Differences between PSE and CS(2)?

[goatee]

So, I'm starting to get more handy, and understand better how to use Photoshop Elements 3, and that ugly upgrade monster has reared its head.

What are the key things missed out in PSE that are useful to photographers in CS?

[chris.bailey]

To be honest not that much now that elements 3.0 includes more RAW support and 16 bit coverage colour management is better in CS, If I wasn't a 10 year+ used of PS, i think I would now be happy with Elements 3. The interface however is totally different and if you have gotten proficient at elements, be prepared for a steep learning curve to move into CS. If you have gotten proficient at PS, the same is true of elements.

[ejwebb]

I just got CS2 but have not even loaded it yet - still using the Trial version. The improvements in the RAW converter were the biggest draw to me - ability to process more than one file and continue working in PS, apply RAW changes from one file to others, use of curves in RAW, etc. Some other items that come to mind based on my limited usage so far are - Curves & Masks (even though you can add this in PSE with plugins), Smartsharpen, Actions (and the ability to use those created by others), etc. I think I could do most of what I needed in PSE3 but I think CS2 will help make me more efficient in my workflow.

[goatee]

thanks ej - that would be useful if I shot a lot of RAW, but right now I just shoot Large Fine, and am happy with the results I'm getting.

I thought PSE had the same capabilities of actions as CS?

[ejwebb]

I think PSE can run some actions created in PS but they need to be modified (by someone with a full PS version) in order to work and you may need a special plugin - although I have never tried it myself. The kicker is that you can't actually create actions in PSE3 which is what I would like to do since there are many times when I want to apply the same steps to a number of images (for web posting, cd's for friends & family, etc.) and it would be nice to automate it. This is one of the CS2 tools that I need to spend some time with.

[goatee]

Oh I see. Fair enough. Well - since the upgrade is only 150 bucks, and it's possible to get an old version of PS for under a hundred bucks, it's not so prohibitively expensive to get it - I may look at it in the future.