Which Adobe photoshop software should I get??

Hi All.


I need a bit of help what to choose, as I'm not too familiar with Adobe photoshop softwares. I went to a Digital Photo exhibition in Melbourne (Australia) last Saturday and watch a demo by the NIK Software people & I did like what I saw & decided to purchase the complete collection inc of HDR program. NIK software are I believe (I'm not too smart LOL) [:$] are Plugins for Adobe Photoshop.


Questions that I have are:


Which photoshop should I get CS5 & is Lightroom included.


Does anyone has any experience and or used complete NIK software. Please let me know what you think.


Bit of back ground info: I using a PC & laptop (reasonably fast) with Vista & XP pro O/P systems, Canon DDP & Corel Pro X3 software, 5d MKII, 7D.


Look forward to your feed back.


Regards, wally

Lightroom 3.0 is shipping now and it's a separate application.


Photoshop CS5 is a deep, professional image-editing program that can do practically anything to an image - anything you can think of.


There's also Photoshop Elements which is basically a stripped-down version of Photoshop - at about 1/5 the price.


If I were you I'd download a trial version from Adobe and see if you like it. I think it's 30 days. Try it first, make sure your laptop can handle the processing (max out the RAM first if you can) - it gets pretty intensive especially with large files, files with many layers or several images open at once.


Personally I love it. My background is in graphic arts so I knew quite a bit about masking, compositing, etc. already. If you're coming into it "cold" you'll have a steep learning curve. But if you enjoy working with your images you won't regret learning Photoshop.

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Thanks for your feedback. I love to have CS5, but the purchasing price is very steep. Plus I already have purchase the NIK software Complete Edition, (plugins for Photoshop) which I believe is a lot easier to use than photoshop. I will try PS Elements and see if it works with NIK. Thanks again Mate

I would have just gotten lightroom and downloaded free presets off the web instead of paying for the Nik suite. I hardly touch photoshop. I only use it for removal of items in my pictures or creating panoramas.

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Originally Posted by crosbyharbison

I would have just gotten lightroom and downloaded free presets off the web instead of paying for the Nik suite. I hardly touch photoshop. I only use it for removal of items in my pictures or creating panoramas.

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Me too. Majority of things you can do with Lightroom and since V3 just came out it will probably give some nice add-ons during the development. I also use Photoshop CS4, but only for real specific things, ain't worth paying for if I must be honest.


I have no clue what the NIK software is. I use photomatix for my HDR.


Oh and for panoramas there are a dozen other options than photoshop. Most fairly cheap or even free.


Good luck,


Jan

On your Win XP (32 bit) machine photoshop CS5 (32 bit) will only have access to 1.5-1.7 GB of ram no matter how much you max the computer to. http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404439.html is were it says. 5d Mark II files runs "okay" with about 2 gb (1.5 gb avalible to photoshop)


As for photoshop and Lightroom, as suggested use the fully functional for 30 days, trial of both and see what you like. There are many places for quick tutorials on some of the features of both.


Personalty, I prefer Photoshop and bridge (program within photoshop) to lightroom but that's just me. Though to be honest with you, I wish they had Abobe Camera RAW as a stand alone version for $50-$120. I could live with that quite well.


Best of luck to you.

The NIK plugins require photoshop. You can't use them without it.


If you can return them, do it and buy lightroom 3. Then, you can consider additional HDR software.

wally, I use the Nik plug ins and absolutely love them. I like the U-point technology that is in all of their plug-ins. They are fairly easy to use and the interfacing is very pleasing. As far as compatibility, if you bought the complete ultimate edition,... that is compatible with Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture. If you bought the complete edition, that is compatible with Lightroom and aperture. The Lightroom application is definitely a great alternative to buying Photoshop CS5. link below...Todd


http://www.niksoftware.com/completecollection/usa/entry.php?tab=0

Wally, if you are a student (or even if you know one) you can buy the student edition for a much much lower price. I did this for CS4 and saved a fortune. Lightroom is a good tool for making adjustments to photos but photoshop is much more powerful.


Ben

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Originally Posted by btaylor

Wally, if you are a student (or even if you know one) you can buy the student edition for a much much lower price. I did this for CS4 and saved a fortune. Lightroom is a good tool for making adjustments to photos but photoshop is much more powerful.


Ben
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Thanks Ben. Fortune, You can say that again. Bloody expensive that's what I call it. LOL. I bought the NIK software plugins (AU $700), not realizing that these have to be used with Photoshop. I do most of my post with DDP and some minor adjustments with Corel Pro X3, which is good enough for me. I have downloaded a trial version of Photoshop 4 and installed the NIK software (as suggested by Todd Ovick, who loves NIK) and it seems to work OK. Lot of learning involved with Photshop and NIK, that's time I rather spend shooting. I will most likely get the student edition. Regards Wally

Yep Wally I've had CS4 for probably 18 months now and I'm still learning it. I ordered a couple of books for CS4, one by Matt Koklowski called "Layers" and the other is Scott Kelby's "CS4 for Digital Photographers" (I think) and they were a huge help in the beginning.

Wally, I don't know anything about the NIK software so I can't comment on that. But, I do have Photoshop CS4 and have been using Photoshop for a couple of years. I also purchased Lightroom last year and since then I rarely open Photoshop. For me, The work flow in lightroom is so much easier, photo adjustment isn't as robust as PS but it is still quite powerfull and much easier to learn than photoshop; and it integrates organization, and output functions very nicely. Lightroom is also less computer intensive than PS. So, for general photography, My recommendation is Lightroom. If you can get it at student pricing, its only $99 U.S.


Good Luck,


Bob