Lightroom vs Aperture (yeah, again)

[swiftaw]

I know there have been a few Aperture vs Lightroom threads, but I thought I would make a poll to see what the MR community seems to be favoring.

Feel free to add your reasons as part of the thread.

I have decided that i need to move up from iPhoto to something that allows me more editing capabilities. Photoshop is too expensive so that leaves Aperture and Lightroom. I plan on trying out both 30 day trials once I have more free time to play with them.

 

[atari1356]

I tried both and prefer Aperture. Aperture seems to fit with the way I want to work... whereas Lightroom just felt clunky to me. It may be that I didn't give enough time to Lightroom, to learn it properly... but Aperture worked so well that I didn't need much time to decide it was the one for me.

 

[Kamera RAWr]

I've only ever tried Aperture. I recieved it as a gift for Christmas, hence, never felt the need to try Lightroom. Aperture also gives me all the tools I need

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Tried both and bought Lightroom.

It just seemed to play a little nice than Aparture with my MacBook (and Lightroom supported my Olympus E-400 before Aparture did), so that made the choice really simple.

Not sure which I'd chosen if I had a Mac Pro, large iMac or MacBook Pro, though, but my gut feeling tells me I'd gone Lightroom even then, some of the features just made more sense, for me anyway, even if I suspect other things, like printing, which I've never gotten right from Lightroom, would be better in Aparture.

 

[M@lew]

Used Aperture, but switched to Lightroom since you can work with photo's from your folder structure in Finder and it's a lot faster.

 

[leandroc76]

Aperture's recent update seems much smoother and faster, especially with the thumbnail updates. it's fast, even on my iMac 20"

 

[Badradio]

Tried both, bought Lightroom.
Aside from not being able to view Exif data in Develop mode, I found LR to be much more intuitive - Aperture was just confusing. My wife uses the software too and has no patience for a steep learning curve; add to that the price difference and the fact that I need to run it on an iMac 20" revB, choosing LR was a no-brainer.

 

[redrabbit]

For some reason, Aperture just doesn't run well on my macbook pro, 2.16 CD with a library of about 200 photos when I tested it. They weren't even all RAW. I think it should be able to more than handle it, but oh well, Lightroom for me.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

Lightroom for me, seeing as my machine wouldn't support Aperture. I don't mind LR at all, and for my needs, it works perfectly.

 

[Lovesong]

I have both- ended up deleting Lightroom. While the image editing was a bit more intuitive, I hated the toy like interface of Lightroom. Aperture won out due to it's internal organization (folder-library structure), and its better metadata editing and interface.

 

[ACbc]

I watched all the online videos and read as much as i could on both before buying aperture. There are 30 day trials, but i didn't want to bother with those. from what i read, there really isn't a "wrong" choice. one might just suit you better. I have a 2.66 macpro with an x1900 so i'm hoping speed isn't an issue. lightroom just seemed a bit too rigid and not as flexible. aperture seems to give me more of an open approach on how to do things. all the way from file management, to metadata, to editing. apple always has reasonable upgrade prices. so i am hoping there are a few things added in future versions....but for the time being aperture does all the essentials. i would like to see curves and barrel distortion correction in aperture. if those 2 things are added, i dont think i would need anything else.

 

[gphoto]

I like Lightroom much more than Aperture, but I have only used Aperture for about 5 hours. It is much less intuitive than Lightroom, and Lightroom has much more intuitive image processing, plus curves. The main thing though, is that if you have a slow machine, then Lightroom is really your only option. I had an iBook G4 running at 1.33Ghz, and Aperture would not work, but Lightroom was basically usable for smaller amounts of images.

 

[redrabbit]

So I decided to give Aperture another shot and installed it. Right now it's going through my library and generating preview displays or something and doesn't want me to exit. How long will it be doing this?

 

[wronski]

Hmm, Aperture less intuitive than Lightroom? I guess I'll give LR another shot and get back to you.

 

[4God]

Tried both, I use Lightroom. It seems to be much smoother and quicker than Aperture.
I also like the interface, it just seems more user friendly.

 

[Lovesong]

So I decided to give Aperture another shot and installed it. Right now it's going through my library and generating preview displays or something and doesn't want me to exit. How long will it be doing this?

Depends on the size of your library and the file sizes of your images. Generating previews takes a while (by the way it will quit, but it will warn you). It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, but after that the program will fly through those 16MB RAW files. Just leave it running in the background.

 

[ACbc]

So I decided to give Aperture another shot and installed it. Right now it's going through my library and generating preview displays or something and doesn't want me to exit. How long will it be doing this?

I would *highly* recommend reading this article.

http://www.bagelturf.com/aparticles/previews/pwho/index.html

sometimes generating previews is a complete waste of cpu, disk space, and time. especially if you are importing a previous library of images.

I left my iphoto library in iphoto when i got aperture, and am just using aperture for photos from now on.

 

[Westside guy]

Lightroom's interface is certainly more familiar from the get-go, since almost everyone has used Photoshop at one time or another. But I don't like how, in typical Adobe fashion, you have to modify your workflow to suit its modular design. Aperture gets out of my way better, yet provides the tools I need. I thought I'd miss Curves; but then I started learning how well Aperture's Levels tool works.

A patient person should try both apps before deciding. An impatient person should probably just use Lightroom, since they'll know the interface and won't give Aperture a fair shake anyway.

 

[redrabbit]

I would *highly* recommend reading this article.

http://www.bagelturf.com/aparticles/previews/pwho/index.html

sometimes generating previews is a complete waste of cpu, disk space, and time. especially if you are importing a previous library of images.

I left my iphoto library in iphoto when i got aperture, and am just using aperture for photos from now on.

thanks for that site, it's a wealth of aperture knowledge

 

[ACbc]

thanks for that site, it's a wealth of aperture knowledge

No problem, actually, i'll put it out there for others who haven't heard of it.

http://www.bagelturf.com

There is a whole heap of information on Aperture there. Peruse around on the site and you will see how deep and customizable this program is.

yes...it's not quite the "easiest" programs to learn out there. you *can* pick the program up and use it, be very satisfied, and still not know everything there is to know about the program. if you are one of those ppl that like to have things *your* way and you want the program to do what *you* want it to do. aperture is the way to go.

however, if you just want to crank out images and go through the typical 'digital workflow'. lightroom is great. again... two great programs, for two different type of people.

If anything, we should be happy that these two programs are going head to head. If Adam Smith is right, the healthy competition will give us users a better end product.

 

[wronski]

Well I tried Lightroom again earlier today to make a more objective decision and well... I really like it. It makes a lot of sense and seems to respect those that organize their files in folders a little more. I love the way Aperture is set up though so if it had all the image manipulation features that Lightroom has I'd much rather use that. I'm not sure which one I'll be using from now on but I can't wait until the next versions of both of these applications.

 

[M@lew]

Aperture vs Lightroom on Macworld.

 

[swiftaw]

Aperture vs Lightroom on Macworld.

Thanks for the link, looks like a very thorough comparison.

 

[islandman]

I've loved Aperture from day 1, even though I was a beta-tester for Lightroom. I prefer the interface and the organization. A lot of people don't realize in Aperture that you can leave your existing folders in place and still use Aperture. That's how I do it.

 

[-hh]

So I decided to give Aperture another shot and installed it. Right now it's going through my library and generating preview displays or something and doesn't want me to exit. How long will it be doing this?

When I trialed Aperture on my G5 PowerMac, it took approximately 3 years, 17 months and 643 days


-hh