Listening to the Voices in My Head

Yeah yeah, I know Adobe is called "industry standard", but when I get equal if not better results using something other than Adobe Products, which is less expensive, has more tools, and isn't subscription, I say their standards must have a low bar.

Corel PaintShop Pro and AfterShot pro cost less combined than buying Lightroom. Let that sink in for a moment. Does the same if not better than Adobe products, but costs less.

Raw edits in AfterShotPro 3, Final edits (viveza, define) in PaintshopPro X9. Even created my 'signature' brush in PSPX9.

Corel has new version of PaintShop Pro Ultimate out soon. I had the good fortune of being able to get my hot little hands on it before the mass release.. LEGALLY

First up: it loads a helluva lot faster than any incarnation of Photoshop, and it's browse/collection feature kicks Bridge into the dust.

The built in tools are great, no doubt, and the camera RAW support is fantastic.

Supposedly, there is 3rd Party plugin support ala Photoshop Plugins working in it, but I regret to say.. not so good.

What does work so far is this:

Focus Magic
Alienskin Plugins
Redfield Plugins
Nik Software - Sharpener Pro 3 only
ePaperPress -PTLens Correction
Anthropics - Portrait Professional



This might change in the future, but this is what I have that works so far. None of the onOne plugins are recognized, but that's the same as Paintshop Pro X5. And with onONe Suite, it can be used as a standalone. With regards to Nik/Google plugins: in PSPX5, you could use Nik/Google Define 2.0, Silver Efex 1 and Viveza 1. Even those no longer work in PSPX6. Here's hoping that my emailing Corel and Nik/Google about this will bring results we want.

That being said, Corel PaintshopPro X6 by itself is one helluva good program. Adjustment tools are very good. The selection tools, especially the Smart Selection, surpasses Adobe Photoshops yet again. It's also more stable then it's predecessor.

So, if you don't want Subscription Photoshop, go for Corel Paintshop Pro X6. You will NOT be disappointed.