Lightroom vs Aperture – All their features compared

Ever wonder what all the differences are between Lightroom 4 and Aperture 3? This article lists all the major differences and explains why you care.

The differences between the two are so small, that in the end you should choose one over the other based on personal preference.

(With this announcement this comparison seems a mute point.)

Choose Lightroom

• if you rely on communities to learn programs (You Tube, Google,  or other photographers)
• if  you frequently shoot at high ISO and constantly need noise correction
• if you frequently shoot at f/1.4 or f/1.2 and need lens corrections for vignetting
• if you frequently shoot wider than 28mm and need lens corrections for distortions
• if custom controls are important to you

Choose Aperture

• if user interface is important to you
• if you dread learning about image workflow
• if you want the convenience of integration with other Apple products

Don’t make the choice based on what they both offer:

• Equally high quality final product in sharpness, color, contrast etc…
• Photoshop export/import ease for single photo edits
• They both protect the color space
• They both preserve the RAW file
• Can do picture wide adjustments (one button for that 70’s look)
• Can share adjustments that apply to the whole image that are user-created
• Feature rich customizable brushes to make local adjustments
• Allow managing a library on an external hard drive
• Have advanced slide show functionality
• Have large user groups making presets (LR list)
• Have cut and paste adjustments (apply adjustments from one picture to another)
• Maps for geolocation information
• Poor community organization of presets

Lightroom 4 and 5 does it

• Lens corrections
• Supports user-created use specific brushes
• Bigger user base
  • more training
  • more presets, picture wide, slide show, etc…
  • more third-party support, (Nik and OnOne plugins)
• Minor video editing capability (some photo edits can apply to video, easing workflow)
• Brushes are additive and you can control flow
• Multiple book templates
• Print presets
• Better noise correction
• Better communication with professional community
• Works better with PS for HDR or time-lapse

Aperture 3 does it

• Better Apple integration
  • iOS import and export
  • Apple TV display
  • sharing with family via photostream
  • Complete integration with iLife and iWork apps
  • iPhoto and Aperture libraries now can be shared
• Seamless workflow with pro video app, FCP 10 (LR does not work with Adobe’s Premiere Pro)
• More complete retina support (as of right now) (LR 4  updated got retina)
• 5 Times faster to import (compared to LR 4 and Photo Mechanic)
• Project based management eases workflow (4)
• Skin tone based White Balance adjustments
• Faces detection; improving Facebook export, slide shows, auto skin WB corrections and book making
• More intuitive and more aesthetically pleasing interface (opinion based statement)
• Goes full screen for editing and does it in one button (LR 4 requires 5 clicks) (Corrected in LR 5)
• Everything is a brush (in LR Noise Reduction, precision Sharpening, precision color correction, etc… aren’t brushes)
• Option for both managed and referenced libraries (Lightroom only does referenced)
• Book printer options – Easier to do and more third-party integration
• Easier full backups with Vault option (credit to JaakkoL) LR backs up the catalog but does not back up the pictures natively.
• Slide show has fewer options but it works much better. Aperture sees faces and intelligently fills frame. It integrates video into slide shows. LR forces zooms ruining portraits and can’t play video at. (Corrected in LR 5)
• Shows Auto Focus point used. (LR now has a plug here that’s in beta to do this. I tested it and it works great.)

And the “That’s Ridiculous Award” goes to…

1. Lightroom- for making me click, tab, f, f, l, l to get full screen (Improved in LR 5)
2. Aperture- for not being able to fix my lens vignettes and distortion
3. Lightroom- for not playing video in Slide show mode (Fixed in LR 5!)

More

If you’d like to read more about what I think is in store for Aperture 4 based on these differences [check this out]. To see how these difference affect a photographer, read here, to see how they affect a videographer, read here, to see why I chose Lightroom read this. How to switch from Aperture to Lightroom here. And now (Oct 2014) Adobe has a switching plugin to help you.

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4

Tags: Aperture 3, Aperture 3 vs. Lightroom 4, aperture 3 workflow, Aperture 3.3, Aperture 4, Aperture vs Lightroom, Final Cut Pro, iPhoto, Lightroom, Lightroom 4, Lightroom 4 vs. Aperture 3, Lightroom Presets, Lightroom vs aperture, Lightroom workflow