New member and need your help

[sangA700]

Hi All . Just bought first DSLR A700 and still learning with it , also I have Photoshop 7.0 and I now want to buy PS CS4 but should I buy a whole package ($1000) or just upgrade ($199) .The reason is my PS7.0 can't open RAW file that's why Im thinking to get CS4 . Any advices would be my appreciated to all.

[JimC]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on the A700.

I'm not sure if an older version of Photoshop prior to CS is going to be eligible for upgrade pricing. You'll find an upgrade advisor here:

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/upgrade/

You may want to call Adobe and ask them about upgrades.

But, there are a number of other products (both commercial and free) than can process your raw files.

In a free product, you may want to look at Raw Therapee:

http://www.rawtherapee.com/

In a commercial product, you may want to look at Bibble Pro:

http://www.bibblelabs.com

[Hards80]

if you do not use many of the advanced features of photoshop you may consider getting photoshop elements. it will allow you to process raw images and perform many of the same adjustments you can in photoshop.

another alternative is to get lightroom 2.0, which offers many photographic specific features as well as a fully functioning RAW developer. and offers a way to organize your photos.

also, any raw developer, including lightroom and the ones jim mentioned, will allow you to export as a tiff for subsequent editing in photoshop 7.0

just a couple of the many options available.