Paintshop Pro X5

[Hinfrance]

Two questions:

1) has anyone got this yet?
2) Is it worth spending the dosh to upgrade from X4

I have just started playing with X4 on my new PC. It wouldn't run at all on my vista machine, but it very quick and refreshingly different to Elements on my new machine.

I upgraded to Elements 11 and it is a real dog. The interface looks like it was designed by blindfolded child who was only allowed to use thick crayons - bl**dy awful quite frankly. There are a couple of extra gimmicks, but essentially I am using the old Elements 9, Photoplus X6 and Paintshop Pro X4 at the moment, depending upon what I want to achieve.

[Karen]

I have used PSP since it started but to be honest everytime Ive bought an upgrade Ive regretted it as there virtually no odds most of the time. Personally I tend to have the same work flow with my photos so any new features are kinda lost on me. I still use X2 with a host of add ons and find it is sufficient for me.

[SimonW]

I also have used PSP since its very early days and still prefer it to Elements for many tasks. But I now use Elements 9 (which came free with the now not-so-new machine)  as I prefer its organiser and find its RAW processing simpler - though PSP (mine is X4) can give better results if you take time. That combination does all I need so I see no reason at all to upgrade either one.

[Hinfrance]

So, the consensus is that upgrading is not worth the bother. I downloaded the trial version and reached the same conclusion after a few hours of playing with it. It has a few more mainly gimmicky things, but the RAW converter is still just as limited, and it still won't run Nik.

Against this is the far better ACR in Elements, but that doesn't allow the user to record actions (scripts to the PSP mob), and still, after all these years, no curves adjustment layer, no layer grouping and no 16 bit editing. I seriously think that Adobe are actually deskilling Elements and that it will become less and less attractive to 'serious' amateurs as time goes by. And yet most of us, I am sure, simply cannot afford to 'rent' Photoshop. I know I can't.

Hopefully the next iteration of Serif Photoplus will be able to run the Nik Collection. Fingers crossed 

[Reinardina]

I bought E11 when I got my new Windows 8 ( ) laptop.
The laptop is fast (Intel i5 processor) but E11 is very slow. After editing a picture, it seems to take ages before the 'edit in progress' disappears and I can get on with things.

Is this normal, or should I have it seen to? (I've got 4GB RAM and work with JPEGS only.)

[Hinfrance]

Elements 11 shouldn't be slow Re, especially not with Windows 8.

What editing are you doing when you see the 'edit in progress' message?

It is only a 32bit application (as is PaintshopPro), which means that 4mb ram is all it can access, so even though my PC has 16mb installed, Elements is running the same memory as you have installed.  (Photoplus can access all of this as it is a 64bit application). My copy of Elements 11 loads in less than 15 seconds, artistic effects take couple of seconds to load but execute almost instantly after pressing 'OK'. I do have decent graphics card with 2gb ram on board, but I wonder if your performance has not been optimised.

Go to >edit>preferences>performance: make sure that the available ram is as close to possible to the maximum recommended in the 'ideal range' box, that'll be around 2gb, and that the scratch disk in the dialogue box below is a fast local drive.

If it still slow after that I'm not sure there is too much more you can do.

[Reinardina]

Thanks H.

Most of my editing is simply adjusting  levels etc.
When I click OK it is fast enough to execute the adjustments, but then, when I click the 'little cross' to close that particular file and clear the editing screen, I expect to be able to start on the next picture immediately, but I have to wait till the 'edit in progress' bar is lifted, which most of the time seems to take ages.

I'll have a look at the preference settings; didn't even know they existed, so fingers crossed the solution is simple.

[Karen]

my PSP runs the NIK add ons

[Hinfrance]

Mine runs Nik Color Efex 3 which came with it, but none of series 4. I tried following the alleged hack I found on the interwebs, but it didn't work for me, as it didn't for most of the people who commented on the thread . .

I does, however, play nicely with Topaz plugins. Which is nice, because over the years I have acquired a fair few of them, one at a time when they offer discounts.