CS3

There is a Beta release of Photoshop CS3 with many new enhancements that will be downloadable tomorrow morning. For those of you who are NAPP members, there is a lot of good information on that web site now.

I don't really care about enhancements ( I can't even handle CS ) but I do care about the camera raw updates....

Pete D.

Here's a video on the CS3.

CS3 is looking good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mcye_SAh0o&eurl=

While I too am intregued by the new tools and features I've read about, I think it's worth keeping in mind that this is a beta version and therefore NOT guaranteed to be free of bugs and quirks. I've been around new software too often to feel any urge to jump right in. Hope this works well for those of you braver and/or more tolerant than I.

I agree with you, Ed, about not wasting time with buggy beta software. However, based on the review at Digital Outback, this release seems to be pretty stable. They are using it full time and haven't experienced ANY problems! So, I plan to give it a try. But, I'm leaving on vacation today, so I'll wait for you guys to confirm the stability.

Thanks, Bill. I think. Fortunately, I'm used to dealing with "beta" software, so I'll probably be able to tolerate it until the real deal comes out in the Spring. I'll let you know - if they ever post it!

The ACR4 that is included with this beta is a major enhancement over the current ACR3 release. It has a lot of fine tuning capability. Bridge 2 crashed on me a couple of times. CS3 itself hasn't crashed yet. There are many new features, too many to detail here. I hope this will be tweaked a couple of times throughout the beta period to fix bugs.

You can download and use the beta for two days as a trial. If you have your CS2 serial number, you can enter it on Adobe's web site and get a CS3 beta serial number. That will permit your beta copy to run through the entire beta time period, which is supposed to last until the official release in the spring of 2007.

I think the CS3 RAW capability has benefitted a lot from Adobe's acquisition of Pixmantec a few months ago. Some of the features of the new RAW plugin have been directly picked from the RSP RAW converter.

I have to agree from the really short trial I ran it through: ACR4 is a vast improvement over v3. I hope the rest is as good!

I have spent the last two days working with the new Bridge, Photoshop CS3, and ACR 4. I am sold on this set of products. I am going to get rid of Aperture, Lightroom, Capture 1 Pro, and all teh other trials I have been using. Here is a list of what I am pleased with so far:

1. ACR4 has many improvements over ACR3. If you have tried Lightroom and like the RAW converter, ACR4 has all that.

2. The Bridge has really been improved. It now has a built in image ingest function that allows you to rename, apply metadata, convert to DNG, and save to two folders all in one step. This is like Photo Mechanic built into Bridge.

3. The Bridge interface has been changed for the better. A lot more filter options, a better metadata system including a new template function, and it's faster.

4. Photoshop has also been updated for the better. I haven't played with all the new toys, but from what I see, Photoshop is still king.

If you have a CS2 license, download the beta trial and see for yourself. It's worth the time and energy. I can't wait to see InDesign CS3.