UPDATE Sept 24: Adobe has released Photoshop Elements 12 and Premier Elements 12.

Adobe, in the past, has released their updated version of Photoshop Elements around this time of year.

I was reminded of that, by the latest set of weekly retail flyers. There was a flyer from Staples Canada.

Guess what software is on sale from Sept 18 till Sept 24th?

Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 is on sale for $59.96. The combo of Photoshop Elements 11 plus Premier Elements 11 is sale priced at $99.96.

That type of sale indicates to me that inventory is possibly being cleared to make room.

To make room for a possibly upcoming Photoshop Elements 12 and Premier Elements 12.

Softwarevoucher.com has a table of Adobe Photoshop Elements release dates from 2006. A new version of Photoshop Elements has been released every year since 2006, in either September or October.

The current Staples sales price on Photoshop Elements 11 in Canada is like a Heads Up for me to watch for the release date of an updated Photoshop Elements 12.

A number of people on forums keep bringing up that PS Elements 11 is only 8 bits for editing. Some other parts are 16 bit.

At 8bits, PS Elements 11 can produce approx 16 Millions colours. 16 bit processing, used in the full version of Photoshop CS6, can produce Trillions of colours.

The human eye can only differentiate around 10 Million colours.

Females in Asia can differentiate the most number of colours, but cannot reach anywhere near the 16 Million colours. So 8 bit editing is nothing to sneeze at.

Humans eyes cannot tell the difference between 8 bit and 16 bit editing. The computer can tell, because it has to deal with much more data. That is one reason why PS Elements 11 can still be run from WIndows XP (or 32 bit Vista)  and it runs well on older and slower machines.

I’ll use myself as an example. Instead of upgrading my PS CS5 to CS6 or the Creative Cloud offering, I had decided to buy PS Elements 11.

Pretty much what I used in PS CS, is there in PS Elements 11. Some things are moved around. So I never upgraded to PS CS6.

It also runs very fast. Almost all the plugins that I have work. One Plugin from Nik requires 64 bit, if my memory is correct. I don’t use that particular plugin, as a I prefer the one from Topaz Labs.

All the Topaz plugins work just fine. Almost all of the Nik Plugins work. The On One plugin set which I use, works.

There are no Smart layers, so if you use that feature then you need PS CS6 or newer.

When Photoshop Elements 12 is released, I’ll buy a new copy when it goes on some preChristmas special.

It would be nice if Photoshop Elements 12 would bring in compatibility with 64 bit operating systems. That would allow the use of more memory. 

Right now version 11 only works on 32 bits operating systems. In contrast Photoshop CS6 I believe will not work under Windows XP or VIsta. Photoshop CS6 needs Windows Vers7 or 8.

So keep your eyes open. If history repeats itself, we could see the release date for  Photoshop Elements 12  and Premier Elements 12 before the end of October.

UPDATE Sept 23 2013:

PC World’s website has a new post by Lesa Snider which apparently reviews Photoshop Elements 12.

They have a link to Adobe’s site which they claim to be for Elements 12, but it still features the Elements 11 page.

This review by PC Word reads more like a feature overview.

A couple of things struck a cord – content aware fill and Restore Old Photos Guided edit.

I have tried to restore old photos and it takes lots of time and patience. If Photoshop Elements 12 can help automate or guide a user that could save lots of time and frustration and also give way better results.

I’m not sure why PC World has that post online, because the Photoshop Elements 12 release date has not yet arrived. One thing it does do is confirm to me that Photoshop Elements 12 could become available soon (see above about historic release dates since 2006).

Another UPDATE Sept 23 2013:

MacWorld is also running the same Photoshop Elements 12 review that was posted on PC World’s website. Click on the following link to read; the Elements 12 review on MacWorld.

Disclaimer: Anything posted above is subject to change without notice. Always confirm any sale price with the vendor offering said sale price. In this case I have included a link to the Staples.ca webpage which details the sale which is listed to end Sept 24.