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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Aperture 3 or Lightroom 3
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06/16/2010 06:49:18 PM · #1
If you had to choose, which one would you pick and why.
06/17/2010 12:13:22 AM · #2
I personally prefer Aperture 3. I have had trial versions of Lightroom (all versions) thinking that I must be missing something if everyone was raving about it so much, but I just did not like the user interface at all. I tend to use Aperture for organisation rather than editing and of course, the integrated book facility in Aperture is something that I do use a fair bit and like a lot.

Perhaps, however, I'm not the best to comment, as I'm not a heavy user.

Message edited by author 2010-06-17 00:13:42.
06/17/2010 12:22:36 AM · #3
If I had to choose, I'd pick Aperture. I find the interface and controls much more intuitive and the way it manages images, use of the vault better. Aperture gives you the choice of importing into the library so Aperture can handle the backups via the vault or importing by reference to your hard drive. The latter means that you manage your own backups for images while Aperture backs up the adjustments to those images. With the vault, Aperture backs up both.

LR only offers import by reference.

One thing I do like LR for is the Web Galleries though I've done a lot of customizing in LR and haven't checked out how to do that in Aperture yet.

If you're trying to decide, download a trial of each and try them out.

Message edited by author 2010-06-17 00:23:23.
06/17/2010 12:23:26 AM · #4
I use Aperture 3, which is great improvement over Aperture 2. I have not used Lightroom, but the advantage to it might be that more applications support it. For example, I got an x-rite color checker passport: in LR, the passport software will "recognize" the color checker and calculate a color correction. It won't support aperture. Minor thing, overall, though.

Aperture will let you "edit with photoshop" and the Nik Plugin Suite.

I do most of my editing in Aperture and the Nik Suite.
06/17/2010 12:30:18 AM · #5
I like Aperture over lightroom, it offers more for what I need. The only thing I dont like is that it only gives you one external editor. I like to use photoshop and lightzone, but thats not a big deal at all.

Facial recognition is very helpful although its not perfect. The fact that it works well with other apple products is good too.

I like the options to upload straight to my mobile me gallery and I can manage all the images right there and it updates and syncs them accordingly which really helps out a lot with clients.

its the small things that matter.
06/17/2010 12:36:35 AM · #6
That's a good point--if you have a mobile me account, then Aperture integrates well with that, with other apple applications, too.

I turned the face recognition off right away, and the location stuff. When I upgraded to Aperture 3, it would hog a lot of processor time trying to scan all my photos for the faces--I don't really need or want that feature, so I disabled it same as in iphoto.
06/17/2010 12:37:17 AM · #7
Canon or Nikon?
Ford or Chevy?
Sig or Glock?

This is completely a matter of personal preference. The beauty is that both are available for a free 30-day trial with a 100% functionality.

Download Lightroom 3 Here: https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_lightroom
Download Aperture 3 Here: //www.apple.com/aperture/trial/

Personally, I prefer the Develop Module w/ it's Presets and the interface of Lightroom 3. Aperture is clunky to me, but that's probably because I've been using Lightroom from the beginning.

- Alex
06/17/2010 12:38:10 AM · #8
Originally posted by mgarsteck:


I like the options to upload straight to my mobile me gallery and I can manage all the images right there and it updates and syncs them accordingly which really helps out a lot with clients.

Yes, forgot to mention that, but I also find that to be very useful.
06/17/2010 12:53:05 AM · #9
Originally posted by Alex_Europa:

Canon or Nikon?
Ford or Chevy?
Sig or Glock?

This is completely a matter of personal preference. The beauty is that both are available for a free 30-day trial with a 100% functionality.

Download Lightroom 3 Here: https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_lightroom
Download Aperture 3 Here: //www.apple.com/aperture/trial/

Personally, I prefer the Develop Module w/ it's Presets and the interface of Lightroom 3. Aperture is clunky to me, but that's probably because I've been using Lightroom from the beginning.

- Alex


You mention presets -- Aperture has those too. They both allow you to create your own custom presets.

Presets aren't restricted to the Develop module in LR. You can create them for pretty much anything. Same in Aperture
06/17/2010 01:11:26 AM · #10
not sure if this is still true but Aperture's edit are destructive (i.e. they are/were saved to the file itself). Lightroom's edits are all non-destructive. It basically records all the steps you used to edit the file separately almost like a set of instructions.
06/17/2010 01:12:12 AM · #11
Originally posted by Citadel:

not sure if this is still true but Aperture's edit are destructive (i.e. they are/were saved to the file itself). Lightroom's edits are all non-destructive. It basically records all the steps you used to edit the file separately almost like a set of instructions.


That's not the case and never has been. Aperture has always used non-destructive editing.
06/17/2010 01:18:53 AM · #12
Originally posted by salmiakki:

Originally posted by Citadel:

not sure if this is still true but Aperture's edit are destructive (i.e. they are/were saved to the file itself). Lightroom's edits are all non-destructive. It basically records all the steps you used to edit the file separately almost like a set of instructions.


That's not the case and never has been. Aperture has always used non-destructive editing.


aaah...I just remembered that the destructive part was in regards to third party plug-ins. I still could be wrong about that though. You can tell I am a Lightroom user :)

Message edited by author 2010-06-17 01:19:25.
06/17/2010 02:09:15 AM · #13
Originally posted by cpanaioti:



You mention presets -- Aperture has those too. They both allow you to create your own custom presets.

Presets aren't restricted to the Develop module in LR. You can create them for pretty much anything. Same in Aperture


Ah, they have actually added a proper way in Aperture 3 to do use presets instead of the old clunky way of creating projects. Cool.

Anyways, like I said, it's really just a matter of personal preference...but there's a reason that Lightroom has the lion's share of photo editing software... ;)

- Alex
06/17/2010 06:57:01 PM · #14
probably because its available on mac and pc....
06/17/2010 07:50:11 PM · #15
While I'm sure that does play a small part, it's no secret that the more serious photographers, in general, are more likely to own a Mac than a PC.
06/17/2010 08:03:28 PM · #16
that is true as well. maybe its because its part of adobe that it gets more credibility...
06/17/2010 08:06:10 PM · #17
Or maybe the previous versions of LR offered more features that more people (but obviously not all) wanted...like presets. :-)

ETA: Speaking of presets in Aperture, how do you like them?

Message edited by author 2010-06-17 20:07:20.
06/17/2010 08:38:14 PM · #18
im just waiting to see what happens next. I dont have too many complaints about aperture three. I wish they had more plugins but at the same time I like how it has more than lightroom it seems. I love using lightzone and would love to see a lightzone plugin for it. What I do like, is that there is a photomatix plugin so I can do my HDR stuff straight in Aperture and I dont have to export to CS5...
08/14/2010 06:43:43 PM · #19
It's been a while since this thread was active - so I'm wondering what peoples opinion is now ?
I tend to think that a lot of people are a little less "religious" regarding LR/Aperture and possibly swap from one to the other. I'm interested in peoples objective view on which one and why.
I have been using LR (2.7) Have had it for a while but only started to use it more extensively recently. Decided I might upgrade to V3. Seeing I was going to pay out for a new version decided to download and try aperture 3 . It seemed a good time to do a comparison and decide which way to go (this is where I feel a lot of people are in the same boat - going to upgrade - therefore try both).
I am initially impressed with aperture - there are a lot of things to like. Have been trying to use it extensively to get a handle on it. I don't know if it's just a matter of being more familiar with LR but I do prefer LR brush set up. To me it just seems easier to follow. The aspect of face recognition and location, uploading to Facebook etc (in aperture) - seems a bit corny to me and I would never use (and you can do that through iphoto). I am comparing A3 to LR2 - so I don't know whether LR3 has these features as well.
I will continue (while I have the A3 trial) to try and get a handle it - before making my final decision.
Has anyone else used both and then swapped from one to the other (and why) ?
08/14/2010 09:05:57 PM · #20
Both. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. Depending on the features you use the most you will consider one better than the other.

I like the gradient tool in LR. Aperture doesn't have this, however, I like how the presets and brushes work in Aperture better. I also like the highlight/shadow adjustment in Aperture and feel that adjustments can be applied more subtly than in LR. Also, it's easy to switch an adjustment on and off to see the difference.

I like the Web module in LR better than the one in Aperture. This is probably due to the fact that I've figured out how to customize the templates, mainly LR Galleries.

I like the books feature of Aperture and how the slideshows are integrated.

If you have the opportunity, take each for a test drive using the trial versions.

PS. I'm comparing LR 2 with Aperture 3.

Message edited by author 2010-08-14 21:10:37.
08/16/2010 02:17:27 AM · #21
Personally I've been using Canon Digital Photo Professional. I tried a trial version of LR, and while I like a lot of the features, it ran much slower and just didn't feel as comfortable to me.

In DPP, I can make all the basic adjustments I need to, copy and paste "recipes" among multiple files, and then if necessary make further edits in GIMP. The main thing DPP seems to be missing is local adjustments.

Message edited by author 2010-08-16 02:17:57.
08/16/2010 08:43:07 AM · #22
With LR and Aperture I very rarely go into PS any more. I only use PS if I need layers. When I tried DPP in the past I found it rather clunky though improvements have probably been made since I used it.

The thing about LR and Aperture is that you can use them on file formats other than RAW. Doing non-destructive changes on a jpg without layers is huge.

Message edited by author 2010-08-16 08:43:38.
08/16/2010 08:47:20 AM · #23
And which one are you using and why ?
08/16/2010 09:43:15 AM · #24
I continue to debate Aperture vs LightRoom vs Capture One. Obviously capture one doesn't fit in this category because it doesn't offer the organizational features of Aperture or LR, but these tools also do RAW conversation and I don't think anything matches Capture One in that respect. I do load my retouched TIFF images into Aperture where I can crop and export for print very quickly. I also used Aperture for a wedding recently and was blown away by the efficiency of handling the 2400 images I captured. The adjustments went very quickly and the new brushes with edge detection work great. So no conclusions from me, but I'm going to watch this thread and see what others think.
08/16/2010 06:40:48 PM · #25
Yeah -I'm a bit like you. Still can't make my mind up. Keep finding things in both that I like.
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