Adobe Elements vs CS3?

[Point-n-shoot-n]

Hi, I am a basic newbie at this digital photo stuff although I have done quite a bit of film shooting in the past. I guess the question I have is whether I would benefit from having the CS3 or similar program for my image editing. I currently have the Adobe Elements 5.0 and have just gotten into the layers portion of PP. I have been able to get some nice results although I have just scratched the surface of the capabilities of the program. I am looking to do some more advanced skin smoothing and I believe the program I have does a fair job but some of the things I have seen on this forum are almost unbelievable! Are the capabilities of the more expensive programs the reason for the difference or is it the capabilities of the human that is directing the edits? One last question is how much should I expect to spend on a full version of CS3? Thanks for any and all input!

[DDCSD]

I've got CS2 and Elements 5. I almost never use CS2. PSE5 does more than I am capable of. I don't do much skin smoothing though. Don't know if CS3 would be better for that or not.

You can download a free trial of CS3 from Adobe to try it.

http://www.adobe.com/downloads/

[Point-n-shoot-n]

Thanks for the reply! I will do that! Anybody who has used both programs have any other input?

[tomd]

I have CS3 and elements 4.
Like Derek said above, Elements does almost everything.

[Calicajun]

I have CS2, PSP10, PS Elements 4 and MS Photo Suite 2006 and use CS2 the least. Of course that could be because I haven't learn all of what CS2 can do for editing.

[PBest78]

Another vote for Elements, I've got CS3 but always seem to use elements 6 instead.

Peter

[Schumi]

I cant open my raw files in cs3 for some reason. I am getting "could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document" Anyone know why I get this?

I have tried opening as camera raw.. with no luck

[DDCSD]

I cant open my raw files in cs3 for some reason. I am getting "could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document" Anyone know why I get this?

I have tried opening as camera raw.. with no luck

Have you been able to open them before?

Do you have the latest version of ACR?
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3942

[Schumi]

Have you been able to open them before?

Do you have the latest version of ACR?
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3942

I havent tried opening raw files yet, but I guess it has always been like this.
I will check out your link, thanks :)

[crazyseany]

I have PSE 6. I couldn't justify the $650 for cs3 as I too am a beginer.

I've played a little but haven't done a ton on it yet. I bought the book missing manuel and it says you can do most stuff you will ever need to in elements. there was something about a format that elements does not support that is used in commercial printing that CS has.

I know I'm not much help.... sorry lol

sean

[Mike R]

I use Lightroom and Elements 6. My upgrade cost to LR 2 was $84 (Full price is a bit high at $299) and the cost of Elements 6 is about $70. These two programs do all that I need to do including making posters. I may be wrong but feel that CS3 is more for the full time graphic artist.

[bwolford]

Learn using Elements and then when you are ready for advanced work, move to Photoshop. I am very happy I started that way would do it again in heartbeat.

[davidcrebelxt]

Learn using Elements and then when you are ready for advanced work, move to Photoshop. I am very happy I started that way would do it again in heartbeat.

Couldn't agree more.

CS3 definitely has its benefits, no doubt. Question for OP is: if you are a new at post processing, are you going to get your $650 worth before the next version comes out? When the time comes, there is an upgrade path from Elements to CS3 that will recoup most of your Elements cost... and you may have delayed yourself CS3 to CS4 to CS5 upgrade costs to boot!

(They even have specials from time to time for Elements users to upgrade to CSx for $299... that's a signifigcant savings over buying CS3 standalone ($400 for combined Elements & CS3 purchases vs. $650 for CS3 outright)

[disclaimer: you should probably never COUNT on those offers to be available or to be continued practice... that all depends on Adobe marketing department.]