X2 then Ultimate?

**OldNick** · 08 November 2008, 12:59 AM

Am I right in thinking that Corel brought out X2, then brought out Ultimate (which as far as I am concerned is useful only in that it allows RAW support, which should have been in X2 anyway)?

If so, I am more than a little peeved that it seems to cost as much to upgrade to Ultimate for me as an X2 owner as it does fro anyone from V7 upwards. It also costs more than I paid to upgrade from 9 to X2!

Nick

**steve.ledger** · 08 November 2008, 02:28 AM

Corel aquired JASC in 2004.
They rebranded PSP to Corel Paint Shop Pro and released version 10 (PaintShopPro X) on 8th September 2005.

History of PaintShopPro

Limited RAW support was added in version 9 when JASC still owned it.

Corel also aquired ULEAD on 28 August, 2006 along with their PhotoImpact of course.

The current version is Corel PhotoImpact X3.

Corel also have their own long standing CorelPHOTO-PAINT application which up until version X4 had no direct RAW support (X3 was shipped with RAW Shooter Essentials).
Version X4 now supports raw camera file formats for hundreds of different types of cameras.

It would be reasonable to assume, that Corel have more invested in maintaining development and increasing sales of their CorelDRAW suite than their aquired former competitors applications.

**OldNick** · 08 November 2008, 02:45 AM

Steve, thanks.

I take that all on board and have seen the same sort of things happen in the digital music world (Cakewalk).

But my main question (and probably gripe) is "Was Ultimate brought out after X2?" If so I am really unhappy that I have to pay so much for it, and feel I have been gulled into buying a "Photo" programme, then having to buy it again to get it to work.

Nick

**steve.ledger** · 08 November 2008, 02:55 AM

Originally Posted by OldNick

But my main question (and probably gripe) is "Was Ultimate brought out after X2?"

Yes it was.

PSP Photo X2 was released September 5th 2007
PSP Ultimate Photo X2 a year later, Sept 9th 2008

**OldNick** · 08 November 2008, 03:13 AM

Thanks Steve. Consider me more than a little peeved.

That Wikipedia page was interesting as well..

hmmmm...I had a PC crash that allowed me to reinstall XARA time to try again....imports RAW files (including my weird Fuji ones...etc

Nick

**Trev** · 08 November 2008, 10:17 AM

PSPp X2 Ultimate is the same pspp X2 but with some aditional addons one being a new Raw engine the other being a updated background eraser from Demitry who was part of Jasc devolpment team that prodused the original.
unfortunatly Corel have not done any development worth talking off and last year closed the old jasc establishment and farmed the dev? to china. So this year they dont have a new product just a new Marketing package.Now as for costs Corel has been sending out offers to X2 users, and seams to be e-mailing again at $29.95.

**steve.ledger** · 08 November 2008, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by Trev

Now as for costs Corel has been sending out offers to X2 users, and seams to be e-mailing again at $29.95.

Haven't seen that here in Australia, so far upgrade offer emails have only mentioned $159 - which is the same as advertised on the AU page of the Corel site.
I have seen it advertised by one online reseller for $101 however.

**OldNick** · 08 November 2008, 11:53 AM

Me too. Corel have been criticised about this before.

If I could could get an AUD$50 upgrade to X2 that allowed RAW from many images, I would consider it.

HOWEVER.

RAW is a funny thing. I have tried various RAW programmes. Some work, some are simply awful....including a "Fuji specific" s7raw programme.

So in some ways RAW is more dangerous than JPEG......

There are plenty of free RAW converters out there that work well

Nick

**Trev** · 08 November 2008, 02:14 PM

The raw conversion works just as bad. The third party bit added gives more camera models.
There are very good free converters such as
http://www.rawtherapee.com/ I have not used the Fuji Raw software even though I have a S9600 as it makes 19mb files. I used raw on my Minolta 7hi and found it far better then the jpeg output. I always had to correct Exposure in Jpegs But the Raw images Where correct on opening. Those where done in Raw shooter until adobe bought it and killed it.

Again costing I.n the UK that 29.99 dollars us became 29.99 pound UK plus vat and that at a time when it was 2 dollar to the pound

**steve.ledger** · 08 November 2008, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by Trev

Those where done in Raw shooter until adobe bought it and killed it.

Much of it was fused into Lightroom, which is much better than all others (imho). SilkyPix comes a very close second.

You can still find Raw Shooter Essentials for free though.

If you use RSE and then move on to LightRoom, there's a free settings migration tool available.