TrustedReviews Reviews Adobe Photoshop CS3

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.trustedreviews.com/software/review/2007/05/22/Adobe-Photoshop-CS3/p1' target='_blank'>http://www.trustedreviews.com/software/review/2007/05/22/Adobe-Photoshop-CS3/p1</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Photoshop has grown and changed over the years, but has always incorporated the latest developments, reinforcing its position as the industry standard for professional image editing. The first Windows version (v2.5) appeared in 1992, layers were introduced in version 3.0 in 1994, multiple undo history in version 5.0 in 1998, and camera RAW support was added with version 7.0 in 2002. The concept of Creative Suite, incorporating and harmonising a whole range of Adobe’s other programs, including ImageReady, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, Encore and AfterEffects, was introduced in 2003 along with Photoshop 8.0, known as Photoshop CS. An update, unsurprisingly called Photoshop CS2, came along less than two years later in April 2005, adding many new features such as Smart Objects, a red-eye tool and the invaluable Spot Healing brush."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/4617-CS3interface.jpg" /><br /><br />This review comes out a little late but it is quite thorough. I really agree with the article that if you had CS, did not update to CS2 and waited for CS3 then you made a smart decision. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I have CS2 and I am not convinced that upgrading to CS3 is worth it. For one thing, Paint .NET has been my very good (free) friend lately. And secondly, I don't think CS3 adds too many features to CS2 unless you plan to buy the extended version, but that is just more money.

[Vincent Ferrari]

CS3 made a few improvements that I've noticed...

1. The Magic Wand is more accurate now and the healing brush algorithm is better.

2. Imageready's features have been absorbed into Photoshop CS3.

3. The Photomerge utility is tremendously improved (meaning MUCH better Panoramas).

4. Bridge is MUCH improved.

Honestly, if none of that matters to you, stick with CS2. I got CS3 mainly because I'm running Intel Macs and I wanted the performance increase.

[Darius Wey]

Honestly, if none of that matters to you, stick with CS2. I got CS3 mainly because I'm running Intel Macs and I wanted the performance increase.

Same reason why I took the plunge, except I have to wait until the end of June for my copy to arrive. :cry:

[Vincent Ferrari]

I'm lucky. My wife is a teacher, so I got the edu version of Extended for $399 :-)

[Darius Wey]

I'm lucky. My wife is a teacher, so I got the edu version of Extended for $399 :-)

I've also got access to education versions. A few weeks ago, I picked up Creative Suite 2.3 for AU$235. Not for itself, of course, but the free upgrade to Creative Suite 3 Design Premium. Alas, Adobe is taking its sweet time with the shipping.

[Vincent Ferrari]

They don't offer digital downloads in Australia? That's how I got it... No waiting...

[Darius Wey]

They don't offer digital downloads in Australia? That's how I got it... No waiting...

They do, but I've been given the "upgrade is still being processed" excuse. Oh well, I guess I can endure the pain and suffering of Rosetta'ed CS2 for another month.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I upgraded and went with the DVD. OK, I got gouged by Adobe's UK pricing, but there you go. The upgrades are worth it to me, even if Bridge is a little flaky and no other apps recognise Adobe's star rating tags. The improved photomerge functionality is going to save me a LOT of time.

[Vincent Ferrari]

Hey Jonathon...

I use Calico for the Mac, but I know a lot of people use AutoStitch for Windows. Just curious, which OS you use and which Pano tool you use and what you think of it compared to PS CS3.

In my informal testing, Calico does a MUCH better job than PS...

[Jonathon Watkins]

Hey Jonathon...

I use Calico for the Mac, but I know a lot of people use AutoStitch for Windows. Just curious, which OS you use and which Pano tool you use and what you think of it compared to PS CS3.

In my informal testing, Calico does a MUCH better job than PS...

I use Panorama Factory. It has done very well for me, but the issue is the straight vertical joins. Have a look at a small subset of my panos here: http://www.panoramas.photoglow.co.uk/c245066.html They have all need a lot of tidying up after the stitching - around 10 hours for each picture. The CS3 stitch is irregular, which means that even if strictly speaking it isn't as good, I need to do a lot less work afterwards. Having said that, there have been a few panos that CS3 just can't seem to do. It works away for a few mins and then gives me a 'panao' of one picture with all the other pics masked out. There is also almost no way of adjusting the parameters of the generation. So, for some jobs I will use PF and for other CS3.