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Corel PaintShop Pro

Score9 out of 10

26 Reviews and Ratings

What is Corel PaintShop Pro?

PaintShop Pro is an all-in-one photo editor with advanced photo management, editing & creative tools that deliver everything a photo & design enthusiast needs, from Corel Corporation.

Categories & Use Cases

Corel PaintShop Pro is simply the best for the money

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Corel PaintShop Pro to not only correct pictures we use in our business but also to manipulate those pictures for various uses. The tools that PaintShop Pro has have developed significantly since it was an independent product many years ago. The addition of the new AI tools while they take some getting used to are fantastic. Love the product, love the tools it offers, it is our go-to for editing photos for all uses in our company.

Pros

  • AI photo correction is an excellent new addition
  • The before an after side by side feature we use everyday
  • The undo feature is one I particularly like

Cons

  • I would like to see better smart cropping, we have the need for use in our carrying and travel cases for foam cut-outs. This requires a picture to be taken of the product and then outlined. The latest Apple update does a much better job of it than Corel. A definite need in our business

Return on Investment

  • Our website is better because of Corel PaintShop Pro
  • Our brochures for tradeshows are much better due to PaintShop Pro

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Adobe PhotoShop

Other Software Used

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, Microsoft Powerpoint

Corel PaintShop Pro - a LOT of features at an outstanding price point

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

My business currently does a good bit of work for a local funeral home - which includes making memorial videos. Many times, photos come in from families basically in a shoebox. I'll scan the stack... then use Corel PaintShop Pro to crop, straighten, cleanup, retouch, etc. I find myself using a variety of tools in there. They're quite straightforward, and also quite extensive. It's nice that I can do everything that I need to right there in one app.

Pros

  • Crop
  • Straighten
  • Scratch repair
  • General retouch

Cons

  • It would be nice to see some additional keyboard shortcuts added - and one that comes to mind is Ctrl+W to close an open image.

Return on Investment

  • Editing speed - I can really get thru alot of photos in pretty short order
  • Ability to retouch/restore photos - people seem quite pleased with damaged photos that I've cleaned up with Corel PaintShop Pro
  • Batch processing is terrific - time saving, and helps IMMENSELY with file format conversion, which can be an issue when I'm receiving digital content from others

Usability

Other Software Used

Corel VideoStudio Pro, SplashID, Visual FoxPro (Discontinued), QuickBooks Desktop Pro, TeamViewer

Great for hobbyists

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I can use it to correct documents when other applications won't help me.

Pros

  • I can create digital copies of artwork I collect
  • I like the fact that I can create transparent backgrounds.
  • I can edit and clean old photographs.

Cons

  • I have had difficulty getting full features out of images made on Macs.
  • I've had difficulty properly opening vector graphics.
  • When saving .jpgs I find random pixels will change color on their own.

Return on Investment

  • Being able to modify images has helped me recreate packaging for displaying and selling vintage toys.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Adobe PhotoShop

Other Software Used

Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome

Everything a professional graphic designer could possibly want in one package and at a reasonable price.

Pros

  • An extensive range of image correction and effects tools. I found I could be very precise with exposures, color balancing and other aspects of fixing-up photos.
  • I like the fact that the original image is saved in a seperate place in my file system so I can easily revert to the original when I make a mistake
  • The "batch process" feature is an excellent feature for reapplying a learned series of changes to a batch of photos. It has saved me time.

Cons

  • I have the 2018 version and every now and again upgrade ads will pop up in the bottom right of my screen which I find rather annoying
  • How to save your work and where it gets saved is confusing. It took me a while to realize that projects were saved in "pspimage" files. The knowledge base article “The Basics Of Saving Files In PaintShop Pro” did not mention pspfiles. They also have the concept of workspaces, but I eventually realized that this is not where your work is saved.
  • I find that a tool called paint.net is massively easier to use, but, then again, paint.net has far fewer features. I think an option in PaintShop Pro for temporarily switching down the functionality and interface to resemble paint.net would be a useful feature, so users do not get blinded by the extensive interface.

Most Important Features

  • The ability to work in layers is perhaps the most important feature, but that is expected of all middle-weight and upwards image processing tools.
  • We find image correction, which is well supported, to be something we frequently use.
  • Occasionally we use bulk processing on multiple images and this saves a lot of time.

Return on Investment

  • Though I can not quote any figures, Corel PaintShop Pro has had a significant positive impact on our business as we use to jump around between quite a few tools to get a job done. Now all the tools are under one roof.