Aperture versus Lightroom advice
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Posted 19/01/2012 - 11:38
Went through the process of Aperture or Lightroom when version 2 for both were out around the same time a few years back. Downloaded trials of both, got on with Aperture better and it was half the price so it was a no brainer then and I've stuck with Aperture since.
Have not used Lightroom since but there are a few features in Lightroom 3 that I would love to see in Aperture 4 such as lens profiles / lens corrections / perspective correction and better noise reduction being the 2 main features I would like.
Perversely most of the new features of Lightroom 4 seem to be what we already have in Aperture 3! Highlight and shadow recovery, photo book creation, location based organisation, local editing controls (such as a noise brush), video support (admittedly basic but it's there), email directly from program. The only new thing I can see is a white balance brush?!?
The other benefits of Aperture are less obvious but very beneficial. Your Aperture album is available to the OS and every app for one. Want to add a photo to an email you're typing? Easy. It auto resizes any image to your default email size. Want to add an album to your iPhone / iPad? Easy, go to iTunes and tick the album and press sync and it will automatically resize all images and create albums on them in the appropriate image size. Want to add an image to a document / presentation / eBay listing etc. etc.. All without ever having saved an image.
Would also mention web galleries that come with MobileMe but they are going, to be replaced with iCloud and photo stream which is all free, so any image you take with your iPhone automatically appears in your Aperture library etc.
Another major benefit? Cost! Aperture 3 is now on the App Store and it is only £55 for all users and you get a license to use it on 5 machines for that!
Don't think I would ever use Lightoom as an addition to, or replacement for Aperture as it would completely screw up my workflow and add extra work and thinking that I just do not want. Heck, I even have Photoshop Extended and find that I have never used it.
Overall, Aperture 3 for me is a must have product for photographers with a Mac, the tight integration with the whole Apple ecosystem is just something you will not get anywhere else and most importantly, the time saved gets me out behind the camera more!
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Have not used Lightroom since but there are a few features in Lightroom 3 that I would love to see in Aperture 4 such as lens profiles / lens corrections / perspective correction and better noise reduction being the 2 main features I would like.
Perversely most of the new features of Lightroom 4 seem to be what we already have in Aperture 3! Highlight and shadow recovery, photo book creation, location based organisation, local editing controls (such as a noise brush), video support (admittedly basic but it's there), email directly from program. The only new thing I can see is a white balance brush?!?
The other benefits of Aperture are less obvious but very beneficial. Your Aperture album is available to the OS and every app for one. Want to add a photo to an email you're typing? Easy. It auto resizes any image to your default email size. Want to add an album to your iPhone / iPad? Easy, go to iTunes and tick the album and press sync and it will automatically resize all images and create albums on them in the appropriate image size. Want to add an image to a document / presentation / eBay listing etc. etc.. All without ever having saved an image.
Would also mention web galleries that come with MobileMe but they are going, to be replaced with iCloud and photo stream which is all free, so any image you take with your iPhone automatically appears in your Aperture library etc.
Another major benefit? Cost! Aperture 3 is now on the App Store and it is only £55 for all users and you get a license to use it on 5 machines for that!
Don't think I would ever use Lightoom as an addition to, or replacement for Aperture as it would completely screw up my workflow and add extra work and thinking that I just do not want. Heck, I even have Photoshop Extended and find that I have never used it.
Overall, Aperture 3 for me is a must have product for photographers with a Mac, the tight integration with the whole Apple ecosystem is just something you will not get anywhere else and most importantly, the time saved gets me out behind the camera more!
Website・Blog・Gear・Twitter・Facebook
89 posts
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Posted 19/01/2012 - 13:15
I believe transferring your photos from Aperture to Lightroom is quite an undertaking because of Aperture's file structure. If you have a big library there would need to be a really compelling reason to switch IMO (unless LR4 has some clever coding to fix this)
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Posted 19/01/2012 - 16:37
I'm committed to aperture. what it does, it does well what it doesn't do will either be added in a future release or with an aperture plug in or my round tripping the image to photoshop or pse... so I'm not changing from aperture.
another compelling reason to stay with aperture is the system wide integration with osx and apples other software.
Fired many shots. Didn't kill anything.
another compelling reason to stay with aperture is the system wide integration with osx and apples other software.
Fired many shots. Didn't kill anything.
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Posted 19/01/2012 - 17:08
Excellent post from Unlocker that I totally agree with. Can't wait to see what new features A4 has.
Aperture used to be playing catch up (A1 vs LR1, A2 vs LR2) but IMO as an ex-LR3 user A3 surpassed it. By the way, Bibble Pro 5 is worth a look. It has the look and feel of LR but is lightening fast, (opening, loading, effects, everything) - something both LR and A could learn from it.
http://frogfish.smugmug.com/ Pentax. Pentax DA*300/4, Cosina 55/1.2, Lens Baby Composer Pro & Edge 80, AFA x1.7, Metz 50 af1.
Nikon. D800. D600. Sigma 500/4.5, Nikon 300/2.8 VRII, Sigma 120-300/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 21/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 35/2.0, Sigma 50/1.4, Nikkor 85/1.8, Nikon TC20EIII, Nikon TC14EII, Kenko x1.4, Sigma 2.0
Aperture used to be playing catch up (A1 vs LR1, A2 vs LR2) but IMO as an ex-LR3 user A3 surpassed it. By the way, Bibble Pro 5 is worth a look. It has the look and feel of LR but is lightening fast, (opening, loading, effects, everything) - something both LR and A could learn from it.
http://frogfish.smugmug.com/ Pentax. Pentax DA*300/4, Cosina 55/1.2, Lens Baby Composer Pro & Edge 80, AFA x1.7, Metz 50 af1.
Nikon. D800. D600. Sigma 500/4.5, Nikon 300/2.8 VRII, Sigma 120-300/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 21/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 35/2.0, Sigma 50/1.4, Nikkor 85/1.8, Nikon TC20EIII, Nikon TC14EII, Kenko x1.4, Sigma 2.0
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Posted 19/01/2012 - 19:04
I can only echo what frogfish has said. "Excellent post from unlocker"
I've been using Aperture since the launch of the original version and I am very satisfied with the programme overall.
No further comment.
Chunky
I've been using Aperture since the launch of the original version and I am very satisfied with the programme overall.
No further comment.
Chunky
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Posted 19/01/2012 - 22:43
On the subject of Lightroom, can someone please clarify something for me please?
I am using a trial version of Lightroom 3 and am a bit puzzled by what it can what it can't do. From what I can see, it catalogues all my photos and lets me do a fair bit of editing but not as much as Photoshop Elements. In Lightroom I don't have access to the add on programs like Topaz that I have in PSE.
Is this a fair assessment or am I missing something.
PPG
I am using a trial version of Lightroom 3 and am a bit puzzled by what it can what it can't do. From what I can see, it catalogues all my photos and lets me do a fair bit of editing but not as much as Photoshop Elements. In Lightroom I don't have access to the add on programs like Topaz that I have in PSE.
Is this a fair assessment or am I missing something.
PPG
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Posted 20/01/2012 - 05:38
NaimKhan wrote:
On the subject of Lightroom, can someone please clarify something for me please?
I am using a trial version of Lightroom 3 and am a bit puzzled by what it can what it can't do. From what I can see, it catalogues all my photos and lets me do a fair bit of editing but not as much as Photoshop Elements. In Lightroom I don't have access to the add on programs like Topaz that I have in PSE.
Is this a fair assessment or am I missing something.
On the subject of Lightroom, can someone please clarify something for me please?
I am using a trial version of Lightroom 3 and am a bit puzzled by what it can what it can't do. From what I can see, it catalogues all my photos and lets me do a fair bit of editing but not as much as Photoshop Elements. In Lightroom I don't have access to the add on programs like Topaz that I have in PSE.
Is this a fair assessment or am I missing something.
You should have access to the plug-ins, seems like you haven't installed them into LR3 yet.
http://frogfish.smugmug.com/ Pentax. Pentax DA*300/4, Cosina 55/1.2, Lens Baby Composer Pro & Edge 80, AFA x1.7, Metz 50 af1.
Nikon. D800. D600. Sigma 500/4.5, Nikon 300/2.8 VRII, Sigma 120-300/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 21/2.8, Zeiss Distagon ZF2 35/2.0, Sigma 50/1.4, Nikkor 85/1.8, Nikon TC20EIII, Nikon TC14EII, Kenko x1.4, Sigma 2.0
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simonoffpiste
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Newcastle upon Tyne
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So my, question: as an Aperture 3 user, does anybody with experience of both think that I'll benefit from buying Lightroom and using it instead of, or perhaps in addition to, Aperture?
I'm quite happy with Aperture, so I guess my question relates to any features Lightroom has over Aperture that maybe I hadn't considered and in particular is there an appreciable difference in the way it treats RAW files.
Thanks,
Simon
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