More functionality than photoshop CS4 at a fraction of the price?

[ravells]

"Serif Photoplus X3 has more functionality than Photoshop CS4."

This was the boast made to me by the telephone sales rep at Serif (I use their vector software, Drawplus, and desktop publishing software, pageplus and video editing suite, videoplus) I have their existing raster editing software, photoplus X2, but it's simply doesn't have anywhere near as much functionality as photoshop CS2, which is what I use for raster editing.

After I had finished laughing (I really did laugh), the sales rep said this was a usual reaction from their customers but their boast was not an idle one. So I asked questions...lots of questions and erm..there may be something in this after all. 300 filters (and the ability to use any filter or combination as layer styles too). I was now getting seriously interested.

It does HDR (if you're a photographer), has fluid mask built into it (fluid mask is probably one of the best pieces of extraction software on the market and a world ahead of PS's native extract filter). The functionality list went on and on. Perspective correction...they say it even supports NEF format files for the Nikon D90 (the RAW format used by Nikon cameras) which CS2 does not. It's an utter pain as I have to convert all my Nikon RAW files into Photoshop DNG files before I can edit them in photoshop.

It's reasonably cheap at £75, and a helluva lot cheaper than CS4 which retails at £360. If the user interface is anything like Serif's other products, the learning curve will be a doddle.

I'm getting the software on a 2 month trial money back guarantee and will put it through its paces from a mapping perspective and report back. I think it's too much to hope that it's actually altogether better than CS4, but if it's comparable then that's a pretty good result for the price.

The one thing I'm not sure it has is the same brush support that PS has (forgot to ask that question). If not then it'll fail on mapping right off the blocks, but I might still keep it for photoediting.

I haven't found any online reviews which are not just rehashes of what looks like Serif's own press release.

Watch this space!