CS3 vs CS4

[Stu Bowie]

Hey guys and girls,
This may have been discussed already, but I am interested to know if there is any huge difference between CS3 and CS4. Im using CS3, and am thinking of upgrading to CS4. Are there enough new features to upgrade, and if so what are they. Looking forward to your feedback.

[Roger Clark]

Stuart,
From what I use there isn't much difference. If you use the adobe raw converter, the converter is improved and newer cameras are only supported in the CS4 converter. The raw converter is the only reason I upgraded.

Roger

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks Roger. I did have a quick look at a CS4 version, and didnt see anything that jumped out at me, thus my question. There's nothing wrong with my CS3, and I have already upgraded my ACR to suit my Canon 50D. Cheers.

[David Thomasson]

I think it depends on how much retouching you do, and what kind. I do commercial retouching that ranges from landscapes to family groups, from glamour to special effects such as converting day to night. I upgraded from CS3 to CS4 and found that it made my work considerably faster and easier.

One example: When you do a lot of detail work with a pen and tablet -- such as intricate masking or drawing individual hairs or eyelashes -- it would be great if you could rotate the image as easily as you would turn a sheet of paper on a desk. Couldn't do that in CS3, but I can in CS4. For some people, this feature alone justifies the upgrade.

CS4's adjustment panels (which replace the various palettes in CS3) and the way they work also save me a lot of time in retouching. I typically work with lots of adjustment layers -- 10 or 12 isn't at all unusual, and I often have above 20 layers altogether -- so anything that makes it easier to use them is a big help to me.

CS4's content-aware scaling simply can't be done in CS3 ... but I won't go into that.

I hear that CS5 will be along in a few months, so now is a good time to wait and see.

[Alfred Forns]

Stuart I also think its a significant upgrade. Best thing to do is look at the program and see for yourself !!!

[Stu Bowie]

David, Al, thanks so much for the feedback. Good idea to have a look. I do have access to have a good eye at it and decide.

[Alfred Forns]

Stuart ... particularly look at the way curves functions !!!

[Indranil Sircar]

Also, CS4 is 64bit enabled and takes advantage of the memory beyond 2 GB for most functions. This is a huge performance improvement and you can see the difference when working with multiple images.

[David Thomasson]

Stuart ... particularly look at the way curves functions !!!

+1. I went from occasional use of curves to almost constant use.

If I had CS3, I would wait for CS5. The word is that the beta will be released in the spring, perhaps mid-April. Some really nice new features coming in CS5 for sure.

http://damncoolpics.blogspot.com/200...atch-tool.html

http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/gen...photoshop-cs5/

[Jeff Donald]

You can download the free 30 day trial of CS4 Extended from the Adobe site. Here is a link, but it may not work if you haven't registered (free) on the Adobe site.

Here is a list of new features, changes, compared to CS3.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Thank you Stuart for bringing this question to the table, it's something I also wanted to know, (which is better and why)

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all for the great feedback. Decisions, decisions, decisions.