by
2cairns » Mon Nov 12, 2007 5:26 pm
Hi Kevin,
I just upgraded to PSE6/PE4 from PSE5 and PE2. The reason that I upgraded was mainly because I wanted the upgrade for Premiere Elements. And, if you buy the bundle it really doesn't cost a whole lot more to include PSE6.
Last year I didn't upgrade from PE2 because, from what I read, it seemed like PE3 was a little unstable and I was doing OK with PE2. PE4 seems to generally get better reviews. But, I have to admit that I haven't really worked on a project with it as yet -- just mainly looked around. I like the idea of the integration of the Organizer between both products.
I wasn't really going to upgrade to PSE6 because there isn't a lot new over PSE5. Again, it was the price thing that made me buy the bundle. I didn't want to get caught later paying more if I changed my mind and wanted both products. To my surprise, the more I use PSE6 the more I like it. I like the new color scheme (I didn't at first), although I have to say that it is easier to read on a desktop than it is on a laptop. There's a new selection tool that is very good. The much improved panoramic merge is great. I often merge 3-5 shots together and with PSE5 it was always telling me that it couldn't be done automatically. Or if it did create the panoramic, there always was something that I had to really play around with in order for it to look good. I did several panoramics the other day with as many as 5 photos. I used photos that PSE5 couldn't seem to put together, and presto they were great. A simple crop and I was set to go.
Sorry this got rather long, but to summarize, If you are interested in either one, I would buy the bundle. The imporvements that I mentioned in PSE6 were more than I expected and PE4 looks good too.
There are trial copies available for download on the Adobe site if you want to test drive them. They are full-featured 30-day trials. I also read somewhere that Best Buy has already advertised a really good price for the day after Thanksgiving (I think it was $90-but I'm not positive.)
Good luck and let me know what you decide.