What photoshop should I get?

[Kermit911]

I was looking on e-bay, there are so mant different kinds of photoshop. What should I get? I don't want the student edition, or training edition. I would like the real deal. Thanx all

Kermit

[Deluxe]

I suggest visitng the Adobe website and downloaded the latest trial. That way if you like it, after 30 days you can pay by credit card online and activate it. No postage, no bidding. much easier.

[dhom]

Well, I still suggest GIMP, and I'll try to give you some help with downloading it. :)

[linnetwoods]

If not, you could always do a search of 'freeware image editor' on Google...

[Dabrowski]

Here are my two cents, assuming you don't know much about Photoshop: find a nice little peripheral device or something of that ilk that might come with Photoshop elements. Get used to it and you'll prbably want to spring for a full version at some point, or if you don't, you're not out anything. Plus you can use it as long as you want.

I bought a WACOM tablet a couple of years ago and got Elements with it. If I had paid 700 for the full version, I would have gotten frustrated and given up. So after many months, I'm feeling very comfortable with Elements, and I'm considering buying a full version.

[Croc Hunter]

You want the real deal Adobe Photoshop CS2 is the latest version. While those little free tools like Gimp are great for a quick edit, Photoshop is a much more Powerful application. It even made me breakfast once.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html

[jeff1022]

Agree 100% with Croc Hunter - Get the real thing.


I agree too. The one thing you might want to do is see if PS Elements will do what you need. The full current version, PS CS2 is the king of the hill but a little pricey. Check out the Adobe site and take a look at both product specs and go from there man.

[linnetwoods]

I'd like to put in a word for my favourite app for these purposes: Jasc PaintShop Pro - it is Shareware so you get to try the full program out for an evaluation period before deciding whether to part with your money. It certainly loads a heck of a lot faster than Photoshop...

I just went to find a link for you and found, to my amazement, that Jasc has joined Corel! Here's the link I found: http://www.corel.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3Uk/Home

Cheers!

[joeldryden]

If you want the real deal, then stay with Adobe Photoshop. All other programs imitate this it. Having been in the design for print business for 20 years, I've seen all the others. You pay a little more, but you get your $'s worth. I would stay away from Adobe CS versions. This package is a mistake. They've tried to provide all-in-one package, and if you've ever purchased one of those all-in-one printer/fax/copier you'll know what I'm talking about...trouble. I would recommend version 7 for both Mac and XP. Both come with Adobe ImageReady which is geared for web design.:D

[Dabrowski]

I was looking on e-bay, there are so mant different kinds of photoshop. What should I get? I don't want the student edition, or training edition. I would like the real deal. Thanx all

Kermit

So are you already familiar with Photoshop? If you're looking on eBay, I'm assuming price is an issue, as it is with most of us.

I reiterate my advice, get Elements somehow. If I had paid big bucks for Photoshop, I'd have abandoned it long ago. I got a nice free bit of software, and by the time you spring for Photshop, you will know how to use a lot of it.

Let us know how you're doing.

[joeldryden]

here's a link to get a trial of Photoshop Elements for Windows as Dabrowski has indicated. http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html

Lots of other cool stuff to explore within adobe.com as well.

Just keep in mind Elements is not the full package. You may be able to find a low price full version of Photoshop on ebay for the $100.00 you'll spend on Elements.
You'll need to decide how much you want to spend overall, and how willing you are to train yourself on the full scale program.

[joeldryden]

One more thing about ebay software, just make sure seller is giving you a clean serial number and product key, otherwise you'll be sorry. Bets to buy an opened version with tutorial and disk.

[Andromeda]

get the Adobe Photoshop and ImageReady.. These program is so cool that I got really fascinated with it.. okay I just learned the basics.. and able to make gifs.. good thing I am around with skilled and experienced Designers here to help me as well!

[mjp]

Photoshop is a much more Powerful application. It even made me breakfast once.Damn, I still use 5.5, and it won't even make coffee...

I've bought and sold hundreds of things on ebay, software was never one of them. I think you're just asking for trouble (or a bootleg copy) buying Photoshop on ebay.

[mjp]

Speaking of Photoshop (but not really), there is a nice open source alternative to Illustrator: http://inkscape.org/

[linnetwoods]

I think you're just asking for trouble (or a bootleg copy) buying Photoshop on ebay.I agree but would extend that to cover all software and with good reason - friends of mine have checked out software purchased in this way with the manufacturers on more than one occasion and it has turned out to be pirated every time.


Amazon.com sell Adobe products and I have seen some pretty good prices on the older versions.

Calculating the difference (I have an Amazon Adobe store so I do this kind of thing for a reason, not just idle curiosity!) it can be better for a customer to buy an older version at a cut price and then buy an upgrade than it is to buy the latest thing, which is not generally to be found at cut rates anywhere legal.

[windra26]

i would say get photoshop cs. i dont really think upgrading to cs2 is worth it. i have cs2 and i uninstalled it. it just takes up a lot more space and isnt really any better. but it all depends on what you are comfortable with. my friend who is a graphic designer still uses 6.0 and he has no plans to change. he can make better graphics with that then with cs2. it just depends on you. if you are new to photoshop then get cs or cs2. but i agree that you should use the trial first. each version has a trial so download it and try it out. but beware the download is big so if you have slow internet then its going to take a while to download

[ksaphan]

On e-Bay many versions of photoshop are illegal. The best way is to buy photoshop from their official web site. I use CS. And I don't like CS2.

[eljefe]

Depends on how advanced you are. I've personally used Photoshop since 6.5 and really nothing much big has changed since 7. Weelll... CS 2 did add some big changes, but only in UI.

So I'd just sick with 7. Cheapest way, still get to use alot of good plugins if you need, lighter than newer versions of photoshop.

I would personally just skip CS all together. If youdon't want to pay for CS2, get 7, but if you can pay for CS2, go for it. Either way you won't be dissapointed. (Other users suggest avoiding CS2 for CS, frankly CS hardly changed anything from 7 while CS2 actually changed interface behavior, paticularly the layers pallette. So save money and just get 7 instead of CS).

[tbonekkt]

I say go for CS2. Support will be more available from Adobe. It's similar to someone asking which Windows OS should they go with, ME or XP? To me, it's a no-brainer.

[ksaphan]

I think tbonekkt is right. CS2 is the best choise. But be very carefull with purchase on eBay. Most of photoshopes there are ILLEGAL.

[astrogirl]

Just wanted to add a comment about this...

CS and CS2 are memory hogs, so if you have an older system it will be difficult to use them. I tried the trial version of them and it took sooooooo long to do things that it wasnt worth an upgrade for me.

also, you said you dont want a student edition? a student edition is the full version of the program. It has all the same features as the standard package does, its just sold at a cheaper price to students. There probably wont be much of a price diff on ebay, but when you are buying new, there can be a HUGE price diff if you are student. The only catch is you cant upgrade (to my knowledge) or use it for commercial work. You need the professional version if you want to do either later.

Really though I wouldnt buy it on ebay for the reasons others have said. But also, especially with CS, you need to activate it and Im not sure how a used version would work with the activation process. : /

[ksaphan]

Student version means you can use this photoshop only for studying. You can't use it to make images for business. It's why the price is cheap. Because to make images for your business in student version is illegal.
Only CS2 needs to be activated.

[tbonekkt]

Student version means you can use this photoshop only for studying. You can't use it to make images for business. It's why the price is cheap. Because to make images for your business in student version is illegal.I don't believe that's correct. Student/Academic versions are simply that - special pricing for students/educators to be used in those arenas. The licenses don't state what the software can be used for, only by whom.

[ksaphan]

I don't believe that's correct. Student/Academic versions are simply that - special pricing for students/educators to be used in those arenas. The licenses don't state what the software can be used for, only by whom.

I'm not sure, but I guess that you can't use Student version for business.
Also, there are a lot of illegal photoshops on eBay, selled by people from Russia and former USSR.
I know that as I live in Belarus. In our country you can buy illegal photoshop at any market for just $3.00. :)

[djwtwo]

Have a look at http://www.adobe.com/education/purchasing/faq.html

First question and answer:

Professional/commercial use
Student question
"I'm very interested in buying the Education version of Adobe Creative Suite, but first I want to know if the software can be used to produce work for paying customers once I am working in the industry, or do I have to buy a different version of Creative Suite once I'm working in the industry?”

Answer
Good news! You can use Adobe Education software (any title!) to produce commercial/professional paid-for work when you leave school, or even while you are in school. In this regard, Adobe does not limit how student software is used. So students can use it to learn and to make money!

(Of course, students must agree to the terms of the End User Licensing Agreement — which appears during installation — just as every software customer must do.)

[Kat]

If you want the real deal, then stay with Adobe Photoshop. All other programs imitate this it. Having been in the design for print business for 20 years, I've seen all the others. You pay a little more, but you get your $'s worth. I would stay away from Adobe CS versions. This package is a mistake. They've tried to provide all-in-one package, and if you've ever purchased one of those all-in-one printer/fax/copier you'll know what I'm talking about...trouble. I would recommend version 7 for both Mac and XP. Both come with Adobe ImageReady which is geared for web design.:D

With all due respect to your experience, I completely disagree. I work in Photoshop CS2 on macs and PC's all day every day for Newspaper and Magazine publishers and manage the colour workflow throughout the company. PS CS2 is far from an all in one and doesn't pretend to be. It is without peer for image processing including all previous versions. The all in one from adobe is Creative Suite which is 5 different applications. Photoshop cs2 on Tiger is simply heaven. The absolute BEST there is.

[Kat]

i would say get photoshop cs. i dont really think upgrading to cs2 is worth it. i have cs2 and i uninstalled it. it just takes up a lot more space and isnt really any better. but it all depends on what you are comfortable with. my friend who is a graphic designer still uses 6.0 and he has no plans to change. he can make better graphics with that then with cs2. it just depends on you. if you are new to photoshop then get cs or cs2. but i agree that you should use the trial first. each version has a trial so download it and try it out. but beware the download is big so if you have slow internet then its going to take a while to download

Graphic designers I work with spend their time in Illustrator and Indesign, not photoshop. They tend to piddle about in Photoshop really. Not many graphic designers like to rasterise their designs or text. Obviously your friend is not using Creative suite if he is using PS6. I guarantee if he plays just once with the advanced features of Creative Suite CS2 he will be positively depressed having to use anything else.

Kat

[rogueusmc]

The suite programs all work together...take a path from PhotoShop and export it to Illustrator and it will type along the path, then export back to PhotoShop. They each do differnet things that the others won't.

Lee

[teamblueline]

Buy the new Photoshop, CS2.

Photoshop is not a difficult program... do tutorials, buy a book... its not too hard. Dont go with all these other suggestions, sorry folks... PS is the industry standard, and once you know your way around it you won't be sorry. You can literally drag and drop from one Adobe program to the next, and using ImageReady (comes with CS2) to prepare for web is great. It also now works a lot with vector images... I say go for the Real Deal.

[dhom]

Buy the new Photoshop, CS2.

Photoshop is not a difficult program... do tutorials, buy a book... its not too hard. Dont go with all these other suggestions, sorry folks... PS is the industry standard, and once you know your way around it you won't be sorry. You can literally drag and drop from one Adobe program to the next, and using ImageReady (comes with CS2) to prepare for web is great. It also now works a lot with vector images... I say go for the Real Deal.

Question on this: I don't have GoLive and prefer to edit HTML/PHP in HTML-Kit. What advantages would CS2 give me over GIMP in that case? Just curious. :)

[muijefr]

First, always listen to Croc. Next, it depends on your needs. Photoshop is top of the line for photographic and printing but it is expensive to get and expensive to maintain. You may just as well use Paint Shop Pro/PSP. PSP will use most all Photoshop plugins and it's comparatively inexpensive. I once owned PS, version 5, but did not need it's total capabilities and found PSP to be a very useful tool. :D

[agunther]

Think what you are planning to get out of it. How much money is it worth to you ....
I bought PS6 on Ebay (carefull, not all are legit) and then bought the upgrade to the latest version (PS CS2) from Adobe. This was a lot cheaper than buying the 'normal' version but got me the latest PS.
You may not need all the features of CS2 though. PS6 is fine for most needs.
I work a lot with 16-bit TIFF and for that matter feel that I need CS2.