 "Much better than it's Amazon rating would lead you to believe..." | 2009-08-26 |
| - Reviewed By User: AO442HDU24KVQ |
I am rather stunned that the current Amazon rating for this product is about 3 stars. I would rate it 5 stars except that it is priced too high. Aside from the price this is quite probably the finest photo editing software that can be found for either Mac or Windows. It is quite obvious why this is THE industry standard for graphical editing. It is fast (with sufficient RAM), stable, and so full of features that it can take years to discover them all. If you learn the full set of features and how to cleverly combine them there's very little that you cannot acheive with this software.
So if your wallet and computer hardware can withstand the strain of this software there is almost no way you can go wrong with it. However, as stated before, the learning curve is fairly steep. I would describe the UI as intuitive, but there are so many features and ways to combine them that effective use does require extensive training and practice. |
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| "Great software and fantastic customer service. Expensive" | 2009-08-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2VZI0TATTZSSM |
As with previous versions, CS4 is a fantastic piece of software altho I think it's quite expensive (read comments below).
Since I've read other comments about it here on Amazon, I want to point out my experience with Adobe's customer service has been fantastic.
I called them to ask for a cross-platfrom license transfer (from PC to Mac), and my "chain of upgrades" was rather complicated as well:
- Used copy of Retail Photoshop 6.0 (I signed & faxed the ownership transfer form when I purchased it years ago)
- CS upgrade (with a signed transfer form as well)
- CS3 upgrade
- CS4
The Adobe representative asked me for all my serials, instructed me to upload a form of proof-of-destruction for the above mentionned software, and charged me 19.99$ fees for Canada shipping.
3 weeks later I received a brand new retail version box of CS4 MAC.
Lastly, I want to point out that as an amateur photographer, I realize I now use Photoshop CS4 much less than I did so with CS3 because of how well Adobe Lightroom has matured from version 1 to version 2.
Photoshop CS used to be part of my workflow for all photographs. Now I find myself barely using it now and then, because I can mostly do everything I want in Lightroom 2.
That brings me to the near 700$ price point: I'm not sure it's justified for nearly anybody that won't make a professional living out of photos or images that need to be worked on with CS4. There's still a couple of CS only plugins that I need and justify the use of CS4, but if Adobe Lightroom had a true & full plug-in support (and not a export-to-plugin function), I'm not really sure I'd keep purchasing the new versions of Photoshop CS.
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 "Horrible service from Adobe" | 2009-08-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2WGVWM50YXFAN |
I had a nightmare experience with Adobe Tech support. This review describes this experience and says nothing about the product itself, so be advised.
I tried installing this one Sunday night, and it finished with a message "Done, but with errors." It would not run. I called Adobe and learned they are only open during weekdays, during the hours I am at work (unlike many of their competitors, who offer 24 hour tech support). So, the next day I left work early and went home and called Adobe. The tech support guy was very rude, was not interested in hearing what error I got, and instead had me delete all of my Adobe products and many other files from various directories. Then he told me he was leaving for the day and that Adobe Tech Support was now closed and hung up. I kid you not. I tried installing Photoshop again and got exactly the same error as the first time. My system would now no longer run properly, since the tech guy had me delete several things and hung up without helping me reinstall them.
So, the next day I took off from work and called Adobe again. This time a different tech support guy had me go through a different set of procedures, but once more when I tried installing it I got the same error as before. He told me he didn't know what was going on and would escalate the problem. He said that someone would call me within two hours. Well, no one from Adobe has EVER called me.
I used the internet to research the problem myself and was able to eventually install Photoshop successfully after many hours of work on my own and after taking off a day and a half from work. Adobe Tech Support was more than useless, they were actually destructive.
It is amazing to me that a company like Adobe can behave like this and stay in business. |
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| "Really overpriced" | 2009-08-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A220GN2X2R47JE |
| This is decent software but when you cross half a grand for a program, that's pretty obscene amount of money, an Operating System doesn't even cost this much, it is just a photo editor. If they lowered the price more people would buy it instead of pirating it and hence they would make more money. But too many people simply can't afford 600 or 700 dollars for a program. |
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 "From Gimp to Adobe, A gentle ride." | 2009-07-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3IQJ9WEK33CSE |
Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 4. Wow, I've really crossed over into a whole new world from Gimp and all my other Open Source software.
Don't get me wrong, Open source software is great and in most cases very well assembled and very useful, even for commercial Projects. but Lets face it, It's not, in many cases, Commercial Grade or industry standard software.
Adobe is the Main option for many Industries that need to have image creation and manipulation more robust then MS paint or simple Photo cleanup and red eye removal. I see Adobe Photoshop CS4 does that as well.
I got this because my classes starting in August will be centered around 3D art production and projects, and part of the class revolve around texture creation and manipulation with Photoshop CS3/CS4. In fact this class is centered around the entire work flow where Photoshop is an impotent component of this work flow. the other part of this tool box being Maya 2009 (which along with this I bough as well) and a digital Camera. The only thing I didn't buy was a Wacom, not quite as required for homework, as these two programs.
The transition from my native Gimp to Adobe has been really quite gentle and pleasant as a lot of the same concepts and work flows remain the same it seems to me. Layers are still layer, channels are still channels and there a whole lot of things I can do with Photoshop that are masked in mystery in Gimp.
Great program this is... |
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| "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Mac" | 2009-06-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1EQ3RWVJZ2N06 |
| This product is the best editing tool on the market. However you need to be aware that it comes with NO instructions. I had to comb websites and bookstore and beg for help on line to narrow it down to what instructional book I should buy. It took me weeks and it wasn't cheap! |
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