2013 has been an interesting year for software. Adobe decided to end perpetual licenses and go to a rental model. Lightroom 5 was released. Aperture did not receive an update. A new version of FCPX was released. In addition, there were updates to both Motion and Compressor.
2013 has also been an interesting year for me personally. In addition to shooting my normal assignments; portraits, sports, theatre, senior sessions, and weddings, I started developing my skills at athlete-composites. I’ve received some great feedback on this new technique and plan to spend more time this year perfecting it.
I spent the last few days of 2013 with my family vacationing at Disneyland - The Happiest Place on Earth! It was a wonderful trip and definitely a vacation to remember. As soon as we returned from our vacation, I was eager to get a quick video put together from the trip. FCPX 10.1 had just been released and this was a great project to kick-the-tires on this new version. I know there are a lot of folks that hate FCPX, and what Apple did to it, but there is one thing they can’t deny — it’s FAST! This new version of FCPX just screams; I couldn’t be happier with it. From import to export, the process is just user friendly and fast. It makes editing fun. This is what I want from my photo editing software as well.
I’ve been a Lightroom user since version 1. I probably spend more time in Lightroom then any other piece of software that I own. I’ve used every version and update since 1.0. I’ve used the program on multiple computers including PC and Mac. There is one thing that has stayed consistent - Lightroom is SLOW! So slow in fact, I had to purchase a copy of Photo Mechanic just to make it usable. I now do all my initial selections and organization in Photo Mechanic before I import to Lightroom. I know that some folks will say it’s my computer, or the way I’m doing things - - To those folks I say try PhotoMechanic for 30 days and we’ll talk. There is no comparison. As a matter of fact, I would be willing to bet that if you went into the media room at any major sporting event you would be hard pressed to find someone running a copy of Lightroom. My guess is that every photographer there is running Photo Mechanic. Why? because Lightroom is too slow.
I’m done. As of 2014, Lightroom is no longer my photo editor of choice. It’s a hard decision, but my recent experience with FCPX has made me realize that less time at the computer means more time doing other things. As much as I like Photo Mechanic, it’s not RAW processing software. I still need a piece of software to replace Lightroom in my workflow. I’ve decided to give Aperture a try. I know, I know, it hasn’t been updated in years. Apple has left the professional community. Aperture is dead. Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not. Only time will tell. And although Aperture hasn’t been updated in years, ask yourself this question: Was Lightroom 4 to Lightroom 5 really a full point upgrade worth $100.00? I upgraded. I can’t say that I noticed much - - Maybe a bit faster? But that’s not hard to do when you are incredibly slow to start with. And let’s be honest, Apple has probably given users more with a free point upgrade than I received with a paid Lightroom 5 upgrade. In addition, I just don’t like Adobe’s rental model. Sure I can buy a perpetual license for Lightroom 5 at the moment, but how long until Adobe says no more. They have made it very obvious that renting software is the only way they want to operate. I like to buy my tools. The rental model may be the future, but this is one area where I don’t plan on being an early adopter.
So there you have it, a new year for change. I’m sure it will be a frustrating learning curve, but I'm hopeful it will be worth it. Although I'm sure there will be things I miss about Lightroom, here are a few things I’m looking forward to with Aperture:
1) Full screen editing - I upgraded to a Macbook Pro Retina this year and desperately want to edit my photos full screen. Adobe Lightroom’s user interface is just clunky with this. Aperture, on the other hand, is beautiful. I can easily make adjustments full screen with just a single slider that appears. Try that in Lightroom. And while we are at it, what is the deal with module organization? I want to make any adjustment at any time. Why does Lightroom make me go to the develop module to crop an image? Should’t I be able to do this whenever/wherever I want? Very frustrating.
2) The loop tool - try it, you’ll LOVE it.
3) Importing photos — I hear Aperture is almost as fast as Photo Mechanic. Looking forward to trying this out myself! Considering how dog-slow Lightroom is at importing photos, Aperture must be faster. How many times have you heard people say just hit import and then go have dinner while you wait. I don’t want to wait, I want to edit. I’ve never heard an Aperture user say they need to wait for import or full previews to render.
4) Ecosystem - Aperture is tied in with the Mac ecosystem. I will be able to browse all my photos from other Mac apps like FCPX. I know the Mac ecosystem isn’t for everyone, but I plan to take full advantage of what it offers.
What I will probably miss from Lightroom:
1) Photoshop integration: Photoshop and Lightroom where made to be used together. That’s going to be a big change.
2) Nose reduction - I hear Aperture is nowhere near Lightroom in this area. I don’t use noise reduction that much, so maybe this wont be much of an issue.
3) Web page - I use The Tuning Gate plugins for all my websites. This is going to be a hard adjustment. Anyone know of some good software I can use for web page development?
4) Print module - Aperture just isn’t up to par with Lightroom's print module.
5) Overall workflow — I’m so used to the Lightroom workflow that I’m sure I will miss it. I find myself wondering just how long it will take to adjust to a new way of doing things.
2014, a year for change. This should be an interesting journey and I hope to share my triumphs and failures on this blog. If you are a new Aperture user, or are thinking of making the switch from Lightroom, bookmark this blog. Let’s figure this thing out together!
JT
