Jump to content

Photoshop Alternatives?


Recommended Posts

<p>Now that Adobe has announced that it won't offer stand-alone versions of Photoshop and the Creative suite going forward, and will offer subscription-only versions, I'll be looking for alternatives. If you don't use PS for editing, what do you use? Free or commercial, anything goes.</p>

<p>Bad move by Adobe...</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 90
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

<p>Give the Photopaint module (part of the Draw suite) a try. Corel lets you test if for free. <br /><br />Or, consider that if you just need Photoshop, Adobe's not asking you to subscribe to the entire suite, so it's still quite cheap if you look at the big picture - especially if you'd otherwise have to buy it, full boat.</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>This will tick a lot of small photographers off for sure. I won't pay a monthly subscription for their software. This will only benefit the big users like schools and businesses. I am sure there will be taxes and all other sorts of added fees just like on a cell phone bill. So if you use PS and Lightroom, how much is that going to cost you a year? Too much for the small guy I think. <br>

<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/adobe-moves-creative-suite-software-online-only-6C9801124">http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/adobe-moves-creative-suite-software-online-only-6C9801124</a></p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>It will be more than $20 a month. That is the introductory offer if you sign up in the next month. It will require a one year contract to get the $30 per month single item like PS. Lightroom will have its own monthly fee as well according to a Adobe customer service rep I contacted. Right now if you own PS there is no advantage to sign up because they will start charging you for something you already own. If they had a brand new PS program to offer it may be a reason to consider it. But the way I read it, you sign up and get to use what you already have with a new monthly bill to pay for creative cloud. No upgrades to your current version.</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>$50 per month? Its about the same as a tank of gas. Get real everyone! We have known that Adobe and Microsoft were moving to a web-based subscription model for three years. If you need the full whack CS6++, then you should be legit. If you can do with Elements or LR than that's cheaper again. You can also get a cheaper license if you are a student as well. Why the shock horror?</p>

<p>We are living in an environment where many people expect something for nothing. Well I have no sympathy. How can IT vendors expect to run their businesses and create jobs if their customers don't pay for their products? Subscription based licensing has been the norm for business apps for years. We all know that...so why the surprise? </p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Buy CS6 while its still available, like I just did, and you can get 10+ years out of it. Sure ACR will not support a new camera's raw format but then you can use the DNG converter and get around it. How many of these new features do you really need? CS3 had 95% of everything you really need (and plenty you did not), release date 2007.<br>

We'll see how well this goes for Adobe. I understand why they would rather have a subscription model to iron out their cash flow and the need to come up with hype for more and more features that very few people really need. <br>

I know Lightroom is available in the CC but I doubt they would only have it available in the cloud. People do a lot of photography where there are no internet connections. </p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Adobe confirmed that you will still be able to buy Lightroom directly as a non-subscription product. That really solves my problem. I will use LR as my main editor (incl. RAW support) and if I need more heavily lifting in Photoshop I'll continue using my CS5. That's all I need. I will not use their subscription model at all.</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

>>> I will use LR as my main editor (incl. RAW support) and if I need more heavily lifting in Photoshop I'll

continue using my CS5. That's all I need.

 

Same here. Even CS5 is overkill for me.

 

>>> Adobe confirmed that you will still be able to buy Lightroom directly as a non-subscription product.

 

I wouldn't be shocked at all if that changes in a few years. Then they'll have me...

www.citysnaps.net
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<blockquote>

<p>I have PS Elements but I also need 16 bit editing</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Coral Paintshop does 16 bit editing and is very reasonably priced. Very powerful program. Here is an image I created in Coral Paintshop from 6 different photos of my son to create the final image of him playing cards with himself x 5... Wasn't that hard to do.</p><div>00bccT-535931584.jpg.4f835375f64a3b71475725fb4eb4c8c6.jpg</div>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>You may want to have a look at Picture Window Pro. I tried it a few years ago but because I've been using Photoshop and was used to that I stayed with it. It seemed to be a very powerful program though and now that Photoshop will be subscription only I might have to go have another look myself...here's a link <a href="http://www.dl-c.com/">http://www.dl-c.com/</a></p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>ACDSee Photo Editor 6, Capture 1 Pro, DXO Optics, Picture Window. Likely some of the freeware apps will take off, now. I remember when Paint Shop did little more than convert files, and the whole app could be run from a 3-1/2" floppy.<br>

I lived most of my lire without Photoshop.</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>One thing that really bothers me about this scheme is that Adobe can increase the price at any time and you're stuck with it. If you own the software, you know what it will cost. With the cloud, you really don't. I'm hoping Adobe changes their mind on this one, and I'm hoping they take a financial beating over it. Right now the vast majority of their revenue is from boxed software.</p>

<p>And who trust anyone's cloud service to be secure?</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>Although I use (and will continue to use) CS5 myself, along with Lr or whichever converter is flavour of the week with me at the time, PSP X5 <em>is </em>functionally capable of doing almost everything I need from a pixel editor, and - in my opinion - has one of the best sharpening algorithms out there in the form of the "Focus" tool.</p>

<p>However... Its highlight recovery is <em>hopeless</em> compared to the Shadows/Highlights tool in Photoshop; and it's slow and very unstable on my pretty decently-specced machine, as was X4 and several previous iterations; and it was no better on different, earlier machines.</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>This is Corel's chance to fully jump on the Mac wagon. I used Photo-Paint for years. Liked it better than Photoshop for a lot of things, but it's Windows only. CorelDraw was far superior to Illustrator and had the page layout features of InDesign. You could do everything in one program. I did a lot of work with these two products and they make excellent files for RIPS. Right now, the only Mac products they have are Painter, their CAD program and AfterShot (it's like Lightroom).</p>
Link to comment
Share on other sites

<blockquote>

<p>One thing that really bothers me about this scheme is that Adobe can increase the price at any time and you're stuck with it</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That's been true since the first day they started selling software! Nothing has stopped them from raising the price of either a new version sold or an upgrade. Nothing stops nearly any business from changing their fees. That said, enough blow back, Adobe could <strong>lower</strong> the cost of CC. There's lots to dislike about this new move but the idea that now Adobe can up the price is not worthy. <br>

Suppose like a magazine subscription, Adobe lowers the price per year if you sign up for 3 years? Nothing stops them from doing this either. </p>

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management" (pluralsight.com)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<table id="post5554519" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" align="center">

<tbody>

<tr valign="top">

<td id="td_post_5554519" >

If Adobe came out with a brand new upgrade for PS in their effort to sell creative cloud I could see where some people would buy in. At the current offering you will only be buying 2 gigs of cloud space and nothing else. You will basically pay them to use the software you have already bought and paid for. They have a need to collect cost of the hugh storage space they had to construct for cloud and getting people to jump to the subscription plan with a low introductory offer is the way they can pay for it. Why would anyone who has PS or Lightroom pay Adobe a monthly rate to use the software they already own. The reason behind all of this is PS has leveled off and the new versions won't have enough upgrades to warrant the cost of an upgrade. <a href="http://johndoddato.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://johndoddato.blogspot.com/</a>

</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<blockquote>

<p>If Adobe came out with a brand new upgrade for PS in their effort to sell creative cloud I could see where some people would buy in.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>But that's exactly what they are doing. Plus, updates to the upgrade (new features) will occur on a regular basis, not every 12-18 months. </p>

<blockquote>

<p>Why would anyone who has PS or Lightroom pay Adobe a monthly rate to use the software they already own.<br /></p>

</blockquote>

<p>No one would and that's not what Adobe is proposing. The CC suite is all new. </p>

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management" (pluralsight.com)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...