CS6 Vs. Elements 11

[daniel_moorhead]

<p>Not sure if this is the correct place for this posting, but here goes:<br>

I just received an email from Adobe offering CS6 at a discounted price of $199, which is $400 off the original price. According to Adobe, the discount is offered as a way of enticement to upgrade from Elements to Photoshop. I have Elements 8 and was anticipating upgrading to Elements 11 when it is offered which, I assume, would be in the near future. I am mostly a hobbyist and have been quite comfortable with Elements, but at this price offering for CS6, I was wondering if it would be worth it to do the upgrade or just wait for the new Elements which, I assume, would be offered for around $100. My question: would the extra $200 price tag for CS6 be worth it to me or should I just wait for the new Elements to be issued and purchase it instead? Is Photoshop that much better than Elements?</p>

<p>Thanks<br>

Dan</p>

 

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>In my view - it depends. PS Elements is far more featured than many frequently give it credit for, but CS6 really includes everything. Yes, it is better, the question to ask if the additional tools matter to you, and whether a more austere user interface works better for you.<br>

PS Elements has a rather gentle learning curve, with tools offering assistance, and tools optimised for the usual editing and operations. CS6 is far more the professional tool that assumes you know what you're doing; it won't hold your hand and won't tell you what to do, at the same time it also won't get in your way. <br />If you're fluent with the full PSE editor, then working in CS6 will be little issue. If you're not, and you're using PS Elements mostly for the library and light editing, then CS6 might be overkill, and less comfortable to work with. So, part of the question is: do you feel PSE is holding you back, or could hold you back?<br>

Another thing to consider: if you invested much time in the PSE library, check if it will be carried over into Adobe Bridge. And yet another consideration: if you do not do very heavy editing, LightRoom 4 might be more interesting than Photoshop alltogether.</p>

<p>But at $199... yes it's quite a bit of money, but I personally would get it. Even if I am a very light user of PS Elements, with CS6, I'd be completely set - it's a seriously good offer and with CS6, there are no artificial limitations (16-bits editing, full ACR etc.). It's a big complicated swiss army knife and it takes time to learn, but there is no knife like it.</p>

[tom_mann1]

<p>Ditto everything Wouter said!</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

[chrisnielsen]

Must be great to get deals like that. Cs6 here in new Zealand is priced at Us$699

[daverhaas]

<p>Really hard to say (and Adobe isn't to my knowledge) what is in and not in. Keep in mind that they typically build elements off of the current PS platform - so 11 should be built off of PS 6.0</p>

<p>Anticipated announce would be in September - based on past history. </p>

<p>Dave</p>

<p> </p>

[franklin_white]

<p>I received a similar e-mail from Adobe yesterday, but the offer was to buy CS6 for $299 -- not $199. I don't think I'm going to bite for $299, but had I received the $199 offer I would probably snap it up.</p>

[richsimmons]

<p>It's a good deal, but unless you need to do stuff like pre-press, layer masking, web design or stuff like that, you probably don't need it. You might be better off getting Lightroom, which will give you more to work with (and works with Elements) at a lesser price and in the future, a smaller upgrade price. </p>

[don_baccus]

<p>" and in the future, a smaller upgrade price."</p>

<p>Upgrade pricing is something to be aware of before biting on the $199 offer ... once you're roped in, it's very likely you'll be looking at upgrade pricing substantially higher than that for Elements.<br>

As Wouter says, "part of the question is: do you feel PSE is holding you back, or could hold you back?". If it were me (I'm sticking with Elements) I'd make a list and ask myself if it's worth the extra cost, including the recurring cost of upgrades if you wish to stay current.</p>

 

[daverhaas]

<p>or you could always take the approach of upgrade only when they drop support for your camera and version of ACR.</p>

<p>Basically I'm 1 version back on elements - 9 does 99% of what I need - no reason to rush out and grab 10 - waiting to see what 11 has that 10 and 9 don't</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

[john_a5]

<p>The biggest difference, IMO, between PS and Elements is the ability to work in 16 bit. If you don't do much processing to your images in post, you can probably do without the 16 bit workflow. But if you are working your images, 8 bit introduces a lot of issues. Most of us who have been working with digital imagery for some time know this. PS didn't always have full support for working in 16 bit and there were often issues with banding and such if we worked an image other than with small tweaks.</p>

<p>Lightroom is a good option, again, if you don't do too much post processing but then there are also a lot of features in the RAW processor that comes with Elements that allows for some pretty advanced working with images. There are issues when you aren't working with layers and precise masking, but I do find that I will often, with the latest improvements in the RAW processor, do more post work in RAW than I did in the past. But at the same time, I don't do things that really need the precision of Photoshop in RAW.</p>

<p>I know a lot of people who only use Elements or Lightroom and they work for them because of the type of work they do and the type of post work they want to do. Sometimes they are frustrated by the limitations but not to the point of needing PS.</p>

<p>Money spent on something you don't need, however cheap, is wasted money. On the other hand, the possibilities PS opens up for post work might spark one to new levels. It's a personal choice.</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>CS 6 for $199! Forget Elements and snap that deal up! Get a couple of books or take a class or two on PS and get busy. </p>

[mrp-images]

<p>I am just learning how to work with CS 6 and I enjoy the challenge, I will point out that if you can buy the software for that low a price then go for it, just keep in mind its a beast of a program and it may stall you processor when using it, which will lead to you needing a super computer to run the program.</p>