RAW conversion sofware - DPChallenge Forums

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

06/30/2009 03:49:21 PM · #1

I don't have the time to go back sorting through all the forum threads on this subject. I just need a little feedback on your experience, pros and cons etc on each of the big 3: Lightroom, Capture and Aperture (I am working on a Mac). I have tried them all but I need some input from all you users before I settle into using one of them. What are your favourite functions, what makes life easier working with them, or worse, and what bugs the hell out of you with them? What are your workflows? I would appreciate any feedback you can give me. Thanks in advance!

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

06/30/2009 04:10:12 PM · #2

I'll preface this by saying that I have not used Aperture (I'm a pee-cee kinda guy). I own both Capture One v 4.0 and Lightroom 2.4. I tried to like Capture One, I really did, but I did not find the interface at all to my liking. As far as quality of conversions, I did not find that it was much better, nor much worse, than ACR (Lr, Ps). I use Lr for >95% of my RAW conversion work. I use Ps (ACR 4.x under Ps CS3) for tethered capture to a laptop at work, and that constitutes the other 5%. I find that the Lr interface takes a little getting used to, specifically the "Develop" vs. "Library" panes and how to best configure imports and exports to enable fast, efficient organization of files. At this point, I don't know how I ever got along without it! Lr is a fabulous tool for importing, initial review and global adjustment, and even for (very) limited selective adjustment (it will do an adjustment masked with a gradient, as well as apply (or correct) vignetting. The post-crop vignetting code needs some work; it's well known that it does not yield as nice a result as using the (pre-crop only) vignette correction tool in reverse to apply a vignette.
I will say that Lr needs fast hardware to be a pleasure to use. It runs like a dream under 64-bit Win7 with 8GB of RAM. It runs respectably but with some noticeable lag under WinXP on a 2-year-old Dell Latitude D820 Laptop with 3GB of memory.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

06/30/2009 04:17:16 PM · #3

Thanks for the input Fritz. Just the infos I need.

Artifacts

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

06/30/2009 04:36:18 PM · #4

I'm just a LR2 user but have to say it's integration with CS4 is a major plus...

I can open in CS4 directly from within LR2 to do hard core editing and then when I return to LR2 the CS4 version of the update automatically shows up so that I can then immediately crop, prep and export output files from LR2. Makes for a smooth work flow between products. I could even do additional LR2 updates to the CS4 version if I wanted to.

Message edited by author 2009-06-30 16:36:58.

cpanaioti

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

06/30/2009 04:36:59 PM · #5

It's all about the interface and what you feel comfortable with. To me Capture One felt clunky in comparison to LR. I'm not on a MAC so haven't used Aperture.

pawdrix

Nikon D700

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

06/30/2009 06:52:29 PM · #6

I have Capture One and found it clunky and a few friends run Aperture on the same computer as I have and it was slow on all their machines.

I use Lightroom on both PC and Mac (G5). It performs well on both. For organization and importing it's great, very intuitive and for conversions it's laid out well and easier (imho) than the other two programs.

doctornick

Apple iPhone 13 Pro

06/30/2009 09:09:58 PM · #7

I've used Aperture on a Mac and abandoned it for Lightroom 2, I find Lightroom much more user friendly and a lot slicker and faster. I also played with various flavours of Capture One and it's the worse of the 3 when it comes to user friendliness.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

06/30/2009 11:59:32 PM · #8

Originally posted by doctornick:

I've used Aperture on a Mac and abandoned it for Lightroom 2,

What didn't you like about Aperture Doc?

It sounds like Lightroom is the real runner here, I actually thought that Capture would be taking the lead in favor so I am very surprised about the Lightroom statements.

Any more?

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

07/01/2009 01:31:20 AM · #9

FWIW I think there's a new version of Aperture recently out -- I got an email from Apple about a couple of workshops on using it ...