Corel Paint Shop Pro X ???

judah

Hi all,
I bought a new Dell PC last week, got it at my door yesterday wired up all my stuff, power it up and found this software already installed on the HD. I tested it out and found it very very nice. I had Photoshop Elements installed for oen week and didn't find it very user friendly. Anyway, to make a long story short, is the Corel software any good? The reason I'm askin' it is that I have a chance to buy the full Pro version for a very lowe price (around 80€) because it was bundled with the Dell. Anyone care to comment? :

PS: I don't like editing at all. In fact I try as hard as I can to get 99% ready pictures out of the camera. I hate various effects like posterization (sp??), and so on. What I do is usually fiddle with curves and convert in B/W. That's it.

JBurt

judah wrote:

Hi all,
I bought a new Dell PC last week, got it at my door yesterday wired up all my stuff, power it up and found this software already installed on the HD. I tested it out and found it very very nice. I had Photoshop Elements installed for oen week and didn't find it very user friendly. Anyway, to make a long story short, is the Corel software any good? The reason I'm askin' it is that I have a chance to buy the full Pro version for a very lowe price (around 80€) because it was bundled with the Dell. Anyone care to comment? :

PS: I don't like editing at all. In fact I try as hard as I can to get 99% ready pictures out of the camera. I hate various effects like posterization (sp??), and so on. What I do is usually fiddle with curves and convert in B/W. That's it.

I prefer getting that perfect picture in camera also. However, the more you learn about and use an editing program, the more your creative juices flow. I felt as you did for a long time about the purity of photos. I now feel I've expanded my world by using my photos as a basis to create different works.

I've been a loyal PSP user since ver. 5. I upgraded to PSP-X when it was first offered and hated it. The more I work with it the more good I find. I'm starting to get used to the new interface but it was almost like learning a new program.
I'm still working mainly in PSP-9.

That said, if you own the PS Elements program I would recommend you save your money and work with it. Based on what I've read in other threads, Photoshop gives you more control over B&W conversions.
Or, consider Gimp. It's an open source package and FREE.

For those who already have an earlier version of PSP, the upgrade to X at their sale price would make a nice addition. For those contemplating buying PSP-X new, I would recommend you consider an Adobe product (or Gimp). Rumors on the net are, Corel is not going to be updating PSP but, integating it's features into it's other products. (And they ain't cheap) Even if they do continue PSP, it is getting to be a complex program so the learning curve is going to get steeper and steeper. May as well spend the time learning PS or Gimp.


Just my humble opinion.

System

judah wrote:

Hi all,
I bought a new Dell PC last week, got it at my door yesterday wired up all my stuff, power it up and found this software already installed on the HD. I tested it out and found it very very nice. I had Photoshop Elements installed for oen week and didn't find it very user friendly. Anyway, to make a long story short, is the Corel software any good? The reason I'm askin' it is that I have a chance to buy the full Pro version for a very lowe price (around 80€) because it was bundled with the Dell. Anyone care to comment? :

PS: I don't like editing at all. In fact I try as hard as I can to get 99% ready pictures out of the camera. I hate various effects like posterization (sp??), and so on. What I do is usually fiddle with curves and convert in B/W. That's it.

i really like it i find i have tried various different softwares brands and find my self comming back to psp.. bonus it also has a built in noise reducer ... for my level of ability (amature hack) i give it a 9

judah

Thanks to both of your for your inputs. Yesterday had the time to test out PSP a bit more in depth and have to say that I'm very impressed with it. Maybe it's because I worked with Corel products a lot in the past (especially Draw) and found it immediately friendly. The noise reducing is very good too, with lots of parameters. I shot some nude at ISO800 a couple days ago and could tame the noise quite a but. Keep in mind that my S5600 is almost useless at ISO800! Anyway, I'm finfing myself much more comfortable with PSP than Elements. I really tried to like the Adobe software but I really can't get it. Maybe it's just my stupid mind but the 85€ upgrade are very tempting. I still have 58 days to go before the demo expires so I'll dig deeper into and then make a decision.
Thanks again. :

JBurt

judah wrote:

Thanks to both of your for your inputs. Yesterday had the time to test out PSP a bit more in depth and have to say that I'm very impressed with it. Maybe it's because I worked with Corel products a lot in the past (especially Draw) and found it immediately friendly. The noise reducing is very good too, with lots of parameters. I shot some nude at ISO800 a couple days ago and could tame the noise quite a but. Keep in mind that my S5600 is almost useless at ISO800! Anyway, I'm finfing myself much more comfortable with PSP than Elements. I really tried to like the Adobe software but I really can't get it. Maybe it's just my stupid mind but the 85€ upgrade are very tempting. I still have 58 days to go before the demo expires so I'll dig deeper into and then make a decision.
Thanks again. :

Here is a pretty comprehensive review of PSP-X listing it's pluses and minuses.
http://www.tedsimages.com/text/links1.htm
Take a read and decide if it works for you.

Ann McRae

I have only ever used PSP: started with 7, upgraded to 9, then to X. At first I preferred 9 but the more I work with X the better it gets. The only thing 9 does better is the browser/sort/delete/move between galleries functions.

I demo'd elements when I first tried editing, and PSP was more intuitive and a better value. I can do virtually anything I read a description of for full PS with PSP X (except lab curves).


ann

judah

Thanks all. I still have more than 50 days left on my demo and the more I use PSP the more I like it. I'm really tempted. I can have Elements for free (my sister got it as a bundle with her latest notebook and doesn't have a use for it) but the 85€ Corel is askin' to a proper 100% fully functional version of PSP sounds reasonable to me. I'll keep testing it and will make up my mind soon.
Thanks again for your inputs. :

Stustaff

Hi I have used psp for a good 5 years i reckon and love it.

Photoshop is better.

If you have any plans to move up to photoshop at any time in the future use elements.

if not psp is a great tool.

cmason

PaintShop Pro is a fine photo editor. It does many things much much easier than PS CS2, and is far more powerful than Photoshop Elements. And it is only $100!!

I highly recommend it, especially if you don't need or want a $300 photoeditor, such as Photoshop. I have both PS CS2 and PSP X. I will typically use PSP X for some simple edits, though I use PS CS2 more and more now for that. The reason is simple: there are TONS of tutorials and learning web sites for Photoshop, and they translate very poorly to PSP X. I have found, eventually, that everything I can do in PS CS2 I can do in PSP X (except for LAB), but it is so much easier to follow a PS tutorial and then repeat that each time you use it.

So, if you want an easy to use, and powerful photo editor, PSP X is highly recommended. If you want the industry standard tool, go with PS CS2.