Now that Apple has come out with a 3.0 version of Aperture, the competition between Adobe Lightroom and Aperture is heating up. From my perspective, there really hasn't been any competition until now. I bought Aperture the moment it was announced, weeks before it was released, before I had heard anything about Lightroom. My early experience with Aperture was horrendous, as were many other users. The program was slow, buggy, and poorly supported. There was, in fact, a mini rebellion among many first adopters about all kinds of issues, including how much the program cost. When Lightroom came out -- and came out as a FREE (did I say FREE) demo -- many frustrated Aperture users, me included, took it for a test spin, migrated, and never looked back.
Until now.
While I haven't taken Aperture 3.0 for a spin yet, I plan to. In fact, while I haven't touched Aperture since version 1.0, I plan to upgrade to 3.0. That's because I want to use Aperture's wedding album / book making functions, which is sadly lacking in Lightroom. And while I'm at it, I also plan to try out some of the new features that people like Chase Jarvis and Joe McNally have been raving about. In advance of purchasing the $99.00 upgrade, I've spent some time watching the tutorials Apple has posted, which are great!
So what, exactly, are the pros and cons? How do these two titans compare to one another? Here's where you can find a few great reviews and feature-by-feature comparisons. The first piece, by Matt Kloskowski, is the best because it includes many real-world comparisons from people who have actually used both programs.
5 Reasons To Stay With Lightroom (And Not Switch To Aperture)
By Matt Kloskowski
Five Reasons For Switching From Lightroom 2 To Aperture 3
By Marco Davi
First Impressions Of Aperture 3
By Thomas Fitzgerald
Apple Aperture 3.0 Awesomeness
By Chase Jarvis
Aperture 3 Was My Idea
By Joe McNally
Apple's Aperture 3 Causing Significant Memory Leak For Many Users
By Seth Weintraub
