Do I need ADOBE..?

[pizzamandan67]

Hi everyone

I'm on the verge of buying a new pc after spending what feels like a lifetime reading up on what I'd need. But there's one question that I can't find an answer to, does the new Windows 7 come with any picture/video editing capabilities or do I need to splash out on some £160 ADOBE elements studio software??? (buidling my pc on dell if you were wondering how I got the price...)

I don't do a lot of picture/video editing but always nice to know you can, especially when you're laying out 700quid on the thing!!!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give, much appreciated

 

[Tews]

I use GIMP for all my editing needs... and its free .... get it -=>here

PS... It will not edit video... its similar to photoshop...

 

[QuackPot]

You could download GIMP2 for free.

 

[pizzamandan67]

cheers for the advice guys, hadn't heard of 'gimp' before but will give it a try!

but out of interest, what exactly can you do on windows 7 alone..? I remember the 'I'm a PC' adverts with some 5yr old boy merging his photos to make one large picture, do I need additional software (like GIMP) to do something as basic as this or is it standard?

Thanks again!

 

[Kari]

The ad you mentioned shows how to make a panoramic picture using Windows Live Photo Gallery, which is a part of Windows Live suite of programs. Windows Live is free, you can download it or individual parts here.

So as you have been told earlier here, there's a bunch of free image editors available. For my basic needs I use Windows Paint and Live Photo Gallery, for some more advanced stuff Paint.net (also free) or Adobe Photoshop which you can test 30 days for free.

Even Live Photo Gallery is not an editing tool, you can do some nice things with it. Here's a couple of examples what Live Photo Gallery can do, unedited panoramas of our village a few days ago. Each is made from 4 to 6 photos. If I would like to edit them, I could do it also with Windows Paint. It is a free application which comes with Windows:





Kari

 

[pizzamandan67]

Much appreciated! you guys just saved me 160quid! Which would make anyone happy

Thanks again

 

[Kari]

Much appreciated! you guys just saved me 160quid! Which would make anyone happy

Thanks again

I PM you the address where you can send my part of the saved money
Cash only.

Kari

 

[rsvr85]

I PM you the address where you can send my part of the saved money
Cash only.

Kari

:roflmao:.....good luck!

 

[macgyver2]

windows 7 also has windows DVD maker if your making videos for DVD. I do a lot of photo/art and video myself and have learned about a lot of free software here. Someone might be able to link the free software thread here (I would but currently heavily medicated) Depending on the type of editing you do or might do could help me suggesting software, like the type of video stuff you would like to do.

Also is this a desktop or laptop? I am using a laptop with Photoshop and I convert peoples home movies to DVD and use the Windows DVD maker, its a little slower then I would like but its free and does some really cool effects for menus etc. oh and the reason I ask about laptop or desktop is you would want to be careful about the laptop getting hot when doing movies.

 

[pizzamandan67]

ill be sure to send your cash through in the post Kari..!

And I plan on getting a desktop, I don't require a laptop so I don't see any point in paying more for smaller technology when there's a huge space under my desk waiting to be filled!

I'm not exactly looking for it to be doing anything too technical in particular, just the standards really...I suppose an example would be editing a dvd of mine. A few years back I did a skydive and paid a hefty sum to get it filmed! Trouble is came with a horrific interviews before and after (with me in a bright red jumpsuit!) so naturally I don't want to show anyone, but would be great to bypass the and get straight to the fall. Will windows 7 come with this as standard? (or do I need to download one of the other programs recommended)

 

[Creer]

In some cases Photoshop doesn't have a replacement.
I found it eg. when I was working on layers (I tried Paint.NET, Gimp, even Paint Shop Pro X) - only PS was able to do this correctly.

 

[noyb]

I've installed Irfanview as my basic Image Viewer and Editor ...
To replace the Junk provided my M$

Photoshop is too slow loading and a little complicated for the simple stuff ...
and I only use it when I need "More Power".

The new Photoshop Elements and Premiere looks like a good lower cost option for editing Pictures and Videos.

The new windows Movie Maker that you can get for W7 looks very crippled to me ...
as compared to what came with Vista or XP

 

[noyb]

As far as Panoramas .. I haven't tried this Freeware in W7 yet ..
But it beats anything else I've tried.

I have a friend that was trying to scan a document that was bigger than his scanner ..
So he scanned it in pieces .. Then fed the pieces to Autostitch ..
and it re-assembled the document .. automatically.
I though that was clever

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
another GOOD cheapish program is PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS. You can get the PREVIOUS version to the current one for around 25 GBP and unless you are a consummate Pro photographer this can do most things a typical use would do in the full blown Photoshop. (I think some sort of layers and filters might be missing but you need to be quite serious photo editor to have a huge need for these.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[whs]

Gimp is a good option for "complex" jobs. But Gimp is rather complicated. For simple editing, this is a good alternative ( FastStone Image Viewer - Powerful and Intuitive Photo Viewer, Editor and Batch Converter ).
For video editing I suggest this: ( Lossless Video and Audio Editor, Splitter, Joiner for AVI,FLV,WMV,WMA,ASF,MP3 files ). For $20 you get a program that is far superior to WMM (in quality and speed terms).

 

[Barman58]

For photo stitching you may want to take a look at Microsoft Lab's Free offering- works with Windows 7 and has 32 & 64 Bit Native applications

Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor (ICE)

 

[Creer]

Hi there
another GOOD cheapish program is PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS. You can get the PREVIOUS version to the current one for around 25 GBP and unless you are a consummate Pro photographer this can do most things a typical use would do in the full blown Photoshop. (I think some sort of layers and filters might be missing but you need to be quite serious photo editor to have a huge need for these.

Cheers
jimbo

Yes, I forgot to mention in my case I also tried PSE but it doesn't support multi-layered files

 

[noyb]

Yes, I forgot to mention in my case I also tried PSE but it doesn't support multi-layered files

????? PSE supports Layers ?????????
About the only things missing from PSE are a few special layer effects ..
The ability to make animations .. and some web design stuff.

For about 10% of the price of the Professional Photoshop ...
It has about 99% of the tools any photographer will need.

And for a little more .. You can get it with the video editor Adobe Premiere

 

[Creer]

Yes, I forgot to mention in my case I also tried PSE but it doesn't support multi-layered files

????? PSE supports Layers ?????????

I mean Photoshop Elements doesn’t support layer groups and displays them in their collapsed state. You must simplify them to create an editable image.

 

[Kari]

In some cases Photoshop doesn't have a replacement.
I found it eg. when I was working on layers (I tried Paint.NET, Gimp, even Paint Shop Pro X) - only PS was able to do this correctly.

+1. That's true.