Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 [OLD VERSION] Reviews

• Excellent product - highly recommended

  
  By A2DY1O3TRZ8CMB on 2006-10-25
  I have purchased and used every version of Adobe Photoshop Elements since the product was first released - and most recently I upgraded to Photoshop Elements 5.O. I read another review posted here on Amazon in which the reviewer states that a lot of important features are missing from this newest version. Specifically, he says that Elements 5.0 omits two important features - selection brushes and sharpening filters. That is just not true. These features are in the new 5.0 version, so I'm not sure why the reviewer would have said that (unless he is not really familiar with this product).
  
  In my opinion, this is the BEST editing software on the market for the money. I don't know of any other product that offers anywhere near power or flexibility for a similar price. I think the upgrade to Elements 5.0 is worth it - "color curves" are a great new feature, as are the new artwork and effects that were added to this version. These are a lot of fun and very useful particularly if you enjoy creating scrapbooks.
  
  And yes, despite what the prior reviewer says - you CAN adjust the color curve in the Elements 5.0. You may not be able to adjust them to the extent that you can if you were using Photoshop CS2 - but then Photoshop CS2 costs about $500 more than Photoshop Elements 5.0. Besides, its a lot easier to learn how to use color curve in Elements.
  
  I know that many people rely on reviews here at Amazon to help them decide whether to buy a product - I know that I do. I think it is unfortunate that an earlier reviewer made claims about this product that are just plain wrong. I encourage anyone considering Elements 5.0 to research the product and not be mislead by inaccurate information as to its content. Personally, I am very happy with it and I do recommend it.
  
  Roberta
  
  

• Just keeps getting better with each new version

  
  By A35CBVTM1J0FCX on 2006-11-02
  If you like digital photography, you should buy this product. I have used previous versions since the very first. Each upgrade makes the product better and easier to use. This revision improves the performance of the "magic wand" that can be used to isolate individual objects in the photo, and the handling of colors. The automatic red eye removal is a handy feature, although it is not 100% effective: sometimes you have to show the system where the red eye is. The Organizer is a great way to deal with the thousands of photos you are likely to have on your system after a while, but it does force you to plan ahead on how to catalog the photos. I find that the Date View works best for me, making it easy to find birthday and Thanksgiving photos of the family.
  
  All in all, I highly recommend this product. If you are using a previous version, I recommend you upgrade to this one. You won't be sorry you did.
  
  

• All the power of Photoshop for the home user --a must-have for digital photography

  
  By A1IU7S4HCK1XK0 on 2006-12-20
  I am a huge fan of Adobe Photoshop Elements from the get-go. I've had every version or nearly so since its inception. Designed as a "cut-down" version of Photoshop, the granddaddy of digital image manipulation software, Photoshop Elements is aptly named; it has the elements of Photoshop that most users need, but minus the extra bells and whistles that professional designers might require.
  
  That power of course comes at a price; I found that my 3 year old HP Pavilion needed significant upgrades to run version 5.0. Slow to do graphics in any case, due to onboard Nvidia graphics chips, I added a separate graphics card (a reasonably inexpensive one) and some additional memory since my computer was underpowered in that regard as well. The addition to 1GByte of RAM and the dedicated graphics card made loading and running Photoshop Elements 5.0 possible. It went from molasses and swearing a lot to slick as a cat's hindquarters.
  
  So: Lesson #1--if your computer doesn't have a dedicated graphics card and is underpowered in RAM, consider upgrading or replacing a superannuated model. Ask your local computer guru if you are unsure.
  
  Now, down to the improvements in the software.
  
  1. Enhanced conversion to black & white from color. While "remove color" and sepia (or any) toning was always available, there is now a set function to create black & white from your color digital photo. I use this a lot. As a former person who did her own B&W in the darkroom as a kid, I have of course no time as an adult to process film and Heaven knows printing one print can take hours. I created a handsome photo of some wicker chairs on an old porch in record time with this feature.
  
  2. You can delight your kids (or yourself) by making photo flipbooks--the precursor to movies. Fun and educational. A lovely little feature for homeschoolers and kids' activities.
  
  3. More options for fancy frames, collages. This is in answer to the scrapbooking craze. There are many more ways to make enhanced pictures and photos for digital printing to cards, scrapbook or just to email to friends. Photoshop Elements also has an array of filters that let you make web thingies like glassy buttons and neon highlighted lettering for designing your home web page.
  
  4. As in PSE 4 and 3, you have the option to go from camera download to quick edit, without loading the full editing power of PSE. Organization of the photos and videos has been greatly enhanced in version 5.0
  
  5. Along with organization, there is a new feature Map View which lets you tag your photos to where you took them. And you can share photos with some online features.
  
  6. There are brushes that replicate natural surfaces, natural brushes, fancy shapes. You can create artwork with or without photos by chosing colors, gradients, and add text and create drop shadows, bevels, and other features. You can change photos to have artist effects like pastel strokes or oil daubs.
  
  Downsides?
  
  1. I mentioned the slowness of loading if your computer is underpowered. To give this version a fair test, I upgraded my computer and I recommend you have a minimum of 1GByte RAM and a separate graphics card unless you have a very new, very graphics-oriented PC.
  
  2. If you are a current user of V. 3.0 or so, you may find it is hard to locate some features as they have been reorganized. I still find I have to re-learn how to do a few things because the menus have changed somewhat. The overall layout (drop menus and tabs in the tool sets) is the same.
  
  Finally, the Five-Hundred Dollar Question: Do I need Photoshop or Photoshop Elements? Here's what is NOT available:
  
  CMYK Mode (used for professional printing
  LAB color modes
  High-bit image tools.
  Multiple exposure overlays (HDR)
  Channels Palette
  Keystroke macros (for repeat manipulations)
  Color Balance, Match Color
  Layer Masks, Layer Comps, and Quick Mask mode
  Smart Objects
  Smart Guides
  Vanishing Point Tool
  Certain adjustment layers such as color balance, curves, selective color, and channel mixer
  A complete log of editing history (you can back up using Ctrl-Z but you can't record what you did for batch processing)
  Some advanced text formatting and layer style manipulation
  no Advanced Color Management, Advanced Web features or ImageReady features like image slice and image rollover (for web design)
  Custom menus, setting, anything for batch processing of this sort
  
  
  Bottom line: if you are a skilled web designer, intend to send images to professional printing or do high-output, repetitive tasks in Photoshop, you are a pro and need the full edition. For the rest of us, PSE 5.0 really does the job. Big thumbs up.
  
  

• A downgrade, with NO upside

  
  By A14D693ZAQ8UFW on 2006-10-05
  My previous review, saying this and more, apparently was censored or lost in the "bit bucket". I won't repeat all the details, but 5.0 is a more crippled and dumbed-down version of 4.0. It omits selection brushes, sharpening filters, and even the "Undo" and "Redo" icons on the shortcuts bar - even though Help still mentions them. The "Magic Extractor" is even more useless than before. They've added a color curve adjustment, but you can't actually touch or adjust the curve.
  
  Keep 4.0, if you have it. Or go to Paintshop Pro XI. Either of those is better than APE 5.
  
  

• No hard copy manual

  
  By A1PZIPIQMDV0LW on 2006-10-16
  I was disappointed to spend so much on APE 5 and receive no hard copy manual in the box. I called Adobe customer support and was asked what size the box was and was then told that there is no hard copy manual with APE 5 that is sold by resellers. The rep I spoke with must be misinformed, as I know people who bought APE 5 from Best Buy and Costco and got the hard copy manual. I was told I could purchase the manual from Adobe for $20 plus applicable tax and shipping. I told them no thanks, I would buy a 3rd party book instead and ordered the 'Missing Manual' book. That's funny if you think about it. Besides the 38 page quick start guide, there IS a copy of the manual on the CD, so it isn't like there is no documentation at all. I find those hard to work from, and one can definitely not carry a copy around for reading while on breaks or waiting for appointments, but it is better than having none at all. However, if I had known a version was available with a hard copy manual, I would purchased that version instead. Lesson learned.
  
  I miss the undo and redo buttons I had in version 3, but they may have thought those a little redundant since there is an undo history in the palette bin which serves the same purpose. As for the selection brush, it is still there, along with the magic selection brush. The sharpening tool and unsharp mask were moved (under Enhance instead of with the Filters) but they are still there too.
  
  Digital scrappers should like this version with the new Artwork palette where backgrounds, frames, graphics and shapes are stored. I added some of my own artwork by putting it in subfolders here:
  
  C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0\Photo Creations\artwork
  
  I don't have enough in there yet to know if it slows the program down and so far it hasn't caused any conflicts that I noticed.
  
  Third party styles must be put here instead of the elements\presets\styles folder as in previous versions:
  
  C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0\Photo Creations\special effects\layer styles
  
  Once restarted, Elements will rebuild the cache and your styles will show up. I found that putting them into several smaller subfolders worked best, ie: all the gold together, metals, cutouts, etc. but you can name and group them however you like. But you must create at least one folder with a name. Otherwise, they will all show up with the bevels.
  
  There are some nice alignment tools added to this version. Layer styles can be edited more than in previous versions, shadows removed or the colors of the shadows changed quite easily within the styles editing box. I noticed that if I change the angle of a shadow on one layer, if there are shadows on other layers, they change so that they match.
  
  That's all I can comment on right now as I have had this version only a few days. So far, so good, but I gave it a 4 instead of a 5 due to the lack of the hard copy manual in this package, and my not being thoroughly acquainted with this version yet.
  
  
• BEWARE THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS!!
  By A2JVTIF4ZN1P9D on 2007-01-03
  Buried down in the other user reviews is, I find, a wise one warning those with computers more than 2 years old to avoid this program. Perhaps a better way to put the warning (because although age alone might be a useful guide, it's not necessarily a guarantee of incompatibility), is to advise a CAREFUL EXAMINATION OF THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS! Dazzled by the overall great reviews, I put this on my Christmas wish list. I couldn't wait to get it installed on Christmas morning! It seemed to install just fine, but then the honeymoon was over. After installing, my computer (yes, mine is more than 2 years old, with XP and an early Pentium 4) ran slower than molasses on a cold winter morning. Parts of the program worked, but it kept stalling, requiring restarts every time. The function of other programs was affected. I tried a reinstall, but things got worse. Finally got it off the machine (Add/Delete Programs wouldn't even start at one point!!).
  
  Well, when all else fails, read the fine print! I'm sure this is as great a program as all the reviewers with machines that meet the program's needs say, but if you're interested in it, I strongly recommend that you click on the link for "additional requirements" up above on the page under product description. If yours doesn't meet them, you may want to think twice, based on my experience and that of the other reviewer.
  
  I'll freely blame myself for not paying closer attention to the requirements, and I did successfully uninstall it, but I am disappointed that upon install the program itself didn't pop up a warning that my system didn't meet those requirements.
  
  For now, I'm hoping that my one star rating, given because its utility seems to be limited to newer, obviously more capable machines than mine, will be "temporary." Being limited to, by and large, newer machines is a bit disappointing, though understandable; that's progress. I'll eagerly await my new machine and store the CD away for a couple months (need a new one, anyway!). Hopefully I'll be able to update this review and give as good a rating as so many others. If you have an older machine, take heed and save yourself some frustration!
  
  
• Basic Features Missing
  By AS4C7TNX9IJF9 on 2006-10-13
  I have loved every version until now. There is no undo/redo buttons (although they clearly state there are in the documentation) and no save button. I don't know what else it is missing yet as I have only been using it a few days, but these features are extremely important and I am ready to return the program and go back to 4.0. I opened a case with customer support (after spending hours on their web site trying to figure out how to open a case) and they told me to call technical support. I am pretty fed up with Adobe at this point. They need to do something quickly to make up for this major goof.
  
  
• Stay with 4.0
  By A3LPSNRYP4I1RG on 2006-10-28
  This "newer" version of Elements is a waste of money. It does not have the most used features that 4.0 has. Undo, sharpen, brushes, save.
  Red eye works worse than ever. There's no hard copy manuel and customer service is almost impossible to get through. Would not recommend!
  
  
• Good product but resource hog
  By A2M4PQPBV45U71 on 2006-12-02
  I personally like this release of PSE. I was badly disappointed with 4.0 because it was a bit clunky. In this release Adobe fixed some of the bugs that were so annoying in PSE4, but in the process it must've added some new ones, because PSE5 eats memory and processor cycles for breakfast! I would discourage anyone with pc > 2 years old to buy this product: it will be VERY slow and will probably crash your machine if you do not have enough RAM (or it will hard-drive thrash like crazy!).
  
  As for the features I like are the "Levels" and "Curves" though they use a different nomenclature (to differentiate with the PRO version) they offer very similar functionality. I own the pro version for my business, but I'll definitely be using this at home.
  
  It's a good product, just don't expect it to be snappy unless you have very current hardware.
  
  
• A Decent product...
  By A24BH25FCOD80O on 2006-10-18
  I have been using PSP 9 for long and had to decide between an upgrade to PSE 5 or PSP XI. I downloaded PSP XI trial and found that most of the stuff were bells and whistle and could be achieved easily by PSP 9 (or not needed, for that matter). So, I decided to give PSE 5 a try. Since, I don't have any prior experience with the older versions, cannot compare with them. However, the first impression is that it is slower than PSP 9. I missed a hard copy manual as well. I always like to read a book rather than browse manual on a CD. However most of the tools are self-explanatory with a few difference in operations from PSP. I really like the Magic Selection Brush Tool. With the right kind of images and strokes, it works wonders. Makes selection very easy. I don't miss undo/ redo because, I always have the Undo History palette in the palette bin. Having used PSP 9, I somehow like the arrangement of tools/ palettes in PSP9 and find it more full featured in image editing front. Maybe because I am still learning PSE? I would have liked an option of allowing me to select the tools I put on the toolbar. And I like the option of scripting on PSP 9. PSE gives an option of correcting lens blur and motion blur under sharpening that is useful. Curves has to be adjusted by sliders (sic). Hey, tedious but works! But PSE gives more options for creating "stuffs" from your photos. But what bowled me over for PSE is the excellent organizer. [...]
  
  
• Great Product! It's worth it to upgrade.
  By A9IFQNXVZMKTV on 2006-11-19
  I currently have PSE 2.0, and downloaded 5.0 to try it out. So far, it's an excellent product and is worth the cost of upgrading. Some of the great new features (which may have been in versions 3 and 4) are the cookie cutter, frames, and THANKFULLY, strokes! I was very disappointed that 2.0 did not allow you to draw strokes around objects, but 5.0 has this. This version also gives you much more control over layer styles as well as more style, theme, and other artistic options. My only caveat to you is that you should have a lot of memory. Even with 1GB of RAM, the program can be slow to respond at times.
  
  
• My manual really is missing!
  By A6UATFNWLPNEJ on 2006-10-15
  I recieved PSE 5.0 as a gift purchased here on Amazon. It arrived with no manual, only the CD, a few flyers, and a 38 page "Getting Started Guide". Then I joined Adobe's User to User Forum and was told that Adobe sells some "small box" as I got and some "large box" with a 200+ page manual included.
  
  I purchased "The Missing Manual" for PSE 5 by Barbara Brundage, but that cost $40 at my local Barnes & Noble.
  
  A word to the wise...
  
  
• Do yourself a favour, buy Paint Shop Pro instead.
  By A23PJLL9PSO9J on 2006-10-15
  I gave this product one star because the option of giving it zero doesn't exist.
  
  I moved from Elements 2.0 to this supposed 'upgrade' at a cost of over $100. For that, I lose the functionality of being able to browse a large number of files and open those I want to edit with a single click (I now have to import them into one workspace, review them, then go to another workspace to edit them),
  
  Also, a huge annoyance is the loss of the 'undo' and 'redo' icons on the toolbar, as others have mentioned.
  
  Do yourself a favour, go with PSP10 instead.
  
  
• Good for Digital Scrapbooking
  By A3OPE3RJVZVUB2 on 2006-11-10
  I like the upgrade (I had version 2 and version 4 before). From a digital scrapbooking point of view, this version is far superior to other versions with the possible exception of the removal of the undo button (I use the shortcut anyway.) The art palette is a great time saver and the new frames option is a treat...I love the poloroid frame and the slide frame.
  
  There are background papers and elements available in the palette, also.
  
  I also like the new way of viewing stacks in the organizer. I can actually view what's in the stack without leaving the main organizer screen or having to go through a whole bunch of clicking around or unstacking/restacking. Just click the arrow on the stack and it unstacks in the main organizer. When you are done, click the reverse arrow and it restacks. Easy peasy.
  
  I would recommend this version, but like all versions it's helpful to buy a manual. I use Photoshop Elements 5, The Missing Manual, by Barbara Brundage. Very useful.
  
  
• An Excellent Upgrade from PSE4
  By A31AICRKIA544M on 2006-10-10
  This product is well worth the upgrade. it was simple to install and none of the elements of PSE4 seem to be missing. Moreover many new features are very attractive. For example, the Organizer now permits expanding versions directly from the top photo rather than from a pull down menu. Curves is another very nice feature. While it is not as complete as in CS2 it is very felexible in the advanced mode permitting creation of "S" and "Inverted-S" curves. Scrapbookers also have a number of enhancements and I have had no problems moving plug-ins to this version. All-in-all an excellent product and highly recommended for those who want a lot of flexibility without the complexity of CS2.
  
  
• Great Product, Poor Customer Service
  By A1Z9OF7YRCF9NO on 2006-11-19
  I agree with the positive reviews of PSE 5, but just wanted to warn anyone here that Adobe's service is horrible. Expect to wait 10-20 minutes just to speak to anyone, even sales! I won't go into the details as to why I had to call (LONG STORY!!!), but I will tell you that I used up almost all of my cellphone minutes over 3 nights of calls to adobe. And no, my problem (not with the software, was with the lost delivery) was never fixed. I ended up getting tired of them and just blowing 100 bucks. Once again, I love the software, but don't like adobe. Just don't let that stop you, it's still THE photo editing program. Oh, and to anyone that bought 4.0 between Sept. 12 and sometime in December, Adobe has a free upgrade, ALL you have to do is call them. Check out the current specials on the website. The details are there. Don't say that's not helpful.
  
  
• To aid in some of the confusion on missing features, and other stuff
  By A16B04BJ3CLQBG on 2006-11-26
  Some of the features available in Elements 5 are NOT available in the demo download. This apparently has led some to thinf these features are not available at all.
  
  Very disappointing that Adobe felt the need to remove such key features as sharpening, resize, and being able to save for web in .jpg format. How is anyone really supposed to test the functionality without these features?
  
  I own Elements 3, and I was wanting to see if the upgrade to 5 was worth it, or if I should just pinch my pennies and get CS2 (and CS3 is coming out soon). I was hoping color curves might be able to get me by till then. I might just go get a used copy of ps7 at this point.
  
  The one thing that I am really upset about Adobe removing is the ability to mod PSE to add in Actions and other home-brew filters, and small companies that can't buy the rights to the Adobe source and API interface info. This protectionism just leads to more people going for programs like GIMP which are more mod-able, if not as user friendly. If there were any serious competing company in the photo editing arena I'd switch just for them killing Raw Shooter Premium and making that horrid lightroom thing.
  
  4 stars simply for the color curves and advance B&W conversion. If they added true layer masking, I'd buy it today, even without Actions, HDR, Smart Sharpen, and Fade last effect, duotone, blah, blah, blah. I need CS2.
  
  
• Superb "Photoshop-lite" editor, hobbled by clumsy intrusive organizer
  By AJPH8OQSWKR7K on 2007-01-13
  The image editor portion of Elements keeps getting better and better with each new release; inclusion of the 'Curves' command now makes PSE5 a virtual junior version of Photoshop that is far more intuitive and simpler to use. The 'Quick Fix' option alone would rate five stars.
  
  If only Adobe didn't force installation of their clumsy, intrusive and outdated 'Organizer' (formerly 'Adobe Photo Album') -- don't be fooled, the Organizer is NOT a photo browser (where you open a folder to see all the images it contains); NO, it only shows those images you catalog'd earlier. Organizer drove me nuts trying to find an image I knew was added to the Xmas-2006 folder. There are far more flexible and up-to-date photo browsers around (eg, Picassa or ACD-see). Why Adobe insists on foisting off this beast with the image editor -- rather than offering an opt-out checkbox whether or not to install the organizer and photo fetcher -- is beyond me [Organizer is left out of the Mac-version altogether as it can't hold a candle to iPhoto]. Had to go online to find out from Barbara Brundage (be sure to get her "Missing Manual") how to disable the "Adobe Active File Monitor" service, and to exclude the maddeningly intrusive Photo Downloader; wasted hours to expel an uninvited guest, rather than get right down to enjoying the image editor.
  
  
• An excellent basic digital photo tool
  By A2EIAMSTH8541S on 2007-02-09
  As a professional user of Adobe's Creative Suite 2, I expected Photoshop Elements to be like most basic digital photo programs. What a delightful surprise to find I was quite wrong! About 97% of the things I do with the Photoshop CS2 program can just as easily be done with Photoshop Elements.
  
  One real real bonus of learning Photoshop Elements is that the tools and techniques the program offers can be easily translated to the professional version of Photoshop if one chooses to upgrade. While Elements 5.0 has more bells and whistles than the earlier versions, I personally would not go to the expense of the newer one. An older version (2.0) which came with my digital camera works wonderfully well on my PC laptop and the files are easily transferred to my Mac system for use in Illustrator, InDesign, or even Photoshop CS2.
  
  Joel B Reed, photographer and author of Ravenwolf and Lakota Spring.
  See the photo gallery at WhiteTurtleBooks.
  
  
• What a Great Tool!!
  By A3N95F9U9YXTH5 on 2006-12-14
  I've had this programme for about a week and a half now, and I am in love! This is a really great tool for organizing, but even more for creating and fixing images!
  I have played around and can't believe all the filters, effects, fixes and correcting tools I have. I can make a photo look like a painting, I can crop it, spin it, layer it, cut and paste, tweak it, change the color, convert to black and white, add lighing effects, add texture, add borders, create a screan saver, make a CD cover...and the list goes on. I don't know what I did before PhotoShop, and don't care to remember.
  If you are looking to start organizing your collection, and are a photographer looking to start really working, effectively with your images. And really creating something special, this is the programme for you!
  
  
• Stick with 4.0
  By AKS80VIR3HK51 on 2006-11-17
  I bought this newest version of Elements about a month ago, and I've played with it a little bit. To be honest, I miss the undo button, and other features. I think they've taken a great product and made it into something with too many bells and whistles, while removing some of the more essential tools. Stick with 4.0, or even 3.0. Another alternative that I've found to be of lots of ease and use is a program called Lightzone that you can purchase online. It's more advanced without making the interface more advanced.
  
  
• Excellent Photo Editor
  By A2BUL8PZ7NYVHU on 2007-01-27
  I've been a big fan of PE for some time, and this is my first upgrade since 2.0. The photo editing tools are fantastic...there's not much missing. I could go on and on about the positive, but let me say a few words why I didn't give this product 5 stars. First, the Organizer could use some improvement in terms of its ability to sort in Folder view. Things like "renaming" files does a so-so job; for example it renames with a simple number suffix (pic-1, pic-2, ..., pic 10, ...) But in Folder view, the files are sorted as pic-1, pic-10, pic 11, ... pic 2. A simple "ascii" sort. (This is just one example where the Organizer could use some improvement.) Another problem (for me) is the inability to add frequently used commands to the toolbar. I'm scanning literally thousands of slides, and some commands I often use are buried in the menu tree. It's very tedious doing this over and over and over. I'd like to assign some of these to a toolbar or maybe even a "personal palette." Third, backing up the catalog (the PE database) is very poorly designed. Doing an incremental backup is not even worth figuring out how to do. So these are my top three negatives. For me, the first two prevented me from awarding PE 5 stars; but overall this product is excellent.
  
  
• Missing CRITICAL features for long-term storage!
  By A1VZ7WUYFBA77L on 2007-05-25
  I bought this product because it came highly recommended, but am SORELY displeased with the product and the company's tech support.
  
  Its greatest fault is the unforgivable inability to burn your pictures to CD or DVD within the categories you create in the program (ie, Hawaii Vacation, Christmas With The Family, My New Dog, etc). Camera buffs spend a lot of time editing, sorting, and enlarging their photos, and some of us will even make "tags" with additional info for a lot of our pictures, especially those taken on vacations. I was appalled to discover, after HOURS of work, that these files and tags cannot be transferred to CD. Who wants to spend countless hours on work that will be utterly wasted as soon as the computer crashes or the hard drive gets full??? Honestly, what is the point of using high capacity DVDs if you cannot transfer them all sorted and tagged? Decades later, when we view the pictures in our old age, are we going to remember where and when the photos were taken?
  
  The HELP function could be more intuitive, also. And there is no owner's manual with even basic instructions for simple projects. Tech support is not very helpful. If you call during normal hours, you MIGHT get some help. They are open on weekends, too, but when I called on a Saturday, the only people there were unable to answer ANY questions and could only tell me to call back Monday (why is Adobe paying them to do nothing?).
  
  In short, this program is not worth the money. Look elsewhere.
  
  
• What a joke
  By A1HK6XXHTW6K89 on 2006-11-07
  I bought a Canon scanner that came with Adobe Elements 2. I decided to upgrade to 5. I downloaded their try-and-buy software that only worked once but said it was good for 30 days for evaluation. Lame.
  
  I read reviews and decided to try it anyway. Using the try-and-buy software I clicked the "Buy online..." button. The upgrade price was $79. That didn't seem right. So I went to Adobe and clicked on "Buy Elements 5 Online". The price showed $69. What the hey? I wish I had stopped there.
  
  I tried to purchase the product but I got "Error processing your order" and that was it for any type of error message. What the....? It ended up I got multiple orders. Holy cow what a nightmare.
  
  I tried to contact customer support and was shocked to hear the amature recording of some manager sitting at her desk with the speaker phone on recording the "Press 1 for this", etc... Good grief.
  
  I never got through and ended up opening support cases for each purchase. Hopefully I won't get charged for these. I don't want any of the orders now. I think I'd get better results if I obtained a bootleg copy of Photoshop.
  
  With Adobe it's hit or miss and unfortunetly for me it was a really big miss. At this point I'll be happy with MS Digital Image.
  
  
  
  
• Easily Restored 40 year old photos
  By A2FUDPLLD6WQ7M on 2006-12-23
  I have used 3 different photo editing software and they did basis fixes adequately, on the other hand Photoshop Elements 5.0 out did the same things and more at a far better quality. I decided to use the trial when restoring 40 year old baby pictures and then after 7 days of a 30 day trial the software was purchased. The Photoshop Elements has allowed me to remove heavy yellow ageing cast, repair torn areas, scratches and faded color. The process was easy and clearly explained when I needed help. It takes patients (not included in box) and tinkering to get the proper look, but it can be done.
  I'm adding the following Information because I was not sure if is was an add on to Photoshop or a stand alone application.
  You should be aware that Photoshop Elements will work without the much more expensive Photoshop, I believe that is geared to professional users
  
  
  
  
• Best features from PSE4 removed
  By A1DN7J6AG98U3I on 2007-01-22
  Photoshop Elements 4 was a very good program, but PSE5 is worse because some of the features I used most have been removed or don't work.
  
  Unfortunately, PSE5 doesn't have some of the features that PSE4 had, so I am having to revert to PSE4.
  
  In particular, Adobe has removed the ability to create 4-fold creating cards, which was one of my most frequently used creations.
  
  Also, there is much less control when creating HTML photo galleries and the largest image is significantly smaller than those created with PSE4. Further, you cannot include the file name or the date with any of the new HTML photo galleries.
  
  No matter how I try to crop an image and save it, either with the Quick Fix or the Standard editor, it gives me an error message and says it can't save it. I now have to use another program to do my cropping. This new version is a piece of crop (sic).
  
  I wasted my money and many hours of time on this upgrade.
  
  And to add salt to the wound, all the work I've done on my catalogs since upgrading will have to be done again in PSE4 because the catalogs are not compatible and there is no way to save a PSE5 catalog in PSE4 format.
  
  
• Really, with the right instruction, PSE may be an effective CS2 substitute...
  By A348HM39BHMDDW on 2007-03-10
  I wanted to see if I could do all the essential digital image editing "on the cheap" in PSE5...and I am satisfied that I have been able to do just that.
  
  The best companion book I've seen to assist in that effort is this one:
  Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Maximum Performance: Unleash the Hidden Performance of Elements by Mark Galer.
  
  The combination of the PSE5 software and book proved to be perfect for me, and as near as I can tell, I can now do all the image editing I need to do, at a fraction of the cost and time required for the full-on Photoshop product. I'm very satisfied with my purchase. If you're on the fence about it, I'd recommend downloading the 30 day trial version from the Adobe website prior to purchasing.
  
  
• Pretty good program
  By A1UODWQ2K6DFXT on 2007-04-06
  I purchased Elements because frankly,I couldn't afford the whole big Adobe enchilada.I have found it to be pretty intuitive.Lots and lots of options as to organization,photo-tweaking and such. I have had a lot of fun messing around with the program and my digital photos.
  I do have two other imaging programs,and with the addition of Elements,I feel like I'm basically well-set with zillions of options.Plus,there are several web sites dedicated to digital photography,and they supply free downloads of Photoshop samples, such as "textures," and so on.Very helpful.
  Get this if you can't spring for the complete Photoshop program. You will not be disappointed.
  
  
• Hope you don't need support
  By AI9CBW5TZ6DW8 on 2007-03-24
  While I am sure the product does what it offers, this is the second version of Elemeents that I have not been able to load on my computer. That's where the fun begins - Adobe's support is dreadful. Their website is unusuable - other than constantly trying to sell you additional products and services - and they have no human support on weekends.
  
  
• Memory Leak
  By A2BIXDMK69BI3N on 2007-07-30
  I love the program but it has a serious flaw. It has a memory leak. Each time you open a document it uses more memory and does not release it even after the document is closed. The only choice is to close the program. I own several graphic editing programs and Photoshop takes the longest to load. Because of this I oftain load and work on an image then close it and load another. After about 3 or for editing sessions I need to close down the program and start over. I have 2 gigs of memory so if you have less you will have memory problems sooner.
  
  Adobe says it is not a memory leak. They call it memory fragmentation. What ever you call it, its bad. Like I said no other edit software has these kinds of issues.
  
  I was thinking about upgrading the photshop CS3 but now Im not. Adobe does not seem to want to address the issues with memory so I will probably move over to Corel Painter X.
  
  I purchased Elements because it has one of the best interfaces for proccessing Raw images from my D80. Its now time to start looking elsewhere.
  
  

• PC World
• ColorVision Spyder2 Express Win/Mac
• Earthmate GPS PN-20
• Stamps.com PhotoStamps Win/Mac
• Norton Internet Security Suite 2007 - 3 User [OLD VERSION]

• Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual
• The Photoshop Elements 5 Book for Digital Photographers (VOICES)
• Photoshop Elements 5 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Classroom in a Book
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0: A visual introduction to digital photography