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Although Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop Elements all use ACR 6, they are all very different. However, purely from a RAW file conversion point of view, which is what we’re considering here, they’re all the same. So really it’s choose your workspace, or interface.
Nobody needs me to tell them how wonderful and vital Photoshop is to digital photographers, but we now have a choice:
Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the professional tool it’s always been, but not just for photographers. As Photoshop and Adobe’s Creative Suite have grown to cover all digital media, from graphics to web, to....... everything. Photoshop itself has moved - CS5 feels a bit like it’s meant for someone else at times. Buying the latest upgrade can leave you with feelings of inadequacy too. You mean you just want the basic version? Not the extended version, or the whole creative suite? Oh you poor thing.... In Photoshop Cs5 there are now tabs along the top of the screen : Essentials : Design : Painting : - which shows how important Photoshop is to all creative professionals. If you’re a pro photographer then it’s a no brainer, you need Photoshop, but for everyone else the decision’s getting harder.
Is Photoshop CS5 still an essential for every serious photographer?
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is the main reason I’d hesitate if I was a serious amateur. Lightroom 3 is a big step forward. It has many inspired parts which are so much better than their Photoshop equivalents. I’m finding Lightroom is what I use most now, and many of the tasks I still use Photoshop for could actually be done in Lightroom now too. So if you’re starting out with a new DSLR - which one should you buy. Lightroom 3 would be my choice. No question.
Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 : Photoshop Elements has grown from the ashes of various Photoshop LE or Lite versions to become a completely different program. As Adobe have moved Lightroom up the scale, aimed at pros and serious amateurs, Elements has become a kind of Photoshop Starter, for beginners. That may seem like exactly what you need, but a word of caution. If you see Photoshop Elements as a way to learn Photoshop CS5, that no longer works, or at least it doesn’t looking from the other direction. I’ve been using Photoshop from version 5 on, and I used to be able to help my camera club friends with Photoshop Elements, but since about Elements 6, I’m lost. Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS whatever are now so different that I don’t think the step up is very easy any more. So why start out with Photoshop Elements then? Good question. The reason used to be price: Elements £ 60 / Photoshop £ 600 is a huge difference. But Lightroom is around £ 200 and I would say it’s absolutely worth the extra. Especially as, once you’ve bought in, the the upgrades will cost roughly the same as the next version of Elements, where you only get a £ 10 voucher for an upgrade.
If you really need Photoshop, and have been using it for years and have a head full of keyboard shortcuts, like me, carry on, it’s great, and ACR 6 makes it even better. Most pros I know had no idea how bad it’s RAW file conversion used to be, so most will now not notice how good it is. Pros trust Photoshop. Most have never used anything else. End of.
However if you’re a strange individual like me, who checks this stuff out for yourself, Lightroom is cheaper, and all photography. It has more and better tools for photography - cropping / adjustment brush in particular. OK there are things you do still need Photoshop for, but I’d buy Lightroom 3 now and start learning what we’ll all be using pretty soon. before Adobe put the prices up.
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