need advice....not camera or pic related

[bass7858]

ok. this is a software question. i understand this is prolly not the correct forum but it does not seem to be overly active last time i looked.
i have been demo-ing adobe elements for the past 28 days. b4 that, picture project that cam with my d40x. b4 that, just good ol windows picture viewer.

photoshop is beyond my means at this time. just not sure if i want to put that much $$ into software. (read if i'm that dedicated)
i do like elements, u also get the some decent video software too. i plan to buy a retail package so i can get a manual to refer to. it is more complicated than picture project, but has many nice features and does many things pp does not do....and is more flexible. (as i see it) u also get camera raw should i decide to try shooting and processing raw. but it takes a while to get used to ALL the different things it will do.
i didnt really give picture project more than a week or 2 b4 downloading elements. am i missing something with pp or is it just pretty basic?
and on that note.....is there any other software i should investigate b4 making a decision?
when i first got a puter back in the early 90's i used a picture viewer/cataloger called acdsee. i liked it alot. i see they offer what looks like some pic processing software now. anybody have any experience with it?
i have a budget of under $200. i know us new guys can be a pain for you senior members but your opinions really r valued. thanks in advance if u take time to respond.
donnie

[Camerajunkie]

My sister uses Paint.net, free download online, for her software.

[XaiLo]

Paint Shop Pro, Gimp is free. You can get Lightroom at a good price as a qualifying student.

[ssil2000]

i think lightroom is a great deal, but it may stretch your budget a little, but overall it is a great photo editing/managing software and you mentioned raw editing, it doesnt get any easier to edit raw with lightroom. having said that you may want to try some of the free alternatives and see if they work for you.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Gimp is free and highly recommended by many other people I've met. I can't stand it personally but software is a personal choice.

I really like my obsolete version of Corel Photo Paint (7.4) that my brother gave me free when he upgraded. It may be 10 years old but in many ways I prefer it to my photoshop CS2. Can you get an older version of Adobe Photoshop (or Corel Paint Shop) free somewhere?

[tizeye]

I use Paint Shop Pro (v7 still on laptop, V10 on desktop). I believe, like Adobe, they have a free 30 day trial. With v10, I did uninstal their Snapfire "free" photo management program as it (like Google's Picasso) decided it needed to take over all picture functions on my computer.

Just FYI, Paintshop is one of the original "must have" freeware/shareware programs and was able to make the transition from shareware to commercial as it was that good. I have used it since the shareware days and when I got a free Adobe Elements packaged with a scanner, saw where they were very competitive but I likes Paintshop better.

Gimp (www.Gimp.org) intriues me as it is 'todays' freeware. Screenshots look good plus has an online manual as well as a support forum. That is something I didn't have 20 years ago with Paintshop.

[Turo]

I personally use CaptureNX + Gimp. Most of my pp work is done in CaptureNX, I only use Gimp for framing.

Have you tried CaptureNX? I love it for RAW processing. You can download a free 30 day demo, give it a shot.

[p.du.v]

Well, I just bought Photoshop CS3 via eBay for $220 Australian, and it is fully official and working/updating/registered etc.
Maybe have a look at the eBay stores for Elements etc before outlaying too much money.

Capture NX -> CS3 for me. Steep learning curve when starting out with CS3, but the options are endless.
Actions are a god send, curve + levels layers add great depth to photos.. so many good things to try in Photoshop.

If you get Photoshop, get yourself a good book to go with it, such as Scott Kelby's 'The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers'
http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Digital-Photographers-Voices-Matter/dp/0321501918/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208333563&sr=8-1

All just my opinion of course.

[tizeye]

If you already own CS3, don't even bother with Elements. Best to think of Elements as 85% of CS3, providing a less expensive entry that uses similar commands to smooth the transition up to CS3. At least that is what Adobe hopes people do. About the only reason Premiere has 85% of CS3 is that Adobe had to keep it feature competitive with similar priced Paint Shop Pro. Otherwise I suspect Adobe would have stripped more from Elements.

CS3 = great (argueably, the standard setter - keeping price high)
Capture NX + CS3 = overkill
Capture NX + Elements (or PSP or Gimp) = best combo