Photoshop CS3

City-Exile

I know a lot of people here are well into their post production & Photoshop is the tool of choice for many.
I've got the 30 Day Trial version of CS3, running at the moment & like what I see, but the cost is US$649 to buy it. I find that very expensive.
How do you guys justify the cost, or is there a less expensive version, for non-professionals, like ourselves?

440Hz

City-Exile wrote:

How do you guys justify the cost, or is there a less expensive version, for non-professionals, like ourselves?

ahem!

How to break this to you nicely... the 'majority' dont justify the cost, they crack it!

Personally, I have an educational edition... but "most" users don't pay for it. Im not saying "most" users on here... I dont know and I dont ask, but in general... you will find "most" just crack it.

Now this is wrong of course, so im in NO WAY am i encouraging or endorsing this behaviour

City-Exile

Being an IT Consultant, with over 10 years of experience, I'm well aware of the illegal approach. What I wanted to know, was how the legitimate users dealt with the cost.
An educational edition is one answer, I guess.

Valentia

City-Exile wrote:

An educational edition is one answer, I guess.

Yep, that's how I did it. My daughter is a student and lets me use her copy .

FreeAnd..

legitimate users

thebaz

Adobe elements is a lot cheaper , and has most of the features you'd probably need .

I have a legit copy of cs , and use picasa a lot , but heard a lot of good reports on elements

City-Exile

I had a legitimate copy of Elements 2.0, which I've been using for about 4 years, but since I replaced my laptop with a Vista machine, I was left without.

Paulw

Elements is very good and has most features you'll need. I got a copy of this with my camera.

I recently bought Lightroom and it has a nice set of features too.

City-Exile

I was hoping to get Elements, or something similar, with my 400D, but no such luck.

Paulw

I must actually check at home. I may have a spare copy (I got a copy of Elements with something else I bought) so I think I've one with a license around somewhere. If I find it in the next day or so, I'll PM you.

For Photoshop CS3, I think professionals can justify the cost because they can cover that in what they charge for their work. Personally, I'd find it hard to justify paying such a high cost, when lower cost alternatives are around.

Morlar

City-Exile wrote:

I was hoping to get Elements, or something similar, with my 400D, but no such luck.

You could always try gimp its similair to photoshop but free, different interface, similar functionality. Theres a windows version too:
http://www.gimp.org/windows/
not sure if the photoshop shell is available for the windows version though.

Here is what it looks like :
http://www.gimp.org/screenshots/linux_multihead_screenshot.png

City-Exile

I've been using GIMP 2, but I'm used to PS so I wanted to stick with that. It's a superior tool. That said, GIMP is fantastic, for a freebie.

thebaz

City-Exile wrote:

I had a legitimate copy of Elements 2.0, which I've been using for about 4 years, but since I replaced my laptop with a Vista machine, I was left without.

i'm surprised elements didn't work on vista ?
is there no update you can get from adobe ?

5uspect

You can upgrade from an older registered version of PS to the latest version for relatively little money.

Calina

I understand that Elements 5.0 works with Vista but you need to download some update from Adobe.

OP, I use Elements and I like it a lot...there are one or two tools it doesn't have but it covers almost everything else.

I am also using ACDSee Pro 2 Beta at the moment (which means it's free until it goes into "production" sometime in September). It's very nice for RAW processing and it has a handful of tools which Photoshop Elements does not. I gather it will cost about the same when they eventually start to charge for it.

I don't use Photoshop CS3. I tested CS and CS2 at the time and basically came to the conclusion that it had a lot of bells and whistles I just didn't need. I have in the past used the GIMP but found it to be a processer killer. I've used Elements 2.0 as well. I strongly recommend Elements 5.0 as image processing software...you can do a fairly monumental amount with it as a look around my flickr would reveal.

City-Exile

thebaz wrote:

i'm surprised elements didn't work on vista ?
is there no update you can get from adobe ?

If I had Elements 2.0 on, then I could upgrde, but since I've got a clean install of Vista and Elements 2.0 wont go on, I can't upgrade.
I've always been able to do what I needed, with Elements.

mathias

For Photoshop CS3, I think professionals can justify the cost because they can cover that in what they charge for their work. Personally, I'd find it hard to justify paying such a high cost, when lower cost alternatives are around.

If its your profession , then photoshop , along with your computer and camera gear , are tools of the job and get written off against tax.

If you know your way around photoshop , then " The gimp " is a very powerful free alternative , and may well be worth a shot , the learning curve is steep but if you know photoshop terms already it becomes quite easy.

http://www.gimp.org/about/

thebaz

City-Exile wrote:

If I had Elements 2.0 on, then I could upgrde, but since I've got a clean install of Vista and Elements 2.0 wont go on, I can't upgrade.
I've always been able to do what I needed, with Elements.

i'd contact adobe , i'm sure your not alone , all major (Windows) s/w companies have to make there software compatible with the latest versions of windows , i'm sure they can provide a patch , which means you could continue to use what your cofortable with, there might be a smallish upgrade charge -- maybe i'm wrong and naive

For what its worth theres only 20 dollars difference between an upgrade and buying version 5 outright (100 dollars)
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/

rabbitinlights

Unless photography becomes more than a hobby, ill be sticking with a not-so legit copy of CS3.

run_Forrest_run

I cannot justify spending the that sort of money on PS..ahem I know a friend who has a cracked version of CS2 but this friend is too lazy to actually learn how to use it. The friend bought a good book on it also but still too lazy...what a lazy friend I have.

If I was making money from my pictures I would definitely spend the money on it because I would like to keep things above board for anything I was selling.
But unless Stevie Wonder calls to the house, I won't be selling anything in the distant future

wasper

Valentia wrote:

Yep, that's how I did it. My daughter is a student and lets me use her copy .

Funny my wife's niece let me use her copy too.