Are Software Cinema Courses Worth Buying?

Software Cinema is a paid digital-download training site focused on photography, lighting, Photoshop, retouching, and drone shooting. Whether it's worth buying depends on one thing: whether the specific course you want matches a skill you're actively trying to build. The catalog is narrow but deep, the prices are visible up front, and a 30-day money-back guarantee lowers the risk of a wrong pick. If you want structured, instructor-led material in those exact subjects, it's a reasonable buy. If you need broad coverage or live feedback, look elsewhere.

What you're actually buying

Every item in the catalog is a digital download, not a subscription or a live class. The site states that downloads can be copied to iPads, iPhones, and Android devices for watching anywhere, so you're paying once for a file you keep and can play offline.

The catalog clusters into a few clear areas:

Several titles show a struck-through original price next to a lower current price — for example, Introduction to Cinematic Portraiture at $99.99 marked down to $59.99, and Photoshop Destination CC Live at $49.99 marked down to $24.99. Treat those as current listed prices on the page, not permanent ones.

Who the instructors are

The site names four instructors: Dean Collins (listed as Software Cinema founder), Colin Smith (listed as PhotoshopCafe founder), Dave Montizambert (photographer), and Kristina Sherk (retoucher). The site describes its instructors as "world-class experts" who teach clearly and in plain English — that's the site's own claim, not an independent rating.

The strongest third-party signal in the page evidence is a testimonial attributed to David Hobby of strobist.com, who calls Dean Collins "probably the best lighting instructor there ever was." That's a meaningful endorsement for the lighting titles specifically. Other testimonials on the page are from individual users describing their Photoshop skills improving; they're positive but not detailed enough to judge a specific course.

The guarantee and what it covers

The site advertises a 30-day money-back guarantee: "Love it, or get a full refund." That's the main risk-reducer here. Because these are downloads rather than streamed subscriptions, the guarantee is what lets you buy a course, work through it, and reverse the decision if the teaching style doesn't fit.

Two practical caveats:

• The page doesn't state the exact refund process, so confirm the steps before or right after purchase.
• The guarantee is time-boxed at 30 days, so plan to actually start the course soon after buying rather than letting it sit.

How to decide for your case

Buy if:

• You want a specific topic the catalog covers well — lighting, portrait retouching, Photoshop compositing, or DJI drone shooting.
• You prefer owning downloadable files you can watch offline on a tablet or phone.
• You're comfortable learning from recorded instruction without live Q&A.
• You value the Dean Collins lighting material and the strobist.com endorsement behind it.

Skip or look elsewhere if:

• You need subjects outside this catalog (video editing, design software beyond Photoshop, business/marketing).
• You want live classes, instructor feedback, or a community.
• You need a subscription model with rotating new content rather than one-time purchases.

A sensible way to test it

1. Pick the single course closest to a skill you're working on right now — not the biggest bundle.
2. Check the current listed price on the product page, since several titles show discounts that may change.
3. Buy that one course and start it within the first week.
4. Judge it against your goal: did you finish a module and apply the technique? If not, use the 30-day guarantee rather than accumulating more courses.

The main trap with a catalog like this is buying several discounted titles at once and never working through them. One course, started immediately, tells you more about fit than any testimonial.