Our thoughts on Photoshop CS3

[zygzee]

This as an open tread for our thoughts about Photoshop CS3.

My own impressions, after using the program for a month, are that it is worth the upgrade price. On the HDR front there have been very good improvements. The align command does such a great job now, I do not need to lock up the mirror. Alignment now works out of Bridge also. The tone mapping conversion from 32 bit to 16 bit has been improved too. In CS2 I always needed to readjust the colors to get back to the original. In CS3, after conversion, the colors have been correct every-time. The color accuracy and the ability to align out of Bridge have definitely speeded up my HDR workflow.

I like the new icons. It makes it so much easier to find Photoshop in the Dock, Menu bar or in a Window.

Not only does it now run on Intel Macs, the performance on my PowerPC G5 has improved also.

Camera Raw 4 is just awesome. I just finished a project where I produced two object movies, and Camera Raw’s improvements cut the production time by at least 33%. Adobe added a Retouch command to Camera Raw that made cleaning up 36 pictures simple. The background blemish corrections that could be applied to all pictures was as simple as making the corrections to the first picture and then syncing to the rest of the pictures to have the retouch applied to all the pictures. Sure beats retouching 36 individual pictures! Making global lighting corrections with the Fill Light and Recovery commands is an added benefit. You can still make individual corrections also. The over all affect can be observed since you can look at the pictures as a group. This made the final blending in VR Worx’s work on the first try. Something I was never able to do in the past, I always needed to go back and tweak a picture or two. It looks like I will not need to do this anymore. A great time saver.

I think that the improvements to Camera Raw alone, make the upgrade to CS3 worth it.:w00t:

[imported_JeromeL]

yes the camera raw is much better! i also like the new bridge layout and the added features. it took me a little while to use a few of my FM plugins but once you get used to it it's nice. the only issue that i've had, is my ISO plugin from FM crashing CS3. that could be FM's fault.

[Spartacus989]

Okay, so I don't do much HDR (yet, anyway) and I haven't shot any RAW (yet, anyway), so is CS3 useful in other ways outside of those aspects? Obviously, I haven't used the program, so I'm just wondering if any other functions have had overhauls.

[imported_ScottBuckel]

The B&W conversions are pretty nice. I am thinking that smart filters will be a great boon to creative work.

Scott

[copeg]

Since I was going from CS to CS3, it was definitely worth it. With CS I had no camera raw, so every image I wanted to process had to first go through a tiff intermediate, a p.i.t.a. Since CS just crawled on my macbook, now having it universal its lightening fast. Still haven't played around with it too much, but for just those reasons alone and having bridge to go along with it, oh yeah :w00t:

[imported_timothybui]

I don't have CS. I'm still using version 7. =(

[Snarfy]

Originally Posted by timothybui

I don't have CS. I'm still using version 7. =(

oh yikes. um, upgrade. soon.

[imported_timothybui]

Originally Posted by Snarfy

oh yikes. um, upgrade. soon.

No moola.

[PICTURE THIS!]

I dont have photoshop at all and am just curious as to how much CS3 costs?

[imported_timothybui]

I think $299? I don't know.

[PICTURE THIS!]

you were right Tim, it's $299 at adobe.com, less than I expected.

[imported_timothybui]

I now have CS2. =]

And wow, first post since CPF went back up. Hi everybody.

[Snarfy]

Haha, congrats on CS2 and returning to us Timothy! CS2 is quite a bit different from 7.0, and it is leaps and bounds better.

[Vict.oria]

I downloaded the trial and LOVED it!! The features a better and easier to use then in some of the other photoshops. I got really attatched to it. :( I miss it.

[imported_timothybui]

Originally Posted by Vict.oria

I downloaded the trial and LOVED it!! The features a better and easier to use then in some of the other photoshops. I got really attatched to it. :( I miss it.

I can hook you up. ;]