Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0  Editors' choice

By Susan Glinert, CNET.com on 10/11/2005

More Adobe reviews , RRP: AU$189.00

The good:

  • Fabulous interface
  • Superb editing and organisational tools
  • Terrific slide-show and other photo-sharing features

The bad:

  • A bit more sluggish than we'd like
  • No Mac version yet

The bottomline:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 adds even more power to an already top-flight image editor/organiser package. Equipped with a chic interface and a fantastic toolbox, Elements is the best choice for digital photographers who want to put their photo collection in order and share with others.

Rarely do I encounter a piece of software so well designed that words fail me (at least until my editor pointed out that she wouldn't pay me for a "words failed me" review). So, I'll say this: if you need a phenomenal image editor and organiser package, buy Adobe Photoshop Elements 4. And if you're thinking of taking up video editing, get the bundle with Adobe Premiere Elements 2.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 is more than just a scaled-down version of Adobe Photoshop. Aside from the fact it makes the feature set and interface comprehensible to non-graphic-designer types, the program incorporates automatic image enhancements and extremely intelligent selection tools that are missing in Photoshop.

However, Photoshop users will find both the tools and the features familiar in both appearance and effect. I actually prefer Elements 4 for editing photos -- it's a bit easier to browse around and perform quick fixes. And though it's a tiny bit sluggish, especially when loading the different work spaces, we turn to Photoshop only for batch operations or sophisticated colour correction.

Alas, this version drops Windows 2000 support, and the Mac version is "in the works." Otherwise, Elements is just about perfect for Windows XP users.

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