Rev Tony Budell

A question for you wonderful 'experts' ?
For my photo editing, I have used Paint shop Prow 7 and last year, upgraded to Paint shop pro X.(£100) I enjoy my digital photography immensely and am now thinking of shelling out £470 for the Adobe Photoshop CS. Now, not being a wealthy membner of the clergy, I would very much appreciate your views on whether the outlay is worth it. I use a Canon EOS 20D and Canon 100-400 USM lens for my wildlife photography (especially birds) I've viewed the CD video's that come with my Digital Photo magazine and now bouncing between Yes/No. Many thanks, Tony

I will admit to knowing next to nothing about Paint Shop.

I think the best thing would be to download and give the free trial a go. Based on what you have said that you are shooting maybe elements might be a better fit and it is more affordable as well.

CS2 is far better than PSP.

PSP is a very nice program, and has good features for the cost. Having said that, I made the switch from PSP7/PSE2.0 to CS2 last year. Why? Certainly CS2 is more powerful, but I think the best benefit is that more people use CS2. I can find all sorts of actions, scripts, and tutorials that people have written for CS2. One can hardly find anything for PSP. After all, a software program is only good if you can exploit the features. Also PSP7 didn't have much color management, but I think that has been corrected by PSPX.

Also, Adobe lets 20D owners buy CS2 for $299. You will need the S/N of the PSE2.0 disk that came with the 20D.
http://store.adobe.com …/master.jhtml?i​d=catCanon

I've used PSPX (a friend uses it) and was very impressed. But like cyclone, all of the local photographers I know use CS2 and we can share techniques and actions. Since I approached my purchase from a business standpoint, I bought CS2. If I was a hobbiest only, I would have bought PSPX, since it does most everything I would want.

Another program you might consider is a good raw converter to go along with PSPX. I use Bibble which is about $100USD (with the noise ninja plugin which brings the total cost to somewhere around $200USD.)

Thank you very much indeed for your valuable imput. I think 'Cyclone' has it right when he says that all the mags and 'experts' always quote PSP CS. I am very much obliged for your comments. Tony