Customer Reviews

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Not much difference between version 8 and version 7. Version 7 was a leap forward from 6, but don't expect any such change between 7 and 8. If you don't own Paint Shop Pro 7, then go ahead and buy 8. If you already have 7, stick with it...there is almost no difference between what you already own and version 8. (I suspect some of the reviews on this and other products are by people associated with the companies that make them). PSP is a very good photo/paint program and a lot faster to use than the more well known (and incomprehensibly expensive) Adobe Photoshop. PSP has lots of ways to edit just about every aspect of an image (lots of ways you probably never knew about) and the features can be combined many, many ways so that even after using it for years you can still find new effects through experimentation. Best buy for the money, but again, if you already own 7, you pretty much already own most of 8. If you own any version earlier than 7, or if you don't own PSP at all, then by all means I would suggest PSP 8 over the competition.

I upgraded to PSP 8 and love it. PSP 8 has been rewritten from the ground up and it shows. The background eraser, scripting, eyedroppers for black and white points, excellent photo tools and customizable interface make this version the best ever. I really love the way you can change and control almost everything from menus to buttons in PSP 8, making the user interface truly something you can use. In my opinion, PSP 8 is the only software the average person would need for photo enhancements and/or web graphics. Most of my use is for enhancing my photos from my 2 digital cameras. This new version makes many of my tasks much easier than before.

Thought PSP 7 was great? Try this! I moved on to PSP 7 from PhotoShop 5.5 when PS was getting too expensive. I expected to lose a lot of the functionality of PS but was very pleasantly surprised.
Now with PSP 8, jasc have outdone themselves with a product that shines. We are all used to new versions and I suppose we start to get a bit jaded to get asked for more money for a new product that, in a lot of cases, is hardly better than the previous one.
That doesnt apply with PSP 8. It really is a great improvement on an already great product. For example: Scan an old faded photo in, press the "One step photo fix" and just look at the results unfold before your eyes! Astounding! This is one of the many new fully customisable "script" features.
And that`s just one of the many time savers this program has.
BUY IT!!!

I've been a user of Paint Shop Pro since version 3 and over the past year I've used version 7. I recently upgraded to version 8, thanks to the very affordable price. Without a doubt, Jasc typically makes great software at a very reasonable price.

Compared to PSP7, PSP8 offers several advantages. One of the biggest is that on complicated images with multiple layers, it no longer takes several seconds to do simple operations like flood filling. The general performance of the painting component is much faster than before. PSP8 also brings with it a new interface more akin to Photoshop. It is much cleaner and more compact. There is a ton of information right at your fingertips now in centralized locations instead of scattered across various floating menus. Indeed, the whole package is a lot more organized than before.

There are other minor new features that are nice additions. One great addition is the emergence of a freehand pen tool that allows you to more easily draw with the mouse by smoothing any curve you draw (similar to Macromedia Flash). The sensitivity is adjustable. There are also a few new special effects. Another new function is scripting. For all of those tedious graphic manipulation tasks where you find yourself doing the exact same thing repeatedly, you can automate routine actions using scripting. Again, another great idea. Previous in PSP7, Jasc offered automatic color, contrast, and saturation enhancements for any photograph. Here, they've integrated them into the "one step photo fix" feature that, as advertised, tries to fix an entire picture in the push of a button. To my surprise, it works remarkably well.

However, there is a negative side to PSP8. It has a host of strange quirks and bugs. Perhaps thanks to the rewrite, some parts of PSP8 are unstable. While the program doesn't crash per se, it doesn't function like it should in some cases. In several cases, I've observed the Undo function breaking completely or even undo'ing the wrong portions of the image. In another case, a saved file did not save correctly when using the PNG exporter. And yet the worst part is that these bugs are rather nondeterministic. They occur sometimes and not others. Without a doubt, PSP8 would have benefit from more testing as even with the most recent patch installed, it hasn't earned my trust yet unlike PSP7.

If you can tolerate the quirks, however, you gain a significant increase in speed when dealing with complex multi-layered images. It's a toss, really. If you're like me and you deal with such images, you might deal with the bugs and enjoy the speed increase. For the casual user, though, I would be cautious recommending this one over PSP7.

If you're seeking an outstanding and economically priced graphics editor that competes on many levels for Adobe's hugely more expensive Photoshop, V8 of Jasc Paint Shop Pro is a great buy! Whatever you do, avoid the later Corel versions of this masterful product. I purchased the post-acquisition version, Corel Paint Shop Pro X -- as a long time user of Jasc's excellent software, I was disappointed and felt betrayed by the horrendous modifications made to the product by Corel. Corel has managed to morph Jasc's sleek, effective, intelligently implemented, high productivity tool into yet another of the many bloated, unreliable "all in one" software products on the market that do nothing well and lock up your computer in the process. On my dual-processor high performance P4 system, Corel's X version takes 30 secons just to load!!! Bottom line? Get this version .. Jasc's PSP 8 is and will always be a terrific graphics editor that you will be happy with.

I have used PSP 8 now for about 1 month. Upgraded from PSP 7. I'm still getting used to it,but I can say I like it, and am glad I upgraded. The first thing to do if you buy the boxed version after you load it go to JASC.Com and download all the little fixes for it. The file is almost 25Mb in size so if you are using a dial-up connection it will take a while. But it takes care of all the little problems users have told them about. With PSP 7 I had to do the same thing. But it's nice to see a company stay on top of these type things with the software they sell. I also purchased 2 books on Amazon to help me get a feel for the changes. " Paint Shop Pro 8 fast & easy" and "Paint Shop Pro 8 zero to hero" I feel this product is worth the price and is fun and easy to use. Would give it 5 stars if their manuals were writen better. The program itself 6 stars.

When I was younger and had more time on my hands I was a very serious amateur complete with his own film darkroom (you remember those, don't you.) The advent of the digital camera and imaging software has actually allowed me to get back into the "digital darkroom" at a lot less expense and time commitment, and with a quantum leap (maybe even two or three leaps) in creativity opportunities. Also, I have a technical background and am very comfortable with software. My first experience has been with software that came with my digital camera, namely Photo Impressions 4, and with my computer, namely Dell Imager. I found both of these to be really good and user friendly for a beginner. These programs got me hooked on digital imaging. Once hooked, I wanted to move on to software with more capability, but didn't want to go the full Pro route. After researching the subject, I decided to download free trials of Adobe Photo Shop Elements 2 and Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8. I made the assumption, well supported by other reviews, that either program would have more than enough capability for my needs. I focused on user friendliness, ease of learning, and how likely I would remember how to use the software after a period of a month or so of not using it (probably typical for most beginners/amateurs). This last point is important, because it could become a barrier to continued use. Without going into all the gory details (see the other reviews - they make excellent points on technical details), here's how I reacted. After using the Adobe product for a few hours, I decided that it isn't particularly user friendly and would take quite a bit of effort on my part to learn how to use it with confidence. Also, I was convinced that after a month or so of non-use, I would have to retrain. I decided not to purchase the Adobe product. After using the Jasc product for about 15 minutes, I got hooked. It's user friendly, intuitive, fairly easy to learn, and I am sure that I'll be able to get back up-to-speed quickly after a few months of not using it. This is a no-brainer, I'm going to purchase Paint Shop Pro 8.

I had been using Photoshop 7 for almost a year when I tried a trial version of Paint Shop Pro 8. This program sold itself to me in about 15 minutes. It is so easy to use and does just about all that Photoshop does and more. The only tool I now use in Photoshop is the healing brush on a rare occassion. PSP 8 fills every need totally. It even has some features not found anywhere else. The scratch removal tool is incredible and works on many things....scratches are removed one by one, so you don't have a generally blurred image to get rid of scratches. And it also can remove face wrinkles, blemishes and just about any other imperfection you can find. I like the program so much that I also bought the Xtras 1 and 2 and the Virtual Painter program that works as a plug in. The only thing I do wish would change is their pricing policy. It is very erratic, so watch how much you pay and the current rebates. There is a suite of programs offered at the moment that after rebate is cheaper than the main program alone most of the time. But, as for the program itself, it is the best.

To be honest Adobe Photoshop is the top pro paint/photo package to use but I find myself turning to Paint Shop Pro very often. Let me list the reasons why.

- It is quicker than Adobe Photoshop.
- It has enough functions to do most of the things I need.
- It is easy to use.
- The learning curve is not steep.
- The package is smaller in hard drive size that Photoshop.
- It can do the vast majority of things that Photoshop can do.

In short, if you want to learn a pro package then learn Adobe Photoshop, but Photoshop has a very steep learning curve. If you are looking for an easier paint/photo package that you can almost start producing with right out of the box then this is one to get. It is easier than Photoshop but Photoshop still tops it for functionality.

I use this package a lot. An aweful lot. It fits a perfect market niche for semi-pro or domestic paint/photo software users.

As a pro-am photopgraher I can't say too many good things about this gem of an application. PSP has matured over the years into a full featured image editor that can compete with anything Adobe can produce in this price range. I use PSP along with Adobe Elements as they both have their minor nuances. It is unlikely that you will be left wanting any more features or capabilities with this package. Although it is so feature rich that it can take some time to find all of the capabilities...buy it, spend the time and have some fun.