Now that Adobe is going to start selling Lightroom I can't keep using the free Beta forever. Does anyone have experience on both Aperture and Lightroom? I am curious what your likes/dislikes are and what your preferences are.

 

I realize I'm a special case (in more ways than one ), but Apple refuses to support my Pro Kodak camera's RAW files whereas Adobe has always supported it from the beginning. Adobe IMHO seems to do a much better job of supporting all of the latest camera models, so if and when you upgrade, you'll have the support already there (may require an update download). I'll be purchasing Lightroom this month.

 

I've been using Aperture for a little while now on my MacBook. The screen's a little on the small side for that app, but it works fairly well. It really taxes your hardware, though. Dunno if Lightroom's less resource intensive. This 'Book doesn't have a dedicated graphics chip, so that definitely slows things down a bit. I'm not sure what Apple's stance is on Kodak cameras is, but when the Rebel XTi (aka 400D) came out, they released an update to the OS's RAW support pretty quickly.

 

I like Lightroom a LOT better. First of all, aperture requires a VERY fast mac. Lightroom even ran well enough on my 867 G4. Another significant thing is that lightroom can leave your photo files in place. Aperture copies them into its library like iphoto does. And I think lightroom does a lot better on the detailed adjustment and range of tools offered. Sadly, they are both missing things and I end up using photoshop just as much. (Please add curves with a dropper!)

 

Currently I am using Lightroom on my 12" G4 Powerbook, which is not recommended for Aperture. It does look like some more features will make their way into the release that were not in the last Beta.

 

Lightroom is only going to get bigger and better. Remember, this is made by Adobe, the people the KNOW photo editing. Lightroom is married to Photoshop and works great. In my opinion Lightroom works better than Adobe Bridge and uses less memory for looking at photos for editing.

Aperture had many problems when it first came out and the last I heard they were still trying iron some of the bugs out. I personally don't know any pro photographer that is using Aperture, or I should say, used it and stuck with it. Most pro photographers use Photo Mechanic. This right now is the standard editing software used by many sports photographers and other photojournalists. You can download a 14 or 21 day trial version of this software from CameraBits.com. Software price $149.00. This too can be used with Photoshop or other photo editing software with just a click of the mouse. Until I have more time to perfect my skills with Lightroom, I still use Photo Mechanic on a daily basis. It has many great features for viewing and editing your images even without the use of Photoshop.

Bottom line: Buy and use what works best for you. Everyone has different needs and skill levels for editing their photos or digital files.

 

Josh, you should check out the latest version. 1.5.2 runs adequately on my 2GHz MacBook (w/ 2G of RAM); it's not blistering fast, but it is completely usable. And in version 1.5 they Apple added support for "referenced files" which allows you to keep your files anywhere you like. It gracefully handles files in offline volumes, too. There is a free 30 day trial of 1.5.1 available from Apple's site.

 

that's my point, it's not even fast on a dual 2ghz machine.
It's missing too many important features.
Oh yeah, and it is expensive too.
I'm glad they can now reference files, but too little, too late.
It's main purpose was to kick adobe into gear and hand out lightroom.

 

Aperture and Lightroom are the same price, $299 (although Lightroom's got an introductory price of $199 for a little while).

 

My opinion was formed when Aperture was $399 and Lightroom was free. :D
I assume light room will also be included free with PS CS3.
But I stopped using lightroom again because it still wasn't replacing photoshop for my use (thereby adding more steps), and only using it for comparison/organization. I can achieve that with cheaper/free software.

 

I haven't spent much time with Lightroom yet, but I think Aperture is a really user-unfriendly app at the present stage. I'm guessing Apple will totally re-haul it for version 2. I sure hope so at least!

-Andy

 

I think both are extremely complex and you have to invest some time in getting to know how to use them. There are tons of adjustments you can make to each image, and many keyboard shortcuts that become second nature after a while. I haven't spent much time with Lightroom since beta 2 or so, but I think Aperture's fairly well laid-out, myself.

 

I use Aperture on my MacBook with 2gb ram. I think it's a great app. I recently went to the Chicago Autoshow and took a ton of photos. With Aperture I can very quickly sort through them, rank them, and tweak them. I also recently went to the Air & Space Museum in DC, and it's fairly dark in there, even with a flash it's tough to get a decent photo out of the camera. With Aperture I was able to save dozens of photos very quickly that would have been to much work to adjust in Photoshop Elements (I haven't used full Photoshop in a few years). I tried the Lightroom beta, but the interface just didn't appeal to me. I'm not sure how Lightroom works, but Aperture does all the adjustments to the photo on the fly. You can have multiple versions and you can easily revert back to the original or tweak and a setting. It's pretty cool concept and that's the reason for it needing some good horsepower to run well.