CS3 or CS3 extended?

[Ed Richards]

Anyone out there know whether photographers need anything in CS3 extended?

[Frank Petronio]

I was just searching the slow and hard to decipher Adobe website for just that. It looks like they don't want to sell you "just" Photoshop/Bridge but force a "package" on you. And the upgrade prices are pretty stiff coming from CS2 -- the low prices they show in the ads are from upgrading from CS2.3, not the CS2 most of us have.

I think I can wait another month or two and let things sort themselves out. I am sure it is a great app but the way they are selling it is pretty "Microsoftian" ;-) In fact, I think Adobe is exploiting their monopoly status worse than Bill Gates ever did. I've used PS since 1.01 but dang, I wish they had some real competition.

I use InDesign and Illustrator but not enough to need the upgrades, and I don't care about Flash or Dreamweaver or all the Adobe "features". Probably after they rake in max cash from all the corporate upgrades, they'll introduce a leaner package aimed at photographers, although I have no need for Lightroom, I think Bridge and ACR are fine. Which means they will probably "de-feature" ACR and force you to get Lightroom for fine control over digicam RAW files...

Grrr... I'd just give it time to sort itself out. Adobe has made it too complex to figure out, probably so that all the people who don't know any better shell out for the Master package.

I hate marketing ;-)

[naturephoto1]

Hi Frank,

I just went to the Adobe site and checked the Adobe Bridge listing. Looking down the list of Adobe products that include Bridge and it listed both CS3 and CS3 Extended as well as the Creative Suite 3. So, I believe that the upgrade from CS2 to CS3 would include Adobe Bridge for either $199 (CS3) or $349 (CS3 Extended).

Also, where are you finding that the upgrade is from CS2.3 and not CS2?

Rich

[Ed Richards]

Rich's reading agrees with mine.

[naturephoto1]

I just got off the phone with Adobe Customer Service. They informed me that we can upgrade to Photoshop CS3 just as we have in the past. So if you have CS2 you can upgrade to CS3 or CS3 Extended; you do not need to upgrade from CS2.3.

Rich

[Frank Petronio]

Oh shoot, you're right. It looks like I can just get PS CS3 for $199. Duh, I never thought to just look at the product only page, I was just caught in the CS3 Suite hoopla.

On that side, Adobe was offering differing prices for CS2 versus CS2.3 since people paid more recently for the CS2.3 upgrade, even though the Photoshop app itself was not upgraded in CS2.3.

Sorry, I'm in bitching mood this morning, taxes and car repairs and stuff. $200 for a PS upgrade is in line with the their previous upgrades and I will definitely be getting it once a few of you guys do the final compatibility tests for us ;-)

[Ted Harris]

As far as waiting goes, I understand they aren't going to start shipping until the middle of April so there is ceretainly time to make up your mind.

[Stan. L-B]

To my understanding: the new CS3 Adobe offers two versions. The Standard and and Extended version, which includes tools and features that are specialised for those working in architecture. forensics, medicine, engineering, sciences generally and media. Most GP photographers it seems, would have little use for the extended prog.

The standard incorporates a number of new features and revamped old ones.
Many speed up work, new transfer of image to image and the shifting of luminosiuty values when converting colour to black and white and maintaining overall balance.

No doubt others will want to express their own opinions concerning the value of the upgrade, for me I will stay with the well tried formula to which I am familiar.

[Marko]

To add another twist for those of us who use Macs - Apple is scheduled to release a new version of OS X, 10.5, in June. Right or wrong, I have a habit of wiping out the disk and installing everything clean with every major new version of OS. That way, I don't have to worry about all the baggage carried over from the old version.

So I will wait until then to upgrade both at the same time and avoid the de-activation - activation hassle with Adobe.

The only hassle in such an approach is properly backing up and then restoring all the settings, preferences, bookmarks and such. But once all the details are determined, it becomes a relatively mechanical matter of going down the checklist twice.

Just a thought that might not work for everybody but it does for me.

[Frank Petronio]

And they will certainly speedbump the Macs by then, so you'll get more hardware for your money to wait another month or two for PS to be actually shipping and debugged...