Elements and RAW

[Ben Calwell]

Can I work on RAW files in Photoshop Elements, or would I need the more powerful version of Photoshop?

[Juergen Sattler]

Elements does handle RAW files, although it does not have all the detailed adjustment capabilities that PS offers. If you are serious about getting into digital, then you should take a look at Photoshop. It offers way more than Elements does - not only for RAW conversions!

Also don't forget, that you will be getting a RAW converter from your camera manufacturer.

[Kuzano]

The academic version of Photoshop (CS3) is full featured and costs half the list price from Adobe.

I teach community ed classes at our local community college. The rule at our bookstore sells CS3 for about $300 instead of $600, if you are registered for a class at the college. The interpretation is that community ed classes count. Most of our community ed classes run $40 to $60.

So, take a photoshop class and get a serious break on the price of Photoshop CS3 (and perhaps now CS4)

I expect some flack on this, but let me say that I have verified this (insofar as our school is concerned) and the product you get is not limited in any way on the academic discount, although it may not authorize future upgrades.

OTOH, I bought CS3 and find my self using Elements much more. I just don't have those high end needs and I think elements gives a good taste of what the more expensive version will do, if you hit the wall with elements.

[Brian Ellis]

FWIW, I bought the academic version of Photoshop when I taught a photography course at a university. Unless things have changed, the ones sold under the academic discount program are identical to the full-priced version, the only difference is the price. I've also upgraded non-academically from the academic one and had no problems with Adobe.

[Kin Lau]

Can I work on RAW files in Photoshop Elements, or would I need the more powerful version of Photoshop?

Yes, but it must be PSE v4 or later (might be v3 or later). I use PSE v5.

PSE uses Adobe Camera Raw, which is updated regularly. It's the same RAW engine used in Lightroom and CS3/4.

[mrladewig]

Yes, but it must be PSE v4 or later (might be v3 or later). I use PSE v5.

PSE uses Adobe Camera Raw, which is updated regularly. It's the same RAW engine used in Lightroom and CS3/4.

I used PSE 3 for a long time to do image editing and it does do raw conversion, but it was limited to ACR 3.4 and lower. That was fine for my Canon XT, but not fine for newer bodies. Honestly, there are things I liked better in Elements than in Lightroom 1.4/Photoshop CS3.

I took PSE3 far beyond what adobe intended. However it has some limitations and you will eventually find yourself in the same situation as I found myself this summer. Eventually there will be things you need from the full version of photoshop. The biggest limitations of photoshop elements in my opinion are as follows

1) limited 16 bit support - no layers in 16 bit so levels/saturation/contrast changes are destructive.
2) no batch processing support
3) no support for actions
4) difficult to change between color spaces

Some nice things that are missing
1) No CA adjustment tool in raw editor
2) Less control in ACR overall
3) No soft proofing capability
4) Save for Web in Elements does not switch the image into sRGB.
5) Cannot create a mask directly over an image layer. You must use a dummy adjustment layer to create a mask for an image layer.

[keith english]

My understanding was that you can not upgrade from a student version. That was the only difference in them. I would love to pay the upgrade price from my educational version CS3 to CS4.

[robert]

Have a look at- The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements by Richard Lynch. It expands the potential of Elements.

[seawolf66]

A lot cheaper and has a lot more tool's for raw converters Look at Lightroom 2.1 , It lets you catalog and sort and input all the data you need for your files and it has five sections to Library is fist then Develope is second, slideshow and then the web and last is the print section: all are very good tools

the education copy cost's about 99.00 for me the over the counter cost's 199.00 so you can see the difference:

[Brian_A]

As far as the software goes, it's the exact same thing. As far as the license goes, you're violating it if you're making a profit with it. (If that's the intent) If you do intend to use it for things other than learning you might as well get on BitTorrent and get you a free copy, because what you're really what you're paying for is the license.

Food for thought.