Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

[Stoller]

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 is a great choice for the price. Although I have CS2 and Nikon Capture NX, Corel is my primary software for jpeg editing. My ties to Corel stem from my original use of Micrografx in the late 80’s. Micrografx was acquired by Corel in late 2001.

Anyway back to Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.

New Graphite user interface is great, darker workspace seems easier on the eyes for editing.

New Express Lab is fast easy way to edit a bunch of pictures. Very much like XP’s viewer in filmstrip mode with Corel buttons for editing. Great for those with online galleries to share family photos etc. that don’t need print or photo selling quality editing.

New HDR feature works well and actually aligns multiple hand held exposures better than Photomatix. I paid $99 for Photomatix, the same price as Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 that includes the HDR feature. Photomatix has more HDR features and adjustments and if the exposures are aligned gets slightly better results (Photomatix more dramatic, Paint Shop Pro results actually closer to what the eye actually saw).

I will still use CS2, NX and Corel, but Corel maybe getting closer to replacing CS2 and I won’t be spending the money to upgrade to CS3.

[erichlund]

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 is a great choice for the price. Although I have CS2 and Nikon Capture NX, Corel is my primary software for jpeg editing. My ties to Corel stem from my original use of Micrografx in the late 80’s. Micrografx was acquired by Corel in late 2001.

Anyway back to Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.

New Graphite user interface is great, darker workspace seems easier on the eyes for editing.

New Express Lab is fast easy way to edit a bunch of pictures. Very much like XP’s viewer in filmstrip mode with Corel buttons for editing. Great for those with online galleries to share family photos etc. that don’t need print or photo selling quality editing.

New HDR feature works well and actually aligns multiple hand held exposures better than Photomatix. I paid $99 for Photomatix, the same price as Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 that includes the HDR feature. Photomatix has more HDR features and adjustments and if the exposures are aligned gets slightly better results (Photomatix more dramatic, Paint Shop Pro results actually closer to what the eye actually saw).

I was almost afraid to say this, but that's been my evaluation. I've not used Photomatix, so I cannot compare them, but some of the HDR I've seen others do from Photomatix/CS3 has seemed a bit unreal to me.

I will still use CS2, NX and Corel, but Corel maybe getting closer to replacing CS2 and I won’t be spending the money to upgrade to CS3.

I've never used Photoshop, but I'm just not willing to pay that price when PSP does everything I need to do beyond CaptureNX.

[toriaj]

Thanks for posting, I use PSPX. I'm interested in that HDR feature. Any other new/improved features? Maybe I'll check out the free trial after my free trial of NX runs out in a week :(

[JTL]

I own CS2 and PSP X2. I use PSP 90% of the time because I find it simply faster and better for most tasks (at 1/5 the price!).

If it weren't for Kevin Kubota's sets of unbelievably excellent actions for PhotoShop, I would never use PhotoShop.

No CS3 upgrade for me either.

[Stoller]

I own CS2 and PSP X2. I use PSP 90% of the time becuase I find it simply faster and better for most tasks (at 1/5 the price!).

If it weren't for Kevin Kubota's sets of unbelievably excellent actions for PhotoShop, I would never use PhotoShop.

No CS3 upgrade for me either.

Yes I use PSP X2 90% of the time for photos. If I shot RAW I use NX.
CS2 for creating graphics for web sites. I do like some of the effects filters in CS2, but I could say the same for X2.

I guess I like having options, but when you consider price PSP smokes CS2.:rolleyes:

Never heard of Kevin's actions, I'll have to check them out.

[erichlund]

This is something I mentioned on another, unrelated thread. It is probably more appropriate here.

I've noticed a problem with starting up Corel PSP X2 when I have Nikon CaptureNX or ViewNX currently open in the same directory. PSP seems to hang trying to open the directory. I'm not sure if it's due to having the same photo open in the other application. I won't be able to test that until this weekend. It's something you should be aware of, though.

I'll return with more after I test it more thoroughly. But, if anyone else wants to test this out, we may get a broader opinion about the problem.

Never Mind: After a visit to the Corel site, there was an unrelated problem that indicated a different type of lockup in previous versions of PSP associated with nVidia drivers that were not up to date. I updated my driver, and it solved this problem as well.