Photoshop or Paintshop Pro ?

MP Guy · 10-17-2004

Well,

Now that I am into the digital darkroom and have this fancy printer (epson 4000) , I need to decide what will give me the best results in editing.

I am not interested in special effects. My main goal is to scan my negatives/slides, do all the necessary clean up and color correction and print away.

I have both photoshop cs and paintshop pro. I find that using paintshop pro is much easier than photoshop. But then I hear that photoshop does so much more. I am only interested in doing those things mentioned above. But, I am also trying to render the best image possible to my printer. Will the 2 products yield the same results ?

Thanks,

JT

Gordon Coale · 10-17-2004

Epson 4000! (Print me green with envy.) Photoshop is pretty good in the color management side. Are you calibrating your monitor? Most high end scanner software (i.e., SilverFast) and calibration tools are designed to integrate with Photoshop. I'm not sure how they support Paintshop Pro. I would think Photoshop would be the way to go.

sfaust · 10-17-2004

I would recommend Photoshop. Its is basically the defacto industry standard, and is supported by many companies with plug-ins, modules, etc. In the end, Photoshop will give you more functionality. And if you decide to get deeper into the digital darkroom at some point in the future, you'll end up moving over to Photshop. So why not start with PS from the begining, and avoid the possible backstep in the learning curve during that move.

Further, there are more books, tutorials, learning modules, courses, etc for Photoshop, so you will have all the support you want now, and in the future. Photoshop isn't hard to learn, its just different from what you are using now.

With all the digital darkroom software and support rallying around Photoshop, it only makes sense to go that route IMO.

Rich Silfver · 10-17-2004

Stephen summed it up really well - go with PS which will allow you space to grow.

What else do you need...?

1) Calibration tool.
Gordon already mentioned that. For best possible results you will need a spider and calibration software. It's not expensive these days and can be had for 2-300 dollars.

2) Software
As mentioned - hands down PS. One way to move into it a bit cheaper is to see if you can buy an older version (5.5 for instance) for a few pennies on the dollar and then simply buy an upgrade for it (you need to make sure that the cost for upgrading from release X to the latest release makes sense though).

:-)

Pherdinand · 10-18-2004

Why couldn't you use both if you already have them. I'm far from a photoshop expert; i have them both too, and there are some things that are much easier/faster done in paint shop pro. Example: keystone(or other) perspective corrections are a pain in photoshop, compared to PsP.

sfaust · 10-18-2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Pherdinand
Why couldn't you use both if you already have them. I'm far from a photoshop expert; i have them both too, and there are some things that are much easier/faster done in paint shop pro. Example: keystone(or other) perspective corrections are a pain in photoshop, compared to PsP.

Pherdinand, How are you approaching the keystoning and perspective corrections in PS? I find them a breeze. I get a box, drag the appropriate corner(s) to correct the perspective then press enter and its done.
To align a crooked horizon, I just draw a line along the horizon with the measure tool, select the rotate tool, and the appropriate amount and direction are already filled in. Press enter and its done.

You are right though, there any times when using two applications make sense. However, I try to select one application and do everything in it just to keep down the upgrade costs. Its expensive enough to keep photoshop updated without having another app or two on its coat tails.

GeneW · 10-18-2004

BTW, a side note to anyone thinking of a purchase. The newly released Photoshop Elements 3 has incorporated some of the features from full Photoshop such as limited 16-bit editing (on a par with Photoshop 7), Healing Brush, and the great Shadow/Highlights Tool from Photoshop CS. I think the price, new, is around $100 but haven't verified this.

Gene

Honu-Hugger · 10-18-2004

Jorge,
Stephen et al. provided some great information for me in a thread I started "What I don't know about PhotoShop..." Great stuff and I thank you gentlemen again.

D2

MP Guy · 10-18-2004

i just purchased a book on ps. guess you now know what i will be using.

thanks all for the great advise.

michael · 10-19-2004

Just to put in a word for

Picture Window Pro.

This is a very intuitive program which is much much cheaper than Photoshop but which, so far as I can tell, does everything that does, and more besides. Professional photographer Norman Koren (http://www.normankoren.com/) tells it like it is, and has some good tutorials as well.

vickiscat · 01-09-2005

I use both Photoshop7 and Paintshop Pro 8 daily in my work. I find them quite similar, but each has advantages the other does not. My advice is to use either one until you are truly competent with it. The discover how the other one adds some features you might like using. Cheers...Vicki

RML · 01-09-2005

I use PSP. It's what I started with yeeeears ago when PSP was very cheap and PS was already a bank breaker (especially for a poor high school student). Over the years I found the things I want to do with a photo (for instance, my monochromisation process) and found them to be easier doen than in PS (possibly partly due to my non-experience with PS). Learning PS for me would be overkill: the package is way too heavy for my needs, it's way too expensive for my wallet, and it will take way too much time to climb the learning curve. But if you don't mind those points PS is probably the way to go.

Doug · 01-09-2005

Welcome, Vicki! Natalia's been wondering where the other ladies are... I keep planning to learn Photoshop, as a full copy of version 2.1 or something came with a flatbed scanner I got years ago. But a German shareware program for the Mac called GraphicConverter has pretty much done what I need, but I'm now bumping into its limitations, so "PS, here I come..."

peter_n · 01-10-2005

Welcome to the forum Vicki!

I would think that Jorge has made his choice by now - maybe he can tell us what he went with...

GeneW · 01-10-2005

FYI, Photoshop Elements 3.0 has a lot of new features packed into it -- many of which have been borrowed from its big brother Photoshop CS. PSE3 is an excellent lower-cost option.

Gene

Russ · 01-10-2005

Quote:

Originally posted by Jorge Torralba
Well,

Now that I am into the digital darkroom and have this fancy printer (epson 4000) , I need to decide what will give me the best results in editing.

I am not interested in special effects. My main goal is to scan my negatives/slides, do all the necessary clean up and color correction and print away.

I have both photoshop cs and paintshop pro. I find that using paintshop pro is much easier than photoshop. But then I hear that photoshop does so much more. I am only interested in doing those things mentioned above. But, I am also trying to render the best image possible to my printer. Will the 2 products yield the same results ?

Thanks,

Jorge

We have both here. Go with Photoshop.

Russ

JT