Re: OT: Photoshop CS4 upgrade overpriced
CS4?? Why?, Why?, Why?
The clone tool, levels/curves/saturation/.unsharp mask etc etc etc are
exactly the same as Pshop6. Adobe con you into assuming you need to keep
upgrading, but what do you actually do with it? Lets face it, unless you
habitually make complicated montages or are a graphic designer or do need
very high end repro facilities or need the integration that the cs suite
offers, you may as well use pshop 5,6,7,or as I do, plain old CS/2/3 (on a
daily professional basis). Get your exposure/composition and focus right in
the first place and you hardly need Photoshop other than to print through
(and the printer driver for Macs in CS3 is appaling).
Sorry that this doesn't answer your question but I think if more people
questioned their requirements and ignored the marketing hype and peer
pressure, Adobe would be forced to abandon their policy of frivolous change
and actually produce a product that is more tuned to the requirements of its
users.
I'll get off my soapbox now ;~)
Julian.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Schmitz" <gws1@columbia.edu>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 10:54 AM
Subject: Re: OT: Photoshop CS4 upgrade overpriced
Dan,
You don't really address my question. Is the upgrade from CS3 Premium to
CS4 worth $600? I use Photoshop more as a utility - as you are aware I
prefer a negative, lens and sensitized paper to digital gagag. That said
I do use Photoshop from time to time. Has CS4 (hard to believe Adobe can
really jump to a new ver. # as fast as they have) really added enough new
functionality to justify me plunking down that much cash; or can I plug
along with what I've got? Most pay as you go software that I've had to
buy of late I would label "buggy" "bloatware;" I only buy the new
versions so I don't get cut off from support or get nailed with having to
buy it all over again if I fall 2 "versions" behind. But given the price
Adobe is asking if I miss one upgrade, it will be cheaper for me to buy
the software new. My original question, again, is do you think the
benifits of owning the new version are worth the price - and what are
those benefits (from the mouth of somebody who is using the software to do
real work? BTW, if you are getting any perks from Adobe, and I assume you
are not - please mention that too.
--g
Dan Burkholder wrote:
Hey Greg,
If you can get just the Photoshop CS4 upgrade for the price mentioned by
Richard, then yes, you should go for it. The $600 you quote sounds like
an upgrade for the entire suite of products. Adobe must figure if you're
using that full batch of applications that you're making money with all
of them. That isn't always the case of course.
CS4 is another of those upgrades that hook you like crack; it's really
hard to go back to CS3 (I'm speaking just Photoshop here) after getting a
taste of the "4". I'd also add that, with CS4, Adobe has finally moved to
define Photoshop as the domain for serious image editors and not the
stuff for casual users. The transition to CS4 forces us to make some
pretty major changes to the way we make selections and masks and modify
them. Don't get me wrong; the changes are almost all for the good. It's
just that the learning curve has been steepened somewhat for those who
haven't had a good workflow to begin with. Make sense?
To throw a bit of a wrench into your decision process, the Extended
version of Photoshop offers some neat capabilities that are missing from
the Standard version of CS4. I don't think Adobe has an upgrade path from
Standard to Extended so you best decide before purchasing. If memory
serves, you can upgrade an older Standard version of CS2 or CS3 to the
Extended version of CS4 at a fair price. Just don't expect to upgrade CS4
Standard to CS4 Extended for any price approaching reasonable. ;^)
Hope this helps!
Dan
info@DanBurkholder.com
www.DanBurkholder.com
On Mar 8, 2009, at 8:30 AM, Greg Schmitz wrote:
I have Adobe Photoshop CS3 Creative Design Premium and can't decide if I
should upgrade to CS4. It seems to me that Adobe's asking price of $600
for an upgrade is "over the top." Will I get $600 worth of improvement
if I upgrade to CS4? I'd be interested in hearing from those of you
that have upgraded to CS4 if you think the upgrade was worth the money.
$600 is 2-weeks of work for me and I am loath to give it to some Silicon
Valley wonk so that he/she can continue to drive their Porsche or BMW
whenever they want to.
--greg
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