photoshop le or paintshop pro?

not looking to get into full blown photoshop. is "le" better than paintshop
pro? price seems to be comparable. i know there will be a learning curve with
either. which is a better investment of my time to learn. thanx for any input.
peter

 

I was a PaintShop Pro advocate for many many years.
There is a definite learning curve for Photoshop, but the rewards are well
worth
learning it. I still use Photoshop, but not for the high end editing that I
do with levels, curves, layers, layer masks and custom actions. You will
find more "HOW TO" help on the net for photoshop as well.

Paintshop does hold it's own against other editors but it is no comparison
to Photoshop because they are in two different classes.

 

(PrincePete01)

NO

Paint Shop Pro is better than LE and is the program with the most bang for the
buck.

 

[On 14 Jul 2003 04:44:21 GMT,
(PrincePete01) wrote:]

Different horses. Very different.

I have a fair amount of experience with Paintshop Pro and a
little bit of experience with the full version of Photoshop --
none ay all with the "LE" version, however, so please take
this in that context.

Based on what I've experienced myself and what you've said
about yourself, my unhesitating recommendation would be for
Paintshop Pro.

Here's why:

Photoshop is clearly the superior program. There's no
question about that. It *is* the standard. If you want to
get into swimming in the deep end of the pool, that *is* the
way to go.

But for most of us, wading around in the shallow end is quite
enough. We might have ideas about doing more than that, but
we aren't prepared to invest the amount of time that would be
required to do so. Nor, frankly, do many of us have the
talent.

I found Photoshop to be excruciating to learn. Impossible,
really. I know many people here have learned to use it -- and
many of those many people with great success -- but I thought
it was an incredible bitch. For me, Photoshop was a miserable
experience. I didn't ever really use it. I hated it. It
collected dust on my hard drive.

I tend to assume that the "LE" version of Photoshop is a
hobbled version of the full version. Perhaps it's better than
that, but I wouldn't think so going in. My guess is that it
is essentially intended to make you get hooked into wanting
the full version.

Which maybe you do. If so, then fair enough. That would be
the way to go.

But I would not buy the "LE" version unless I wanted to go
there to begin with. Some people might see that as a path to
future advancement; I see it as a way into an inevitable
corner which offers only one way out.

Paintshop Pro, on the other hand, is much friendlier turf on
which to trend. It isn't by any means as good as Photoshop,
but it doesn't pretend to be. Nor is it hobbled. It will do
everything most of us will ever want to do -- and it will do
those things well. It makes no excuses to anyone about what
it will do

If you want to get into "serious" editing, I would suggest you
take five Valium pills and then go straight to the full
version of Photoshop. Do not pass "Go" (that being the LE
version).

If you just want fool around, do some decent editting of your
own, and have some fun, I'd get Paintshop. It's really very
good. You can do more with it than you will ever likely need
or want to do. And you will have the full version right from
the start.

Good luck!

Harry

 

The other thing is that I refuse to buy "lite" versions of
programs anymore. I won't do it.

Every one I've ever bought in the past has lacked one or more
essential feature which has required purchasing the full
version. I have spent hours and hours learning to use them,
only to discover that I need to spend another $300 in order to
do some basic function.

Not for me...

 

Photoshop LE is a dead product, it's been replaced by Photoshop Elements -
that's the one you want to compare to Paint Shop Pro.

Mark

 

le doesn't have the imageready stuff, so if you're going to the net,
it's not the best choice.
That's OK -- just download the Gimp for free (Windows or Linux).

m
http://www.mbstevens.com/

 

Peter, I use PaintShop Pro 6 (PSP) occasionally at work and Photoshop at
home.

Photoshop may be a bit more difficult to use but once you are used to it, it
is difficult going back to something else. One thing I don't like in PSP is
the lack of histogram in the levels dialog. It makes the exposure and
contrast tweaking more difficult (I haven't checked later versions of PSP).
PhotoShop is better in that respect.

Photoshop LE was a limited version of Photoshop that used to be delivered
free with scanners, printers... It was actually only very slightly limited
(no support for channel splitting/combining...) compared to the full
version. For photo retouching, I don't think the differences were really
annoying. However, the last LE release is quite old now, dating from the
Photoshop 5 era. I would NOT buy one.

Photoshop LE has long been replaced by Photoshop Elements (now 2.0). It is
no more strictly speaking a limited version of Photoshop, it is a different
product with its own versions, sometimes even improving over Photoshop. But
it still shares most of the interface of its bigger brother: I have used it
occasionally and, being used to Photoshop, found my way very easily in the
program. It is terrific value if you don't want to pay for Photoshop.

 

PSP 8 is tremendously improved over version 6. V6 was good for its
time, but that has been a while.

PSP 8 has an excellent histogram tool.

PSP 8 is much more powerful than elements. It is closer to
Photoshop than to Photoshop Elements. Among the advantages
over Elements are the more extensive layer capabilities.

You can try PSP8 for 30 days for free. www.jasc.com.

Rick