Customer Reviews

Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 [Old Version]

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a beginner in photo editing, I am frustrated with Adobe Photoshop 3.0. Then I tried to shop around and see what is there. I found this Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006. I bought it, and it worked beautifully. If layer and transparency in Photoshop are difficult, then in Digital Image, it is as easy as turning your palm up and down. I can put my family picture into a different background, and I can set the degree of transparency as I wish. The color editing tools are rich, and you can always and try and if you don't like it, you can undo the color change.

I can remove an object from a picture by Smart Erase
And if I'm not satisfied, I can do more with blending brush

Overall, I am very very satisfied with MDI Suite 2006. It gives me a new hope amidst my frustration with photo editing software. And last but not least, the customer service is free 24 hours a day, and they are competent. I got much more than what I paid for.

I've got a great digital camera. I enjoy taking pictures of the friends and family. I've got photoshop 7 and I know how to use about 5% of it. I don't have the time to take the class to learn the software. I picked up Digial Image Suite 2006 on a whim and as it turns out, I LOVE IT. It's easy to use and it does everything that matters to me. Now sure it might be nice to convert the picture over to a water color painting with the granite sandstone filter applied and blah blah blah... whatever. I just want my pictures to look better and to have a little more control to remove a few things that I don't want in them. With DIS2006, it's easy and fast. I am sold. I use DIS2006 all the time now, my pictures look great and I'm VERY happy. Don't let people turn you off to this product. I'm not a pro microsoft advocate, but I've got to tell you, this is good software. You'll pick it up quickly and and do more in an hour than you did in 10 hours with photoshop 7 unless you're a professional in which case what are you doing looking at this review, it's for the normal people.

Good luck.

While this software is easy to learn and use, it has a few technical glitches that one should consider before purchasing.
The sharpening tool, while great in Version 9, has been a big disappointment in the last two versions. I thought that Microsoft would have corrected this after magazine technical reviews pointed this out, but after purchasing this version, I can see that they haven't.
One of the big selling points of this software is the ease in which one can create projects....magazine covers, cards, framed pictures etc. However, one should be aware that not all of these features work fine with all photo files. After adding a photo to a Magazine cover, for example, and saving the file in the .png format, upon reopening the file, sometimes the photo is fuzzy and highly digitized. ( The automatic resizing doesn't always work correctly. When this happen, an acceptable workaround, to some, is to save the file in a jpeg format. You then have a flattened file that you cannot make changes to after saving, but at least the pictures are clear when reopening to print another copy.)
Other than these problems, the software itself is pretty good for the most part; the short learning curve, ease of use and the large array of project templates make it one the best on the market in this price range.

I've tried a variety of Graphic Programs (including Photo Shop). I always come back to Microsoft's Digital Image Suite. Its easy to use, has numerous functions and in some cases more than the more popular Graphics Programs.

You do not have to have a Master's degree to figure out this Program. Just be willing to experiment so you can discover all the wonderful things you can do with it.

You can also integrate a multitued of masks & plug-ins with the program to be able to do even more and you can also Animate you pictures without changing out of the Program.

This 2006 edition of "Microsoft Digital Image Suite" is by every means a fine software to behold. It provides easy-to-use image-enhancing capabilities, which supports and assists you all the way from capturing your snapshots with a digital camera to archiving them onto CDs (and/or similar optical storage discs).
From my own personal experience, its most outstanding positive quality is the fact that any person with average intelligence can learn how to use most of its powerful and sophisticated tools within two hours of study and practice. This image-enhancing suite has a near-zero learning curve! But you may become a little bit disappointed if you run it on a relatively old computer. Just bear in mind that it runs slowly even on a Pentium III 850MHz PC with 256MB of RAM. However, you will experience significant improvement in performance if you double the memory size (with still the same processor in place).
Also, Microsoft's claims that this software fully supports RAW files is indeed true. The same applies to the claims that it contains an array of powerful auto-fix and correction tools. And, I must tell you that these tools are quite comparable to what I have seen in "Photoshop Elements". I was really impressed by them. But, do note that Corel's "Paint Shop Pro X" parades much more sophisticated and powerful set of tools, which is not only the best value at this price-range, but is second only to the main "Adobe Photoshop" in terms of capability.
In conclusion, I must testify that (despite not being as powerful as "Paint Shop Pro X") this software still worths every cent you spend on it. The installation process is both smooth and straightforward; and the tools are quite flexible and easy-to-use. But, if you are as well into home or casual video, I will advise you to consider buying the Adobe's bundle, which contains both "Photoshop Elements" and "Premiere Elements" in one packet. Its price is only ten dollars more than the price of this "Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006". And, your gain will be having a powerful video-editing software in addition to a photo-editing one. Consider it and do whatever is best for your situation. Good luck!

I have owned Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 for over a year now, and while parts of it are fairly intuitive, much of it requires you to dig pretty deep to figure out how things work. Slow load times and clunky integration don't help. I've just never gotten into the product. Not because I can't, but because I just don't have the desire. I'm not a professional photographer, I just want to make a few edits (redeye, etc.), share with family/friends, and print the ones I like the most. Maybe I'll print a card or some other project from time to time, but nothing heavy. Adobe has a ton of features, but I'm convinced that 90%+ of those with digital cameras are like me, rather than looking for a cheap alternative to Photoshop.

So, last night I download the free trial of the Microsoft Digital Image (Starter Edition) from their site. I was sold in the first 5 minutes.

I easily imported my photos from Easter this past weekend, made some edits, and shared. The product catalogued all the photos I had stored over the last two years, by date. The interface is just amazingly intuitive. The product loads quickly, and when you want to edit a photo there isn't a long lag time for the editing module to open, like in Adobe.

Like another poster said, if you want watermark gradients (whatever that is), etc. then go for Adobe and have fun figuring out where all the tools are. If you want something you can get moving with right away, that is also strong enough to make the edits you really need, then check out this product. I plan on purchasing the full version.

This is excellant software. Definately worth the money. It was incredibly simple to install and understand. There is even a way to make the most mundane pictures look like awesome works of art. You can also make cards and letters and calendars and lots of other things to send to friends and loved ones. This software did everything I expected it to do and much more.

Excellent software for anyone. New and experienced. I have it and my wife saw it working and got it herself. Does everything the other more expensive do (although not that technical). Buy it even if your not sure. You wont be sorry.

My husband and I are avid, amateur photographers and really like this photo-editing program. With just a few clicks you can erase any ugly additions that you don't want in your photos. You can correct the color balance, contrast any many other enhancements to your pictures.
You can also share your photos with your email friends at a size that doesn't take forever to download when you are on a dial-up connection.
This is the best program that we have used since we started using a digital camera in early 1999! We are now on our third digital camera and I don't think we will ever find a better editor for our pictures than this program. It is "the best" we have ever tried.

If you are interested in making panoramic images by stitching together multiple overlapping images, this is THE BEST software. Developed by Rick Szeliski at MS Research, it is able to align, rotate, scale and even correct for changing camera positions. For example, if you zoom in and out, as well as pan the damera, this software can still match images seamlessly.

Way beyond autostitch and Panorama Factory, which I have also used.