Mac ladies: Anyone use Aperture instead of Lightroom?
 

So this might be a long shot because I don't think I've seen anyone mention Aperture here, but does anyone here use Apple's Aperture instead of Lightroom?

I'm currently using Lightroom 2 so I figure I'll need to upgrade eventually but since the App Store version of Aperture is cheaper than the Lightroom upgrade now, I thought I would check it out.

I've got about a week left on my trial and so far I think I'm liking it a lot more than Lightroom. It's kind of the old Mac vs PC debate - Aperture just seems to fit better with how I work.

But I've also heard a lot of complaints about Aperture's performance and such so I'd love to hear from anyone who uses it. How do you like it? Have you had any issues? Anyone try it and switch back to Lightroom?

i don't use it - but i've been wondering about it!! i don't use lightroom either, though ... i do all my photo editing in photoshop, and my photo organizing in iphoto ...

could you tell me, lynnette, what you like about lightroom vs. photoshop and/or iphoto?

i was thinking about getting aperture vs. lightroom, though - just b/c i like the interface w/ all my different mac applications ... (movie making, publishing to web, etc) - but i hadn't done much research yet so i hadn't heard any complaints ..

I don't use either one, so I can't compare the two. However, one thing you might consider is that the new Mac operating system is about to be released. I have no idea if you're planning to upgrade, but I've found in the past that some non-Mac programs (especially Adobe ones) don't always integrate well with the newest Mac operating systems at first. When you're talking about plunking down significant dollars for software, I'd at least take that into consideration. Good luck!!

Well my main reason for using Lightroom over iPhoto is that I shoot in RAW and Lightroom/Aperture are both better suited than iPhoto to deal with RAW photos. So I use Lightroom for organizing and basic edits and then finish all my photos with actions in Photoshop.

When I made the switch to my Mac a few years ago, I was already using a Mac/PC version of Lightroom and Aperture was $299 so there wasn't really a reason for me to switch since sticking with Lightroom wouldn't cost me anything. But now that Aperture is only $80 I wanted to give it a shot.

So far what I'm liking about Aperture over Lightroom is it seems so much simpler to use (no more modules!) and I'm getting better edits on my photos with less work. I also like the way the organization works in Aperture (which I think is similar to iPhoto) WAY more than Lightroom. It just seems a lot less clunky overall.

The only downside is a lot of the Aperture vs Lightroom reviews I've seen say they love the user interface of Aperture but that it's either buggy or slow or both to the point where some people end up switching back to Lightroom. I think some of the updates since Aperture 3 came out fixed some of these issues so maybe it's not as much as a problem anymore but that's why I was hoping someone here might have used it. I'm not as concerned about spending the money, I'm more concerned about putting in all the time to organize and such and then having to redo it all in Lightroom again later on. But since no one here, on Facebook or Twitter seems to have used it, I guess I'm on my own. :D

Ooo, yes, good point! I'm not really planning to upgrade Lightroom anytime soon. If I decide to stick with Lightroom I'd hold out for LR 4 (which is at least a year away probably). But I'm working my way through Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom class so that was partly the reason I downloaded the Aperture trial figuring there was no reason to organize my photos in Lightroom again if there might be something I'd like better out there. My debate at this point is really whether to spend the $80 for Aperture now or just stick with Lightroom 2.

I don't have either...yet. But I'm glad you are bring this up because getting one is on my wishlist. One question I have is that some people offer Lightroom presets... are there Aperture presets available out there too?

I'm sure there are some but I think presets were new to Aperture 3 so I don't think there are as many out there yet. I know Totally Rad has said they won't make any for Aperture which is kind of a bummer. That is one advantage of Lightroom - it has a much bigger user base behind it, but then so does Windows, haha.

For me it's not really an issue since I don't use presets in Lightroom either. I prefer using actions in Photoshop since they're easier to tweak and layer.