Help! Aperture vs. Lightroom vs. CaptureNX

[BlueNoteBelzy]

Howdy,
I'm confused....
I just bought an iMac today and want to take my photography to the next level just as a hobby. I currently just use PS....I always see you pro's discussing Lightroom, etc, but I'm not really sure what it's for besides photo management. My question is why would anyone want to process pics in Lightroom or Aperture when they have CS3 or CS4?

Next question: what's better, Aperture, Lightroom, NikonCapture NX (I have a D80)?


I would really appreciate your feedback,
Greg

[AndrewCCM]

Aperture just came out with a new version (haven't tried it). The previous ones I didn't care for as much as Lightroom. Been using it (Lightroom) since first beta. The new version 3 beta is great. I am a big fan.. Never used NX...It wasn't available back when I used to shoot Nikon...

Some will probably even suggest others like C1, Bibble Pro, etc... I have tried most of them and keep coming back to Lightroom as my favorite.

FWIW.

Andrew

[KenJulio]

Greg - I'm not sure if this thread would help, this question has been posed a few times in the last year.

http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...hould-use.html

http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...-begin-lr.html

Hope these help, if not and opens more questions, fire away.

[billbunton]

NX is not DAM, just raw conversion/image editing. LR and Aperture are DAM, raw conversions and image editing. None of them can do all the stuff PS can do. If you don't need that stuff then there's no reason for PS; if you need it then... Different people prefer the output from different raw converters. You really just need to try them and see what you like, both in terms of raw conversion and for DAM.

I believe all three products have 30-day trials.

[billbunton]

NX is not DAM, just raw conversion/image editing. LR and Aperture are DAM, raw conversions and image editing. None of them can do all the stuff PS can do. If you don't need that stuff then there's no reason for PS; if you need it then... Different people prefer the output from different raw converters. You really just need to try them and see what you like, both in terms of raw conversion and for DAM.

I believe all three products have 30-day trials.