Is Photoshop worth the money?

Do you own photoshop?

  • Yes, cheap at half the price.

    Votes: 53 64.6%

  • No, can't afford it.

    Votes: 19 23.2%

  • No, don't need it.

    Votes: 10 12.2%
  • Total voters
    82
D

Doog

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Yes
Well is it? Let me clarify, I don't have it, can't afford it. Do you have it and is it worth almost a grand? No doubt it a great piece of software but what about that price tag?

As for the poll, well there's no need to say whether you paid, nil, part or full cost. Just want to get a feeling for how many people on this forum have it.:)

No ulterior motives here. Just a bit of a light hearted post to provoke discussion. Don't take it too seriously.
 
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If you want and know how to use it effectively it's worth it. If you no idea and it just sits there not being used then it's not. Only you can answer thus question.
 
No, its far too expensive in my opinion.
 
I do have PS and for me, its well worth the outlay. It is however a very powerful program and if you are not going to use this power, not much point in buying it. It is one of the most pirated software program on the planet but nicking it wasn't an option for me. There are pleanty of other freeware programs about, such as GIMP that will do a good job too.

Ian
 
Your options are very limited, looks like one of those political polls where the questions are slanted to get a certain answer.

Yes, it is worth the money in a lot of respects, but only if you are going to use it extensively, I imagine very few professional retouchers can get by without it but if all you are going to do is crops, spot colours etc then no, it would not be worth it to you.
 
Nope, I'm too poor for the likes of PS lol

I use GIMP, mostly for crops and adding a watermark if they are going on flickr, but i do clone out a lead every now and then. But thats it, so I couldnt justify the outlay for PS
 
If you use some/most of the features that aren't available in other packages then sure its worth it. I don't see it being any different to spending £1000 on a lens - when you need to spend it.

I am persevering with GIMP - it does all that I need at the moment and hopefully the open source package can be improved upon over the years.
 
I have (and use) PS CS5 Extended but it was paid for by a client and I doubt I would have coughed up for a copy myself.

For most amateur photographers I think Lightroom and Elements will suffice ... if you must have and Adobe product .... otherwise GIMP is good :-)
 
I have CS5 but I was lucky I was offered it at half price from Adobe as I already had elements.
I only scratch the surface and would not pay full price for it.
Its annoying when you can get the same thing with a student card for less than half price
 
Where is the "yes, but still dont think its worth the money because I dont use it nearly as much as I could" button? lol

I have it CS5 and LR3, though I got student discount. I would pay full price and more for LR3, a priceless piece of kit. CS5 is worth the money only to those that use it to its full potential, otherwise its a REALLY expensive way to build HDR and Panorama photos and clone stuff out of pictures...
 
I have cs5 only because i needed other adobe products. I rarely use it so it makes it an expensive piece of software. On the other hand if you really know how to use or are willing to learn to use it properly and use it its not that expensive as its a very powerful piece of software. best thing to do is wait for a new version to become availaable and pick an older copy up cheap.
 
I have CS5, student discount helped ease the pain in my wallet.

I'm considering LR3 based on how much everyone raves about it, but I'm still unsure.
 
Elements will do everything most people will ever need - if you are prepared to learn how!
 
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Voted yes as I have it but think you need another option, as I don't agree with the "cheap at half the price" comment. Still using CS3 at the moment but am considering the upgrade. Don't bother going for every upgrade but you can usually wait for a couple of iterations. Also use LR3 which I do think is worth the price.
 
Don't have the full version - elements does all I need and came preloaded on this machine. Got a copy of PSE8 with a scanner too.
 
I got Photoshop CS5, Lightroom 3, Windows 7 and Office 2010 whilst I was a student doing a work related HNC.

Daft thing is I only use Photoshop CS5 (I love it), I can't get to grips with Lightroom 3 and I have never even installed Windows 7 (concerned about lack of drivers) or Office 2010 (prefer the feel of Office 2003).

Do I think CS5 was a bargain (about £200) for me yes, would I have bought the full version, no, I would have made do with Elements.
 
Yes.

I've had a licence for Photoshop since I bought Photoshop LE (the forerunner to PS Elements) bundled with a £200 scanner in 1994, then got an upgrade to the full v2.5 for about £100.

Not sure how much I've spent keeping it up to date since, but I've always said playing with Photoshop was the reason I didn't get into computer games, so it's saved me a bit along the way too :D

I wouldn't be without it (16-bit editing and Lab mode to name just two reasons). I spend most of my time in Lightroom these days, but when I need Photoshop, I need Photoshop.

Doog said:
is it worth almost a grand?
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I dunno where you're thinking of buying it from, but they're fleecing you.

Full price for PS CS5 Standard is £657.60 including VAT at the Adobe store and you can find it cheaper elsewhere. If you're talking about Photoshop Extended, which is nearly £1,000 that's a rather different beast with 3D and video tools for multimedia designers, not photographers.

At the end of the day, though, Photoshop is a professional tool. If you're a professional, it's a business expense and not out of proportion to the revenue it will help you generate. How much are you willing to spend on a lens or a camera body?

For a lot of other people, Adobe offer PS Elements, which provides a very affordable alternative that will handle most of their needs and, as others have noted, other image editors are available.
 
Wayy too expensive for me, and I've only just started up in photography so don't need it. I just use Lightroom 99% of the time, as all I do is simple tweaks.
 
It's not almost a grand, it's around £600 to buy CS5 outright on £190 for the upgrade, Elements 9 is around £50. CS5 can also be bought even cheaper if you qualify for educational discount.
Is it worth the money? To me it is.
 
Musicman said:
Yes.

I've had a licence for Photoshop since I bought Photoshop LE (the forerunner to PS Elements) bundled with a £200 scanner in 1994, then got an upgrade to the full v2.5 for about £100.

Not sure how much I've spent keeping it up to date since, but I've always said playing with Photoshop was the reason I didn't get into computer games, so it's saved me a bit along the way too :D

I wouldn't be without it (16-bit editing and Lab mode to name just two reasons). I spend most of my time in Lightroom these days, but when I need Photoshop, I need Photoshop.

I dunno where you're thinking of buying it from, but they're fleecing you.

Full price for PS CS5 Standard is £657.60 including VAT at the Adobe store and you can find it cheaper elsewhere. If you're talking about Photoshop Extended, which is nearly £1,000 that's a rather different beast with 3D and video tools for multimedia designers, not photographers.

At the end of the day, though, Photoshop is a professional tool. If you're a professional, it's a business expense and not out of proportion to the revenue it will help you generate. How much are you willing to spend on a lens or a camera body?

For a lot of other people, Adobe offer PS Elements, which provides a very affordable alternative that will handle most of their needs and, as others have noted, other image editors are available.
Click to expand...

swanseamale47 said:
It's not almost a grand, it's around £600 to buy CS5 outright on £190 for the upgrade, Elements 9 is around £50. CS5 can also be bought even cheaper if you qualify for educational discount.
Is it worth the money? To me it is.
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Well there's how much I know about photoshop, I was indeed looking at the extended version which amounts to £932 quid or thereabouts.
 
I got it free through work, otherwise I wouldn't bother, instead, I would be using GIMP.
 
I own CS5 and LR3 and I'm really chuffed I got both for a dirt cheap price (I'm not saying how I got them or how much, but it's a legit brand new copy and was better than half price).
I do use CS5 so for what I paid for it, it's worth it. But if I didn't have the opportunity that I did, then I would've just got the elements version.
 
Poll options don't suit what I would vote tbh.

I have used it, I think its great for certain things but I use lightroom far more than photoshop, so much so that photoshop isn't even installed right now.
 
I would imagine just about every pro who does their own image editing would use photoshop. No other program can touch it. I use lightroom a lot these days but for some things photoshop is a must.

BTW you could get by without it, but you could also get by with a point and shoot, most pros will just use the industry standard.
 
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I've had CS3 for ages and will probably only get a later version when I upgrade my computer. I found lightroom too limiting (or perhaps I wasn't familiar enough with some settings), and so feel Photoshop is decent enough value although there needn't be a rush to upgrade.
There are paid alternatives like Aperture for Apple's and Capture One Pro6 (no idea how good they are) but the majority of people seem to find their way to photoshop first as it is synonymous with 'photoshopping'
 
I have CS 5 Extended and have yet to discover all its glory- still working through the Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Dummies book, only had the program a few weeks

I had Ps Elements 9 up until a few weeks back and sold it to a chap on this forum in favour of CS 5

I'll let you know in due course if I think its worth the price :shrug:


Les :D
 
I have CS4 and think it is well worth the money I spent on it.
My reasons for saying that though is I do photo editing and the wife makes greetings cards and does scrapbooking on it.

So for photo editing, cardmaking and scrapbooking CS4 was the obvious tool for the job as it does everything we both need it too in one package and was good value for money.
Not a day goes by where our CS4 is not open and being used by one of us so I feel the initial outlay is now being outweighed heavily.

Had it just been for my photo editing, well that might have been a different answer.

TBH - as others have said the software is only worth having and good value for money if your actually going to use it and all it's features on a regular basis.
 
I suppose it depends on what pp you do,I am very minimalist with just cropping and tweak of the exposure so Elements 8 suits me fine.If its you're livelihood then I guess the cost of CS5 is irrelevant
 
Photoshop Elements 9 does an awful lot of what Photoshop CS 5 can do. It's referenced by Scott Kelby often and can be bought for as little as £60. Search on pricerunner.com or similar
 
It's a professional tool, just like a Canon 1D or Nikon D3s, unless you really need the advanced features Photoshop Elements at £60 is great for most photography PP.
 
I have CS5 and use it at some point nearly every day, but it is not worth the money unless you are earning money by using it imho.

Elements does all that most people would need. In fact Picasa does a lot of what most people would need, straighten, crop, colour balance, sharpen and brightening an darkening.


Whilst I applaud Adobe :clap: for offering the student edition for about £400 cheaper, charging £600 for the version the 'man in the street' can buy is just too much. :bang:


And what about being more expensive to download rather than get sent the disk! :eek: It is only a few quid, but how can it be more expensive to download? :shrug:
 
redhed17 said:
And what about being more expensive to download rather than get sent the disk! :eek: It is only a few quid, but how can it be more expensive to download? :shrug:
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It's because of VAT.

The ex-VAT prices of both is the same, but because Adobe's European e-store is based in Ireland they charge Irish VAT of 21% instead of the UK rate of 20%.

The disk order is processed by Adobe UK and attracts the UK rate.
 
For personal use, it's way overpriced, and there's some good alternatives out there.

For profession, it does what it says on the tin, it's less buggy than some, more powerful than most, and there's a world of information supporting it.
 
Musicman said:
It's because of VAT.

The ex-VAT prices of both is the same, but because Adobe's European e-store is based in Ireland they charge Irish VAT of 21% instead of the UK rate of 20%.

The disk order is processed by Adobe UK and attracts the UK rate.
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Ta for that. :)

You would think the download would be cheaper anyway, regardless of VAT, seeing as they don't physically need to produce and send you a disc. :eek: Unless you needed the program instantly, I don't see the benefit of the download if they are not passing on the savings to the user. :shrug:
 
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