Photoshop elements isn't a bad place to start out with. It's the watered down version of the full CS version. There is currently a $20 mail in rebate for it, cost is $79.00 after mail in.
If you decide to go with Canon, an editing software CD is included to do the basics of editing. Plus a tethered remote app for your laptop is cool.
My Canon printer came bundeled with elements. If you're in the market for a printer - see if you can get one that has one bundeled (don't make that the deciding factor though!)
Quite a few things come bundled with it from graphics tablets to printers and camera equipment so if you were going to buy one of those don't forget to check if there is an adobe bundle version although if you didn't plan on buying such an item it's false economy to buy one for the free software especially since you could often get a newer/higher version of the software for the same price.
The full CS option isn't necessary for everyone either and many features of the full CS4 versions you won't need for photography even if your pro such as design and 3d tools. Elements is more than enough for a lot of people. Also don't forget stuff like GIMP on the free and open source software front since you'll prob get more out of that than picassa.
Lastly I know I've said it before but adobes edu and charity licensing is very very cheap compared to many other companies so they aren't as greedy as many corps in this respect and only the full priced suites aimed at high end business are inflated prices because it reflects their customer base. Also their special licensing is identical software versions to full price software and is applicable to single copy purchases too so you don't need to buy 5 to qualify for edu pricing for instance like some software houses insist on.
Davey,Originally Posted by Davey
Do you know where I can learn more about the licensing? It sounds good, but would really like to check it out in more details.
Thanks,
I can perfectly understand why software of this class costs $700. I make software myself and I know how how many people need to work for years to have a product like this. And those are specialists, not the low-paid people. BUT.. I'm not able to understand why THE SAME product (no extra localization, testing, manufacturing, packaging, storage, sales, distribution or shipping cost involved) that you download from the same server costs you $700 if you have an American credit card, and $1200 if your card is European. Yeah, I know, different markets. Even if there's difference in taxes, I could understand 20% difference.. but over 70% more expensive? That's just unfair!
http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas/
Enjoy
One note on the laptop front, some 17" widescreen laptops do have a separate numeric keypad (the HP nx9420 I am typing this on, for example), but they do tend to be in the upper price bracket I'm afraid.
On the software front, Adobe Lightroom is a good solution if you intend to shoot RAW - combined with a free (via bundle with Camera, etc) copy of Elements this should cover most of what you need. It's about £200 fro v2.5, or free if you are happy to use the v3 beta thats currently running
Hi Sarah,Thankfully we don't do "massive PC -v- Mac debates" here
I do agree with the others, the platform debates are about as useful as the Canon vs. Nikon ones.
They're tools after all.
I use a MacBook Pro but I have to teach on a Windows lab. My real world solution is to run Windows through VMWare Fusion which creates a virtual Windows machine on my Mac.
So depending on how much software you have tied up on your Windows platform, I would just stick with that.
If you don't have much, you should seriously consider a MacBook Pro. I'm sure you've heard the commercials and so forth about viruses et cetera.
I'm thankful Macs are not so popular because when they do become so, I"ll be more vulnerable to those viruses as well.
Since I use both platforms, I felt I should chime in. In truth once you've launched Photoshop or Lightroom, they are essentially identical.
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