Opinions on Photoshop Elements 7

[Captain IK]

Last night I downloaded the trial version of Photoshop Elements 7.
Quite honestly...I wasn't impressed. It crashed Vista (twice) and ran very slow. Also found it to be not so user friendly.
Currently I use Picasa to organize and for basic edits, and GIMP for any serious editing ( which I do little of)

I have heard that Photoshop was supposed to be awesome. So far I don't see that.
Am I missing something here?

 

[Overread]

well elements is the stripped down version of full photoshop with version 7 being the latest - so it will have less features and options than GIMP, but its intereface (For newer people) is much easier to understand.
As for the crashes my photoshop v6 is running fine on my copy of vista - so sadly I have no answer for the poor performance on your machine

 

[Craddie]

I quite like it for my needs - helps with a straightforward RAW workflow - no need for 3 different applications.

That said, it does crash once in a while (every few days). Not a huge concern, but it is a nuisance when it happens.

 

[Captain IK]

I like the look of Photoshop E. It has a much better layout than GIMP. Just couldn't play with it much because of the crashes.
At first I thought it was slow because it was searching my hard drives for pics (have over 6000 of them), but even after that it crashed while I was trying to open a pic.
Maybe I will give it another try and see if we'll get along better today.

 

[Overread]

Yes - its often best to shutdown and then restart a computer (not just use the restart command) after installing new software - more so with vista than with other windows versions is my observation.
Crashes really shouldn't be that common - the only times I have had mine crash are when I start throwing lots of things at it - or running several programs at once (then usualy getting impatient and doing things faster than it likes)

 

[Jon_Are]

I've used both Elements 5 and, now, 7. I don't recall a single time it crashed Vista on either of the PCs I have it installed on.

As I learn it more, I'm constantly impressed with its capabilities, especially when considering the relatively low price.

I must add, though, that I have never used GIMP nor Picasa.

Maybe try a re-install before giving it up?

Jon

 

[Captain IK]

Well, I've tried to be friends with this program, but am getting very frustrated.
I have it loaded on a computer with 2 monitors. Running the program in full screen on monitor 1 works fine. Switch it to monitor 2 and it jumps off the screen. I can only see the bottom portion of the program window. Which means I can't grab the window and move it...need to get at the top for that.
The monitors shouldn't be an issue as I use several other programs on both without a problem.
Guess I'll try again as I have heard many good things about Photoshop Elements, but it obviosuly doesn;t like me.

 

[Overread]

Can't help with the split screen issue - only got the one here. Try asking around though - adob help files are pretty poor in content most of the time (and that is when you can find the info) so most people just ask about.

 

[Captain IK]

Thanks OV
I appreciate your input

 

[Photog]

Definitely try to work the problems out and don't give up on it. I use Elements 6, and really love it. There's pretty much nothing else I'd want to do that I can't use Elements for. And although it's missing some full PS features, you'd be surprised how many little tricks there are for getting round this and making it act like the full version.