Elements 5 or CS2

Im wondering do I reall need CS2 or will elements work for my needs. First let me tell you what those might be. I am an avid rookie recently making the switch from a EOS A2E into a 30D, I have been shooting with S1Is for a couple of years and have just been doing basic touch up with Arc Soft Camera Suite and photo studio 5.5. Im thinking my needs with the new camera are going to be sharpening, some color adjustment, red eye, layering exposures for landscape shooting, cropping, basic repair, stiching ect..... I am assuming that I will be shooting RAW 90% of the time. Basically I want to use my current knowledge and start off with as good of an exposure as possible and then if need be, adjust and fix from there. I dont really forsee that I will have any need for graphic design ect.... mostly just making my current photos better. Thanks in advance for the help.

I really am not familiar with the Adobe upgrade paths, but as long as the price of Elements plus the upgrade to CS2 isn't much more than CS2 by itself, I would go for Elements. You'll definitely grow out of it and eventually want CS2, but if you're just getting started Elements should be ok.

BrandonSi wrote in post #2559051
as long as the price of Elements plus the upgrade to CS2 isn't much more than CS2 by itself

Never looked at it that way Brandon... that's a good point...

Remember, too, that CS3 is just around the corner too... so you might want to wait before jumping into CS. I think Elements should do everything you mentioned pretty well... only things lacking are layer masks (unless thats been added in since 3.0) and a good Raw Converter... but the DPP that came with your 30d is very good also.