best place to purchase/order CS3?

Elaine

I'm about to purchase CS3. Any suggestions on where to get the best price?

Thanks!

Art Scott

Do you know any school teachers?? If so ask one of them to order from Academic Superstore for you.....freakin HUUUUUGE savings.....if you have kids that have school ID's tht would probably work also...just say they will be taking a photo class nest semester.

I have ordered thru them when I worked for Wichita State U. as manager of the Performance Facilities Unit (we did stagingg, sound lights and recordings...I did not need PS for my job), I emailed copies of my Univrsity ID and KS DL and was set for a year.......Now I have to get ewomone to order for me as I no longer work for a school.

David_S85

Art Scott wrote:

Do you know any school teachers?? If so ask one of them to order from Academic Superstore for you.....freakin HUUUUUGE savings.....if you have kids that have school ID's tht would probably work also...just say they will be taking a photo class nest semester.

I have ordered thru them when I worked for Wichita State U. as manager of the Performance Facilities Unit (we did stagingg, sound lights and recordings...I did not need PS for my job), I emailed copies of my Univrsity ID and KS DL and was set for a year.......Now I have to get ewomone to order for me as I no longer work for a school.

The suggestion of using someone else to get a discount you yourself are not eligible for is unethical. Educational discounts are there for a reason, and such licenses are clear as to who is allowed to buy them. Bypassing the license requirements is a form of theft, and should not be condoned here.


Now if you are a teacher, a student, or have children in school that could directly benefit from using the software, then that would be a proper use of educational discounts.

Scott_Quier

I have bought a lot of software from www.viosoftware.com and have been very pleased. They appear to be having a Autumn Special and currently have CS3 (full, legal, non-academic) for $552. Here's the link to that one special.

If you have PS 7 or later, you can get an upgrade from them for $239.

Art Scott

David_S85 wrote:

The suggestion of using someone else to get a discount you yourself are not eligible for is unethical. Educational discounts are there for a reason, and such licenses are clear as to who is allowed to buy them. Bypassing the license requirements is a form of theft, and should not be condoned here.


Now if you are a teacher, a student, or have children in school that could directly benefit from using the software, then that would be a proper use of educational discounts.

this is your opinion and you are entitled to itbow....personally I call it resourcefulness

Of course I could have suggested simply buying from one of the hundreds or thousands of Russian Federation online stores that will for $21 send you a full working retail download of Lightroom 2 and for just under $60 a full retail download of PSCS3 (complete with all the codes, authentication, activation and key codes......and you get all the automatic updates directly from Adobe......Now this might be considered unethical .............

DavidTO

Art Scott wrote:

this is your opinion and you are entitled to itbow....personally I call it resourcefulness

Of course I could have suggested simply buying from one of the hundreds or thousands of Russian Federation online stores that will for $21 send you a full working retail download of Lightroom 2 and for just under $60 a full retail download of PSCS3 (complete with all the codes, authentication, activation and key codes......and you get all the automatic updates directly from Adobe......Now this might be considered unethical .............

Art, it's not a matter of opinion, if you do that you are not the legal owner of the software, as educational versions of the software are non-transferrable. You do not own it, you have what amounts to a pirated copy. That's theft.

I've bolded the relevant bit:

Adobe License Agreement wrote:

4.4 No Transfer. YOU MAY NOT RENT, LEASE, SELL, SUBLICENSE, ASSIGN OR TRANSFER YOUR RIGHTS IN THE SOFTWARE, OR AUTHORIZE ANY PORTION OF THE SOFTWARE TO BE COPIED ONTO ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL OR LEGAL ENTITY'S COMPUTER EXCEPT AS MAY BE PERMITTED HEREIN. You may, however, permanently transfer all your rights to use the Software to another individual or legal entity provided that: (a) you also transfer (i) this agreement, (ii) the serial number(s), the Software affixed to media provided by Adobe or its authorized distributor, and all other software or hardware bundled, packaged or pre-installed with the Software, including all copies, upgrades, updates and prior versions, and (iii) all copies of font software converted into other formats to such individual or entity; (b) you retain no upgrades, updates or copies, including backups and copies stored on a computer; and (c) the receiving party accepts the terms and conditions of this agreement and any other terms and conditions under which you purchased a valid license to the Software. NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, YOU MAY NOT TRANSFER EDUCATION, PRE-RELEASE, OR NOT FOR RESALE COPIES OF THE SOFTWARE. Prior to a transfer Adobe may require that you and the receiving party confirm in writing your compliance with this agreement, provide Adobe with information about yourselves, and register as end-users of the Software. Allow 4-6 weeks to transfer. Please visit http://www.adobe.com/support or contact Adobe's Customer Support Department for more information.

DavidTO

Art Scott wrote:

this is your opinion and you are entitled to itbow....personally I call it resourcefulness

Art, one last note. David_S85 was letting you know what Dgrin policy is. Whatever your opinions are about educational licenses, we need you to follow our lead on what's acceptable here on Dgrin, k?

ian408

Art Scott wrote:

this is your opinion and you are entitled to itbow....personally I call it resourcefulness

Of course I could have suggested simply buying from one of the hundreds or thousands of Russian Federation online stores that will for $21 send you a full working retail download of Lightroom 2 and for just under $60 a full retail download of PSCS3 (complete with all the codes, authentication, activation and key codes......and you get all the automatic updates directly from Adobe......Now this might be considered unethical .............

You may call it whatever you wish. But it is not something we condone nor is it something you can legally do.

I suggest you make more of an effort to read the license agreements. Most clearly state that what you are "recommending" is in fact theft.

Art Scott

So I will no longer give advice on where the best place to buy software is
All is true of pirated and true educational products.....I have yet to purchase an educational version....so I do not worry about the transfer of title....the software I have is all perfectly legal and I get my upgrades when adobe releases (all except cs3 due to the lack of resources in current box)......if I was going to condone piracy...I would have simply PM'ed the OP with the addy's of a few warez sites and the op could have had CS3 for absolutely nothing.....full retail working copies that have no need for activation,key or Authorization codes.........

So I will no longer give advice on where the best place to buy software...

Pupator

In your first post you suggest that the OP do something illegal (have someone else buy from academic superstore) and also lie ("Say that your kid is taking a photography class"). Then you get snippy when moderators point out that you shouldn't encourage people to do those things on Dgrin. Then your defense is that you could have told the OP to do something even more shady?

Ric Grupe

Pupator wrote:

In your first post you suggest that the OP do something illegal (have someone else buy from academic superstore) and also lie ("Say that your kid is taking a photography class"). Then you get snippy when moderators point out that you shouldn't encourage people to do those things on Dgrin. Then your defense is that you could have told the OP to do something even more shady?

:deadhorse

Pupator

Ric Grupe wrote:

:deadhorse

Probably so. You think your contribution to this thread is any more valuable?

pathfinder

Almost every shooter seems to want a legit copy of PSCS3, and lots of us think it is overpriced, but we buy it anyway, so it must have some real appeal, and real value.

If someone knows of a legitimate site that offers significant discounts on Adobe software, I am sure we are all ears, but most of us realize that other than a few discounts from Adobe, this is usually not to be found. ( Educational software for students excepted, of course )

As for pirated software from overseas, I always wonder what other code has been included like key stroke loggers, viruses, etc etc. Call me a skeptic, I guess, but I always look a gift horse carefully in the mouth, myself.

Unless one needs layers, Adobe Lightroom 2, offers an awful lot of image editing power, for substantially less money than PSCS3. Much of what I do in PSCS3 is use Adobe RAW converter, and that is what Lightroom 2 includes as well as an image database.

I think for a lot of Photographers, Lightroom 2 is probably all they need, and costs about 1/2 the price of CS3. Worth considering.

I do agree that encouraging unlawful activity is not condoned here on dgrin.

Elaine

pathfinder wrote:

Almost every shooter seems to want a legit copy of PSCS3, and lots of us think it is overpriced, but we buy it anyway, so it must have some real appeal, and real value.

If someone knows of a legitimate site that offers significant discounts on Adobe software, I am sure we are all ears, but most of us realize that other than a few discounts from Adobe, this is usually not to be found. ( Educational software for students excepted, of course )

As for pirated software from overseas, I always wonder what other code has been included like key stroke loggers, viruses, etc etc. Call me a skeptic, I guess, but I always look a gift horse carefully in the mouth, myself.

Unless one needs layers, Adobe Lightroom 2, offers an awful lot of image editing power, for substantially less money than PSCS3. Much of what I do in PSCS3 is use Adobe RAW converter, and that is what Lightroom 2 includes as well as an image database.

I think for a lot of Photographers, Lightroom 2 is probably all they need, and costs about 1/2 the price of CS3. Worth considering.

I do agree that encouraging unlawful activity is not condoned here on dgrin.

Thank you. I do have Lightroom 1, but it's not intuitive for me so I haven't figured it out yet. I would like to use its cataloging capability and RAW converter. I did get CS3 today, as I do desire the ability to use layers with templates and actions. Now I've got the tools, I just need to learn to use them! I've signed up for an on-line class for CS3. The structure of a class helps me learn and process better than just jumping in and figuring things out myself. I hope to be comfortable with it soon!

Ric Grupe

Pupator wrote:

Probably so. You think your contribution to this thread is any more valuable?

Anything I might say would be redundant...therefore not worth saying.

Ric Grupe

pathfinder wrote:

Unless one needs layers, Adobe Lightroom 2, offers an awful lot of image editing power,.

I personally think LR 2 is very intuitive...and all any photographer needs. With the plugins that third party software developers are creating it will even be easier and more powerful. Check out the OnOne press release...all their good stuff will work with LR by the end of the year.

pathfinder

Ric, I never really liked LR v1 that much, but I have developed real affection for LR v2.

The new power in the RAW converter v4.5, including the new camera profiles, are really dynamite. I find I use it all the time now, and that is just since this summer. I love the sharpening in the RAW converter - that really makes my images pop now.

kdog

pathfinder wrote:

I love the sharpening in the RAW converter - that really makes my images pop now.

Really!? Whatever happened to the mantra that sharpening should be done as the very last step before resizing and/or printing? Is that theory defunct now, or do you still do output sharpening as well?

-joel

pathfinder

Capture sharpening can be done in the RAW converter to regain the acutance lost in the process of analog to digital capture; eg the result of the pixel gathering on the sensor itself.

Output sharpening can indeed still be done just prior to printing, but I think I won't need that much, as my images really seem razor sharp coming out of the RAW converter.

Ric Grupe

pathfinder wrote:

Capture sharpening can be done in the RAW converter to regain the acutance lost in the process of analog to digital capture; eg the result of the pixel gathering on the sensor itself.

Output sharpening can indeed still be done just prior to printing, but I think I won't need that much, as my images really seem razor sharp coming out of the RAW converter.

Take a look at Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0...just came out...has raw presharpening and the most sophisticated output sharpener I have ever seen. I can't explain the technology, but they have a function they call structure sharpening that is truly amazing. I am still learning how to use it properly...but am impressed so far.

Raw file from April that I just edited in LR and sharpened for display with NikSP3:



The trick is to avoid applying too much effect.

kdog

pathfinder wrote:

Capture sharpening can be done in the RAW converter to regain the acutance lost in the process of analog to digital capture; eg the result of the pixel gathering on the sensor itself.

Output sharpening can indeed still be done just prior to printing, but I think I won't need that much, as my images really seem razor sharp coming out of the RAW converter.

Interesting. ACR has a moderate amount of capture sharpening enabled by default, and I read several places that one should turn it completely off. So that's how I have it now, and I do all my sharpening at the end of the workflow. Sheesh, I'm so confused. I guess I'll have to do some more experimentation. Thanks for the info.

-joel

pathfinder

Kdog,

I use the workflow for capturesharpening in ACR described by Jeff Schewe and Michael Reichman in their video for Lightroom v2. I am sure there are many ways to do this, but this seems to work for me, and I can see the improved crispness of my images compared to previous editing techniques prior to ACR 4.1

Output sharpening for printing is still needed of course later.

DavidTO

pathfinder wrote:

Kdog,

I use the workflow for capturesharpening in ACR described by Jeff Schewe and Michael Reichman in their video for Lightroom v2. I am sure there are many ways to do this, but this seems to work for me, and I can see the improved crispness of my images compared to previous editing techniques prior to ACR 4.1

Output sharpening for printing is still needed of course later.

Link?

kdog

Thanks again, PF. Maybe I'll order the video. I see they have one specifically for ACR as well.

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

DavidTO wrote:

Link?

I'm assuming he's talking about these: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/download-videos.shtml

pathfinder

DavidTO wrote:

Link?

Luminous Landscape Guide to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

You will either enjoy it or hate it, as Michael and Jeff banter with each other as they discuss and teach their methods using LR2. Be patient with them. T

hey are pretty thorough but take their time getting there for some folks. I enjoyed it greatly and learned quite bit.

pathfinder

kdog wrote:

I'm assuming he's talking about these: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/download-videos.shtml

Yup, all three are worthwhile