CS5 or Elements 9

[Elliotte Rusty Harold]

I've been working happily for the last 2.5 years with mostly Lightroom and occasionally Photoshop Elements 6. My needs are advancing and I find myself in Elements more often. However I still haven't mastered it by any stretch of the imagination.

I was planning to buy CS5 in the near future, mostly for the Content-Aware Fill feature. However now I see that's made it's way into Elements 9, as have Layer Masks.

So my question is what, if anything, is in CS5 that would convince me to pay an extra $500 for it over Elements? especially given that I do most of my work in Lightroom anyway? What's the difference between Photoshop CS 5 and Elements 9?

[Roger Clark]

Elliotte,

Does elements do 16-bit processing? Curves tool in 16-bit mode? Selections with refine edge and feathered egde? Color managed work flow? I did a search, including adobe.com and couldn't fine these basics. Kind of like buying a car and they tell you all about the cup holders and never tell you anything about the engine.;) Anyway I would look for the above features. I did see one comment on a blog that said elements only does 8-bit processing and you need photoshop for 16-bit processing. That would be the main difference for me if you process raw. Process to 16-bit in the raw converter and the images will have less noise, finer tonality and greater dynamic range.

Roger

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Personally, I think that content-aware-fill is overrated. I certainly would not buy CS5 for that feature. I've used PS6 (Mac) for a while before upgrading to CS5. It facilitated getting me into more advanced post-processing as it lowered the barrier of entry (prior to that I had experience with Photoshop 6.0...). But as Roger pointed out PSE has/had some major shortcomings although layer masks in PSE9 certainly make it a LOT more useful. JR

[Robert Amoruso]

Personally, I think that content-aware-fill is overrated. I certainly would not buy CS5 for that feature. I've used PS6 (Mac) for a while before upgrading to CS5. It facilitated getting me into more advanced post-processing as it lowered the barrier of entry (prior to that I had experience with Photoshop 6.0...). But as Roger pointed out PSE has/had some major shortcomings although layer masks in PSE9 certainly make it a LOT more useful. JR

Somebody finally said it. I have use CAF twice and then went back to my regular methods.

I think Roger has made the case for PSCS5 well. If you are serious about digital photography, then PSCS5 is the way to go.