images then the answer is yes it is worth the money. If you are on a budget and dont need many of CSs features then PSE3 or PSP8/9 will probably be more than sufficient for you. PS is by far the better program and far more powerful once you find all its hidden gems, but at a cost to your poor wallet, it is the defacto standard in image editing, but its not for everyone. People like Donald, Michelle Cynlee.. etc will be able to give a much more informative opinion than I can. On one of this months UK Photography mags (cant remember which one) there is a CS 30 day trial or you can d/l from Adobe and give it a whirl. All IMO of course. LP

I also couldn't imagine not having Photoshop.. I started with 4.0 and I'm now using CS.. Yes.. It has a steep learning curve and there is no way I'll ever be able to learn it all, but I'm constantly amazed at what I can do with it.. Ed P

I agree Ed. After years of use it is almost second nature, but I know that if I feel like looking, I can find parts of it I never even imagined were there. And ALL useful if used the right way. :)

Just to clarify PSP does not work with 16 bit images, unless PSP9 has had a recent update I am not aware of. I tried the demo of PSP9 ( I own PSP8 and have used PSP since v5). On of the things that convinced me to upgrade PS instead of PSP was the 16bit mode and CS has a much better RAW conversion than PSP. I also did some speed test on my machine (P3 1ghz 1 gig ram) and PS CS was faster on many operations. There some nice features in PSP9, but PS CS tools just work a little better. Side note I was able to purchase the Academic version of PS 6, so the cost for me wasn't as steep.

One neat thing about PhotoShop is that there are three ways to do just about everything you could want to do - the program was designed with the cooperation of a photographer, a graphic artist , and a process printing pro. For the most part, this mans that there is an easy (quick) way, a "more advanced" way, and a "radically complex" way to accomplish every tweak you can imagine. I have no experience with PSP, but I have yet to see seamless integration of PSP files into InDesign, etc. There is a reason why PhotoShop is the industry flagship - because it offers all of the features that pros could possibly want in a image editing application. The reason it may not be quite as capable with text (although CS is QUITE capable) - is that it is NOT a page-layout application - you create the image in PS, then it's placed in a page-layout program like Quark or InDesign. Does this mean that PS is a better investment? Unless you plan to utilize the capabilities that PSP doesn't have, probably not. Kinda like buying a Ferrari to drive along the local streets at 35MPH - kind of a waste.

Thank you to you all. Your comments are appreciated. Well I have tracked down a trial version of PS so I'm of to play. The cost element vs my personnel usage of the package will probably be the deciding factor. I don't hardly do any post work on my landscape photos, the ones in my gallery, but other art work I do, (not posted). Again many thanks. Onslow, thanks for informative link Steve

Good luck, I hope you can afford the PSCS, it can open up a whole new world of creative possibilities. I'd love to hear what you finally decide.

just bought psp9... 99 pounds .. pc world steve.. (( sorry pound sign doesnt work )) l find psp9.. like shelia said very user friendly..and hahah it has to be if l can use it.. l cant compare..with ps... never used it.. but highly recommend..psp 9...and the manual isnt in chinese..:).. nikki

I have photoshop CS and I don't see a difference between this and photoshop 7. So it all depends. One thing is some Free plug-ins don't work :(

There are difference, but not all readily apparent. On of the best new features is the shadow/highlight adjustment. I find it much more useful than contrast, levels, curves---it brings out details in the shadows and highlights that I never knew were there. ;) Seriously, it is a worthy upgrade.

There are a lot of differences between 7 and CS and many of those were specifically made with photographers in mind. Off the top of my head: - 16-bit editing beyond basic stuff (this is the big one in my opinion - I can edit front to back in 16-bit/channel mode even using most of the filters) - History Log (can't believe how no one talks about this - the ability to create a log file that shows all your edits; never forget how you did that cool thing again) - Shadow/Highlights adjustment (very cool) - Match Color adjustment - Photo Filters - Lens Blur Filter - Color Replacement tool - Photomerge - Filter Gallery - File Browser is improved with better features, integration and is now just slow instead of unbearably slow. :) - Live Histogram - Text on a Path - Layer comps - User definable hotkeys Plus I don't remember if they had this in PS 7, but I don't remember it. It's a convenience thing. I think they call them scrubbers or pushers (scrubbers sounds right). You go to a numeric field (like opacity, flow or whatever). You place your cursor over the word for that field and you should see the cursor change to a finger with arrows going left and right. If you hold down your left mouse button and move back and forth, the numbers in the field changes with it. I love that. :) There's lots more, that just what I can think of. -=>Donald

g's. I SAID I don't see a difference. lol. That doesn't mean there arn't.

That wasn't directed at you, Jinx ... it was a list of the differnces I remember. If you don't have a need for the new tools, of what value are they to you? -=>Donald

I agree with Donald... There is no way I could have remembered all of the reasons he did..but I knew they were there :) There is more then enough changes in CS to make it worth the upgrade..

Right Donald, now I understand. I'll probably understand more once a take a few classes using photoshop. Thanks :-D