Photoshop Elements 5.0 plus Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0

Worth the money. Essential tool to move to a professional version

Strengths: A lot more built in tools to work with. Cheap (with rebates)

Weaknesses: Need a PC with good power (processor, memory, video card etc) to run the programs efficiently.

Summary: I have owned full versions of Adobe Photoshop (4.0) and Premier (5.0) in the past. I decided to try these newer versions before considering upgrade to full versions (e.g. CSx). The product was bought cheap at Office Depot with 2 rebates. Installation was easy and error-free. (Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz, 1 GB RAM, XP Pro, 22 inch LCD monitor, 128 MB RAM on Video card)

Photoshop now has a lot more tools and offers a lot of new features. I like the magnetic lasso tool, which lets you get rid of the background easy. The tools are easy to use and has tool-tips to guide you. Highly recommended.

Premier is a decent program. Not much has changed except for support for new video formats. Does not have DivX codec embedded yet. A lot of templates are included. You will need a fast processor and good hardware. A large monitor is very highly recommended.

For the price (about $ 50 for both combined), it is a great deal. If you plan to purchase the full (and expensive) version, try this first.

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Huge amount of power at a very modest price

Strengths: Stable, amazing scope of features, and although it has become more feature rich with each version it does not feel bloated.

Weaknesses: None so far.

Summary: I had Elements 1.0 when it first arrived, and though it was robust feature-wise I ended up sticking with Paint Shop Pro as my bread and butter photo software. No longer. PSP has in my experience grown buggier and bloated with each upgrade, whereas Elements appear to have refined its interface yet maintained reasonable performance as it has evolved.

I've not really had a chance to work with Premiere yet, but I'm impressed with what I've read and my experience with Pinnacle Studio has been similar to PSP. I bought the bundle because of its compelling value and it is Vista ready.

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Great program!

Strengths: Lots of Features, Has more of a professional feel and workspace

Weaknesses: uses alot of the memory and cpu

Summary: Great product for the price. With rebates, this product is a great deal. Although, it doesn't come close to the pro versions, it has an intuitive format and the workspace can be customized.

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tinog123

Strengths: Very versitale product

Weaknesses: None

Summary: This is an upgrade from the Photoshop Elements 3.0 that I was using prior to this purchase. Many more options and ways to do things. Easier to use than previous version. Was using the manufacturer supplied software to edit video prior to this and haven't had the opportunity to shoot any new video, but after glancing thru the program looks much more versatile.

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