Focus Multimedia's incredibly cheap Select PhotoStudio Second Editon is actually two old Serif programs, PhotoPlus 8 and MediaPlus, repackaged. PhotoPlus 8 is a photo-editing program, while MediaPlus is an organiser that allows you to view your photo collections quickly and group them into albums for easy access. PhotoPlus is currently at version 10, while MediaPlus is at version 2, so these programs are about two years old.
Both programs work well, and at £9.99 this is certainly good value. MediaPlus doesn't have the most elegant interface, and there's no proper manual to explain how it works, but with a little trial and error you'll soon discover how to group your photos into albums and add keywords to photos so that you can find what you're looking for quickly. It's a shame that MediaPlus isn't better integrated with PhotoPlus, though, as there's no quick way to select a photo in MediaPlus and go straight into PhotoPlus to edit it.
PhotoPlus has a good selection of editing tools, including cloning, distortion, text effects and a clever magnetic selection tool that grabs the edges of nearby objects automatically, making it easy to select complex shapes in your photos. We were a little disappointed by some of the special effects filters, though. The Instant artist effects in particular are quite poor. They're meant to simulate painting styles such as pointillism and expressionism, but most of them simply reduce your photos to ugly smudges of colour.
Even so, the basic editing tools are good, especially at this low price, and PhotoStudio is certainly worth buying if you're on a tight budget. Just remember that you're buying rather dated software that can't match the range of features or the ease of use of more recent products, including the latest versions of PhotoPlus and MediaPlus themselves.
Requires Windows 98 SE or above, 500MHz processor, 256MB RAMAuthor: Cliff Joseph
Focus Multimedia Select PhotoStudio Second Edition