Adding to its offerings for digital imaging and video hobbyists, Adobe Systems this week is announcing a new video-editing package and an update to its Photoshop Elements image-editing product.
Set to ship in the coming months, Premiere Elements is a new product aimed at digital video enthusiasts. Based on Premiere Pro, Adobe’s professional video editing product, Premiere Elements lets users capture video from a digital video camera, edit it, and burn it to a DVD, Adobe says.
In addition to Premiere Elements, Adobe also plans to have version 3.0 of Photoshop Elements on store shelves before the December shopping season. A major update to version 2.0, Photoshop Elements 3.0 includes improved tools such as the new “Smart Fix” that can improve an image with a single click, Adobe says.
New and Improved
Other new features in Photoshop Elements include new ways to tag and store images, improved red-eye removal, and additional editing tools that were previously only included in Photoshop CS, Adobe’s product for graphics professionals.
Photoshop Elements 3.0 will be available for both Microsoft’s Windows XP and Windows 2000 and Apple Computer’s Macintosh operating systems. Premier Elements will only be released for Windows, according to Adobe.
Adobe faces competition on both the Windows and Macintosh platforms from the makers of the operating system software and other vendors. Apple offers IPhoto and IMovie and Windows users can edit video in Windows Movie Maker.
While Apple and Microsoft offer their products at no charge, Adobe expects a street price of $99.99 a piece for Photoshop Elements 3.0 for Windows and Premiere Elements. A bundle of the two products will be sold in the U.S. and Canada only for an expected street price of $149.99. Photoshop Elements 3.0 for Mac will cost $89.99, Adobe says.