Which software to use?

[tomkinsrichard]

PaintShop, AfterShot, Photo Impact, Photo Explorer, Photo Express, all from Corel. Which one should I be using?

Serif makes PhotoPlus, Phot Project and Panorama Plus.

If I look at Corel, I don't know what the differences are or what I would use them for or how. If I look at Serif, I can see a clear difference for each offering and what they are used for. I believe that Serif should have them all in one package.

Can someone at Corel respond and clear up my non-understanding of all the different photo products?

I am asking for some help here, because I keep getting all these notices from Corel about the new PaintShop X6 which is 64 bit. The upgrade price is appraching the purchase price of the Serif product, in fact, they were on the phone earlier today and offered me a bundle thta would have me pay only $39 for Serif PhotoPlus which has been 64 bit for a couple of years now.

I am a mostly loyal customer, but all this Corel confusion has me wondering. Not only that, I am currently experiencing a major problem with PaintShop that I do not know how to solve and switching to something else might just be a whole lot easier for me and bunch of other people, especially if there is no compelling reason to stay a Corel customer.

[LeviFiction]

PaintShop Pro is a photo editor with Photomanagement. Consider it like Adobe Photoshop Elements. I know some want to compare to full Photoshop, but let's not stretch things.

Aftershot is like Lightroom. Handles RAW, with some editing (very extensive from what I've read) but treats that editing in a different way than PaintShop Pro does. Probably not the most useful if you're not shooting in RAW. It's their successor to Bibble when they bought it out.

PhotoImpact, as far as I know is no longer developed. So while a great piece of software, many do love it, it's not going anywhere. But just like PaintShop Pro in many ways, though its graphics offerings are superior. They got it when they bought Ulead.

Photo Explorer, and Photo Express. I'm not familiar with these. But I'll go out on a limb and say they are not as powerful as the previous three mentioned. More like those give-aways found in cheap printer bundles. Not made for serious work.

And finally PhotoPaint that comes with Corel Draw suite. Closer to a Photoshop & Illustrator combo than anything else in Corel's offerings.

If you want to go with Serif that's great. The best way to know for sure is to trial and make sure that the other offers you everything you need and want. If it does, awesome.

[tomkinsrichard]

Thank you, that helps.

I feel that there are far too many choices in the whole world of offerings and that Corel has done a disservice by having far too many offerings themselves, which simply leads to confusion.

At times, it seems to me that most people purchase Adobe products because they have just a couple of offerings and it's easy for someone to figure out. I think Corel should take a cue here and simplify their product road map, have two offerings at most and incorporate all the features of the disparate products into those two offerings and then sell them at a very competitive price point.

Forcing the consumer to try and sort out what each industry player is offering in order to make an informed purchase is a tough thing. Forcing a consumer to sort out amongst all the different product of one corporation in order to make an informed purchasing decision is crazy.

If Corel wants to stand out from the rest, and there are hundreds to choose from, then they have to stand out like a sky scraper, and be like the Burj Khalifa and not look like the mish mash of the New York Skyline. Adobe currently stands like the Burj Khalifa and Corel like the New York Skyline. It's a mess.

Corel owes it to their shareholders, employees and loyal customers to better align their product lineup so that it gets the best and tallest exposure.

Every time a new version of PaintShop arrives, I look around the marketplace and compare. I have many associates that use the competitors products, Adobe, DxO, Serif, Phase One, and the list goes on.

Serif calls me on a regular basis, when I tell them that I am not currently buying, they start to drop their price. They know, that when a user has switched to their software, that they will usually end up as a loyal customer, it's human nature. They know that once they have their foot in the door, they're in. The price offerings from Serif are sometimes below the upgrade costs from Corel.

I feel the Corel product is a solid performer, and I like the feature set. If Corel is offering all this other stuff, some of it looks half baked, because they are trying to address a price conscious consumer below the PaintShop offering, maybe they should combine the products into a single product and offer the resultant product at a lower price point.

There, I've had my rant about Corel marketing.

[tomkinsrichard]

I want to revisit this question again.
Recently, I have been getting some heavy advertising from Corel about AfterShot Pro.

What would be a good reason to use PaintShop Pro and AfterShot Pro on my system?

Does PaintShop Pro not adequately address my imaging requirements?

Does AfterShot Pro provide functionality that I do not currently have in PaintShop Pro?

Is Corel about to twilight PaintShop Pro and switch to AfterShot Pro?

[Ken Berry]

AFAIK, ASP almost exclusively deals with RAW images. PSP of course can also do some manipulation of RAW images, but does a heck of a lot more. There is no intention to replace PSP. The heavy advertising of ASP flows more from the exceedingly bad press Corel have given themselves over very tardy upgrades of ASP, and the fact that they have finally just released a new version.

[awm03]

If I may respectfully correct you, Ken, ASP doesn't work exclusively with RAW files. It also works with jpegs & tiffs. PSP also handles RAW files, but its RAW converter is rather rudimentary. If you can get it to work, ASP is a nice complement to PSP for RAW file work (or even jpeg work)-- it's fast, easy, has a full array of tools, and can easily switch to PSP for more complex editing. I very much like having both programs.

[Ken Berry]

I did say "almost exclusively"... and from reading the ASP forums, most users seem to be concerned with its ability to handle and edit RAW images. But at least we seem to agree that one program does not exclude the other...

[BrianCee]

Surly the answer to your dilemma tomkinsrichard is to download the FREE 30 day trial of PaintShop pro and then AfterShot pro and see for yourself - on your own computer what you can do with each programme - if it does not do what you want then un-install it and you have lost nothing - if it does you can purchase with confidence.

[hartpaul]

As Brian has mentioned most graphics programs allow for a time limited trial so you can check for yourself.

Perhaps the real question is What do you need a graphics program for? Provide a list of the things you want to do and may want to do. Then look at the features of each program and compare.
If you never shoot in Raw then probably Lightroom and ASP are not neeeded for your uses.

Tomkinsrichard said :I feel that there are far too many choices in the whole world of offerings and that Corel has done a disservice by having far too many offerings themselves, which simply leads to confusion.

If the number of offerings is already condfusing you wait til you try to get to terms with Photoshop or paintshop pro and all the features these programs have.

[tomkinsrichard]

I exclusively shoot RAW (NEF).
I use Nikon View NX 2 to manipulate my RAW images and on occasion, convert to 16 bit TIFF to process in PaintShop Pro X6.
I have tried DXO Optics Pro and also Nikon Capture NX2.
Nikon embeds data in NEF that originates from the camera MCU and the lens MCU. This embedded data is used by Nikon software to enhance the RAW processing. As this is proprietary data and information, it is only available to Nikon software. I would imagine every other camera manufacturer does something similar.
So, the RAW importer in PaintSHop Pro X6 is of limited use and the RAW importer of AfterShotPro would also be of limited use.

I guess if I stick with my current workflow, then I have an optimal process and the purchase of Nikon Capture NX2 would be the proper path to enhance the workflow.

I thank everyone for their input on this question.

[brucet]

I currently shoot with a Nikon, (D7100), and have for a long time used Bibble/ASP for my raw conversions. However with the tardy attention to ASP issues by Corel I revisited other raw converters. Some options were good and some not so good. ASP is a good program but has one major flaw for my work flow. Broken White Balance.
I started to play with Nikon's beta Capture NX-D. I was impressed, very impressed, with the results. ASP has many more features and, with some work, would/could be a better option. However Capture NX-D 'reads' the imbedded information in NEFs. This alone makes for a great starting point. For me White Balance is a real issue. I can't afford the time to continually correct ASP results. The output from NX-D is a great starting point for further work in PSPx6.

IMHO NX-D is a better option. However I will keep watching this forum in the hope that I can once again include ASP in my work flow.

regards

[pdxrjt]

Can't speak to Nikon software as I don't use their cameras. But would like to add all RAW data is proprietary. Any of the "generic" RAW processors (LR, ASP etc. which open many file types) have attempted to reverse engineer the RAW file. If you have ever tried to load a RAW file into software which was not prepared with reverse engineering it generally just will not open. How well various programs read the encrypted data is another matter.

[GlenBarrington]

I want to revisit this question again.
Recently, I have been getting some heavy advertising from Corel about AfterShot Pro.

What would be a good reason to use PaintShop Pro and AfterShot Pro on my system?

Does Paint Shop Pro not adequately address my imaging requirements?

Does AfterShot Pro provide functionality that I do not currently have in PaintShop Pro?

Is Corel about to twilight PaintShop Pro and switch to AfterShot Pro?

AfterShot Pro is a Workflow tool, it's purpose is to control the flow of work in post processing photos from start to finish, regardless if you use just ASP, or other editors, or plug-ins and other software. Paint Shop Pro is an excellent bit mapped editor with a simple organizer and a raw development tool attached. Yes, there is some overlap in functionality, but the goals for each are quite different. PSP seems quite safe. To me, it sometimes seems it is the only software Corel cares about!

I personally think PSP X6 does a pretty good job with raw, if you accept it's limitations. And THAT statement can be applied to any raw developer in the market. I frequently tell people who want to explore raw inexpensively that PSP is an excellent and low cost choice for that purpose. It is true, I prefer ACDsee Pro for my own raw, but I think PSP offers better results than ASP V1 on highlights (ASP does better in Shadows). As an FYI, on my personal and non commercial blog, I have written a little article on how to develop raw with PSP X6.

Direct link to article: http://glenbarrington.blogspot.com/2014 ... s-why.html