TN. Photo taker

What are your thoughts about which is the best and has the best support?

idrabefi Loc: Michigan

I've only just started Corel PSP, but so far am very happy with the tool. Although I have been paid for my photography, I don't consider myself a pro. For me, Adobe is too much (functionality, cost, etc.). I did have an issue loading PSP and needed their offshore tech support. It did take about a week to fix, but it did get fixed. Corel sends daily videos of functionality. Most are helpful. Plus, there's a Corel site and much info free for the searching. Long story short - I like PSP.

TN. Photo taker

Thanks, I called Adobe with a question about update purchase and was transferred to five people and never got an answer!

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

PSP gives you about 96% of what photo shop does for less money and in my opinion it's easier to learn. I like PSP.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I've been using Photoshop 2.5, which was released in 1992. PSP was a strong competitor at the time, but PS has become the industry standard. Schools teach it, pros use it (and Capture One for raw conversion), and it is without a doubt the best supported photo/graphics editor on the market. Adobe support is can range from acceptable to awful, but I don't think Corel's is any different.

PSP is a decent package, PS is the undisputed market leader. PSP is $100, PS/LR is $120/yr. I use both extensively, but use LR on 100% of all of my images. I was not that impressed with Corel's raw converter the last time I looked at it about 2 yrs ago. Maybe things have changed. They do seem to be on an annual upgrade cycle, so every 12 months or so if you want to stay current you'd need to upgrade. There is a cheaper version of PSP that does not include raw conversion that you can get for $80.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Several years ago, I used PSP and Corel Aftershot. When I got a new camera, Corel didn't update to be able to read its RAW files for over a year. Unforgivable. I switched to the Adobe LR/PS offer and have been very satisfied ever since. Support isn't a minor issue.

terry44 Loc: Tuolumne County California, Maui Hawaii

Have owned Corel for quite awhile, am now up to version 9 I was not very happy with version 9 and aftershot seems to not work as well as on one and lightroom. I also have had Adobe for a long time and am now using the cc versions, I like photoshop and use bridge more than lightroom, I was fairly sure that I would not upgrade corel but have downloaded the 2018 version and it is a nice program raw develop module is basic but quick, and the 2018 version has support for my new raw files from my Nikon B700 which uses nrw (do not understand why Nikon has a different raw format (nrw) than my D7100 and D800 which are nef files, and is a lot more responsive than previously. I guess it all depends on how much processing that you need Adobe is as Gene states the number one and most used by schools business and privately. I like the on one raw program better than corel you also have many choices such as Affinity, Topaz etc. all depends on your needs. As far as support, to me it has been fairly much the same for both Adobe and Corel both are pretty good and have staff that are helpful just my experience with support there are those who have had a bad experience also. Good luck with your choice and let us know what you choose.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Photoshop is geared to the needs of professionals, Corel is not. Photoshop is substantially more difficult to learn, and to get the most from it, it will require a very significant investment of your time. If you take the time to read everything you can get your hands on and use the many online resources available you can develop a basic understanding of PS relatively quickly. Once you have an appropriate skill level you won't need to call Adobe. If you don't plan to spend the time developing that skill level and expect Adobe to respond every time you have a question or run into a problem, you'll be calling them daily and likely getting nowhere. I've used several different image processing software packages over the years and have also observed many of the issues that people on this forum tend to have. Most of the problems are caused by a lack of commitment to learning how to properly use the software in the first place.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

Using Lightroom and photoshop I have all I need. I do almost everything in Lightroom.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

PS and PSE have the most tutorials.....! It is usually a simple thing to 'adapt' tool names and use The Gimp for free, However I have not used Corel since Win3.1.. so do not know if using a similar tutorial adaption will work for you.

TN. Photo taker

Thanks, I will check that out.

ziphler

I'm lost. Everybody keeps talking about Paint Shop Pro (PSP). Corel's flagship is Photo Paint (PP). I'm seriously dating myself here but in the beginning there was Picture Publisher (by Micrografx) and Photoshop by Adobe and Picture Publisher was the hands down superior photo editor but Adobe had the clout and Micrografix went under. I'm pretty sure that Corel bought Picture Publisher cause PhotoPaint was and still is very similar when it came out. Nothing Adobe makes is intuitive but their specs and functionality pretty much blow everybody else out of the water. They're even going after Avid in the video and sound markets. I still use PhotoPaint if I just want to create anything either from scratch or from photos and just use Photoshop it I need some high quality finishing work or effects but to this day getting PS to do what I envision with their highly technical and backassward ways of accomplishing simple tasks, is always a headache. I actually still use Picture Publisher for a few things like for instance they have an effect that will convert any graphic or photo into a perfectly seamless background tile. It didn't even run after win 95 until Microsoft added backward compatibility with win 7.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Looks like, despite confusing nomenclature, Photopaint is Corel's painting program, and Paint Shop Pro is their photo editing program.
https://www.paintshoppro.com/en/

TN. Photo taker

Thanks for a simple reply. I am leaning that way!

Bill_de Loc: US

I think you're lost in the '90s. PhotoPaint was a free standing photo editing program and included with Corel Draw.

Once Corel bought PaintShopPro from JASC they stared building on what was a FreeWare program. Eventually it grew into Corel's best.

One of the coolest features of PhotoPaint was that with the click of a button it would emulate a PhotoShop interface almost 100%

PaintShop Pro has come a long way and does just about anything PhotoShop does. They also have the option to have a tutorial pop up with each new task you use.

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