Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 (Mac) [OLD VERSION] Reviews

• Improved, But Beware!

  
  By AOUZ3K5E68IRZ on 2006-03-14
  I've had it for a couple of days now, but there are a number of things about PE4 that make the transition from version 3 to 4 needlessly difficult, not to mention if you get PE4 first.
  
  The main change involves the use of "Bridge" to handle what the Browser function did previously. Unfortunately, it seems there are some missing planks in their Bridge, as it's like having 2 separate programs attempt to talk to hand off files to each other. It is clunky, not intuitive at all, and often doesn't work in a consistent way, even when you figure it out.
  
  According to Adobe Technical Help [when you can reach them through 3 or 4 layers of sales beforehand], there is no "Organizer" for Mac that comes with the Windows version, and they were surprised at a number of missing elements in this version as a result. It also seems that they've tried to piggyback an existing full Photoshop program--Bridge--onto the back of Elements, which despite appearances, is a completely different program.
  
  Another example: the Adjust Shadows/Highlights--which allows you to correct for things in shadows, or too bright...buried in a 3rd level menu...has been changed from the PE3 default of "50% lighten" to a "25% lighten" with no ability to change that preset. So everytime you want to adjust your picture, you have to push the slider back to 0% and start out there to see what's best for your photo. Clearly Adobe recognized their 50% preset was too much for most, and changed it--but left off the ability of the user to preset what works best for us. What's the solution to this or any other inflexible/confusing issue? I was told several times that if I wanted things to work better, I should buy the full Photoshop.
  
  That is simply unacceptable, especially for a company of Adobe's size and history of working primarily on the Mac platform. I would rather have fewer features that work more reliably and straightforward, especially involving putting our most used features on a toolbar instead of being forced to grab them out of deep menus everytime.
  
  In Bridge, they are trying to combine a number of features found in iPhoto, such as rating photos by stars, making it more flexible. However, they don't allow you to customize your displays or views enough to be efficient, much less easy to deal with. The speed of Bridge, and especially interacting with 4, is slow. Also particularly irksome is the lack of sensitivity/responsiveness of the sliders within PE4, i.e. brush size and opacity.
  
  So far, I'm not impressed with the Magic Selection Tool, one of the main reasons I wanted to upgrade. It doesn't seem to grab things as efficiently as advertised, although it is better than just the Magic Wand 3 had. I'm also less than impressed with another new feature: Adjust Skin Tone, something that could be a big time saver while offering the improvements most people care about.
  
  The combined Help program is overly detailed in some regards, yet leaves out big chunks of the program for you to guess at solutions. They have virtually no tutorials or overviews of the program specifically for the Mac version.
  
  I will update this review as I use it more, but I would caution against jumping at this upgrade until they work out more of the kinks in the interface, unless you are a virtual pro and don't mind spending a lot of time figuring things out that aren't quite Ready For Primetime yet. What I look to PE for is something that allows more extensive editing than iPhoto6 has, and yet doesn't have the complexity or cost of the graphics standard Photoshop.
  
  Whether because of the Mac platform changing to Intel chips, or friction between the companies, it seems Adobe is heading in the wrong direction on the Mac platform, making us seem once again like the red-haired stepchild in the computer world, while still charging the same as the Windows versions.
  
  

• Not usable for Mac OX 10.4.8

  
  By A3DT95VWDK6Y2G on 2007-01-09
  I was disappointed when I discovered that I could not use Elements version 4.0 on my new Mac 10.4.8. I had to return it and got credit for it. Photoshop Elements does not seem to compatible with Intel duo core processors in these new Macs. Apparently Adobe has not made it usable yet for this new Mac. When I ordered it, I read that it worked for 10.4, which was not the whole truth.
  Dorothy Bausch
  
  

• Nice results but lousy user experience

  
  By A2YGEJTOPY4DV9 on 2006-10-04
  I'm always reluctant to upgrade any Adobe products and the upgrades from Elements 2 to 3 to 4 have been no different. I upgraded to 4 simply because 3 would not run when we switched to Tiger on our Quicksilver. 3 would run fine on two Powerbooks with the same flavor of Tiger, but not on the Quicksilver (???).
  
  For the amateur, Elements is an excellent, if not superb, photo editor. For maintaining web sites, its very strong with the right set of tools for batch processing. While the tools are not as extensive as competing products, Elements just burns right through the job much faster than any other program I've used.
  
  The user experience is the problem and, in my belief, a big one. It looks like garbage on the screen, right out of Windows. Tiny icons, disorganized, completely different windows handling (close, hide, etc) than any other Mac app and dreadfully lousy as a result. Error messages that make no sense are the norm (just repeat what you tried to do in the first place and it will likely work).
  
  I use Elements for a very restricted set of requirements: some editing, reordering in the browser and batch renaming. For every day use, I don't go near it. Graphic Converter. Cheaper, easier to use, Mac interface, bullet proof code and lively response as opposed to Elements taking forever to open and balks at the slighest provocation. And, Elements can and does crash or is Force Quitted at times.
  
  Quite frankly, understand your criteria. I've been using Elements 2, 3 and now 4 for about 5 years now and believe iPhoto or any of the software that comes with digital cameras is better for casual use and GraphicConverter for more demanding use.
  
  

• Slow and clumsy

  
  By A3SEN625VCTWRI on 2006-05-02
  I bought the elements ready to take on my photo library and have fun editing. Unfortunately, after photoshop successfully and easily organized my photos, the rest was downhill. If you're in the market for a photo organizer, this is a great product, but if you want to edit photos in ANY way, don't get your hopes up. It is exhaustingly clumsy! It's editing functions are not user friendly, are slow, and it even freezes regularly while editing. I give this 2 stars for it's organizing capabilities and 0 stars for it's editing capabilities. I'll probably try a few other products or keep this one for organizing and use another for editing until someone gets it right.
  
  

• Great until it crashes

  
  By AO9H1SHD83P2L on 2006-12-01
  Bought Elements 4.0 to go with my brand new dual core iMac. After about a week it crashed and without going through the bloody details, Apple Support referred me to Adobe. The Adobe troubleshooting "system errors or freezes" page indicates that well, Elements 4.0 may not be quite compatible with the new iMacs and gives 14 fixes, some easy, some laborious, none of which worked for me and to add insult to injuy, attempts to contact Adobe by their on line chat and telephone turned into excercises in more frustration.
  
  
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0
  By AUIRD7K5PRSOZ on 2006-11-09
  I upgraded from Version 2 to 4 since version 3 was never sold for Macs. Frankly, the few improvements I've encountered weren't worth the price of the product. I find the new "browser" function clumsy and it apparently requires an internet connect to be fully functional. Too much bother. The "Red-Eye" tool failed miserably in auto-mode so I was back to doing the version 2 procedure. The "repair tool" is the best improvement but it's still not very automatic. I still use Elements for major photo repair, but the auto tools in iPhoto are much more impressive, especially the "straightening" tool, which is simple and straightforward. Since the auto-straighten tool in Elements only works sometime, I usually have to resort to a "custom rotate" and then a "crop" operation. That's all done in one step with iPhoto. [...]
  
  
• It's Just Fine Folks!
  By A1SPN8B44TKC86 on 2007-08-19
  I purchased a MacBook Pro recently and read the very mixed reviews on this program. Some people had a difficult time getting it to run on their Intel Based Macs.
  
  The other reviews had me nervous. The software installed like it was supposed to and I've already used it to play with some photos I have residing on my iDisk. I used the Bridge to select the shots I wanted to experiment with. The Bridge also worked like it was supposed to.
  
  After I installed the program some very large updates were offered and I instaled them promptly. Perhaps the updates addressed some of the problems mentioned by prior reviewers.
  
  So far so good is all I can say right now. I'm giving it a "4", and will be back later on to add to my reiview.
  
  I'm no techie geek, so I cannot say why I am having no problems. My computer is a MacBook Pro with 1 GB of RAM running at 2.16 Mega herz running OS 10.4.10
  
  I'd say go ahead and buy it for your Mac. You'll be fine!
  
  I will update my review once I've gotten more familier with the program
  
  
• not fully integrated yet
  By A2LF03Q92PJ4ZS on 2006-11-03
  This product is an after thought for the mac. The PC version is a more fully integrated product. Realistically this product is a waste of money when run on a mac if compared to it run on a PC. The "bridge" app is cumbersome at best. Iphoto has nothing to fear. Its a shame considering the PC version is by far the best photo management software available for the hobbyist.
  
  
  
  
• Batch Processing Blues
  By A1HA2S9V28NMDM on 2006-11-01
  This is my first use of any PhotoShop product and I am not very impressed. I edit (retouch and then resize) hundreds of outdoor photos for slideshows and make extensive use of the Auto Smart Fix feature (it usually gives me what I want first try)but when I try to use the batch process feature to do 200 image file 50 images at a time (for Smart Fix or Resize to new folder)Elements 4 is hopeless. The batch processor scrambles the order of the output and it can take hours to unscramble them. Best not to even use this feature unless you are working with very small batches.
  I found it imposssible to email Adobe Support for any suggestions from them on this problem so I am going to look elsewhere for the batch processing capability I want.
  
  
• A must for any photographer
  By A1NJDMH017I3VF on 2007-01-11
  This is as slick as the new Honda Element & with better functions. Even though I use iPhoto to fix most of my pictures, Photoshop Elements 4 offers so many other styles & filters you can apply to your photos. Coupled with its great paint program, one can do wonders even if you're not an artist.
  
  
• Solid product, good value
  By A5332XYTKMH2B on 2006-11-06
  For "the rest of us" who don't really need all the power of PhotoShop, this is a great product. I hope they bring out a universal binary soon.
  
  For much of what I need, Auto Smart Fix does the job. Sure, I could hand tweak it and get it a little better, but what a time saver!
  
  Ease of use, good price... I'm a fan.
  
  
• Good Product and Easy to use
  By AX7S6Z847IN41 on 2007-01-11
  This edition of Photoshop Elements 4.0 for the Mac is a big improvement over the previous version. I'm not the most computer literate person, but have had success with this program.
  
  
• Ease of use
  By A3942LVLXOTNBA on 2007-04-10
  Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 (Mac), is not very easy to use. I have problems using its tools to edit pictures. WhenI tried to use the erase tools, lasso tools, etc. I never got it wright. It's a shame because the editing tool that came with my IMac picture program is rather poor.
  
  
• R-U-B-B-I-S-H
  By AOEVS7PZ3RL5M on 2007-03-04
  As a Large Format film based photographer that simply scans Color Transparencies, or Black & White Negatives I'd have to rate Elements 4.0 for my Mac as PURE RUBBISH! Previously I owned and used Elements 2.0, which I'm going back to using, which allowed me to scan and adjust at a higer dpi, and bit rate. When I read about Elements 4.0 initially some of the features sounded interesting. Once I bought and isntalled the software it became obvious that for my intended use that I was severely handicapped by the restrictions incorporated in the 4.0 version.
  
  
• Photoshop Elements 4. for Mac
  By A2YSQKECHZ5VKV on 2007-01-09
  Don't waste your time downloading or trying the inexpensive or free competitors. Pay the very reasonable price and be happy doing what you want to with software that works right out of the box with no glitches!
  
  Hey Yahoo! I totally redid this review to eliminate the double name but it didn't give me a chance to change it.
  
  
• Excellent tool for manipulating and massaging images.
  By A1R0LNM873ALSV on 2007-01-06
  Elements brings the tools of Photoshop into the hands of average users. It has nearly all the power of Photoshop with a much more intuitive and usable interface.
  
  
• Photo editing and management
  By A21PBG4DJFBVY2 on 2006-11-07
  Simple to use but sophisticated photo editing coupled with the included "Bridge" photo management system makes this an ideal program for the amateur.
  
  
• Not compatible with Leopard 10.5
  By ALGRQ8MUI5A7X on 2008-01-16
  According to Adobe and Apple websites, this product is not compatible with the new Leopard 10.5 system, and there are no fixes or updates available at either website to make it so.
  
  So either wait until Elements 6.0 for Mac comes out in the 2nd quarter of 2008, or find another photo editing software.
  
  
• Great product
  By A3J15E6MOPFLNE on 2006-07-31
  It takes a little time and effort to learn but is well worth it.
  
  
• Not too shabby, Adobe
  By A1DMPFWH4WYBGU on 2007-01-03
  This product is great for anyone who either doesn't need the full power of Adobe's Photoshop, or is on a budget. For the limited graphics work that I do, this product is still more than enough.
  
  
• great for digital scrapbooking!
  By A2Y35Q1DFA3U2S on 2007-05-09
  great product. needed to take a class though...way too much info to just read and learn on my own.
  
  
• Adobe opens a new world to photographers
  By AK1MZ6P09A0IM on 2007-06-07
  My experience in using Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 (Mac) has been positive and rewarding, making the hard-to-see suddenly clearly visible, and increasing the accuracy of the image. Many photographers will, no doubt, find this system valuable beyond expectations.
  
  
• not elementary
  By A28DLH8XK2Z87B on 2007-09-14
  To be honest, my only goal was to alter photos in a simple way and then title them in a blank space below the photo. I found this to be next to impossible. As of this date I have yet to accomplish it.
  
  
• Great software!
  By A12V49R7UWXJX2 on 2007-05-15
  I am so pleased with Photoshop Elements. It's everything I need and more. I've never used Photoshop, but given the price difference, I'm glad I went with Elements. I highly recommend it!
  
  
• Big bang for the buck
  By A16NG3VX3M8JRO on 2007-07-03
  I used to have the origianl photoshop program which was valuable in my work. (photography). But the learning curve was long, long, long and the program was expensive. I could never recommend it to my friends.
  This program has all the most useful features of photoshop for 1/5 of the price and 1/2 the learning curve. And it has some pretty cool "do it for you" stuff. I will never buy the full photoshop version again.
  
  However, be aware...if you are an impatient person and you hate working on computers, this program still may not be the one for you...it's pretty cheap just to bring your memory chip in and let someone else do everything.
  
  
• Adobe customer support
  By A357SP75H5MC4I on 2007-09-20
  I purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Macintosh. Installation was a nightmare. The error message simply said, "a required file is missing." Not much help there. I tried online help. Nothing worked. Finally I called customer service. I waited a minimum of 30 minutes each time I was shuffled from person to person. The Muzak was terribly degraded, adding to my frustration. After numerous attempts, I finally got through to tech services. The gentleman walked me through a difficult fix that was not on the Adobe help website. I learned two things:
  
  1. In safe mode, log out of your account and create a new account called WORKING with no password. See if the program will load from that account.
  
  2. Tech support is on Pacific time, so call 8:00 a.m. PT. The gentleman who helped me said they're slow first thing in the morning.
  
  
• Not on my Mac 10.5
  By A2P1SY1VKKSYJ7 on 2007-12-21
  Used PS ad PSE for years and loved it. PSE does not and per Adobe will not work on Mac OS 10.5. Too bad, now I use GIMP
  
  
• looking at elements 4.0
  By A2AZ8ECZS31GXZ on 2006-11-09
  this is a good basic program. once this is learned you can move up to cs2
  
  
• Photoshop Elements for Photographers
  By A218AZDGX7RJG4 on 2007-09-04
  Photoshop Elements has just what a photographer of average to above average ability can handle.
  It includes all the bells and whistles and more which most of us will ever need to add enhancement
  to our photographs.
  
  
• Works fine on intel-based iMac so far
  By A38XCM2EY7JT0X on 2007-12-20
  Installed and works fine so far on Intel-based iMac with OS X 10.4.11. I will update if any problems arise.
  
  Update 1/4/07: It has been crashing when I save. I suspect it may have been an update I downloaded, or maybe it just took me using it a while for it to start happening. I might try uninstalling it and then reinstalling it without getting the updates. I guess I'll just have to start saving for Photoshop instead. Bummer.
  
  

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