what to upgrade FCS or CS3

[puckhead193]

So my birthday is coming up in a few weeks and my parents want to know what i want. i would love an iphone but i don't think that is going to happen. So i figured I would upgrade either to FCS 2 or CS3 production. I currently have FCS and CS and AE 6.5 Pro.
In september i'm taking a photoshop class at school. My school is also, last i heard getting FCS 2. How is the compatibily with FCS vs FCS 2?
So which would up update/get if you had to choose one and why?
thanks
Josh

 

[AviationFan]

puckhead,

if you want to have something for your birthday in a few weeks, as you said, you want to take into account that CS3 Production Studio still isn't available.

I have FCS (old version) and CS2 Photoshop as well as Flash, and I will eventually upgrade FCS to FCS2, and also upgrade my Flash license into an Adobe Production Suite when it becomes available. Here is why:

• In FCS 2, I am mostly interested in Color and the new version of Soundtrack Pro (the latter mostly for its surround sound editing capabilities). Right now, I don't depend on these new features, though, so I am not in a big rush to upgrade.
• Out of the Adobe Production Suite, I would use Photoshop Extended, Flash, and After Effects. I don't think I'd even touch Premiere - not because it's bad (I'm sure it's a very decent program), but because I'm very happy with Final Cut Pro and have invested a lot in it. I haven't worked with After Effects yet, but heard a lot of good things about it, so I'll start experimenting with it.
• The other Photoshop license (the CS2 I have today) I'll keep to run on a second Mac. We'll see if I even upgrade that one to a CS3, right now I can't see why I would. It looks like I can get from Flash to Production Suite for the same price as from Photoshop CS2 to Production Suite.

- Martin

 

[P-Worm]

Well, I can't say anything about CS3, but the FCS upgrade is probably the most significant Final Cut upgrade I have gone through (I've been using the program since FCP 2.0) The only one that comes close in my mind was the jump from FCP 2 to FCP 3 when they added the three was color corrector. Maybe I'm just a color nut though.

P-Worm