I've got it. Photoshop it's not... But can use most 32 photoshop plug-ins, including the Topaz products. Does come with an older version of Color Efex (3.0). (Ultimate version)
Seems to crash less than X4. Only crashed it once so far. At about 1/10 the price of Photoshop retail, it will give you your money's worth.
I have Photoshop CS5. But when I want something done quickly I use PSP.
karmat, have you looked at elements 11 (this is the newest one).
It is an excellent program which I use along with LR4 for those occasions when I do want to manipulate an image (I have elements 10).
It's a great starting point for this sort of software.
Forgot to add that you can download and trial it for 30 days.
I have X4 right now. Haven't seen enough enhancements from x4 to x5 for me to upgrade, since x4 has been pretty solid. If you are upgrading from an earlier version, there are a lot of improvements and fixes. Plus getting last years full version of color Efex in the ultimate edition is a huge plus.
I'm leaning heavily towards x5 Ultimate at this point. The price difference between x4, x4Ultimate, x5 and x5 Ultimate isnt a huge difference, it would seem.
I use PSP X5 ultimate and much prefer it to Elements. Much easier to use and HDR from a single image is very useful, for me anyway!
I've tried it from a single image several times and never been quite happy with the results. I find a slightly more manual method gives me the range I want out of a single exposure. I do 3 RAW conversions at different exposure levels and then do a false HDR of them, merged in Photomatix Light. Even though all the information come from the same original, I seem to be able to get more dynamic range with the split-and-merge method.
