Customer Reviews

ARCSOFT PhotoImpression 5 (Windows/Macintosh)

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My dad got a new Epson CX6400 printer, and it came with the full version of this software for free. I do digital content creation for fun (photos, movies, audio), and i wanted to try this program out to see how well it worked, and to help my dad use it.

After using it for a few days, its interesting. Basically, this program is used to do very simple photo editing things. It has the features to do things like fix red eye... adjust the contrast/brightness , change the color, crop it, add text ... add "clip art", add a border. The features that i found interesting was the auto adjust feature. It would take a picture, and give you about 16 recommendations for the same picture. It has a file browser and other features that are common among other photo editors such as the Photoshop Magic wand tool.

For around thrity eight dollars, its a good deal if all you want to do is take a photo that you might have scanned in from your scanner, and do a few simple edits to it. It does that very good, with a simplistic look to it (it has pictures around options to help give an idea of what everything does). I highly recommend this for people who don't want to learn a lot in order to do very simple things. As always, a general understanding of the Windows operating system is always nice so that you know how the windows file system is set up, and how to use a windows program. Obviously, if you save a scanned picture to your hard drive, and you don't know "where" it was saved to, this program will not help.

If you want a few more settings, or if you have the extra money, i recommend you look into a program called Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. It has more features and is a little more complicated to use.

This software should NOT be used for anyone who wants to create their own pictures, or who demands advanced control over their pictures. There are other programs out there for that, such as Adobe Photoshop CS.

~Hope this helps

It's disappointing to spend money on software and later come to realize it has the same suite of features as does many free image-editing websites. Yes, PhotoImpression can rotate a picture. The latest feature? It can remove red-eye! (Again, common features you can find for free on any image-editing website). My OS also had some quirks after installation. After uninstalling PhotoImpression, the quirks went away. I decided to pawn off the software but eventually had to give it away.

I bought this product because it had a reputation of being a "poor man's" PhotoShop that nevertheless came with a robust suite of features. Believe me, you're far better off spending a little more and getting what you really want--a robust application with a complete set of features. It'll save you time, money (and your OS) in the future.

This is a great program for home use. I have tried Adobe Elements and PhotoImpact Pro 8.5and found Arcsoft PhotoImpression 5 far superior in both ease of use and features. Editing is limited but adequate for most homeusers. If you also buy Arcsoft PhotoStudio, it adds all the editing features offered by Adobe Elements and PhotoImpact Pro. Ease of use and fun features, such as great clip art and a well organized photo album, make it the best home photo software I have used. Arcsoft also offers additional software, such as funhouse, which are great add ons.