Photoshop purchase?

[Ande]

Hi all

Is it possible to purchase an earlier version of Photoshop, and not get hauled into their subscription plan? I would much rather stump up a reasonable sum of cash than have yet another direct debit pecking away at my monthly income. 

[happy-kat]

Have you considered Affinity photo, or PaintShopPro as both can be bought and offer much of what Photoshop does.

[Ouroboros]

What is the legal position of individuals selling old copies of photoshop? I’m sure there are lots of old copies around that would be perfectly useable for many people’s purposes. Perhaps I’m wrong but I thought Adobe stipulates that Photoshop couldn’t be re-sold. How they’d stop it happening I don’t know. 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Ouroboros

[fifeskies]

GIMP is free and does almost the same job as Photoshop , I also have and old version of PaintShopPro which I find useful for quick basic editing.

GIMP is powerful , easy to use , and there are a number of good online astronomy themed tutorials for it.

[PeterCPC]

+1 for Affinity Photo.

[Ouroboros]

Another plus one for Affinity. Although I feel it's really quite different from Photoshop. It doesn't to me seem as intuitive. May be that's just because I used Photoshop for so many years. Fortunately there are many helpful videos on YouTube showing you how to do things the Affinity way. 

[carastro]

There are normally a number of old versions for sale on Ebay.  But not sure about the reselling issue as mentioned earlier.  
 

Carole
 

 

 

[lifeonmars]

Be carefull if you buy one on ebay make sure the seller as de registered the product with Adobe,and if I remember this correctly they also register your details that way it will work when you load it up.

Another good product is dxo photolab on special offer at the moment and you get free upgrades and its noise reduction software is groundbreaking.

  Happy New Year

[Xsubmariner]

I would be careful about purchasing old copies of PS on eBay. Many are unlikely to be legitimate. Even if you are successful at acquiring a genuine copy you will struggle to get it registered with PS, if at all. Look on the PS forum to see the many cases where genuine original purchasers are struggling. 

[TerryMcK]

If your goal is to solely to process astrophotography then buy PixInsight instead. It's a one off fee and you get updates for life. It has a learning curve like any substantial piece of software but after a short while you can get decent results from it.

If you want a universal picture editing tool then Affinity Photo, as others have said, does much of what Photoshop does with the exception of some 3rd party actions (Astronomy Tools for instance). GIMP is ok too but not my preferred tool.

I use Photoshop professionally and have no issues with the £9.99 per month. I also have the other two tools, PI and AP, too.

[ollypenrice]

32 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

If your goal is to solely to process astrophotography then buy PixInsight instead. It's a one off fee and you get updates for life. It has a learning curve like any substantial piece of software but after a short while you can get decent results from it.

If you want a universal picture editing tool then Affinity Photo, as others have said, does much of what Photoshop does with the exception of some 3rd party actions (Astronomy Tools for instance). GIMP is ok too but not my preferred tool.

I use Photoshop professionally and have no issues with the £9.99 per month. I also have the other two tools, PI and AP, too.

I don't think it's quite as simple as that. The choice between Ps and Pixinsight is a complex one. While they are both graphics programs the user experience is radically different and someone who gets on with Ps may not get on with PI. I speak from experience!

Ps became the world leader in its field because of its brilliant analogue interface, intended to get designers from the print and paper world comfortable in a digital environment. Its user interface is essentially a series of metaphors from the print and darkroom world. (Eg unsharp masking.) It also very visual. Communication is Photoshop's genius and its absence is Pixinsight's worst failing. I would describe PI as autistic. Click on a help tab and you get, This parameter is expressed in Sigma units, with reference to the estimated mean background value, or Sample simulations can be used to deal with sample irregularities that possess symmetric distributions...  Gee thanks, that was great. I'm sure the Ps developers are as geeky as the PI developers but someone at Adobe is translating them on behalf of the user. If I had to rely on PI exclusively I would give up imaging because I don't enjoy the PI environment at all.  In Ps I can make a modification to a layer, see if I like it and then choose where and by how much to apply it, all the while looking at the result in real time.

Both can do the job provided the user can master them. There's a big 'if' in there.

My old and legit Ps CD has worked on every machine I've ever put it on, so Win 7, Win 8 and Win 10. I don't register it each time, I just run it.

Olly

 

[BrendanC]

Photoshop CS2 is available free, and legally, at https://www.techspot.com/downloads/3689-adobe-photoshop-cs2.html

Admittedly it's a very old version, which suffers strange behaviour occasionally with dialogue boxes and windows, but I use it all the time in combination with StarTools.

Edited December 28, 2020 by BrendanC

[Tiny Clanger]

21 minutes ago, BrendanC said:

Photoshop CS2 is available free, and legally, at https://www.techspot.com/downloads/3689-adobe-photoshop-cs2.html

Admittedly it's a very old version, which suffers strange behaviour occasionally with dialogue boxes and windows, but I use it all the time in combination with StarTools.

I second that. Pretty sure that the dodgy ebay sellers are just burning that free download to a disk .

CS2 is a useful tool still, and it works fine on a pre-10 version of windows, but on windows 10 you get such tiny text and icons on the tool bars etc that the only solution I've managed to find (that doesn't involve some scary interfering with things I don't understand ) is to use the win10 magnifier on them , which is a pain. 

Heather

[Mick J]

If you are looking at Affinity, Mac & Windows available Dave Eagle ran over it HERE

[nephilim]

53 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I don't think it's quite as simple as that. The choice between Ps and Pixinsight is a complex one. While they are both graphics programs the user experience is radically different and someone who gets on with Ps may not get on with PI. I speak from experience!

Ps became the world leader in its field because of its brilliant analogue interface, intended to get designers from the print and paper world comfortable in a digital environment. Its user interface is essentially a series of metaphors from the print and darkroom world. (Eg unsharp masking.) It also very visual. Communication is Photoshop's genius and its absence is Pixinsight's worst failing. I would describe PI as autistic. Click on a help tab and you get, This parameter is expressed in Sigma units, with reference to the estimated mean background value, or Sample simulations can be used to deal with sample irregularities that possess symmetric distributions...  Gee thanks, that was great. I'm sure the Ps developers are as geeky as the PI developers but someone at Adobe is translating them on behalf of the user. If I had to rely on PI exclusively I would give up imaging because I don't enjoy the PI environment at all.  In Ps I can make a modification to a layer, see if I like it and then choose where and by how much to apply it, all the while looking at the result in real time.

Both can do the job provided the user can master them. There's a big 'if' in there.

My old and legit Ps CD has worked on every machine I've ever put it on, so Win 7, Win 8 and Win 10. I don't register it each time, I just run it.

Olly

 

I tried PI on a friends PC a while back.............My head imploded.

[Adreneline]

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

My old and legit Ps CD has worked on every machine I've ever put it on, so Win 7, Win 8 and Win 10. I don't register it each time, I just run it.

Unfortunately not the case for Mac owners Olly.

My not so old and totally legit PS CS6 Ext won't run on the new Mac operating systems, is no longer supported by Apple or Adobe and if you ask if you can transfer your multi-hundred pound licence to Windows you get a flat "No" from Adobe. You may even find that Mac removes PS for your machine during an OS upgrade as it is no longer supported so not allowed to reside within the OS. I have even tried installing an older OS on a Parallels VM on the Mac and installing PS; sure it installs but if you try to update Adobe no longer recognises your totally valid and paid for license and refuses to complete the Registration or the much needed updates. Now I feel that is a bit harsh and so I have dumped PS and moved to Affinity on my PC laptop and my MacBook.

One thing Affinity cannot do that PS does so easily (manipulating/extracting/blending RGB channels/layers) I have learnt how to do in PI (PixelMath) thanks to Rogelio Andreo's new book in which he recognises the virtues of both approaches and dedicates a whole chapter to "Parallel workflow with PixInsight and GIMP/Photoshop"; he also accepts that "PI cannot offer the methodology of working with layers, simultaneously and with a constant visual feedback of results".

Sad to say I would no longer recommend PS to anyone - old or new version - especially if you own a Mac. I'm getting to like Affinity and I'm even coming to terms with GIMP. Do I miss PS? - No, but I do miss one or two third party Actions but I've even found work-arounds for them.

Rant over!

Happy New Year Everyone   - may we all stay safe and healthy and have lots of clear skies.

Adrian

P.S. I still blame that comet for all this stuff we're having to endure

 

 

[happy-kat]

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

.....

I don't enjoy the PI environment at all.  In Ps I can make a modification to a layer, see if I like it and then choose where and by how much to apply it,.....

That's why I like StarTools as I can keep tweaking and reviewing the effect before deciding to keep that change.

[BrendanC]

1 hour ago, Tiny Clanger said:

I second that. Pretty sure that the dodgy ebay sellers are just burning that free download to a disk .

CS2 is a useful tool still, and it works fine on a pre-10 version of windows, but on windows 10 you get such tiny text and icons on the tool bars etc that the only solution I've managed to find (that doesn't involve some scary interfering with things I don't understand ) is to use the win10 magnifier on them , which is a pain. 

Heather

That's strange, I have it installed on a PC and 2 laptops, all Windows 10, different vendors, spec etc, and I don't have that problem. 

[Ouroboros]

3 hours ago, carastro said:

There are normally a number of old versions for sale on Ebay.  But not sure about the reselling issue as mentioned earlier.  
 

Carole

As I recall you were allowed to transfer Photoshop to another machine that you owned, but it had to be de-registered with Adobe first before it would run on the new machine. Whether that is still the case I don’t know. 

I tried to do this once when I upgraded my PC. For some reason I couldn’t de-register it and Adobe were sticklers about this. In the end after several emails Adobe relented and reset the registration status. So I would be very wary of obtaining a second hand copy.  

[Tiny Clanger]

17 minutes ago, BrendanC said:

That's strange, I have it installed on a PC and 2 laptops, all Windows 10, different vendors, spec etc, and I don't have that problem. 

I think it is something to do with the high res display I have on the machine I use offline purely for photo editing and storage, here's one of the links I saved from my search for a solution

 https://feedback.photoshop.com/conversations/photoshop/photoshop-menu-too-small-on-windows-high-res-display/5f5f45684b561a3d4249f0b8

it seems to have been a problem for years. Still, you have to expect some hassle when thriftily using old software on new hardware. Initially when installed on win7 the CS2 cursor appeared as a row of 3 cursors  🤬  that weirdness turned out to be fixable by changing the windows text size .

[Spile]

I have been using the Affinity applications and can recommend all three. £49 each and a free trial so that you can try them out.

Terrific support and forums with astronomy related posts at https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q=astronomy

[Ande]

Apologies to everyone who has chipped in for not replying sooner. I have driven about 250 miles today, some of that through very unsavoury weather. I finally got home exhausted, and have only just perked up, lol.

Thanks for the many suggestions for alternatives to Photoshop. Ordinarily, I would be very receptive to trying a different product. However, I have just received a book for Xmas, Dark Art or Magic Bullet by Steve Richards. What I hadn’t realised when I requested it, is that it is totally centred around a Photoshop workflow, and all instructions are PS specific.  Because I’m a total beginner with imaging, and all of its related software, I really need to follow the book parrot fashion. I have neither the knowledge or experience to be able to transpose the commands into alternative packages that probably use different terminology. 
 

Regarding Photoshop CS2, is it a Photoshop lite type of thing? And does it contain everything necessary for imaging, or are there holes that need workarounds?

[Tiny Clanger]

17 minutes ago, Ande said:

Regarding Photoshop CS2, is it a Photoshop lite type of thing? And does it contain everything necessary for imaging, or are there holes that need workarounds?

Not so much photoshop lite as photoshop ancient 🙂 , or to a fan, perhaps photoshop classic ... It was the full , brand new product in 2005.

I've no experience of astro photo processing with it, but you have the basic tools like layers, levels etc . I expect there are probably useful plugins written for later versions which it won't handle .

The photoshop lite type thing would be photoshop  elements, it is a cut down version, not cloud & subscription based, but a one off purchase . I've not seen the newer versions of it, so can't say for sure if it is up to the job, but I doubt it , someone somewhere would have said if it was  !

Heather

[Ande]

Thanks Heather.  I did have a peep at PS Elements, but concluded that it probably wasn’t up to the job.  I may have to bite the bullet and go the subscription route, although it will really irk me to do so.

[Tiny Clanger]

14 minutes ago, Ande said:

Thanks Heather.  I did have a peep at PS Elements, but concluded that it probably wasn’t up to the job.  I may have to bite the bullet and go the subscription route, although it will really irk me to do so.

It would irk me too ... I bet a bit of online searching would dig up some comparisons of what features the different PS editions had , Or maybe you could cross reference your new book with the CS2 manual to see if all the operations you need are possible :

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/393340/Adobe-Photoshop-Cs2.html

I know there have been folk who have attempted to make the free 'GIMP' photo editing software. look and work as much like photoshop as possible since PS went cloud/.sub based, and upset a lot of  folk , but I don't know how successful that has been .

Heather