PSE3 or Jasc PaintShop

[DJO]

Various reviews recommend Adobe Photo Shope Elements 3 (PSE3) followed by by JASC Paint Shop Pro as two of the better editors in the $100 range. This is somewhat of a consensus, though there are some who may disagree.

I have been working with a trial version of Paint Shop Pro. It seems quite powerful, but non-intuitive. Does it have much more functionality than PSE3?

In addition, with Paint Shop, when I scan through my set of pictures in raw format, I cannot view the thumbnails. The viewing only comes out in JPG, and perhaps other modes. Do any editors view RAW well?

I'm trying to shoot as much as possible in digital.

[Scottes]

Both programs have everything you need for digital images. Don't worry about a feature list, worry about the features that you need. Both succeed.

I am a very long time user of both Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. I like them both for different things, so I use both fairly often, though I certainly use Photoshop a lot more since I got into digital photography.

Given this, I'd have to give a nod to PSE3. Photoshop is the standard, and PSE3 is a stepping-stone to Photoshop. If you ever get the chance you will want to buy the full Photoshop, and everything you do and learn with PSE3 will transfer directly to PS.

Also, PSP was just purchased by Corel. A merge between PSP and Corel Paint is very exciting, but it won't happen for a while (if it does) and it really is an unknown.

[Jesper]

You can also download a tryout version (http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/main.jsp#product=40) of Photoshop Elements 3.0 and see for yourself if you like it better than Paint Shop Pro. I think both programs have about the same features and cost about the same, neither is clearly superior to the other. Try out PS Elements 3.0 and see if it has features that PSP lacks and that you find essential, or the other way around.