Lightroom 5 V's Aperture, which is the lesser of two evils Adobe or Apple

[Steven Kemp]

With Adobe moving more and more monthly licensing and little recent development in Aperture which ( if any) offers the better value/option in the long term?

I use Photoshop Elements 9 but find the use of masks slow and somewhat complex. (Nik plugins for PE make life easier) but now PE also seems to be moving into a monthly licensing direction this seems also to offer a poor longer term option.

Adobe say LR will stay out of creative cloud but I can't say I trust this advice much.

Is there any other PP tool I should look at?

Steve

[Kym]

Lightroom is still a standalone product and does not require a CC license

[Steven Kemp]

For now!
S

[arthurking83]

I guess it depends on the features that are required of the software!

Keep it simple, and use the simplest software(well that's my excuse for using CaptureNX2 ).

Paintshop Pro, is a decent alternative to Photoshop.
There are literally hundreds of other raw converters for you to try and no matter what 'we' advise and comment about, it may not suit your editing style.

I think the best option is to use the trial period offered by many software vendors to it's fullest and make a decision based on your preferences.

FWIW: I've had a negative outlook towards Adobe software since coming to digital, as their software is/was/has been bloated and glacial in it's operation, not to mention the convoluted and sometimes counter intuitive workflow process. But I don't mind Lightroom(4 for me). I don't like it as much as some other software I have and have used. But it's not as awkward to use as Photoshop was, yet does maintain some options only an imbecile would dream up!
(silly stuff ... like the need to import an image rather than simply opening the image ... and Ctrl-E to save an image .. typical idiotic Adobe practices )

I wouldn't try to solve the issue in the same manner as you're using here .. irrespective of which of the two software giants are the lesser of two evils.
Does the software work for 'ya? (that's all that is important).
That's the important question to solve.

Are Apple planning on altering their software pricing model to match Adobe's? If not, and you don't mind Aperture's workflow .. then that seems to be the logical option.

But there are plenty of free options out there .. not many folks take the time, or have the inclination, to give them a chance.
Everyone has a preference for one or another .. so far I'm liking RawTherapee as it produces some high quality rendering of Nikon NEF files.

[Dazz1]

But there are plenty of free options out there .. not many folks take the time, or have the inclination, to give them a chance.
Everyone has a preference for one or another .. so far I'm liking RawTherapee as it produces some high quality rendering of Nikon NEF files.

+1 We'll have to start a Rawtherapee hints and tips thread