PaintShop Pro 2020: Streamlined RAW Editing and Excellent Performance

Corel was one of the early pioneers of computer graphics software. Their flagship product is PaintShop Pro – this fantastic program is used for both raster graphics creation, and RAW photo editing. If you are a hobbyist or a professional photographer, PaintShop Pro 2020 offers a great way to quickly and efficiently edit your images.

An advantage of this software is that it offers raster graphics creation too – some programs like Lightroom and Luminar 3 only have photo editing capabilities. PaintShop Pro 2020 allows provides a myriad of useful tools, and builds upon the success of the 2019 version. Read on to find out what to expect from this quality photo editing software.

Main Features

Compared to PaintShop Pro 2019, the 2020 version has some excellent new features. It essentially builds upon 2019 but adds additional functionality. New tools include SmartClone, a photography workspace, and the Refine tool. Moreover, the following is a list of some of the basic features:

• Full support for RAW photo editing
• Support for 360-degree photos
• Advanced HDR tools
• Crop tools with a multitude of grids
• Selection tools to cut out unwanted objects
• Lens and distortion correction
• Batch processing for faster editing

This is arguably one of the program’s main advantages – its huge choice of features and tools. PaintShop Pro 2020 certainly can’t be called basic. Regardless of what you want to achieve, this program has a tool to facilitate the end results.

Usability

In this version, Corel has taken measures to improve usability and the user interface. There is a specific photography workspace that is minimalistic and easy to use. Moreover, the workspace can be used with touchscreens and tablet pens.

The editing tools are centered on the top menu – pop-out boxes appear with specific toolsets. This offers flexibility in your workspace. The only issue is that if you have a myriad of menus open, the workspace can become a little cluttered.

For RAW photo editing, the usability is OK. The tools and menus are placed in a logical manner. Furthermore, the advanced options for different editing features are easily accessible. Regardless of quantity, a photographer should easily be able to manage their workflow and edit images quickly.

Performance

Historically, PaintShop Pro hasn’t suffered from performance issues. The 2020 version is no different. System requirements are certainly not the highest compared to other RAW editing programs – ON1 Photo RAW, for example, requires 8GB of RAM. The following are the minimum requirements:

• Intel Core I-series processor or higher
• 4GB of RAM
• 1.5GB of HDD space

The software runs smoothly. Image loading times are quick. Furthermore, thumbnails and previews load instantly. We only noticed a slight delay when using the HDR tool editing large RAW files, though this was minimal and didn’t cause efficiency problems.

Editing Features

In terms of basic editing features, PaintShop Pro 2020 has all the tools a photographer would expect. Users can quickly change basic parameters such as contrast, temperature, saturation, and sharpness.

Moreover, the program has support for a range of camera models and lenses from popular manufacturers like Canon and Nikon. This means that lens distortion issues like vignetting can quickly be fixed.

For portraits, PaintShop Pro 2020 has a range of automatic tools. Users can effectively remove red-eye, wrinkles, and blemishes instantly. In addition to this, different filters can be applied such as teeth whitening and varying skin tones. This makes portrait photography editing a breeze – if you are a wedding photographer, for example, using PaintShop Pro, you could edit batches of photos in no time at all.

Finally, this program also has batch processing tools. Create editing pre-sets and apply them to multiple photos instantly. If you have a large volume of similar photos, these batch processing tools can greatly speed up the process. Batch exporting is also possible with advanced renaming functionality.

Quality

For the most part, the end quality of edited photos in PaintShop Pro 2020 is fantastic. The different filters and tools use advanced technology – photos look sharp, clear, and have vivid colors. Moreover, re-touching tools such as lens correction use information from a large catalog of camera and lens models.

In addition to this, the filters and pre-set edits look fantastic. If you want to create photos suitable for Instagram or other social media platforms, PaintShop Pro 2020 has a brilliant choice. Different categories include black and white, sepia, film, and the quirky “time machine” effect.

The only issue we had with quality, was the chromatic aberration tool. It works in principle, but in some instances, the aberration colors still remain after using the feature. Hopefully, this is something Corel will address – for high-quality photos requiring perfect retouching, this could cause an issue.

PaintShop Pro 2020 vs. PaintShop Pro 2019

Hopefully, you have a clear idea of what the current version of PaintShop Pro has to offer. But how does it compare to the 2019 version and why should you upgrade?

Firstly, PaintShop Pro 2020 offers improved performance relating to basic functions, image rendering, and editing tools. Text and image rendering, for example, are greatly improved.

Secondly, it provides support for new camera models and other devices such as graphics tablets – as time progresses, older versions of PaintShop Pro will not be compatible with these devices. Moreover, several new features and tools are included such as SmartClone and Refine. The following is a short comparison of the two versions:

Conclusion

If you want a comprehensive RAW photo editor, PaintShop Pro 2020 is a top choice. In addition to this, it could be used for other purposes such as marketing and promotional material for your photography ventures.