

However you can download a trial version to check for yourself and see if Adobe deserve your hard earned money.

ADOBE PREMIERE ELEMENTS 2021 REVIEW FREE
It’s always hard to compete with free software, and although Premiere Elements is giving a good go of it, it feels the changes might not be enough to compete effectively.

The Expert mode is more what you would expect a video editor to look like, but the interface itself hasn’t changed in years, is really starting to feel dated, and there are a lot of competing products out there that offer the same, sometimes a lot more, and some for less. If you’re new to video editing, you’ll appreciate the Quick side of the interface, but chances are you’ll outgrow it pretty fast. It’s good that it’s available as a one-off payment and not as part of a subscription package, it’s good that it’s easy to use, and refinements are being regularly made. New features are always welcome, and it’s good to see that Adobe are keeping Elements alive, but there’s really nothing that stands out about this software. The new Time-Lapse is an easy way to speed up your clip. Not earth shattering for 2020, but nice to know it can be easily done in Premiere Elements. The animated sky feature is merely a way to key out a background. The new background removal for photos is simply a keying tool that works quite well if your background is uniform (Image credit: Adobe) This can really mess up novice users, but it’s been a “feature” of Premiere Elements for years, so it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon. Switching back to Quick will only allow you to see the first layer, although the edit will still display any video clip on other layers as you play the footage back – but you won’t be able to see them in the edit section itself until you go back to Expert mode. Switching between both modes is done by clicking on the title in the top menu bar, but it can create confusion, especially if you’ve worked with multiple layers. This is where you can edit using multiple layers of both audio and video. If you’re familiar with other video editors, this is the interface which you might more easily recognise. Thankfully once you’ve dragged the effect onto your clip, you gain access to all the sliders you need to customise it.īut if you need even more customisation options, that’s where the Expert interface comes in. It’s so small, it’s hard to properly see what you’re applying. Nothing has really changed on that front for years.įor instance, each effect is represented by a tiny thumbnail of a hang glider, with the effect applied to the thumbnail. You actually have a good range of tools to use, but the interface feels dated. String them together, add transitions and effects, it’s all very simple and straightforward. There, each clip, no matter how long, is represented by a rectangular thumbnail. But stringing a few clips together, with titles, transitions and effects, is but a few clicks away (Image credit: Adobe)
