CS6 - Worth the upgrade?

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gramps

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I have CS5 and use it for most of my processing, would I really benefit from upgrading to CS6? What are your experiences if you've upgraded?

TIA
 
I've had the trial version for nearly a month now. The upgrade from my current CS4 Extended would be about £180. I don't see £180s worth of extra profit in it, so for me, no it isn't worth it.
 
jon ryan said:
I've had the trial version for nearly a month now. The upgrade from my current CS4 Extended would be about £180. I don't see £180s worth of extra profit in it, so for me, no it isn't worth it.
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Same price for me with CS5, thanks for your thoughts.
 
Do you use raw? The new raw process 2012 is much improved compared to 2010 version. There is other new stuff but I could live without it if I'm honest.
 
Definitely not worth the upgrade, unless you aren't able to ctrl+s every 40 minutes.

It requires more memory to run from cold, and there isn't anything new that is indispensable to the photographer.

It's only worth it if you simply must have the latest version. Retouching is 90% of my business, and I'm sticking with CS5.
 
swanseamale47 said:
Do you use raw? The new raw process 2012 is much improved compared to 2010 version. There is other new stuff but I could live without it if I'm honest.
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I do use raw ... it seems that the money could be best spent elsewhere.
 
I'll be needing a new body later this year or next. No doubt I'll have to upgrade my softwear then as well. I hate the way that happens.
 
Well I'm still happy with my CS3 with many of my images being accepted into International Salons after processing with CS3. I rather spend my money else where.
 
The answer is easy. Look at the new stuff that's been added, decide if you drastically need it and only buy it if you do. I upgraded because of the RAW processing that someone mentioned above, the iris/tilt blur and the VASTLY improved crop/rotate tool. These have all speeded up my workflow but might not be any use to you.
 
decigallen said:
The answer is easy. Look at the new stuff that's been added, decide if you drastically need it and only buy it if you do. I upgraded because of the RAW processing that someone mentioned above, the iris/tilt blur and the VASTLY improved crop/rotate tool. These have all speeded up my workflow but might not be any use to you.
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As above really, the Raw capabilities are better,the new blur iris/tilt is pretty good, there has been a lot of raving about the content aware move tool, but to be honest this has been available as far back as CS3, if you know how to do it by just making an adjustment layer, and i would go as far as to say it is better doing it this way, takes a little longer but a better result as far as i'm concerned.
 
jon ryan said:
I'll be needing a new body later this year or next. No doubt I'll have to upgrade my softwear then as well. I hate the way that happens.
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:plusone: I noticed already that CS5 wont get camera raw 7 and you can bet that newer bodies such as the 650D, 5D3 etc will need camera raw 7
 
Thanks for the input ... I agree that the 'forced upgrade' path of most manufacturers/designers now is very irritating.
 
Hi. I disagree with 'forced upgrade'. I was pleasantly surprised with greater performance when I got my Photoshop CS6 beta. I think it's because of new advanced GPU support. Liquify for 21 Mpix 16 bit photo (around 2 gb photoshop project) just "fly" and almost don't distract textures (skin etc.). It's just amazing! And imagine my shock when I pressed Ctrl + S and prepared to wait several minutes and got background saving! I could move on instead of painful waiting! I don't even talk about much faster work of all instruments. New Lighting effects interface finally became useable. When photoshop crash because of Windows error I was very sad and angry. Very :( I start Photoshop again and saw my RESTORED project! So I must to say it's worth upgrading.
 
Took me a white to get used to the new ACR used in CS6.
It seems better at controlling highlights/shadows...but one thing I really miss is the brightness adjustment - its gone!
Replaced by a "whites" slider which seems to do nothing but blow the highlights as soon as you touch it - useless.

Also, the clarity slider now seems to have much much more effect. Previously I could apply upto 30pts clarity to a photo and see little to no effect, on the new ACR I dont touch it because it affects it a lot more and even 5pts is noticeable.

I really miss the brightness adjustment most
 
iancandler said:
:plusone: I noticed already that CS5 wont get camera raw 7 and you can bet that newer bodies such as the 650D, 5D3 etc will need camera raw 7
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Updates stop for older versions once a new version is released. But you can still use the free DNG converter.
 
futureal33 said:
Took me a white to get used to the new ACR used in CS6.
It seems better at controlling highlights/shadows...but one thing I really miss is the brightness adjustment - its gone!
Replaced by a "whites" slider which seems to do nothing but blow the highlights as soon as you touch it - useless.

Also, the clarity slider now seems to have much much more effect. Previously I could apply upto 30pts clarity to a photo and see little to no effect, on the new ACR I dont touch it because it affects it a lot more and even 5pts is noticeable.

I really miss the brightness adjustment most
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Under camera callibtarion is the process tab, you can switch back to 2010 there and get your brightness slider back.
 
If you're a pixel bender user you might be interested to find out that Adobe haven't made a version for CS6 nor do they intend to. I'm kind of frustrated that I now must re-install CS4 to use it:-/
 
I like CS6, as mentioned, RAW process is improved, cropping/rotating a lot more intuitive. The content aware tool is improved a lot from CS5, I find I'm using it a lot. The additional 'blur' tools I find a bit gimmicky, the brightness/contrast tool is less degrading than previous so I find I can push the editing a bit further than previous.
The overall interface took a bit of getting used, but I do like it now.
 
CS6 is better but not really worth the upgrade. Just a nicer look and a few wee tweaks here and there. When you see photographer's like the amazing Gordon McGowan still using only Ps v5 That's v5!! not CS5) then mostly all you're actually buying is bells and whistles. Most versions do very similar things - the later versions just allow you to do things a little quicker :)
 
iancandler said:
:plusone: I noticed already that CS5 wont get camera raw 7 and you can bet that newer bodies such as the 650D, 5D3 etc will need camera raw 7
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Bit of a bump but ACR 6.7 is available for CS5 which supports the 5D3. This is the last update though for CS5.
 
I quite like the newer features in CS6 especially the crop tool and will probably upgrade from 5.1 to CS6 though we have to buy two, one for a PC the other for the Mac.
 
swanseamale47 said:
Updates stop for older versions once a new version is released. But you can still use the free DNG converter.
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Sadly though that throws your whole workflow out the window, I had that when I was on CS3 ages ago, it was a royal pain downloading the raws from the camera, converting to DNG, save them, then process them in ACR.

Fortunately barring divine intervention I wont be upgrading for a long time with either camera or software.
 
iancandler said:
Sadly though that throws your whole workflow out the window, I had that when I was on CS3 ages ago, it was a royal pain downloading the raws from the camera, converting to DNG, save them, then process them in ACR.

Fortunately barring divine intervention I wont be upgrading for a long time with either camera or software.
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I argree I won't use DNG unless it's requested for some reason.
 
I've just upgraded from CS3.........mostly due to my newest cameras not being supported; not liking DPP and finding having to turn everything to DNG first a pain. Anyway, I feel it may have been a step too far for me and perhaps I should have gone with Elements instead...this beast is so different from CS3 and I really need an idiots guide!
Have bought Scott Kelby's book but it assumes you have come from CS4 or 5 and therefore have an understanding of some of the things, which I don't. The change from 3 to 6 is currently overwhelming me. I need some very basic tutorials!!!
I would say with hindsight that unless you need all the fancy stuff that CS6 has...stick to Elements.
 
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