Going from Free Photoshop to...?

[Markie Jordan-Madden]

I've convinced myself that I'm going to graduate from the free Photoshop CS2 that I'm currently using to a paid version of Photoshop. However, in looking at things, it seems that you can either get Photoshop CS6 for the whopping price of $699, or you can do the monthly/yearly CC subscription thing at $120/year (every year). The CC looks like it will give you access to a bunch of stuff like Lightroom and other stuff that I'll probably never use. My husband pointed out, however, the subscription thing would probably keep my Photoshop up-to-date so it will never become obsolete. He's comparing it, I think, to the MS Office yearly subscription that I'm using, which updates the software if need be each time I renew the subscription.

My question is this: what do you gurus recommend I do? Purchase just the PS CS6 (or higher if there's one available by the first of the year), or do the subscription thing?

 

[IamSam]

I'm running CS6 extended and it no longer receives updates (not supported). I purchased it back before CC was out and I've tried to get my money's worth out of it. It still works just fine but it missing a lot of the newer features.

When I upgrade soon, it will more than likely be the Photographers version for 9.99 per month.

 

[Markie Jordan-Madden]

Thanks Sam, I think that was the one I was looking at as far as subscription ones go. What is Lightroom? I've heard of it, I think in regards to photography, but I'm not sure I'll ever use it. I do like to take lots of pictures with my camera, but they're mostly just for us, I have no intention of selling any as stock photos, for example.

 

[IamSam]

You don't have to use Lr in the Photography Plan, but it's subscription is cheaper than just getting Ps by itself which is 19.99 per month.

 

[Markie Jordan-Madden]

So if I click on the link you provided above (seeing as I don't currently have any paid PS programs), will the $9.99 monthly subscription get me PS as well as the LR?

 

[Markie Jordan-Madden]

Sooooooo I just bought it! It's currently downloading Lightroom right now, so we'll see how long it takes with my not-so-high speed internet! Yahoooooo!

 

[gedstar]

Photoshop CC2015.5.1 is quite RAM hungry and people are experiencing issues related to Graphics Card drivers.
I was just working on a small photo manipulation last night PSD size only about 50mb and PS was using nearly 5GB of RAM and considering Windows 10 and other apps the total amount of RAM in use at that time was over 8GB, so I would recommend a minimum of 16GB of RAM, didn't effect me as I have 32GB of RAM it's just something you should think about.
Generally working with images PS normally uses about 2,5 to 3 GB of RAM but that can shot up pretty high depending on what you're doing!
Also make sure you have the latest Graphics Card drivers installed.

More info here
http://www.photoshopforphotographers.com/CC_2013/Help_guide/PDFs/ConfiguringPhotoshop.pdf

PSCC2015 tutorial here
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/tutorials.html

 

[Markie Jordan-Madden]

Thanks for that info! I'm at 12 gb RAM, Mac for my laptop I'm afraid. But I ran several images yesterday, of the type I'll be using it for, and didn't have any trouble. But I'll keep that in mind and make sure I don't have any other programs open at the same time.

 

[fredfish]

Just a couple of points:-
Firstly (and I know you gone with it!) the subscription to CC is IMHO a very good deal - yes it will give you the opportunity to stay up to date at all times.
The "Free" version of Photoshop you referred to (CS2) isn't actually free. It is only supposed to be downloaded if you already had the right to run it - this was made available by Adobe because they turned off the activation servers for the software. The fact that you CAN download it for nothing doesn't actually mean you should. Sorry I know that sounds a bit like a soapbox sermon (and I don't mean it be)
Finally Gedstar mentioned that the very latest version of CC2015 is resource hungry which is true - if you do run into problems your subscription to CC allows you to download older versions (back to CS6) - so if you run into problems you can always try that.

Welcome aboard the CC train!!

Cheers

John

 

[Markie Jordan-Madden]

So far, I have to say I'm highly satisfied with my decision to move to Photoshop CC instead of keeping the free PS CS2 I was using! I started rebuilding a book cover (rather than using the same file from my PS CS2) just to practice and play around with different features. One thing I noticed right away is that the clone tool works waaaaaaayyyyy better in the new version!