[Leica] Elements 5.0 Versus Lightroom 1.0

[pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig)]

Jim,

my comments on PSE5:

I upgraded to PSE5 a couple of weeks ago because of my desire to be able to 
use 
levels. That was the single reason. Frankly it does that in a limited way, 
but 
in my opinion the User Interface to PSE5 is awful.

UI:

I say in my opinion deliberately because it is my opinion, but then that is 
what 
UI design is all about, providing a good experience to the user. To this 
user 
the UI singularly fails to do that. The user is forced into a way of 
handling 
and storing my images which is Adobe's way and not, probably the way that 
many 
users would want to.

Several of the tools have been moved and the design of the sliders etc 
changed. 
Previously they had been perfectly OK. If it ain't bust...


Levels:

FWIW I work entirely with TIFFs until I do something like putting the images 
in 
the LUG gallery; as afr as I am aware all of these comments apply equally to 
JPEG manipulation.

Levels, or lack of them, has been for me one of the major differences 
between 
PSE and PS. My workflow is based upon scanned C41 B&W (BW400CN) images 
stored as 
RGB TIFFs. Generally I convert these to B&W and then work on them as 
required. 
Levels is one of the last steps one would go through.

Unfortunately "adjust colour levels" - which is what you get - requires a 
colour 
image, so you have to work entirely in colour or convert a B&W image back to 
colour! The levels that you get from the UI are then only adjustable at 
certain 
points via sliders, no manual dragging of the curves. The preview seems to 
take 
a longer time to react than I would have expected, but that is a minor 
point. 
Finally you cannot save the output from a set of levels adjustments 
independently of the image. In other words you can't save the adjustments to 
import and re-use.

PSE5 adds a number of features which are aimed at the digital video capture 
market and at doing the sorts of things that I guess that most LUGgers 
probably 
don't do; most of which aren't "traditional photographic" manipulation.

Gripes apart PS/PSE does enable you to do a lot which you couldn't do in a 
darkroom and that is its strength.

Peter Dzwig

Jim Nichols wrote:
> LUGGERS,
> 
> In my digital endeavors, I work with JPEG images, not RAW or the other 
> more detailed files.  For some years, I have used Adobe Photoshop LE as my 
> editing software.  I am now interested in upgrading, and today downloaded 
> the beta version of Lightroom.  In experimenting with Lightroom, I find I 
> miss the functionality of PS, but can't justify the professional package. 
> I wondered if anyone not requiring work with RAW images has compared 
> Lightroom and Photoshop Elements 5.0?  If so, please share your opinions.
>   
> Jim Nichols
> Tullahoma, TN USA
> 
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