[Polandspring88]

So I just picked up a new Macbook Pro a week and a half ago and am still trying to figure out if I want to get Aperture 3 or Lightroom 3 for my photo editing/organizational purposes. I've checked through the reviews and and comparisons but can't seem to find anything to sway me either way. Impressions from my trial periods so far...

Aperature:
- more user friendly interface
- does a good job placing files
- better post processing options
- video
- had a single crash when launching HDR Efex Pro
- seems to bog down and lag during brushing operations
- only $80

Lightroom:
- greater range of adjustment
- doesn't interface well with mac file structure
- quicker
- $150 at the moment

Computer is a MBP with a 2.5 Ghz i5 processor and 4GB RAM. Planning on upgrading to 8GB of RAM shortly.

Anyone have opinions/experience that can help me out? I'm struggling with which one to choose.

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

MS Paint

 

[Quo Fan]

I have a PC and currently using Lightroom 2.7. I also have Photoshop CS5 somewhere, but I hardly ever use it. I've never tried Aperture.

 

[Transcend]

I muh prefer lightroom. My current work gallery for 2011 is a hair over 40 000 images with one huge event to go. Aperture wasn't a fan of my massive catalogs. It also only works on a mac, which is great as I run macs, but cross platform compatibility could be big in a pinch. I also like the way it works hand in hand with the rest of the CS5 suite for other applications.

 

[H8R]

Currently into a few days of the Lightroom trial. I really dig it. I used Nikon ViewNX 2 for awhile but it was really buggy/slow. Lightroom is way snappier and has given me no problems yet.

This is on a Core i5 650 desktop with 8gb of ram btw.

I do like the Nikon to Nikon relation from the camera to the software in ViewNX. All the picture controls in the camera have corresponding settings in the software.

Haven't tried CaptureNX yet.

I think Lightroom might be a keeper. I don't really use Photoshop so I can't speak about the integration.

Bonus: Lightroom will do tethered shooting.

Bonus bonus: Lightroom bundled with Intuos4 medium tablet for $400:
http://www.wacom.com/en/Products/Intuos/LightroomBundle.aspx

 

[Polandspring88]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Given your experiences, and a few more days playing with them both, I think I will get Lightroom 3 despite costing $100 more than Aperture 3. Seems to be a more structured, stable and refined program.

Question for those using Lightroom on a Mac, how do you have your import file structure set up? Right now I have an alias folder on the desktop set to grab the originals from my iphoto library since that is currently what I am using to pull the pics from my camera. Given that the structure of the iphoto library consists of original folders > year > day > some random number, whatever I import into Lightroom has some goofy file structure that needs to be renamed. So far I cannot find an elegant workaround for this issue...

 

[Transcend]

I ingest directly into lightroom from memory cards, in mass quantities. If you have large volumes it may be better to ingest into photo mechanic for easy deletion. Lightroom ingestion is a bit slow as it builds the catalog, keywords, makes thumbs etc all at the same time.

 

[Polandspring88]

Good call, I just reorganized everything to get rid of the links through iPhoto. Spent a whole bundle of time editing photos, stacking, keywording, and rating, it's a great piece of software. Ordered my copy through Amazon this morning, pretty pumped to step into the wonderful world of modern computing (coming off a 7 year old PC)!