Aperture v Adobe Lightroom

[OBJRA10]

So, I downloaded the Beta version of Lightroom today. Anyone else playing with it? I thought I'd share some thoughts about Aperture and Lightroom. Sure, one is a beta, and the other is, well - let's face it, Aperture is basically a beta anyway.

Speed:

Both programs are pretty slow. I honestly would have to give the edge to Aperture - at least on my machine. I imported 833 photos into both, and it took a little less than 2 minutes on Aperture. It took almost 7 minutes in Lightrrom.

Interface:

I'm not a huge fan of Aperture's "feel," but Lightroom is HORRIBLE. It feels like some shareware piece of crap. Also, Aperture is pretty seamless, whereas Lightroom is built around 4 modules and you can only access certain functions/controls in different modules - like iPhoto.

RAW:

Both handled my NEF files fine, but again, Lightroom was horribly slow in making changes to things like exposure, brightness, contract, and saturation. Also, the change increment wasn't something I liked. In Aperture, there is a slider, whereas in Lightroom there's just directional controls, so you have to move it a set increment.

I'd be interested in what anyone else thinks.

I mean, it's free, so I'll play with it, and send in my suggestions, but I'm not sure I'd buy it. Then again, I also regret what I spent on Aperture - wishing I'd have waited until 2.0!

[dutch pear]

Interesting thread! You say both are pretty slow on your machine, so I'm interested to hear your specs.
I have a 20" intel iMac on order (256 mb video ram, 1 gb ram) and am very interested in the upcoming aperture universal to use for my Canon rebel xt photography.
I've read alot about the shortcomings of aperture but still believe it perfectly fits my needs as an amateur photographer who wants more power than iPhoto delivers but does not need photoshop.
If the lightroom beta is equal to aperture in features/usability this is of course a way more affordable option...

So please, enlighten us more!

[drumsticks]

I've experienced quite the opposite actually...

Lightroom was a lot faster on my machine than Aperture. But Aperture has a much nicer user interface of course and is more powerful in terms of functionality.

This was on a PMG5 dual 2GHz (dual CPU, not dual core) with 2GB RAM and 9600XT 128MB.

Eventually, Aperture was a wasted purchase for me. I'm back with Photoshop CS2+iView Media Pro for my photo needs.

[OBJRA10]

Using a dual 2.5 G5 with 2GB RAM

Aperture and Photoshop aren't even close to the same family of products. one is a workflow management, the other a photo editor.

I'd still stick with Aperture, but I really hope some things improve greatly in 2.0

I'm not sure I could get over having to switch between modules in Lightroom - along with the ugliest interface ever!

[bikertwin]

Originally posted by OBJRA10
Using a dual 2.5 G5 with 2GB RAM

Aperture and Photoshop aren't even close to the same family of products. one is a workflow management, the other a photo editor.

I'd still stick with Aperture, but I really hope some things improve greatly in 2.0

I'm not sure I could get over having to switch between modules in Lightroom - along with the ugliest interface ever!

In defense of Lightroom, I'd have to say it's the best interface Adobe ever put together. Of course that's relatively faint praise when you consider Adobe interfaces in general. ;) Really, though, it's much more straightforward than any of their other apps.

I'm tired of people saying how "cheap" it is. Well, yeah, it doesn't do much and it expires in June. It'll cost $200-$600 when it's released. It's not "cheap".

Lightroom was really exciting at first, but the more I used it the more I realized what a pale, pale shadow of Aperture that it is. It's just not very deep. Sure, it's only a beta, but it's easily a year behind Aperture--and surely Apple's Aperture developers are continuing to add more features all the time.

Can Adobe every catch up? I doubt it.

Aperture is much more elegant, much smoother, much more comprehensive. They've really thought of everything. Every time I think, "it'd be nice if Aperture did x", I read the manual or watch the included training DVD and--wow!--they've already implemented that feature.

Aperture took me by surprise and really blew me away. Apple clearly needs to work on a few performance issues, and *really* needs to support more raw formats. But Aperture is amazingly well cooked for a 1.0 version.

I've got dual 2 GHz G5 with a few GB of RAM and an X800 XT AGP card.

[drumsticks]

Lightroom Beta2 just released and is a Universal Binary. Hoozah! Will give it a spin, but it's got heaps more features now...