PS Elements 10 vs Nikon Capture NX2

[kylebybee]

<p>Looking for opinions on these two softeware applications. Trying to decided, I'm using a Mac. I don't care too much for Apeture 3, and Photoshop CS5 is way too expensive if you can't get the upgrade price.<br>

Thanks,<br>

Kyle</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Happily, you can try them both for free for a month. And that's the best way to answer the question. But you have to honestly commit to <em>using</em> the software for the month, in order to get past more than just the simple stuff.<br /><br />These are aimed at doing different jobs. You can't, for example, handle text in NX2. But you can do amazing things with Nikon's 14-bit RAW files. And the u-point interface, if you like it, really grows on you. Not knowing what you shoot, at what pace/volume, how you work in post, what you ultimately <em>do</em> with the images, etc., it's hard to recommend anything beyond simply downloading the trial for each, and giving them a test drive.</p>

[kylebybee]

<p>I have been using the trial version of PS Elements 10 for about 2 weeks now and like it ok. I shoot mostly architecture and landscapes. Off subject, maybe, I shoot in Raw and was wanting to post some photos in my file here and can't because they are too big or something. Thank you for the input.<br>

Kyle</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>You should indeed post some stuff. Just follow the guidelines about the overall pixel dimensions and file size of the JPG you create as your final web-oriented output.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Matt's advice to try them is spot-on.<br>

In my experience, they're sufficiently different programs indeed. I used to do pretty much everything in PS Elements (5.0), and it's a solid program, a swiss army knife. But when i had to sort, edit and convert ~2000 RAW files in approx. a week, PS Elements got in my way - it's a good swiss army knife, but I needed a chainsaw (read: batch conversion of RAWs in PS Elements is missing functionality; looking at 100% in the Organiser was missing - it slowed me down). I tried CaptureNX2 at that time, combined with ViewNX for sorting - it got the job done perfectly, delivers good quality, I liked using it and the program made sense right away - so I bought it afterward the 60 days trial expired. No regrets. <br />That said, nowadays I also have a copy of CaptureOne 6 Express, and that's also really really good, similar priced. I would be tempted to go completely with that, but I grew too accustomed to ViewNX2/CaptureNX2 (plus an additional program for tagging) - not going to leave that any time soon.</p>

<p>So, maybe even widen the scope a bit. Bibble Lite and CaptureOne Express are pretty great tools too. For the more hands-on editing that PS Elements can do but the others not, there are great freebies as Paint.NET or GIMP filling the gap. The main thing is finding a user interface that makes sense to you and works with you, rather than against you. Just consider that the volume of photos can make a large difference there, so give the trial version a thorough work-out.</p>

 

[nick_marzinski]

<p>You mentioned that you shoot a lot of RAW, and one of the drawbacks to PS Elements is that it comes with a stripped down version of Adobe Camera Raw. Have you considered something like Adobe Lightroom? The Develop module of that program is the full version of ACR that you'd find in CS5, and the Library/Import module makes cataloging your images and handling workflow fairly painless and is much more robust than the organizer in Elements. It's more expensive than Elements (though I've been seeing sales for it lately), and most of the edits that it does are global so you'll probably still want/need a pixel-level editor like Elements, but you may want to also consider it. I use both Elements and Lightroom, and probably 95% of my edits get done in Lightroom without ever needing to move over to Elements.</p>

[kylebybee]

<p>I just found out that my wife being a teacher can get Photoshop CS5 extended for $199.00. That sounds like a good deal, so we're going with it.</p>