Product review
Today's best price: In association with Amazon
|
|
|
|
Corel / Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9
The Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 is a smart image editing software program for photographers and artists who want to tweak their images in every imaginable way and for family photographers who can save pictures that otherwise would be doomed to disappear into oblivion. We found the software pleasant to use and we were especially pleased with its snappy response to frequently used functions, although some other functions took their time to complete.
Key functionality: Paint Shop Pro has been around for a while, and it shows the product in a positive way: the software comes with image editing functionality only few products, such as Adobe Photoshop, can match. But Paint Shop Pro has been fine-tuned over time to provide its functionality in a smart and responsive manner.
The advanced functionality include layers, levels, filters, effects, masks, adjustment layers, graphics tools, text tools and a possibility to mix bitmap graphics (photos) with vector graphics (drawings and text). Beginners are not left out: one step photo fix functions can correct the most common problems in digital images for those who are not comfortable doing it by themselves.
The software is so focused on being the best in image editing that it doesn't provide many related features, such as organizing pictures in photo albums, or displaying flashy slideshows. Other products in the Paint Shop family complement the feature set: Paint Shop Photo Album 5 is a photo album and slide show software and Paint Shop Pro Studio is an imaging software program for people new to digital photography who won't need any advanced functionality.
Sending photos by email is possible, but you can accidentally send large, megabyte-size images without any warning from the software, or with the possibility to reduce the image size before sending them.
Sharing photos on the Internet has been made easy: when you want to share pictures, the software asks you to login on the Shutterfly online service. Once you've done that, your photos are copied to your personal album. The process is extremely easy, and we'd like to see it cover other services as well.
Who likes this product: Photographers who want an image editing software that won't leave them empty handed when their digital photography and editing skills develop beyond beginner level. If you don't have previous experience on any imaging software, you have to use some time to learn to use Paint Shop Pro (as any advanced product), but it is worth it.
System requirements: The software requires 500 MB of hard-disk space and minimum 256MB of RAM on a PC that runs Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP operating system. We tested the software on a Windows XP machine with 512MB RAM, and it ran smoothly.
Value for money: Paint Shop Pro 9 is excellent value for money. Once you have taken the time to master this software, you won't need to bother with other image editing software products.
|
