Another question about Software

Hello All,

This is my first post and I am a new convert from PC to MAC, got my MAC about 2 weeks ago and am loving it (still some getting used to).

Anyhow, I've been eager to get into Photography and have a Canon EOS 450D that I really want to start using to it's full potential and well it's part of the reason of getting a MAC ... as the photo management and enhancement capabilities in my opinion are un-rivaled!

Anyhow, I've been doing a lot of reading and found many posts on the topic, of the choice between Aperture 2.0 and Lightroom 2.0 and of course there is quite a bag of mixed opinions.

In terms of the step up from doing the basic things that Aperture / Lightroom offer, what is the next level up from these products.

With LightRoom, being an Adobe product, I can imagine there is a tight integration into say PhotoShop CS4 for example.

What would be the step up for Aperture?

I've also read the rumours of Aperture 3 being on the horizon, but have spent sometime and looked at the Beta site for LightRoom 3 and that looks wicked too.

From what I can see, they both offer a free trial, so I will give them both a go, but maybe those of you out there who do use the tools can tell me:

Which one do you use and why?

Thanks in advance to those who are willing to post their thoughts.

Cheers
Rob

I use Aperture and have been very happy with it. It has really helped my organization of a large image library, I like the built in RAW processing. But when I want to do real editing, I send it to Photoshop. What is cool is the Versioning of Images. The Master is there, then when I send it to Photoshop It creates a new Version which is tied to the Master. Many times I'll have 2 or 3 versions of an image that I'm working on. Then I'll come back to them a couple days later with Fresh eyes and I can easily compare the different versions.

I've never really used Lightroom, as I've been happy with Aperture so I have not felt the need to complicate my life So unfortunately I can't offer you much as a comparison.

Aperture for me is good for Cataloging, organizing, color correction, light editing. I still use PS for any editing beyond the real basics.

Brilliant,

Thanks for your response, I've just downloaded the Aperture 2.0 Trial Software from the website and played with it a little, looks pretty awesome so far.

I guess when that trial runs out, I'll try the Light Room Trial and then decide which is better for me, but my needs are quite simple and using the Student Discount, they both come in at the same price, around £90

Lightroom is really a tad behind Aperture, I've used both. But Lightroom is still a very nice application. Remember that Apple has a team of the worlds top professional photographers telling them how to develop it (as well as it's end user base). It integrates with Photoshop very, very well, and has by far the best resources for third party plug-ins. When you start gathering up a LOT of photos, you'll be glad for Aperture, as Lightroom is not as easy to search and organize. I strongly recommend Aperture for photography on a Mac. Only time I'd recommend Lightroom is if you're on a PC.

aperture vs lightroom?

it ain't even close..lightroom wins (by a zillion miles).

adobe software is industry standard, written especially for pro photographers, not for a bunch of mac owners.

the workflow and catalogue features are *unparalled* and unless you need layers, even CS4 is redundant.

I didn't even waste my hard disk space with an aperture trial..there isn't a single thing that aperture can do that light room dosn't do better...by some distance.

I haven't had a great deal of experience using Lightroom, but I own Aperture and am VERY pleased with it. I don't have a whole lot of photos yet, so I can't vouch for that aspect of it, but the organization/management options are great. As KBJ said, Versions is a huge plus, especially if you're a tad squeamish about ruining an image like I am. I've mostly used it for film I've shot (for class) and scanned, and fixing that up, which actually requires using a surprising number of the adjustments. I've found all of those super easy to use and pretty powerful, if a bit confusing at first.

Like I said, I've not had much Lightroom experience, but Aperture is an excellent application and I highly reccomend it.

bluefox9er said:

aperture vs lightroom?

........adobe software is industry standard, written especially for pro photographers, not for a bunch of mac owners...........
.

Click to expand...

People used to say that about Avid Also. Now FCP has made a pretty big dent in the Video/Film world.

Aperture is every bit a professional level program. If it wasn't I wouldn't know so many full time Professional Photographers using it everyday.

Obviously everybody works differently and has different software preferences. But to just dismiss Aperture as written for a bunch of Mac owners is a little absurd. Version 1 certainly left a person wanting for more functionality, but it has continued to evolve since and has become a very good app.

The bottom line is, you should try out both Trial versions, and see which one fits your workflow better.