Customer Reviews

Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 Anniversary Edition [Old Version]

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

For those already familiar, I was excited about this edition when it was advertised that it now works with RAW files. This one of the advantages that Adobe Photoshop Elements has. I have a Nikon Digital SLR and I often shoot in RAW and have to convert to .jpg if I want to edit with Microsoft Digital Imaging. When I went out to buy this "Anniversary" edition, in very small print it reads that it's the same as the previous 2006 edition "except" support for RAW files is no longer included. Still, it was on sale ($24) and I thought an upgrade would be cool. When I used it, I saw little or no difference in this than the Microsoft Digital Image 10 I had already been using. In my opinion, upgrading from 10 isn't worth it.

For those new to this product, let me start by saying, I've been a long time user of Microsoft's digital imaging products. I enjoy the bright, clean look of the interface. More that that, I love how simple it is to use. I would recommend Microsoft Digital Image to all skill levels, but especially anyone who's just starting out in Digital Photography and computers. Hands down, it's the easiest. It does in one step what would take three Photoshop Elements. You sacrifice come control, but simplicity is the focus of this program. Adobe Photoshop Elements is more powerful, but harder to use. Bottom line is, if you want to concentrate on getting out and taking good pictures instead of spending lots of time editing, get Microsoft Digital Imaging. For the average shutterbug, It'll edit just as good as Photoshop Elements in less time and for less money.

I've had several other digital editing programs and for the price, this is the best I've ever used. It's user-friendly with lots of special creative processes available. I especially love to cut and paste several pics into one by using the transparency feature to seamlessly meld them into a montage. As with any other program, practice and experimentation makes perfect! Don't be afraid to experiment on COPIES of your pics... never the originals!

I do agree with the reviewer that said the red-eye needs improvement. It's just barely "OK" on most red-eyes, but is lousy correcting "glowing alien eyes!"

When I bought this edition with the library feature, I wasn't sure I would use it since I had others which I thought were good. Wrong! It is fantastic! I'm sorry didn't buy it sooner.

Overall, it's a 5-star product, but because of the red-eye/alien eye problem, I'm ranking it 4-stars. Even with that, I highly recommend it!

I like the software for the very reasons that some have given it a low rating. No, it does not handle every conceivible format of pictures and there is some editing that other software can do that this doesn't. The reason I like the software is because it is easy to figure out how to do things without re-reading the manual or becoming a "digital video" expert. It does great editing for the 95% of us who don't use it everyday and don't need to do complicated stuff.

Another great feature is the way you can view all your pictures in one space by various options. I usually set it up to view by date taken. You can change the size of the thumbnail to as small are as large as you want to view as many as 30 or more pictures on a screen to as little as 4. I have purchased several software packages for picture storage and editing over the years trying to find the one package that did all I need without all the complexity. I found it in this product.

Unfortunatly Microsoft has chosen to discontinue this package. They say Vista features can now do everthing it does but I have not found that to the the case. So, I will hang on to my copy of Digital Imaging Suite for the foreseeable future.

This is perfect for the amateur/hobby-inclined photographer. After not taking the time (for years) to figure out Photoshop (and tired of using the remedial-level camera photo editing software), Microsoft's Digital Image Suite came naturally with VERY FIRST picture. I was erasing face blemishes, whitening teeth, smoothing out wrinkles, air brushing out hot/bright spots, making red-eyes look natural (instead of turning them into big black pupils), then printing into a collage--without reading a single direction. It's that intuitive (or it's that easy for the technically-challenged). If you don't have much free time but want to get those 1000s of pictures off your hard-drive and into albums or picture frames, this is the easiest and quickest option out there!

I've been into digital photography, at the amateur level, for years now and finally found the program that magically seems to meet, even exceed, all what I ever wished to do with photos in terms of editing and managing my ever growing collection of photoes. Over time I had collected several similar programs, some bought some free, when I downloaded the free time-limited trial version and immediately realized that this was the ideal program for my purposes. I then bought the full version and removed all the others from both of my computers. This program is really user-friendly and has all the features I would ever want. For managing the storage and retrieval of photos it provides the features of a sophisticated relational database management program for simple, common-sense usage by anyone.

I bought this product, even though I also own Adobe Photoshop. It is not quite as sophisticated, but I find it more intuitive and easier to use, when I want good results and don't have a lot of time to fiddle with the details. I am a semi-professional photographer and meet a lot of press deadlines, so time and ease of use is very important.

The price on this was great and it is a nice replacement to Microsoft's previous product "Picture-It".

I would recommend this product to beginnners as well as the more experienced among you.

I wanted a simple product with a good red eye removal tool. This program does not do well with fixing red eye. Software did not come with a manual. I am computer literate yet I found this software not easy to navigate. I found HP Essentials which is a free download from the HP website to be a better program.

I bought the software ( Digital Image Suite 2006 ) before I bought my camera - to be ready to process the pictures I was going to take.
A BIG MISTAKE.

I bought a Canon 30D camera and record my images in RAW format (*.CR2).
UNFORTUNATELY, not all Canon .CR2 RAW files are the same. So, even though the software says you can edit .CR2 RAW images, it depends on which camera made the image.

Here is complaint number two -
If you use Microsoft's Customer Service/Technical Support you will be routed to India - and they will just give you an answer that is vaguely related to your problem.

After emailing several times and getting nowhere you will find out that you can't write to their Washington state headquarters unless you have the name of someone in the address.

So, basically, Microsoft is the largest technical software company in the world with the worst customer service and no American technical support.

Now, for the final complaint. There is no link or method to get updates or upgrades for this program! So, if I want to use a Microsoft software package to edit my photo images then I will have to buy a new software package - isn't that wonderful.

Product is terrific. Just what I was told it was. It is missing a few good tools though-such as not having the original image side by side with the image you are editing (so you can see the effect you are producing next to the original).

I'm used to Microsoft's Picture It 2001 and I agree with a review that I read before I purchased this product that it's a pretty nice upgrade. There are alot more functions and things you can do with your pictures. If you like creating business cards, labels, collages, and other projects I recommend this. I love it!