Adobe Lightroom or Aperture or ____?

[Nieton21]

Just curious what the DPS users are using for thier workflow options. Lightroom, Aperture, or is there another program you like. Pros and Cons of the program you choose to use.

[Nieton21]

I'll go first,

I use Aperture. I've had it for a month and a half now and I really love it. It was really easy for me to get into and understand. I tried light room and I had a hard time getting going with it. I didn't really like the different sections first upload, second edit, etc. I also really love the user interface on aperture. I have mine set to browser only (somewhat large previews). Then do my editing in full screen mode for the most part. The only gripe I have with Aperture, is sometime I feel I have to wait too much on certain actions, it just doesn't seem to be fast enough. Other then that I love it, and feel both are good products

[ab.bs]

Right now I use Photoshop CS2. But this past weekend I had the opprtunity to go to a Photography and Digital Imaging Show where they showed us how Aperture works. I WANT it sooo bad. But unfortunately, I'm a PC user. In order to get that I will need to purchase a MAC first. I want to get a MAC but I just don't have the cash.

For the Lightroom users... what are your thoughts? Is it better than Photoshop or is it just the same?

[AZ4Runner]

I use a combination of Lightroom and CS2.

Lightroom Pros:
-Workflow is great.
-The controls are intuitive for me (maybe not for everyone) and it gives me a great range of things I can do fairly easy and quickly.
-Importing images, backing up images, sorting images, and preparing prints/web galleries has never been easier for me.
-Keyword tagging and meta data manipulation is spot on and easy.

Lightroom Minus:
-Doing modifications beyond color correction, straightening photos and a few other conversions (b/w, sepia, etc) is difficult in Lightroom. I generally do all of my major work (spot removal, sharpening, etc) in CS2, then bring the new photos back into Lightroom for publication.
-Few tutorials available to walk you through the process.
-SDK (Software developers kit) has not been released yet.
-Sharpening is pretty weak.

Photoshop CS2 Pro:
-If you want to do something with a picture, CS2 has a way (or multiple ways) to manipulate the image to reach your goal.
-There are a ton of tutorials on the net, in books, on video/DVD to help out if you ever get in a bind.
-There are professional organizations you can join for even more resources. --There is a software developers kit for CS2 and plenty of people making aftermarket plug-ins for Photoshop.

Photoshop Cons:
-It's a memory hog. When working in Photoshop, more RAM is better. There are a few things you can do to speed up the performance though.
-It's also pricy (think CS3 is selling for $650 or so new).
-The workflow is not as intuitive as it is in lightroom for digital photographers. You have to figure out what process you want to use, and apply it to the software. Lightroom presents you with a process that was formulated from Adobe's industry research and created for digital photographers.

[McNicks]

I currently use a combination of OSX Image Capture, Adobe Bridge and Photoshop CS2. Image Capture pulls photos from my SD card into an 'incoming' directory, which I then use Bridge to browse over, delete the really awful photos and then add metadata and back up to an archive disk. Then, while I am in Bridge, I launch Camera Raw -> Photoshop CS2 to process photos that are 'potentials'. If the results are good then I rate them in Bridge after saving.

Once I have done that, I filter in Bridge to find the photos that I have rated, back them up and then throw them into a 'pre' directory. I have an Automator action which batch processes the photos in the 'pre' directory, resizing them for upload to Flickr / wherever else.

It works pretty well, although it is a bit long-winded and it requires a bit of discipline to work through. I do find myself lusting after a more integrated workflow application, though.

[Dan Rowe]

I am using Lightroom 1.0 and I really like it. I can't really speak to advantages over Aperture but I can say Lightroom is very easy to use and do many advanced things. There does seem to be a problem that creeps up if you use an Nvidia graphics card with Nvidia drivers but it isn't anything that can't be worked around. It integrates very well with Photoshop but I find myself only editing 3 or 4 pictures in photoshop per import which speaks highly for Lightroom's abilities. I don't think I would have purchased Lightroom had I had to pay full price but if you can get it with and education or some other discount then I think most would be very happy with the software.

[sdjl]

I'm working with Aperture at the moment. I've only had it for about two weeks now, but I'm starting to like it.
The predefined quick keys make doing things a lot quicker and I'm quite impressed with the image editing/adjustment tools.
The spot and patch tool works well and you only need to select the area you want to patch as it works out the correct pixels based on those around it.

Actually getting the images into Aperture is fairly simple and setting ratings, smart albums and stacks enables you to quickly get to the best photos for each of your projects.

I've still got a lot of learning to do, but as a new user to Aperture, I would definately recommend it.

David

[Sime™]

I'm using both Aperture and Lightroom, but, have not been doing so for very long... Used to shoot jpg straight up and faff about in PaintShopPro.. If I had to choose only one to use going forward, i'd have to choose Aperture right now as it just seems a little more streamlined and thought out - things feel like they are where they are meant to be, does that make any sense? Love the way stacks work in Aperture, importing is a piece of cake, workflow is great.. all very simple, but has everything I need (for now) if anyone is interested, I posted a question to a group over on FlickR HERE, asking what people used to upload to flickr.. lots of Aperture / Lightroom etc... makes for an interesting sort of tally.. only if you're interested.

[november]

What about the less expensive software, like Adobe elements 4 or iPhoto? I use Bridge, then edit my selection in Adobe elements but sometimes for printing I find iPhoto easy to use.
iPhoto is great for browsing, making albums, etc. I dont know about the new iPhoto 6?? Anyone?

[welshbaloney]

I'm using Aperture + PS CS3.

A person earlier posed the question about which is better. Frankly, they address different stages of the workflow BUT your needs might dictate Aperture only vs. both. I.e., if you are a bit more advanced in your need to do post-processing, you may find that you need the strengths of PS. Aperture has correction capabilities but it is not positioned as a PS replacement.

On the other hand, if your needs for PP are minor, then Aperture might easily satisfy that need, period.

Then, on to Aperture itself - I use this in my workflow to simply manage/categorize/tag, etc, etc my work. This is not a strength of PS.

So, for me, they both perform discrete and necessary jobs in my overall workflow.

To the question of Aperture vs. Lightroom...to me its more of a philosophical debate. The market for this kind of tool is currently hot, so expect both camps to jockey continually for position in terms of technical features/functions. E.g., Aperture was first with the Loop and with Stacks (both of which I use constantly); Lightroom now has a somewhat decent loop and I expect will introduce a similar stacking mechanism. So, features/functions aside, it comes down to personal preference on things like the workflow WITHIN the application and it's general ergonomics/look and feel. For me, Aperture (currently) excels, here.

Finally (!) a technical consideration might be speed. I find Aperture very slow on my Mac (2GHz iMac PPC with 2GB RAM). I've read that its more zippy on an Intel Mac and one can expect speed improvements in subsequent releases. However, I don't process thousands of shots a day so I can live with this. Your mileage may vary.

Hope this helps.
Tony.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/welshbaloney