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Layers and masks? Never Heard Of 'Em!
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If you don't need CMYK pre-press, frames or text insertion capabilities NX2 is worth a look.
Not many of us need CYMK. Not sure what you mean by "frames." But I used to make borders around many of my posted images, now I usually just use some Photoshop Actions that run in Elements. No text insertion? NONE?! And I'm assuming your remark about Layers and Masks is facetious.
Seriously, different folk have different needs or do things differently to get the same results. I'm sure you get all you need and more from the Nikon app, and linking to a free demo is fine. But let's let the poster/user decide if a recommendation suits their needs. You may easily get along without Layers and Masks, others find them extremely powerful and useful. Obviously, since Adobe makes graphics and font apps, they want to combine them in as many ways as possible. Apple does this brilliantly with Pages/Keynote and even Numbers. But none of those apps could/would be called image editors, of course. Elements/Photoshop/CSwhatever not only allows insertion of text but it remains editable, no matter what you do with it's orientation, style or opacity, unless or until you "simplify" it. And there is not always a need to even do that. Of course, with Layers, you could easily make a copy of the Layer with the text, hide it and still have all the editing capabilities in the future, even after "simplifying" the text for whatever reason.
Frankly, the first thing I do when I open any image is to duplicate it into another Layer and then high the original and never touch it again unless I complete screw up my editing on the copy. Sure, you can accomplish the same results by just making copies of every image you have, but why bother duplicating images that you never edit?
I think you meant Elements 8 will not run on your hardware, it requires an intel cpu. V.6 certainly will run on Leopard, I used it until I got 8. Amazon has a seller with 5 star ratings (2349 ratings in last 12 months) selling V.6 for just under $60. It's used but the seller offers a money back guarantee if you can read the DVD. But download the Nikon app and see if it provides all you need now and later. Perhaps you can find it on eBay ( ) or Amazon for much less than the $125+ cost.
You might also want to consider <Pixelmator>. Even brand new, it's less than $60! You can download it and try it out, also. Oh, it does Layers and text insertion, also!
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As for "CMYK"... Maybe I get the letter order wrong at times, but at least I include the correct four letters!
Touché! Apparently, some of us, OK, maybe just me, can't even 'spell' Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black! Never even understood why they used the k in black if they already went to the trouble to use cyan for blue! Oh well, that's why we have experts like you! "If you don't know the 'code' you're not really one of us!"
Didn't mean to step on your sore toes. Maybe I'm the one who came across too strong. Words are such a poor substitute for communications.
I agree that Photoshop is usually way more than the majority of people really need. That's the main rationale behind Elements, most of the PS code is still there, but it's not available the way it is in PS. I suspect they have probably removed some of it, to make the app more svelte...Nah, who ever heard of removing un-needed code?! But because much of that code is still in there, Elements can run many PS Actions; I plus if one has invested in some of the expensive ones.
And there is absolutely no way I could ever justify the full version of PS. much less the extra stuff in the CS packages.
Not sure, since I don't use the Nikon app, how you edit things in it that would require the use of Layers in PS/Elements. Although even iPhoto can do non-destructive editing. I assume that Nikon has a similar scheme for preventing loss of the originals or back tracking all the way to the beginning. Whatever.
But I thank you for mentioning that Nikon does have a different GUI/workflow that may have a learning curve. Of course, many apps that do similar things have different visual ways and techniques that must be learned. Nothing really new there.
As for my "paragraph two," I'm probably as confused by your interpretation of it as you are in yours. Don'cha think maybe just a little? It's past my bedtime, aging brains need their 'beauty rest.'
Take care, don't take much of anything I say/write seriously and especially not personally. I'm just trying to live up to my old screen name: Grumpy!
Here is the sentence in paragraph 2 that got me going:
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But let's let the poster/user decide if a recommendation suits their needs.
Etc., etc...
For some strange reason I thought that the OP might be open to considering an alternative since he was going to have to upgrade anyway. So I suggested taking a look-see at NX2 because a lot of folks don't even know that it exists, much less that it is a very powerful image editing program.
RAW conversion is 1% of its capabilities... If all you need is a RAW convertor for Nikon's proprietary NEF format then there is a free Nikon app for that. NX2 works with NEF, JPEG and TIFF files and it is a non-destructive image editor. From Nikon's Web Site:
"NX 2 easy-to-use software lets you make intuitive photo enhancements which are immediately visible on your monitor. Simply place the Control Point on the area that you want to edit and U Point Technology will analyze color elements such as hue, saturation and brightness, as well as recognize similar areas where an edit would best be applied. This technology powers the entire Capture NX 2 series of Control Points: Color Control Points, the all-new Selection Control Points, White/Black/Neutral Control Points and Red-Eye Control Points. With Capture NX 2, there’s no need to deal with selection tools, layers or lengthy training."
I have found that to be true. I have used Photoshop since version 4 so I have a bit of experience using the software...
A benefit for Nikon users is that NX2 seems to do the best job converting RAW/NEF files. And unlike any other RAW convertor that I know of, NX2 retains all the Nikon in-camera settings when it opens a NEF file. That can be a significant time-saver for someone who has dialed-in their camera settings. Changing the camera settings is a one-click operation in NX2.
The actual developer of NX2 is Nik, probably best know for Color Efex Pro and other stand-alone and plugin software. The closest thing to NX2 is Nik's Viveza program. If I remember correctly NX2 is less expensive than Viveza.
Me? I like things to be easy on my Macs. Taking the Path of Least Resistance that meets my goal(s) is my guiding principle when it come to software. Some programs are so darned difficult to learn and use I have sometimes felt like the best use of the software CD/DVD was as a Frisbee, except Frisbees fly a lot better because of their rounded edges...
With an exceptionally generous two month demo period it's a no-brainer to give it a try if you are the least bit interested in seeing how it actually works.