New Mac: Master 2 or PSE 8?

[tbob]

I bought a new MacBook Pro and in the process of switching from my old Mac to the MBP.

I ran Master 2 on the old Mac and hated it--too slow and cumbersome. But, I had to use it because my old version of PSE did not support RAW. Supposedly the PSE 8 does, or at least I can get a plug-in for the Olympus e510 I use.

So, I am wondering: should I even bother to install Master 2 on the new computer and just use PSE 8?

Any opinions are welcome.

[Greg McCary]

If PSE 8 will do it then that is what I would use. You can now do firmware upgrades without OM 2. Like you I found OM2 got the job done but it is slow. Maybe you should check Aperture out.

[tbob]

I am not sure what "firmware upgrades" are. Is that have to do directly with the camera and how it is programmed?

And how can I do an upgrade if I don't have Master 2 installed?

Thanks for your help.

[Photo-John]

Firmware is the software that's in the camera. Camera companies can fix camera problems and even improve some camera functions by upgrading the firmware. Firmware upgrades are done by downloading the new firmware and then installing it in the camera by connecting the camera to the computer.

I'm not a big fan of the Olympus camera software. It gets the job done but Adobe makes much faster software with better controls. I've done some comparisons and the Olympus software RAW conversions are the same (as far as I can tell) as what Adobe delivers. But using Adobe software is a lot more pleasant. I am not an Elements user so I can't comment specifically on it. I would, however, recommend you look into Lightroom instead. I use Lightroom and Photoshop but I do all of my RAW conversions with Lightroom. There are also a lot of of photographers who are only using Lightroom now.