Aperture or lightroom

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stevem

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Name
Steve
Edit My Images
Yes
Have an Imac and would like to know should I buy Apple Aperture or Lightroom as my editing software?

Thanks
 
stevem said:
Have an Imac and would like to know should I buy Apple Aperture or Lightroom as my editing software?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I recently bought a Mac and have the same dilemma, but before I purchase, I have decided to wait a bit longer and see if Apple announce a new version of Aperture. There is an announcement tomorrow (22nd) of some new releases, so ever hopeful that Aperture might be there.
 
I was quite surprised at iphoto's editing abilities. For basic changes it is pretty good. The healing tool works well too.

You can set up iphoto to use an external editor like Gimp too. That's worth investigating as an alternative if iphoto's organisation ability is acceptable. It also deals with RAWs a lot better than it used to.

If you use photostream then aperture is your only choice from the two as lightroom can't upload or download from photostream easily. You can only download with a load of faff.
 
I started using Aperture but then bought Lightroom as it has more features that I actually use (like the lens correction).

I have a suspicion that Apple might update Aperture fairly soon as they'll be announcing release details of the new Mac Pro shortly, possibly tomorrow. If they're going to update Aperture it would make sense to tie it in with that imo.
 
Would be nice if they did update the software line, a new iWork, iLife, Aperture etc, Aperture can be handy as most LR plugins work with it but I still switch between LR and Capture One (certain perks but prefer Capture One as LR just seems too annoying to just edit a simple photo)
 
I really enjoy using both. Lightroom 5 has better camera calibration features and a perspective control function that is great for straightening images with ease. Aperture is far easier to get to grips with though and integrates better with the mac OS
 
It depends what you do but my preferences are:

* Landscape - 99.9% Lightroom
* Weddings - 95% Lightroom
* Real estate - 100% Lightroom
* Headshots/portraits - 50% Photoshop / 50% Lightroom

In short, It is all pretty much lightroom. I would say Aperture is stuck well in the past and I am not holding my breath until the next release. The best they could do is to make it free and open source (which won't happen)
 
Currently an Aperture user, but will be moving to Lightroom & Elements in a month or so. Aperture has been great to learn with but the Adobe products have committed roadmap and bigger user community so it's easier to learn and develop your PP skills.
 
ding76uk said:
Don't hold your breath on a new Aperture. Too long between versions.
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Maybe, maybe not, a new version was mentioned at the apple keynote today, but after more research most people think it's really just an update to version 3.5.
 
ding76uk said:
I think it is just version 3.5 but am interested if it is a full update to see how it compares to LR
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I don't have my mac at the moments as is packed in storage while I move house, but will be getting the update ASAP.
 
I'm an aperture 3 user and like it but it is falling a long way behind Lightroom in terms of capability these days. It's getting on for three years old and the game has moved on. If I was starting from scratch, I'd go with LR5 though I do find some elements of that frustrating too.
 
Anyone tried Darktable? It's free and emulates a lot of what LR/Aperture can do. :)
 
I tried Aperture out, liked the trial so got the full version

Shortly after went back to Lightroom - it just seems more intuitive to me, I get on with it a lot easier
 
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