# Use Lightroom and Aperture



## amazz (Nov 8, 2011)

Am going to get an 21.5 Imac w/2tb drive and will add extra 8gig ram, would like an ssd,
but apple's prices are way to high, might diy.

The question is, I'm thinking about getting Aperture, I used the demos of aperture and
lightroom, but wanted a laptop and the macbook was/is just to expensive, is anyone using
both, and what are the advantages or downside?
I'm not a working pro, so I don't have to get product to a client.

Any thoughts?

Art


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## Replytoken (Nov 8, 2011)

Art,

I would guess that there are folks who regularly use both programs, but I generally do not hear much from, or about, them.  My questions to you are:

Is there something that LR is not able to do for you?
Is there something that Aperture offers you that LR does not?  Do you wish to take advantage of that feature set?
Do you have the time and desire to learn two programs?

Answers to these questions may help you refine your decision process.  And, there are folks here who have switched software in both directions, so perhaps they can offer you their wisdom.

Good luck,

--Ken


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## johnbeardy (Nov 8, 2011)

I don't think you'll find many people use both, and I wouldn't advise it. I "have" both, but only really "use" Aperture for its slideshow feature, and you do have to be pretty certain of what you're doing.


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## amazz (Nov 8, 2011)

Ken and John,

The short answer is the biggest difference was in the print module in aperture and I don't like the slideshow in lr.
I've always liked the aperture "feel". Learning both programs isn't  a stopper, keeping a good seperate wf would be a must
 It seems like I'm always going down many paths at the sametime, so might not be a good idea.
I should just spend more time taking photos.

Thanks,
Art


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## johnbeardy (Nov 8, 2011)

It is possible to learn both, but I honestly wouldn't bother unless you think it would be an interesting exercise. On a practical level it's like trying to have two wives - you aren't going to be fair to either and are going to hurt yourself along the way. Think about things like keywords, star ratings - how are you going to keep them in sync? What about collections vs Aperture's projects and albums? Do you really want to control your real folders in Lightroom, because Aperture's clunky in this area? Are you ever really going to be proficient in both?

John


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## Hal P Anderson (Nov 8, 2011)

John,

Two wives. Good analogy. 

"And like a man to double business bound
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect."  
       Hamlet, III.iii.41-43

Hal


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## Replytoken (Nov 8, 2011)

johnbeardy said:


> On a practical level it's like trying to have two wives - you aren't going to be fair to either and are going to hurt yourself along the way.



John,

Not to go OT, but your response reminded me of the Star Trek episode with Harcourt Fenton Mudd and the androids ("I, Mudd").  In the end of the episode, "Mudd is officially and indefinitely paroled to the android population, which he finds acceptable until he realizes, to Kirk and his crew's amusement, that not only has the nagging android Stella been reprogrammed not to respond to the command "Shut up!" but there are now at least 500 copies of her." :surprised:

--Ken


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## amazz (Nov 9, 2011)

Thanks for the input, I may do it as an exercise to keep the brain from going stale.
Will see after I get the Imac, I don't need a new computer.

I have a wife and daughter, which is sometimes worst than two wives,
especially when they do that mother-daughter thing, guess who's in the middle?

Art


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## johnbeardy (Nov 9, 2011)

Hal P Anderson said:


> Two wives. Good analogy.



I'm actually the proud originator of comparing digital asset management with serial monogamy....

John


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## clee01l (Nov 9, 2011)

amazz said:


> Thanks for the input, I may do it as an exercise to keep the brain from going stale.
> Will see after I get the Imac, I don't need a new computer.
> 
> I have a wife and daughter, which is sometimes worst than two wives,
> ...


While I don't consider myself much of a Mac expert, I think that it is important to hear the comments from those that do use or have used Aperture in conjunction with LR.  IIRC, Aperture builds a unique non standard folder structure and LR can use the same master original files stored by Aperture in the Aperture location if imported correctly.  OTOH, Aperture can not (to my knowledge) use the same master images if imported into LR first.  If you are going to use LR and Aperture there is no good reason to have duplicate copies of the master original images.


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## Hal P Anderson (Nov 9, 2011)

John,

That would actually be _parallel _monogamy. 

Hal


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## johnbeardy (Nov 9, 2011)

clee01l said:


> While I don't consider myself much of a Mac expert, I think that it is important to hear the comments from those that do use or have used Aperture in conjunction with LR.  IIRC, Aperture builds a unique non standard folder structure and LR can use the same master original files stored by Aperture in the Aperture location if imported correctly.  OTOH, Aperture can not (to my knowledge) use the same master images if imported into LR first.  If you are going to use LR and Aperture there is no good reason to have duplicate copies of the master original images.



Just a correction or update, when Aperture 1 originally came out it did indeed build this "non-standard folder structure". This "managed" method basically sucked your photos into the same folder as the catalogue database/previews and bundled the entire lot into a "package" file. You could look inside the package and find your pictures somewhere in there, but they were generally hidden from view. This was, apparently, a new paradigm. However, Apple received so much criticism (sorry, "listened to their customers") that they quickly backtracked and in 1.1 they introduced a "by reference" way of registering images in Aperture which is similar to how Lightroom has (almost) always been. However, you still do not normally see your folder structure in Aperture - you have to jump through a relocate masters dialog - and you only see your images organised in Aperture's equivalent of collections / sets.

So you can use the same master images. If images are first imported into LR, you can save metadata back to them, and then import them into Aperture "in their existing location". It's not the default, so you have to be careful. You also have to watch out if you add keywords or other IPTC in Aperture. This metadata can be saved back to the masters in Aperture, and then brought back into Lightroom via Read Metadata. However, Aperture writes directly to raw files (despite once promoting the idea that it was a good thing that they didn't do that very same thing) and not to xmp sidecars, so you've got to be happy writing directly into mystery meat raw files and be confident Lightroom will prefer metadata inside the raw file to any that may be in a sidecar. Do you really want to have to learn such detail?

I don't do a lot of slideshows, but I just export finished JPEGs from LR, get them into Aperture and generate the slideshow from there. Afterwards, I'll import the movie file into Lightroom and trash the JPEGs. So to put on my Jeremy Clarkson mask again, it's really just using it for kicks, not living with it too or making breakfast. 

John


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## sizzlingbadger (Nov 10, 2011)

I have used both for a very long time and although I prefer many aspects of Aperture's UI and it's "more complete" management system Lightroom has become my preferred app. Its faster, integrates with PS better and gives me less trouble in general. It also has lens corrections and camera profiles which I can't live without now 

When I rebuilt my Macbook with Lion I didn't even install Aperture. Its still on my iMac but I can't remember the last time I used it.

My guess is LR4 will be catching up in regards of the management side of things anyway.


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## amazz (Nov 10, 2011)

My original intent was getting feedback from people that use both, I only used Aperture 2 demo, but don't remember having duplicate master files, the deal breaker for me was the hardware, not the software. The slideshow in lr maybe okay for a client show and tell, but for my purposes, it was and still is lacking, even pse is better.

making breakfast can be a good thing,

Art


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## johnbeardy (Nov 10, 2011)

I'm not sure any of the other regulars here use both - Nik and to a lesser extent I are the only ones.

John


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## sizzlingbadger (Nov 14, 2011)

I'll keep Aperture for slideshows until LR catches up in that department


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## edgley (Nov 15, 2011)

I use both, but LR does the work on the images and Aperture just handles printing books / preparing photos for idevices - TVs.

I use LR to publish to a folder on my NAS, so if I change any photos AP will update without too much of a hassle.
I might have swapped, but LR just feels more like home to me now.


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## BobRockefeller (Nov 16, 2011)

As has been said, using both may be a waste of your attention. The two are far more similar than they are different and both are hugely competent.

That said, one or the other may have a feature that you just can't live without. Probably they will both have features you can live without (maybe books in Aperture and lens correction and noise reduction in Lightroom). Test them both well. Pick one. Be happy knowing you have a powerful digital photography workflow tool.

Bob


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## Victoria Bampton (Nov 17, 2011)

Hi Bob, welcome to the forum!  Thanks for contributing.


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## johnbeardy (Nov 17, 2011)

If I could pick features from Aperture that I'd like Lightroom to copy... I would take geotagging, books, slideshows (timeline, multiple tracks, Ken Burns), preview mode (hardware accelerated viewing of embedded JPEGs). Also smart albums' ability to target all metadata fields, including adjustment values, and custom metadata fields. Also the funky loupe. But there are things I definitely wouldn't take too - above all lift and stamp, and only working on one brand of computer. It's educational to know both, but you can waste a lot of time doing so.

John


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