PSPx3?

[amymnc]

Got the email this morning and it looks like there's a few useful new features in this version. I'm using XI right now. Might go download the free trial. I was wondering if any of you have used X3 yet and what you think? Thanks

[deepspring]

Just bought X3 on monday to see if it was any good. Before I post my thoughts, I should note that I use Photoshop and Lightroom professionally as part of my day job. At home I have a Nikon D5000, and normally my workflow consists of using Nikon Capture NX2 to do major adjustments, burn full resolution JPEG copies, then use Photoshop Elements 8 to do other work to my photos. I catalog my personal files manually.

Now onto my thoughts...

The "Organizer" interface isn't bad, but it lacks the more robust cataloging features of Lightroom and Photoshop Elements 8. It's not as nice to look at as Photoshop Elements 8's organizer and it kept crashing when I was trying to view my RAW files.

The "Express Lab" interface is simple, well laid out. Offers most commonly used tools. It kept crashing on me when opening RAW files.

The "Full Editor" interface is a little clunky in places, and usability is average compared to what I'm used to, but it gets the job done. Photoshop it ain't. For instance the Curves dialog box is huge on my poor little laptops screen, plus you can't use the white, black and grey eye droppers on the main image window where you get the better view, instead you are stuck with trying to select the points from a tiny square at the top of the Curves dialog box. Here is a screen shot of what I'm talking about:

Once it finally opened a RAW file from my camera, I found the RAW processing window to be on par with Elements in that it offered very basic correction tools. No lens or Chromatic Aberration adjustments, though these can be adjusted within the Full Editor interface. I noticed that Viginette adjustment is missing, but can be done the hard way.

Anyways, I'd give it about an 8 of 10, mainly because of the price tag.

I hope this helps.