25 Feb 2010
10:07 pm

LR3 and A3: Scorecard

OK, so I've been spending a lot of time comparing Lightroom 3 Beta and Aperture 3...I even bought Aperture 3. However, I am nearly certain I will still be migrating to Lightroom.

Why the Switch to Lightroom?

In a recent post, Lightroom 3 Beta vs Aperture 3: Tormented Beyond Belief, I outlined my requirements:

Easy photo management of thousands of photos
Easy metadata management (keywording)
Fast and easy photo editing
Beautiful, color accurate output (screen, web, and print)
Robust Export Plugins

In the same post I also shared a mind map where I captured the items that I liked about each product. However, that still was unable to convince me that there was a clear cut winner...so I took that data and applied a score to each and let the total score decide for me. See for yourself...

	Lightroom 3 Beta	Aperture 3
General
Workflow (user interface)		2
Fullscreen mode		2
Built-in support for multiple libraries		2
Library Synchronization (Desktop/Laptop)		2
Higher-user base; more free resources	1
Library size better optimized (smaller)	1
Overall better performance	2
Management
Handles video		4
Easier custom views/filters		1
More import options (time zone, file types, actions)		1
Keywording (adding/managing) easier	2
Editing
Brushes (edge detect)		2
More selective edit options		1
Brush adjustments easier to control		1
Edit history	2
Prefer the built-in presets (better output)	4
Prefer vignette tool	2
Rarely have to modify white balance	4
Output
Photo books		2
Slideshow/video		2
Most plugins save helpful metadata	4
More accurate color management (with web & print)	4
Total Score	26	22

How Did I Score?

I took each item that I captured in the mind map and added it to my spreadsheet. For each item I asked myself, "Compared to my requirements is this item ranked a High, Medium, or Low?". All the lows got 1 point. All the mediums got 2 points. And anything that fit into my top requirements I considered a high so received 4 points to give it more weight.

As you can see in the scorecard, Lightroom better satisfies my needs. Now, does that mean I am migrating my large photo library to Lightroom soon? No. My photos from 2001-2009 (65,138 photos) will remain to be managed by Aperture 3 (for now) and my photos from 2010 and beyond will be managed by Lightroom. This allows me to prolong my comparison and stay on the fence for quite some time and give me an excuse to keep searching for the holy grail.