Mac Users - Lightroom or Aperture?

[Analog6]

Any recommendations. Has anyone used both? I've seen a copy of Lightroom 2 for $279.00, list price is $609. Aperture is around the $250-300 also.

Advice please!

[DAdeGroot]

Personally I chose LR as Aperture didn't work the same way I do. They're both equally capable, so grab trials and try them out. :)

[jev]

Personally, I chose Aperture as I hated Adobe's ACR policy. LR does seem to have the edge now with (some) layer support if I'm not mistaken. I'ld definitely grab the trials as Dave suggested and try them both. Aperture requires a bit of learning if you're used to PS but don't let that put you of!

[MarkW]

I'm not sure with lightroom as I use Aperture - image files in Aperture are kept as one dirty big file, all together all as one so you cant just go and find an image and take a copy of it. You must open aperture and export a copy of either the original image or one of the modiffied "versions".

That being said, I like the way Aperture works and its work flow fits with me. It is a learning curve in the way you want your work flow to match your image manipulation software. Having the single file has its advantage when backing up your images and Aperture even has its own app for this called "vault". Once activated Vault also keeps track of how many images are yet to be stored in the vault since being included into Aperture or updated.

PS
Odille - You do know that Aperture is a Digital Asset Management App - its not an image manipulation or post processor app. In Aperture you get a couple of image post processor tools (just the very basic ones) and then you can add one app of your choosing to actually do your post processing after the image has been transferred into the Aperture system. You can add plugins to Aperture to extend your basic array of internal processing tools as opposed to adding plugins to your nominated processing app.

[Calxoddity]

Hi,
I chose Aperture - preferred the interface. I use referenced mode - my photos are right where I left them on the hard disk and haven't been sucked into a single database. If I want to do heavy editing, I used PSE6.

Regards,
Calx

[MarkW]

Hi Calx
Haven't seen you in a while.

[dejavu]

I have tried both Aperture and Lightroom on my macs and I much prefer Lightroom.

Aperture's software performance was not as snappy as Lightroom, and considering the first programming team for Aperture was replaced after their failure to create a competitive program. In addition, I prefer Lightroom's workflow. That said, as you already know, Aperture and Lightroom are not in the same price bracket. The $200 odd Lightroom is most likely on an academic license.

When I tried Aperture, I had it running on my old black Macbook with 1.25GB of RAM, I have not tried it with my 17' Unibody MBP.

[Calxoddity]

Hi Calx
Haven't seen you in a while.

Tell me about it! Work is still pretty busy but I now have time to read and post. Haven't even used the camera for about 3 weeks but am now taking pikkies again.

It's good to be back and I suspect it will take a while to catch up.... :)

It hasn't been totally wasted time though - managed to buy a few new toys on the post-processing side. Now all I have to do is get home to play with them!

As far as Aperture v Lightroom goes, it seems people tend to form a strong preference for one interface or the other, with relatively few being equally comfortable with both. I have formed an opinion (sorry, no scientific basis - yet) that prior experience in using Adobe applications predisposes people to prefer Lightroom as they are more immune to poor interface design... :efelant:

Regards,
Calx

[Spyke]

As the others suggest - download the trials and try them both. Each of the current versions have their strengths over the other. They'll always be leap-frogging each other with new features and capabilities.

I use Aperture with a managed library. I prefer the interface and the workflow. It's not too difficult to find your photos via the Finder using a managed library if you need a copy without going into Aperture and exporting it.

Just be aware that to use some of the plug-ins with Lightroom also requires you to have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, as Adobe does not give 3rd party developers access to the rendering engine in Lightroom. The plug-in developers have to use the Photoshop rendering engine, which means they take the photo out of Lightroom, make the adjustments using the Photoshop engine and then go back into Lightroom. If they haven't already, then I'm sure Adobe will change that in the next major release of Lightroom.