Bridge CS3 v. Elements Organizer

[Duffy Pratt]

For the past year and half or so, I have been using a hodgepodge of PS CS and Elements 3. I used PS for editing, and the organizer in Elements for tracking pictures, sending e-mail attachments, and for basic printing. This process is a bit cumbersome, but has some advantages -- mainly the convenience of automatic "version" stacks of the same photo, and the automation of resizing attachments for e-mails.

I just got CS3, which has a beefed up version of Bridge. It now seems to do some of what I liked about the Elements organizer, but I'm not sure if it can do everything. And I still haven't decided if there is anything that it does better than the Elements organizer.

Does anyone have any ideas about this? I'm basically trying to figure out if Bridge is worth learning and using, instead of what I've patched together the last couple of years. Is there stuff that it offers which has distinct advantages over the organizer in Elements?

FWIW, I have about 3-4000 pictures stored now, and add a few hundred each month. (I also delete as much as I can every month).

I might also be interested in hearing about other solutions to organizing a photo collection which will likely grow to about 10-15K pictures in the next several years. But keep in mind, I just spent the money on CS3, so I can't afford now to shell out another $300 to Adobe for Lightroom.

Thanks,

Duffy

[HFMarshburnJR]

Duffy -

For what it is worth, I made the same transition you describe about three months ago and I will never look back. Take the time and learn Bridge. It is awesome. I can automate a lot of things now that I never could in Elements at the organizer level.

HFM

[jeffkohn]

I never used Elements so I can't do any direct comparisons. But if there's something that you aren't sure how to do in Bridge, ask away and I'm sure one of us can help.

[Duffy Pratt]

I was playing with Bridge a bit this afternoon, and noticed that the filtering is much, much faster than in organizer. Also, the ability to search metadata seems really cool. And for some reason I cannot explain, the pictures look better in the Bridge preview than in Organizer. Color management should be the same in both, so I am wondering if that is just a product of the background used by the different programs.

Anyway, I think I will make the switch. And I appreciate the offer of help in the future.

Duffy