Lightroom or Aperture?

[Maggie Baldwin]

Could someone who is well versed in mac mania please explain why one would prefer one of these programs over the other? I currently have Aperture, which can be very slow and not necessarily intuitive and now they say I should upgrade to "2" ($99) because it is so much better. My question is: Has anyone used both of these programs enough to make an informed choice?

I don't do a lot of editing, but no matter how good something is, it can always be better with competent editing and I'd like to have the best tools to work with at the most reasonable price.

I have PS CS 2 also. CS 3 seems to actually have some cool things not included in 2, but that is definitely a bigger financial jump.

thanks for your help!!

[billbunton]

I have them both. Aperture is pretty much unused (in fact, I brought it up today to show my wife, who is trying to make the same decision, and realized I didn't even have an Aperture library set up :-). I think that Aperture is slightly ahead as far as DAM, but I think LR/ACR is somewhat better for editing. LR certainly integrates better with PS, especially CS4.

One thing I really dislike about Aperture is that you can only send to an external editor in sRGB or Adobe RGB; I always use Pro Photo as my working space.

Both versions 2 are better (faster, and better editing) than their previous versions. However, they're still very slow at times. I have no real complaint about speed of editing in LR, but a lot of the cataloging operations are getting pretty slow now that I'm up over 30K photos in the library.

In fact, to be honest I'm sort of migrating back to Iview (actually, Expression Media) and PS. EM is a much better DAM application than either, and allows using my choice of raw processors (Raw Developer has gotten pretty darn good, the only real fault I can find now is that it doesn't pass IPTC info).

[Maggie Baldwin]

Thank, you, Bill. It helped, I think!! What is DAM (not a typo I'm guessing (: )?

I am acronym-phobic!

[NikkiLoehr]

I have used both and was reluctant to move to Lightroom...but one night I was sold on it and have never looked back!

[AndrewCCM]

Lr

[The Loft Studios]

I like them in this order:

Capture One Pro
Aperture 2
Lightroom 2
Adobe Camera Raw (AKA: Bridge-CS3)

[billbunton]

Originally Posted by Maggie Baldwin

Thank, you, Bill. It helped, I think!! What is DAM (not a typo I'm guessing (: )?

I am acronym-phobic!

DAM is Digital Asset Management -- it's the cataloging part of the applications.

[Maggie Baldwin]

Ah, thank you! It is so humbling to be so ignorant, and yet sometimes so freeing.

I think I will look into getting lightroom...maybe there is a student discount.

[terryturner]

Lightroom

[Hogleg 44]

Lightroom v2 for sheer speed.
Aperture v2 for extra detail.
Both give excellent results!

[Tom]

I had Aperture. Then a friend convinced me to do the 30-day trial of lightroom. Aperture was dragged to the trash. I couldn't live without Lightroom.

[Techie309]

Lightroom v2 is my preference here. It feels intuitive and integrates nicely with photoshop. The catalogs are a little cumbersome when moving between laptop and desktop and I do have a few criticisms, but overall it's my preference and the education price (All you need is a current student or instructor ID) is only $99.

[mdparthum]

Okay, a question for Lightroom users, can you load Lightroom on a desktop and a laptop using the same license that comes with the program?

[Techie309]

Yes, as long as you don't use them both at the same time.

[CaptainTom]

Originally Posted by Maggie Baldwin

Ah, thank you! It is so humbling to be so ignorant, and yet sometimes so freeing.

I think I will look into getting lightroom...maybe there is a student discount.

There is a very definite student discount. There are many threads about this.
The student version is absolutely identical to the other versions.

Yes you can put it on a desktop and a laptop.