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June 13, 2007
[ REVIEW—ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS3 ]
Price: $1155 Upgrade $355
Highly Recommended
The low-down: Photoshop CS3 is the latest incarnation of the industry standard photo editing program. CS2 has ruled for the past two years but it was proving very unstable under Windows Vista so a new version was urgently needed. For those running Windows XP or older versions of the Mac OS the question must be asked if the cost of the upgrade is justified. For the money you get a new interface and a few new features, all of which are desirable but none of which is indispensable. Photoshop CS2 is already overkill for standard photo editing tasks because it contains so many functions for use by graphic artists, but Photoshop Elements falls just short of having a full feature set for image editing, so for the serious user the full program is the way to go.
Like: The best of the new features are the new Camera Raw interface, the Quick Selection tool and the new Black and White conversion function. Camera Raw now opens jpegs as well as RAW files and provides the same suite of developing controls that are found in Adobe Lightroom. You might rationalise the high price of CS3 by arguing that you get Lightroom (RRP $505 ) for nothing. The Quick Selection tool is a beauty.
Dislike: There is no longer a Print with Preview control. It has been replaced with a simple Print command that brings up a dialogue box with the print-with-preview selections in it but the interaction between this Adobe box and the printer-specific control dialogue is clunky and infuriating. It is too easy to print with one parameter or another incorrectly set.
Verdict: Photoshop is a venerable program that deserves its place as the industry standard. It is very expensive unless you qualify for the academic price. The upgrade is optional for people still running Windows XP or an older Mac OS but it is essential for Vista users. In the Imaging column today we describe in detail the new features of interest to photographers.
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Posted by terry at June 13, 2007 11:37 PM
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