CS4: Worth the upgrade from CS3?

[Jenny Z]

I've seen a few things that I would consider "nifty" in CS4, but not much that I would consider worth the extra $$... what say you?

[flx2000]

pain in my rear, went back to cs3.
that tabbed work space killed my workflow.

[RKEnnis]

The tabbed workspace is optional on the Mac. I haven't used the windows version, but I think you can turn it of there as well.


For me, the stuff I like so far:

Open GL zoom.

The new adjustment panels, and the fact that you can change the adjustments later.

Vibrance Adjustment.

New features in Camera Raw, including local adjustments and post crop vignette. (Of course, this stuff is already available in Lightroom 2, so if you use that, you may not care much about the camera raw update.)

Surprisingly, I've actually used the content aware scaling feature several times already.

Originally Posted by flx2000

pain in my rear, went back to cs3.
that tabbed work space killed my workflow.

[jeffkohn]

In many ways I fee that Photoshop CS4 is a step back for me. I don't like the new UI enhancements: both the tabbed windows and the adjustment panels suck bigtime IMHO.

There are really only three things that keep me using CS4:

- Photoshop CS4 handles large files much better
- Bridge CS4 is a huge improvement over CS3
- Camera RAW 5.x

[KdLaneJr]

Since I'm stepping from CS2 I see a much larger difference. I don't care for some of the interface changes, but I like the new features I have available and have already modified my workspace menu's to show me what I want to see. The tabbed windows are also easily over-ridden when necessary.

What I disliked the most about the interface change was hidden items on the menu's (that were not hidden in previous versions) and not having a simple way to unhide them permanently. With all the shortcuts and ways to speed up workflow I can't imagine why they felt it necessary to hide menu items.

[Jenny Z]

Hmm. Sounds like I should save the money.

I didn't buy CS3 that long ago really, I think I'll wait a while longer and put it at the end of the list.

[canoflan]

Originally Posted by Jenny Z

I've seen a few things that I would consider "nifty" in CS4, but not much that I would consider worth the extra $$... what say you?

I upgraded because I new that software would come out eventually that would only work on CS4; however, I do not recommend the upgrade. Just simply not enough difference and frankly, CS3 was probably the best version to have.

I could go back, but once you adjust, you are set.

[JohnT]

Is there not an option to revert to legacy panels? Just a thought. I'm still using CS3 and don't plan to upgrade.

[billbunton]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

In many ways I fee that Photoshop CS4 is a step back for me. I don't like the new UI enhancements: both the tabbed windows and the adjustment panels suck bigtime IMHO.

There are really only three things that keep me using CS4:

- Photoshop CS4 handles large files much better
- Bridge CS4 is a huge improvement over CS3
- Camera RAW 5.x

I don't use Bridge much, but agree on the other points. I actually do like the adjustment panel rather than dialogs. And though I haven't played with it yet, the focal point merging sounds like it works very well.