Adobe Premiere Elements Version 11

In short, Adobe Premiere Elements 11 is a decent piece of software for video editing.

Premiere Elements 11 is a complete package that includes a Windows-compatible version (it's even compatible with the newly released Windows 8) and a Mac-compatible version. The installation is quick and easy (at least the Windows version) that took just a few minutes and I was ready to go.

The main core of Elements 11 is, of course, quality video editing that feels worthy of a Hollywood film (okay, not quite but still very close...). Aside from the basic video editing, Elements 11 allows you to import photos and audio into your project. There are two views in the program- Quick, which is much simpler and better for beginners who just want to use the software for basic reasons; and Expert, which offers more detailed and complex options for more sophisticated filmmakers. There is also an Add Media bar that allows users to import clips from devices including camcorders, files on the computer, etc. that really helps bring a modern and flexible element to the overall idea. Elements' interface makes it easy to meld the different pieces together into whatever you can dream up.

This software isn't without its kinks, though. I periodically had issues with the software slowing down...painfully slow even, and even periodically crashing on me. There were times when I felt like this software wasn't completely tested and needed a little more work before it should have been released.

Overall, the software is fairly easy to use and isn't too complex for newbies while still offering enough for more seasoned editing professionals. While it may not be as in-depth as Apple Cut Pro, it's still got enough to offer.

While I have been using Adobe Photoshop casually for many years, Adobe Premiere Elements 11 is my first exposure to Adobe's video editing software. Premiere Elements is much easier to dive into than Photoshop and many of the controls are straightforward and intuitive. Easily within half an hour, I was able to comfortably add music, narration, credits, transitions, effects, clipping, subtitles, etc. While I found the software easy to use in the basic, Quick mode, the Expert mode is more useful and actually ended up being easier to use, since I've seen layouts with multiple tracks in other video and audio composition software.

Most of what I wanted to do with Adobe Premiere Elements 11 required little instruction. With my previous video editing I was content to splice together certain parts of the video and trash the rest. With Premiere Elements, it was very easy to add the elements listed above. I was not impressed with the transitions and especially the graphics, but no need to nitpick over extra features I don't care to use. My only real gripe with Premiere Elements was the online instructions. The instructions I found when looking to do a specific task were often for an earlier version of Adobe Premiere Elements. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places?

On the photo organizing side of the application, I found it easy to import my photos as they are all stored in one folder (and many subfolders). I ran into a minor gripe with setting up the photo library: deleting folders from my library seemed to require deleting one at a time, and the delete key would not work for this. I liked the 'add name' feature for photos where most faces are recognized and prompted for a name to associate the face with. After I plugged in 6-12 samples of a person's face, Adobe Premiere seemed to recognize the face in other photos fairly well. I'm not sure if this works well with a few dozen different names stored. The stacking feature also worked well, adding all similar photos (as in when you take several shots of the same scene to get a good one) to one stack and not combining unrelated shots.

Overall, I found Adobe Premiere Elements 11 to be capable and easy to use. Most of the effects and features I wanted to use did not require anything more than brief trial and error to learn. The interface is lackluster, but I prefer a digestible and straightforward GUI to something flashy and impractical. I doubt a professional or advanced amateur would want to use Adobe Premiere Elements 11, but for the casual user just looking to make family videos a little more presentable, it's a perfect choice.

I was upgrading from Premiere Elements 8 to Elements 11 and the improvements they have made are really great. First off, I'm a casual user of the software and they have made this version extremely user friendly. A lot of the processes are automated now and take a lot fewer steps. Even the processing of the video seems quicker, or at least achieved in just a click or two. The once-click settings for YouTube and Vimeo uploading are really a time saver. If you're looking for something lightweight for the casual user, this should fit your needs.