Upgrade Photoshop Elements

Neilmack

Neilmack

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Hitherto I've 'made do' with Elements 9 and Nikon Capture NX2. I would like a better version of Elements. Can I buy it outright, or do I have to have an annual subscription as with some other software packages? What has become of LightRoom? Do I need to buy that too?

I struggle with this stuff. My Valoy enlarger never presented me with so much perplexity!
 
You can buy a more recent version of Elements, but Lightroom (like Photoshop) is now subscription only. One popular subscription package has both PS and LR, and there are Black Friday deals at the moment. If you don't want a subscription, take a look at Affinity Photo, which is very reasonably priced at under £50. There is also a much more recent (and free) version of the Nikon software, Capture NX-D.
 
Another vote for affinity, I have both that and elements loaded (both with Nik plugins) and have never opened elements since I got affinity.
 
If you want a 'better' (newer?) version of Elements, Amazon has a Black Friday deal on Elements 2020 at £54.99. This is for the the disc version (for some reason the activation code by e-mail version is £59) but it requires a 64-bit version of Windows 8.1 or 10 or macOS v10.13 to v10.15. With this you buy it outright rather than having to pay an annual subscription.
 
Like the OP I have Elements 9 and Capture NX2. I ordered Elements 2020 yesterday because 1. it is good value at £54.99 and 2. the 64 bit version and newer programming make it quicker. I tend to use NX2 for the raw and photo editing with Elements only used for removing objects, correcting converging verticals, merging photos and fun things like putting santa hats on the grandchildren's kittens!
 
Affinity photo was available at half price earlier this month look around for the offers
 
Phiggys said:
Affinity photo was available at half price earlier this month look around for the offers
Click to expand...
They started the Black Friday deal today - 30% off = £33.99.
 
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If you have been happy with Elements for some time then maybe you should just Upgrade Elements. Unless you need the additional features in LR and PS then no need to buy the subscription model; I do but I need everything. The Elements Browser provides a Digital Asset Management (DAM) which is not provided by some of the non-Adobe alternatives.

Dave
 
Neilmack said:
Hitherto I've 'made do' with Elements 9 and Nikon Capture NX2. I would like a better version of Elements. Can I buy it outright, or do I have to have an annual subscription as with some other software packages? What has become of LightRoom? Do I need to buy that too?
Click to expand...
Lightroom is now subscription only, though it should be possible to find the odd previous 'buy it once only' copies for legitimate sale amongst all the fakes & bootlegs. Historically Adobe have allowed licensed apps to be transferred between owners having an Adobe id.

As a step up from Elements I'd probably recommend Affinity Photo (a Photoshop alternative, not a Lightroom one) - a great bargain so far as they build market share. Get a trial version, hopefully it'll work for a month and give you time to grasp the learning curve and see.

But a main question is how much raw processing you do. Affinity might replace & improve on Elements but as of yet at least it probably isn't the answer if you want to process raws wholesale, in which case you need to partner it with something else for that purpose. For that there are free alternatives like Darktable and Raw Therapee, but also commercial 'buy it once' applications like DxO Photolab and On1 Photoraw, either of which might do everything you need, or not. The trouble is that it's pretty time-consuming to investigate all these options, and each of them has a different user interface to master.

Capture NX-D was mentioned above, and maybe that's somewhere to start, but compared to paid alternatives is somewhat lacking.

Good luck clearing the hurdles.
 
Thanks everyone.
I have now downloaded the trial versions of both Affinity Photo and Elements 2020. Affinity says their software is fine with Windows 7 Pro, but it keeps locking up. Adobe say that Elements 2020 requires Windows 10, but at the moment it's running fine under W 7 Pro.

Inevitably the Adobe interface is the more familiar, and so far I have got encouraging results. Also it handles my Nikon RAW files nicely, which my old version did not. I will persevere for a couple of sessions with Affinity - it's attractively cheap (£34 at present) - but I suspect the decision will be in favour of the devil I know (which also seems a good deal at £55).
 
Are there any things that Affinity Photo can do that Elements can't?
 
Neilmack said:
Are there any things that Affinity Photo can do that Elements can't?
Click to expand...
16-bit layers.
Elements is limited to 8-bit.

Affinity is nearer to the full Photoshop than Elements, which Adobe delibrately cripple, in order for it not to compete with Photoshop.
 
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