Is PS CS4 worth $300 upgrade?

[iUma]

OK, quick, before Pattie moves this to it's proper place!!LOL I need as much input as y'all have about this. I've got a chance to upgrade from Amazon (actually from my old PCE6 purchase) to PS CS4 for $300. I have PS CS 3 already and LOVE it especially with my MacBookPro. So, like Cassie or Heather or any one else...I think Kerry is also using CS4....Is it worth it or should I wait. I have the extended version of CS3 and it costs a lot more to upgrade those versions. So there would be some advantage in getting to the basic PS CS4 version...for the next upgrade!! Are we craZy? I know Heather loves the Bridge in CS4 but what differences in PS4 do we use. Cassie was talking about adjustment layers the other night at the chat. Anke, you use it too, right? So what do you each think? I have til the 21st to do it. or not.

[Cassie Jones (1gr8muggle)]

Seriously, Patricia . . . you'll be happier with a new lens. Go get yourself some camera goodies with that $300.

Yes, I'm enjoying some of the new things, but it's nothing earth shattering. It's like asking if it's worth getting a new microwave because you can make popcorn in 2 minutes 7 seconds instead of 2 minutes 24 seconds. It's not going to change your life.

I only got it because I write the tutorials and I needed to stay on top of the versions. Otherwise I would have waited for the next version to get my money's worth out of CS3.

[iUma]

OK, then. Thank you. Love a truth-speaker. I'll post my camera options questions in the Photography thread...basically new body or new telephoto L lens?

[hguenthe]

I would also have to agree with Cassie on this... I mainly upgraded because my MIL was here and curious about a feature which her computer couldn't handle and I had the opportunity to get my upgrade for $160 which was within my means... but there isn't anything earth shattering about it. Being a stay at home wife, computers are the largest part of my life and I love learning new things and programs.

Yes, Bridge is vastly improved imo over its CS3 counterpart but $300 worth?? I can manually type a lot of keywords in for that price instead of the easy click collections. I definitely think that I will enjoy my new camera lens more than what I gained from upgrading CS for the price. That or I can think of a lot of things sitting on my wishlist which I could get more enjoyment out of and not cost me nearly as much.

The content aware scaling is what my MIL was interested in and yes, it is cool.. do I use it... not really.. I did once use it to extend a part of a photo out into a clipping mask so that I would get some neat texture in the flourishes but nothing I couldn't have accomplished the same with some blending and layers. I can see its use in magazine layout design but not something that most people will ever use.

For me, upgrading from PSE to CS for the warp tool, the pen tool, the paths was definitely worth it but if I already had CS, it would be a hard sell for $300 out of my pocket just to get the little tweaks of CS4... mostly things are a bit easier, prettier but functionality, not much has changed.

Question - if you already have CS3 extended, would you not still qualify to just upgrade the CS3 Photoshop portion for the reg $199 upgrade price if that is all you want to upgrade without having to upgrade everything to the CS4 Extended? or would that cause problems if you ever wanted to upgrade the other portions later?

An aside fyi, anyone who has a wacom tablet which comes packaged with PSE has access to their privilege program which has had upgrade from PSE to the latest version of CS for $299 all the time - no deadline like this deal - so if you have a tablet already, keep that in mind and if not, and thinking about maybe getting one, even the Bamboo Fun comes with PSE so for $100 you can try out a tablet & gain access to this deal if you decide later you do want to upgrade.

I do bad with deadlines when they come with trying to part money from my pocket so hate to see you rush a decision and then regret it... only took me a year to decide on a new camera lens and still haven't decided to get LR2 or not... not sure I will ever decided on that one as haven't seen anything that I can't already do with Camera Raw & PS.

[Kirsty85]

I would spend the money on a new lens too

I got CS4 a few weeks ago and it's not that great. I still have CS3 on my laptop but I have to keep telling myself not to go back to it, even though I feel more comfortable working with that one.

[anke]

I am with you guys! I wish I hadn't spent my money on it quite yet. CS3 was plenty good! I would definitely upgrade from PSE to PS but CS4 is not all that wonderful, in fact the tabs are still driving me crazy, they seem to cause more work rather than be beneficial, at least to me

[KerryMac]

OH my gosh! I totally disagree with you guys! CS4 is worth at least $500 to upgrade to. Have you not seen the microwave and toaster that come with it??!!!

Ha Ha! Just kidding I didn't have anything new to add to this conversation as I totally agree with everyone. I would not have upgraded had I not been forced to bc of my new camera. CS4 is not that much different than CS3 and I'd much rather spend $300 on just about anything else.

[Kirsty85]

Originally Posted by anke

in fact the tabs are still driving me crazy, they seem to cause more work rather than be beneficial, at least to me

I totally agree Anke!!

[angie wags]

What if you are still using CS2?? Is it worth it to upgrade then?

[KerryMac]

wags, the CS3 upgrade offered "smart filter" layers ( I think that's the right terminology) which made it so much easier to control filter effects. Plus, I believe that is the edition they added the shadow/highlight adjustment. Maybe CS2 has that, I can't remember.

But I do use the convert for smart filters feature a lot.

I think an upgrade from CS2 to CS4 might very well be worth it. And unless you have the extended version, it should be $199 not $300.

[hguenthe]

Angie, if you want to see what was introduced with each version since yours, this is a handy little chart to view - Adobe Photoshop Release History

Also, if you do decide to and are thinking about upgrading your LR to LR2, you save 30% off of the LR2 upgrade if you do it at the same time as upgrading to CS4. It's an Adobe direct offer that is good until about the end of September 2009.

[ptknox]

Originally Posted by phfphd

OK, quick, before Pattie moves this to it's proper place!!

Huh? I'm powerless to move anything anywhere ... and furthermore, I don't even know where my OWN stuff is! LOL!

[angie wags]

Thanks Kerry and Heather. I'm REALLY tempted.

[maryannwise]

yes, lets TALK NEW LENSES....

[iUma]

Ok. Pattie sorry I was giving you omniscient powers!! I remembered you once suggested PS posts go on the PS page but I needed to bust in here!! So I've accepted the consensus and now move to the Photography Forum re: LENS vs. New Body!!

[Cassie Jones (1gr8muggle)]

Originally Posted by phfphd

So I've accepted the consensus and now move to the Photography Forum re: LENS vs. New Body!!

I would take a new body any day of the week.


Oh, I just noticed you're talking photography. Nevermind.

[hguenthe]

Originally Posted by 1gr8muggle

I would take a new body any day of the week.

Okies! I will trade with you... you didn't say it had to be better than your current one. I am looking to trade up.

[iUma]

ok goffies, get over to the Photo thread and tell me what to do.

[RatherBScrappin]

I just upgraded from CS2 to CS4 last night, and haven't had the opportunity to play with it yet. I paid the $300 to upgrade. I am hoping it was worth it to jump up. I picked up a book today at Barnes & Noble for a reference, too.

[cheska99]

Well, obviously I can't compare the lenses to CS4, since I don't know what you have and what you "need" and so on. But I think the upgrade to CS4 is definitely worth it, if only because of the improved dodge and burn tool. That baby is smokin' now. Camera Raw's adjustment abilities are much cooler, too. It was tough to decide on the upgrade because I'd only recently upgraded to CS3, but I'm not at all sorry that I did! I don't know what you're using the extended version for or how much you need it, but it might be possible to continue doing that work in CS3 and just get the less expensive upgrade to CS4 for its cool new features.