Aperture or Lightroom?

[Kraftsims]

I'm using a powerpc right now, aperture, stable decent system. CS4 plays nice and all seems well.

I'm considering updating in the future to a new mac. Would it be worth considering to switch to lightroom?

Is there any reason to choose aperture over lightroom or vice versa?

Any problems with changing midstream from one to another when I make the switch to an intel mac and upgrade most everything I have?

Thanks

[KenJulio]

With the change, you'll need to use both systems to utilize the meta data for your images in Aperture. I havent looked if there is a conversion from an Aperture library to a Lightroom Catalog. I transitioned as well about a year ago and havent looked back with going to Lightroom. I find the interface a bit more intuitive, additionally, there are more presets and more plug-ins for LR.

If you havent checked out Sonny's post about the Lightroom Learning Center, it's worth to give it a look and also, you have the ability to trial LR for 30 days before deciding to purchase. Though, you may want to take advantage of the deal on Amazon for LR as its basically 50% off.

[ChristopherCoy]

Never used aperture, but lightroom kicks bootay!

[LanceHaynie]

I have many reasons and I have used both. The MAIN reason though is how seamless Lightroom works with Photoshop.

With Aperture I would have to export, edit in photoshop, save & import back into Aperture.
With Lightroom I simply right click and select "Edit in Photoshop."

When you save it is already back in your Lightroom catalog. If you edited the original, it overwrites. If you edited a copy, BOOM it's just there.

[S-Man]

^ I agree with Lance. It all works together really well. I tried using Aperture, and I even tried to force myself to like it. But it just ran too slow on my computer (2.53 Dual Core Macbook Pro, 4-gigs ram). There was lag and long process times. Lightroom is just slick and fast, and well integrated with Adobe stuff.

[Sonny]

Here are some articles discussing the differences.

Lightroom 3 vs Aperture 3 | PhotoRadar

Luminous Darkroom: Aperture 3 or Lightroom 2 and 3

Aperture vs Lightroom RB|Design

Aperture 2 vs Lightroom 2 - which? - Photo.net Digital Darkroom Forum

Aperture 2 vs Lightroom 2: Same Image, Different Results | neutralday

[LanceHaynie]

Originally Posted by S-Man

I tried using Aperture, and I even tried to force myself to like it. But it just ran too slow on my computer (2.53 Dual Core Macbook Pro, 4-gigs ram).

Same here, even the same machine. Some part of me inside kept trying to get me to like Aperture. I LOVE most of Apple's products, Final Cut Pro to me is far superior to Adobe Premier. However, for the photography world Lightroom is lightyears ahead.

[mercphoto]

Am I the only one to prefer Aperture? :(

[LanceHaynie]

Originally Posted by mercphoto

Am I the only one to prefer Aperture? :(

It's possible, but not to worry. Why do you prefer Aperture?

[mercphoto]

LR reminded me too much of Bridge, which I found pig slow. Aperture was faster and more intuitive to me.

[tukaniray]

I use Aperture 2.0 and enjoy ... BTW there is a right click edit in Aperture setting ... you just need to set Photoshop as your outside editor of choice for it to work.

I actually like both systems ... I just have Aperture 2 on my computer and a friend of mine uses Lightroom. I don't find a need to buy another unless I really need to.

-Ray-

[ChristopherCoy]

Originally Posted by mercphoto

Am I the only one to prefer Aperture? :(

Looks that way...

[mercphoto]

Originally Posted by LanceHaynie

With Aperture I would have to export, edit in photoshop, save & import back into Aperture.

No you don't. :) Photoshop integrates with Aperture just as easily as it does with LR. In Preferences, under Export, select an external image editor, such as Photoshop. Now, select the image you want to edit and goto the menu and select Images, Edit With. When in Photoshop simply do a "save" to get the image back into Aperture. Its really simple.

[hue-e]

I'd say lightroom all the way, but that's just because of the photoshop integration.

[KenJulio]

It's all about choices and works best for you. Both have free trials of their latest releases.

And no, you're not the only one. Joe McNally uses Aperture, for him, it just works for him.