Customer Reviews for Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 [OLD VERSION]

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 [OLD VERSION]
by Adobe

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Software Reviews of Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 [OLD VERSION]

Customer Review: A Huge Upgrade From My Older Version 4
Summary: 5 Stars

I can understand that those who had Elements version 6 were a bit underwhelmed when they bought version 7, but my previous version of Elements was 4. The upgrade in features and options from 4 is fantastic.

Many of the processes that I used to manipulate digital photos in v4 are exactly the same, but some are just a bit different, but not enough to get upset over.

When I bought v4, I also bought Scott Kelby's "The Photoshop Elements 4 Book for Digital Photographers." With that one book I was able to do almost everything I ever wanted to attempt to do on a digital photo. I cannot tell you just how great Scott Kelby's Elements books are.

So when I bought this Elements 7, I bought Scott Kelby's "The Photoshop Elements 7 Book for Digital Photographers" along with it. I'm so glad I did. So once v7 was installed, I was able to do much that I had learned with v4, but also tried a few new tricks that v7 has, and Mr. Kelby's book showed me how to do these things step by step.

The biggest pleasant surprise with Elements 7 over v4 was how much more you can now do with RAW images.

I had bought Nikon Capture 4, Nikon's image manipulation program, several years ago when I bought a Nikon D70s. I simply found I could do exactly what I wanted in Elements much easier than with Nikon Capture 4. I eventually stopped even using Nikon Capture 4 for my Nikon RAW images after I spent half a Saturday opening a RAW image and working with it first in Nikon Capture 4 and then opening the same RAW image with Elements and doing similar actions on the photo, then comparing the two final results. With about 30 images done, some with basic adjustments and others with serious changes, I was unable to tell which program I had used to create the final results. BUT, Elements was so much easier and smoother to work with than was Nikon Capture that I simple uninstalled Capture and used only Elements.

Now with Elements 7's expanded RAW file features, I didn't make the mistake of buying the new Nikon Capture NX, though I did download the free 30 day trial of Capture NX, with the same result as before. My final images from Elements 7 vs Nikon Capture NX were indistinguishable, and Elements is still much more intuitive to me and simple things like being able to adjust contrast by spinning my mouse's scroll wheel in Elements but not in most areas of Capture NX led me to uninstall the Capture NX version like I had with Capture 4.

With Elements 7, Scott Kelby's Elements 7 book, and the many hundreds of Elements helps on the internet, I feel prepared for just about anything.

I was able to repair some badly torn prints for friends that I scanned, repairing with the old Elements 4, so with all the new features of Elements 7, I'm excited about what I'll be able to do with it over the next few years.

So far I've mostly been pulling in RAW images and making most of the changes I need in the RAW editor in Elements, and then any final touches in Elements 7 editor and then convert to .jpg files.

If you are brand new to image manipulation, I can heartily recommend Elements 7, but you should probably buy a more basic book for your first images. But I would recommend getting Scott Kelby's Elements 7 book too, because there's just too much good stuff in there that is taught to you baby step by baby step, and you'll be ready for Mr. Kelby's book really soon anyway.

Customer Review: Very Frustrating program with limited features.
Summary: 2 Stars

I'm a .net programmer who is used to using Microsoft applications which although sometimes are buggy they are still intuitive to use. I use Photoshop to convert psd files to html/css. I decided to purchase this product in order to avoid the hefty price tag for the CS version. All I need to do is splice the document up and make a few changes. I found this program so difficult to use and buggy. Here are the main problems I had with it.

There was no support for layered groups. I had to tell people who send me psd files to ungroup all their layers.

There was no slice tool which is a tool I use often.

There was no trim option in the image menu dropdown. This is another feature which I use often to slice up photoshop files for the web.

I had a lot of problems with the "save for web" option which I always use in the CS version. For some oddball reason I would choose jpg and it would turn them into gif's. It would also splice up the images in a weird way. I looked for the remove slices option that CS4 option but couldn't find it. I ended up not being able to even use the "save for web" option.

There was no support for creating guides. I cant believe this isn't in there. I always use guides to slice and crop the psd images correctly.

For some odd reason the effects palette completely stopped working. All the effects options were gone. I couldn't get them back no matter what I tried. The whole effects palette was essentially broken. I finally just had to reinstall the program.

This program can be very frustrating. It's not a program that an intelligent person can just figure out. You have to read a lot to do things exactly the way it wants. I definitely don't recommend this program to anyone unless you have a ton of patience and can put up with tons and tons of missing features.

Customer Review: Adobe Photoshop Elements 7
Summary: 4 Stars

This product does more than any other similar photo software I have, which is both good and bad. Photoshop Elements 7 is very complicated and will take me a while to understand how to use all the features. Now I know why Amazon suggests one of the how-to books to purchase along with the software. Adobe's site offers some short tutorial's on it, but not in-depth enough to be able to watch one and then go to the Full Edit function and start working. I just ordered one of the books on Amazon and hope this will help me learn how to use the full editing features, which is why I bought this in the first place.

Customer Review: Powerfull yet affordable tool
Summary: 5 Stars

Photoshop Elements 7 has most of the tools I need to process and categorize my work as a photographer. With most jobs the clients now need digital photos delivered on the spot. Elements 7 gives me the power to make quick changes in batches to photos so I can burn them to a CD or DVD and deliver to my client on the spot. Runs great on today's laptops running Vista Premium and dual core processors. Although I have Photoshop CS/3, I find myself using it less in this fast paced photography world. I have recommended this software to many of those who are just getting in to digital photography. Amazon has the best price, ships the fastest and has great customer service. Also got a $20 rebate for having a previous version.

Don West Photography
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