Upgrade to Pro 8 or Ultimate

[Photogimp]

After having read all the promo material I'm a little confused by the close release of Pro 8 and Ultimate. Is Ultimate just Pro 8 with layers?
It is time for me to upgrade from Pro 6 and I know there is always a learning curve to navigate so I want to make the right decision.
I am perfectly happy with Pro 6 and what I cannot post-process with it is done in Photoshop or Photomatix Pro. Still I like to stay updated on my software and take advantage of significant improvements.
I'd appreciate the council of your experience.

[LV_Bill]

@Photogimp - Yes, the difference between Pro8 and Ult8 is Layers. More accurately, it is also the support for Transparency (the Alpha channel) -- which is a broader feature than just Layers. But, that said, if you have no interest in Layers or Transparency, then Pro8 does everything else that Ult8 does.

If you are on Pro6, then I would definitely recommend a Pro8 upgrade. Firstly, because ACD builds all the camera Raw updates into its new releases. Secondly, because Pro7 gave users a major upgrade in Develop Mode tools including: a true Repair tool (heal & clone), a Brush for Sharpening, and zoom in Geometry. These are just a few of the Pro7 tools that made a huge impact on my workflow. The Develop Mode Repair tool was a total game-changer for me. It saved me hours of struggling with Photoshop -- and, it's completely non-destructive.

With Pro8, the focus was clearly on Layers, and other Edit Mode tools. However, a new Navigator pane that replaced all the antiquated scroll bars has turned out to be a major time-saver for my Develop Mode workflow. Just my personal take on your question, FWIW.

[Glen Barrington]

The upgrade from Pro 6 to Pro 8 is totally worth it, many new features. However, if you are already happily using a different bit mapped editor for layers, I think the upgrade to Ultimate 8 is much less compelling since at this point, it IS essentially Pro 8 with the addition of layers. That being said, I've found that, for me, U8 is worth the upgrade in that I no longer have to balance my upgrade dollar for ACDSee Pro with (in my case) with my upgrade dollar for PaintShop Pro. I can do the layering stuff I NEED to do with U8 from within a well designed user interface, and that is very convenient for me. So, I won't need to upgrade my current copy of PSP as often, or at all, though I won't uninstall PSP completely.

At this point, PSP has more . . . "convenience features" built into its layering platform (I particularly like the HDR utility in PSP, especially the Single Raw Photo option). I expect, over time, U8 will add new convenience features to the point where even keeping PSP installed won't make much sense, even though I'm not upgrading it any more. However, I do want to encourage Corel to work hard to make me WANT to upgrade PSP! Competition between ACDSee and Corel is a good thing for me!

If you really don't use layering at all, there is no reason to get the U8 upgrade, everything you will likely need is in Pro 8.

[Photogimp]

Thanks guys. Excellent insights.
One issue I have had with bouncing back and forth between PS and ACDSee Pro is that the non-destructive editing does not translate between the two. A little thing that is easily worked around - but it does have to be worked around. Since I don't do an enormous amount of PS editing I'm hoping that the U8 will give me enough to satisfy my needs in that regard.