CS4 and Lightroom 2

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matt_wright

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Matt Wright
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Hi, i am just about to purchase both of these (Photoshop extended and LR2) for a combined price of £245 of the adobe website.
They are not dodgy, they are just cheap as they are the student versions. (And i graduate in the summer, so want to get them whilst i can!;))

I've been mulling this idea over for ages, and defintaly want some form of organisation and editing programme!

Just wondering if you guys think it is a good idea, or if anyone has a better suggestion? I've tried GIMP but it doesnt want to work on my comp!

Matt
 
I've been using LR1 and CS2 for some time now and have just upgraded to LR2 and CS4 and it is everything I need in an editing package. LR2 is so much better than LR1 due to the increased functionality and I would recommend Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby for you to get the most out of it, he explains and recommend workflows which work in the real world and it is also full of useful tips and hints.

The price you can get them for is very good and I would recommend it!
 
One thing to be aware of is that CS4 is both cpu and gpu intensive and does run a lot slower than CS3. So you might upgrade and then need to upgrade your computer after if CS4 is running slow.

Simon
 
Have you tried the demo versions yet, personally I find that I don't need Photoshop at all, Lightroom 2 is all I need. Also o you need the features of Photoshop CS4 Extended? I thought the Extended features were more for video work...
 
Craikeybaby said:
Have you tried the demo versions yet, personally I find that I don't need Photoshop at all, Lightroom 2 is all I need. Also o you need the features of Photoshop CS4 Extended? I thought the Extended features were more for video work...
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Havent tried the demo versions!
CS4 student only comes as the extended version for around £150, they dont do a student normal version!
 
personally I'd buy the CS4 Design premium suite + LR2, the extra you pay for the design premium (approx 50-70 more) is worth it for the pro version of Acrobat, and indesign, plus the others. But if you will newer use the extra programs just get Photoshop CS4.
 
have at least 2gb to 3bg ram and you'll be fine running them on a decent pc
 
I have this setup, I don't run both together as they slow down considerably when both running.

Lightroom slowed down considerably on my laptop (just upgraded from 2gb to 3gb) once I sytarted processing the much larger 5D MkII files (25-20mb RAW files), was fine processing my 8mp 20D files though.

(Vista laptop with 3gb RAM & vista desktop with 6GB RAM)
 
ye i would recommend NONE on board graphics cards for CS4, and i admit to only running 12mp d700 files
 
I'm running Photoshop CS4 Extended on my laptop and find it runs slower compared to CS3. Some of the GPU effects were nice, for zooming in and panning around, but I found it ran better with the GPU acceleration and effects turned off.

Nothing significantly improved and I don't use any of the new features anyway, so may go back to CS3! :lol:
 
Cheers guys
I might be being stupid but what do you mean by GPU?

Also MHO, why do you suggest getting the Design premium suite, what exactly do the extra programmes do? (Its an extra £115 on top of CS4!!)
 
matt_wright said:
Cheers guys
I might be being stupid but what do you mean by GPU?

Also MHO, why do you suggest getting the Design premium suite, what exactly do the extra programmes do? (Its an extra £115 on top of CS4!!)
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Graphic Processor Unit, its a processor on your graphics card, easing up the workload on the CPU central processing unit that powers you pc, think i have got them right there

the suite gives you extra progs for design work

Dreamweaver (Web Editing)
InDesign (Like Quark for desktop publishing)
Illustrator (Vector drawing package)
Flash (for making flash content on the web)
and other smaller stuff
 
matt_wright said:
Havent tried the demo versions!
CS4 student only comes as the extended version for around £150, they dont do a student normal version!
Click to expand...

Why is the student version so much cheaper ? does it lack features ? and if you where enrolled in some type of course say through a council run program would you be eligible to buy it, thanks.
 
it is the full version, i think it needs to be education course recognised by the government so perhaps yes
 
cannockwolf said:
it is the full version, i think it needs to be education course recognised by the government so perhaps yes
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Thanks, so if it where a photography course run by the council, something like this one HERE would it qualify for the student version, thanks again.
 
i have just searched adobes site for you and they have these guidelines on education licensing Link
 
cannockwolf said:
i have just searched adobes site for you and they have these guidelines on education licensing Link
Click to expand...

Ok thanks for the link, looks like there has to be a minimum of a two year education program, unless i'm missing something :)
 
I spoke to Adobe education helpline last week and they say you just need to be a in Full-Time education, it doesnt matter what course, or when you graduate. And that you just need to send them a Photographic Student ID with expiry date on to qualify!!
 
mho said:
personally I'd buy the CS4 Design premium suite + LR2, the extra you pay for the design premium (approx 50-70 more) is worth it for the pro version of Acrobat, and indesign, plus the others. But if you will newer use the extra programs just get Photoshop CS4.
Click to expand...

The only problem there is you can't then upgrade just photoshop, you have to upgrade the whole suite, which can get expensive, and whose to say the OP will still qualify for the discount in a year or 18 mothes time? Wayne
 
I used to use LR1 and CS3 but since upgrading to LR2 I've not touched Photoshop at all! I'd say get LR2 at the student price (£90 ish) and see how you get on first... unless of course you are flush with cash and its burning a hole in your pocket!!

Paul
 
TG. said:
Ok thanks for the link, looks like there has to be a minimum of a two year education program, unless i'm missing something :)
Click to expand...

Adobe aren't particular about the duration of the course. When I was doing my Masters, which was a one year course, they were more than happy to accept that as me being a full-time student and gave me the student license.


swanseamale47 said:
The only problem there is you can't then upgrade just photoshop, you have to upgrade the whole suite, which can get expensive, and whose to say the OP will still qualify for the discount in a year or 18 mothes time? Wayne
Click to expand...

Actually that's not the case! With the student version you can not upgrade it to anything.

Basically, I was stuck with Lightroom and could only get the patches which Adobe would release. When I got the Nikon D700, the NEFs were not recognised under LR1 and my only option would be to move to the full version of LR2. I can't just buy the upgrade and plug it in.

Now, I've not tried to get the upgrade and see how Adobe would restrict LR1 from upgrading to LR2, but since that's the license agreement I didn't want to break that, and I didn't want to get stuck with an upgrade of LR2 which may be useless.

Still, the cost of full version of LR1 & LR2 for students is a lot cheaper than LR1 and upgrade to none-students. So, I guess, there is still a saving to be made there.
 
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