I’ve been using Corel’s Paintshop programs for years and have upgraded several times as the product has evolved, most recently to Pro X4. Pro X4 is outstanding for fixing photos or changing them to whatever you want your photos to become. I use a pc with Windows 7, 64 bit, with an AMD quad core processor and 8G of RAM. The program works flawlessly on my system. I decided to step up to the “big leagues”, so I very recently purchased Adobe Photoshop CS5 because I had heard so many good things about it. I was able to get the Student/Teacher pricing for it which was $199 from Adobe. I also purchased Adobe Lightroom 3 as well. I can tell you after spending many hours using Photoshop CS5, I definitely prefer Corel’s Paintshop. It’s so much easier for me, and from what I can tell, does everything CS5 does but much more intuitively. For example, I tried to soften skin in some portrait photos I have using both Photoshop and Paintshop to compare the result of each program. Paintshop is so much easier. Plus, whitening teeth and removing blemishes is so easy in Paintshop. So, I retuned Adobe Photoshop under Adobe’s 30 day money back guarantee and will use Corel Pro X4.
As a side note, I did keep Adobe’s Lightroom 3. It’s excellent and I have Lightroom 3 linked to Paintshop Pro X4 where I can go directly into Paintshop from Lightroom and do any edits I want to all the photos that are in my Adobe Lightroom 3 library with a click of a button AND Paintshop will recognize and retain any minor edits I may have done in Lightroom if I choose. I really do like the Lightroom 3 and Paintshop Pro X4 combo that I now have.
Paintshop Pro X4 is really a fantastic photo program.
EDITED TO ADD: Here’s how to link/add Pantshop Pro X4 as the external editor to Adobe’s Lightroom 3:
Firstly, I’m using Windows 7.
To chose Paintshop Pro X4 as Lightroom 3′s external editor, click on LR3′s menu item called “Edit”. When that opens, then click on “Preferences”. Then, when that opens, click on the “External Editing” tab. There you will see a heading halfway down the page called “Additional External Editor”. Click on “Choose” to open up the browser. At that point, a browse type window will open. When it opens, look for a folder called “Program Files (x86)”. You may need to double-click your “C” drive(or whatever letter that represents your main operating drive) to open it up so you can locate the folder called “Program Files(x86)”. The “Program Files(x86)” is where your Corel program and execute files are located. It’s really easy to locate the “Program Files(x86)” in your “C” drive as all folders are alphabetized. When you find the “Program Files(x86)” folder, double-click that folder. When that “Program Files(x86)” folder opens, you will look for the “Corel” folder. When you find it, double-click that one. When that one opens, look for the “Corel Paintshop Pro X4″ folder, then double-click that folder to open it.
ALMOST DONE. When the “Corel Paintshop Pro X4″ folder opens, scroll down to a file called “Corel Paintshop Pro.exe”. This is the execute file for opening Photoshop in LR3. Double-click that file to choose it.
Now, to finish, just left-click “OK” to close the “Preferences” window. YOU’RE DONE! Paintshop Pro X4 is now your external editor. To use Photoshop in LR3, open LR3 and right click on any photo that’s there and a menu of items will open up. Choose “Edit in” and you will see Paintshop Pro as a choice. Just click it and it will open up a small window for you to choose from a couple self-explanatory items and then Paintshop will automatically open up with the photo you chose. It’s very quick and very easy to use. It works great.
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I’ve been using PaintShop Pro in most of its variations since the `90s and was asked to participate in the beta development of PSPX4. There is a lot to like in this latest version, for sure!
Let’s start with speed – PSPX4 opens fast, loads images fast, and just overall performs complex tasks much more quickly and without a lot of the lag time found in other programs. The workspace is really streamlined and can easily be customized to your preferences. I use a dual-monitor setup for processing images and creating art and PSPX4 fully supports dual monitor. Set it up once and save it as a preferred workspace and it’s always there when you want it. And if you’re not using a dual monitor setup – well, try it – you’ll see how a dual monitor setup and PSPX4 work seamlessly to further enhance your own particular workflow.
Most all the tools within PSPX4 have been upgraded as well! I like to bring in RAW images (I’m using Nikon’s NEF format) and give an overall “fix” for things like brightness and contrast before bringing them into PSPX4′s Edit mode. The larger preview area in the RAW Lab certainly helps! And the ability to work on 16-bit files is HUGE given today’s cameras.
The HDR tools are also superb – I like to shoot a lot of “auto-bracketed” shots and using exposure merge allows me to find that perfect balance of light and contrast and sharpness – seriously, my images now seem to “pop” with color. I have complete control over the overall tone and mood of my images!
The Manage tab allows me to quickly scan for other images where I may want to use a certain element in the current project. Again – dual monitor support makes it easy to keep my windows where I need them – easy to see and easy to manipulate.
I think PSPX4′s performance and speed has probably been the biggest improvement in this version. It helps to have a system that can take advantage of that, of course – but I will say the application is amazingly fast and the tools work without hesitation (none of that painful lag time) as I work on very large and complex images – large file size and multi-layer projects.
From simple tasks such as brightening your P&S camera images to full blown remodeling of large scale RAW images and everything in between – I’m finding PSPX4 handles it all. I can be as simple or as complex as I want and I don’t have to worry about the software slowing me down or curtailing my creativity. Perhaps that’s what I enjoy the most now with PSPX4 – I can focus on being creative instead of worrying about software constraints!
For me, PSPX4 gives me all of this and at a fraction of the cost of other more expensive programs.
Cheers, Gino
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Authors bio is coming up shortly. 
As good as photoshop and much easier to use,
I’ve been using Corel’s Paintshop programs for years and have upgraded several times as the product has evolved, most recently to Pro X4. Pro X4 is outstanding for fixing photos or changing them to whatever you want your photos to become. I use a pc with Windows 7, 64 bit, with an AMD quad core processor and 8G of RAM. The program works flawlessly on my system. I decided to step up to the “big leagues”, so I very recently purchased Adobe Photoshop CS5 because I had heard so many good things about it. I was able to get the Student/Teacher pricing for it which was $199 from Adobe. I also purchased Adobe Lightroom 3 as well. I can tell you after spending many hours using Photoshop CS5, I definitely prefer Corel’s Paintshop. It’s so much easier for me, and from what I can tell, does everything CS5 does but much more intuitively. For example, I tried to soften skin in some portrait photos I have using both Photoshop and Paintshop to compare the result of each program. Paintshop is so much easier. Plus, whitening teeth and removing blemishes is so easy in Paintshop. So, I retuned Adobe Photoshop under Adobe’s 30 day money back guarantee and will use Corel Pro X4.
As a side note, I did keep Adobe’s Lightroom 3. It’s excellent and I have Lightroom 3 linked to Paintshop Pro X4 where I can go directly into Paintshop from Lightroom and do any edits I want to all the photos that are in my Adobe Lightroom 3 library with a click of a button AND Paintshop will recognize and retain any minor edits I may have done in Lightroom if I choose. I really do like the Lightroom 3 and Paintshop Pro X4 combo that I now have.
Paintshop Pro X4 is really a fantastic photo program.
EDITED TO ADD:
Here’s how to link/add Pantshop Pro X4 as the external editor to Adobe’s Lightroom 3:
Firstly, I’m using Windows 7.
To chose Paintshop Pro X4 as Lightroom 3′s external editor, click on LR3′s menu item called “Edit”. When that opens, then click on “Preferences”. Then, when that opens, click on the “External Editing” tab. There you will see a heading halfway down the page called “Additional External Editor”. Click on “Choose” to open up the browser. At that point, a browse type window will open. When it opens, look for a folder called “Program Files (x86)”. You may need to double-click your “C” drive(or whatever letter that represents your main operating drive) to open it up so you can locate the folder called “Program Files(x86)”. The “Program Files(x86)” is where your Corel program and execute files are located. It’s really easy to locate the “Program Files(x86)” in your “C” drive as all folders are alphabetized. When you find the “Program Files(x86)” folder, double-click that folder. When that “Program Files(x86)” folder opens, you will look for the “Corel” folder. When you find it, double-click that one. When that one opens, look for the “Corel Paintshop Pro X4″ folder, then double-click that folder to open it.
ALMOST DONE. When the “Corel Paintshop Pro X4″ folder opens, scroll down to a file called “Corel Paintshop Pro.exe”. This is the execute file for opening Photoshop in LR3. Double-click that file to choose it.
Now, to finish, just left-click “OK” to close the “Preferences” window. YOU’RE DONE! Paintshop Pro X4 is now your external editor. To use Photoshop in LR3, open LR3 and right click on any photo that’s there and a menu of items will open up. Choose “Edit in” and you will see Paintshop Pro as a choice. Just click it and it will open up a small window for you to choose from a couple self-explanatory items and then Paintshop will automatically open up with the photo you chose. It’s very quick and very easy to use. It works great.
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|Performance & Creativity Rule!,
I’ve been using PaintShop Pro in most of its variations since the `90s and was asked to participate in the beta development of PSPX4. There is a lot to like in this latest version, for sure!
Let’s start with speed – PSPX4 opens fast, loads images fast, and just overall performs complex tasks much more quickly and without a lot of the lag time found in other programs. The workspace is really streamlined and can easily be customized to your preferences. I use a dual-monitor setup for processing images and creating art and PSPX4 fully supports dual monitor. Set it up once and save it as a preferred workspace and it’s always there when you want it. And if you’re not using a dual monitor setup – well, try it – you’ll see how a dual monitor setup and PSPX4 work seamlessly to further enhance your own particular workflow.
Most all the tools within PSPX4 have been upgraded as well! I like to bring in RAW images (I’m using Nikon’s NEF format) and give an overall “fix” for things like brightness and contrast before bringing them into PSPX4′s Edit mode. The larger preview area in the RAW Lab certainly helps! And the ability to work on 16-bit files is HUGE given today’s cameras.
The HDR tools are also superb – I like to shoot a lot of “auto-bracketed” shots and using exposure merge allows me to find that perfect balance of light and contrast and sharpness – seriously, my images now seem to “pop” with color. I have complete control over the overall tone and mood of my images!
The Manage tab allows me to quickly scan for other images where I may want to use a certain element in the current project. Again – dual monitor support makes it easy to keep my windows where I need them – easy to see and easy to manipulate.
I think PSPX4′s performance and speed has probably been the biggest improvement in this version. It helps to have a system that can take advantage of that, of course – but I will say the application is amazingly fast and the tools work without hesitation (none of that painful lag time) as I work on very large and complex images – large file size and multi-layer projects.
From simple tasks such as brightening your P&S camera images to full blown remodeling of large scale RAW images and everything in between – I’m finding PSPX4 handles it all. I can be as simple or as complex as I want and I don’t have to worry about the software slowing me down or curtailing my creativity. Perhaps that’s what I enjoy the most now with PSPX4 – I can focus on being creative instead of worrying about software constraints!
For me, PSPX4 gives me all of this and at a fraction of the cost of other more expensive programs.
Cheers,
Gino
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