FWIW, my installation of FMP 19 (purchased and installed in 2020) is universal, so I expect it to keep working.
I don’t know if it will be possible to buy version 19 today. I see old Amazon listings for $150 (for a CD-ROM), but they are old and all indicate that there is no availability at this time.
My annoyance with this announcement is Photoshop Elements. It’s not expensive, but Adobe has done away with perpetual licenses. So when I buy a new copy (whenever that may be), it will expire after three years. (Adobe insists that this isn’t a subscription, but if the software expires, then it is a rental, not a purchase even if you don’t have an ongoing payment schedule.)
Take a look at Serif’s Affinity Suite, and Affinity Photo 2 in particular (Best Photo Editing Software | Affinity Photo).
I was in a similar dilemma when finally moving to a new Mac mini earlier this year, and I had to say bye to my perpetual licence of Adobe Creative Suite 5. Unless you’re a power user, Photo 2 is a more than adequate replacement, which you should be able to pick up for less than $100 (for a perpetual licence )
A friend just bought Photoshop Elements 2025 for his new Macbook Pro. It required him to download Rosetta. I wonder if Adobe will do anything to allow it to keep working for the full three years, or if they will say, just don’t upgrade to macOS 28.
A nice price. One thing I love about Photoshop Elements (and I assume Photoshop CS as well) is that it integrates very closely with my scanner software (SilverFast). More specifically, SilverFast ships with a Photoshop plugin that also works with Elements.
With this plugin, I can tell PSE to launch SilverFast, and the results of the scan will go directly into a new PSE document. I can then make my edits and copy/paste the results (typically into a FileMaker database) without needing to save anything to the file system.
I haven’t seen any other image editor that offers this kind of integration, which is one of the reasons why I stick with PSE and haven’t switched to something else (like GraphicConverter or an open source package). Do you know if Affinity can do this? Having to scan to a file and then edit that file is an extra step I’d rather avoid if possible.
Wow. Do you know if the app is Intel-based, or if it’s just the installer? If you do a get-info on the app’s icon, does it say “Intel”, “Apple silicon” or “Universal”.
Here are examples of each. My Photoshop Elements 2021 is Intel. My Python system (via MacPorts) is Apple silicon. Apple’s Music is Universal:
Schubert-It Diffraction is free
Flying Meat Acorn is $30 (less for TidBits members)
Pixelmator (now owned by Apple) is $50
Good ol’ GraphicConverter is $40
All of these have some degree of support for opening PSD files.
…but I’m not sure whether that will have all the options that Silverfast does.
GraphicConverter also has a scanner import option. I like GC for its format support --it is indeed a good graphic converter – but I’ve always found the editing tools sort of clunky.
Between Nitro and Affinity Photo I can do all I need, and as easily as I did with LR and PS. The masking functions in Nitro are easy to learn and just as useful as the local adjustment brushes in LR used to be. In many ways it is like having Aperture back.
When it comes to scanning film I gave up on plug-ins a long time ago. I usually use VueScan and add the scans I want to keep to my yearly folders of photos.
)
