Adobe Bridge vs. Lightroom vs. Aperture

[bbbflash]

Hi guys. I took my new 70D to our dog trial on Sunday. It was the first outing and a test run. Ended up taking over 1300 photos. This brings me to a question as the best way to manage the photos. I am new to photography so there will probably be some culling required, but I am now wondering what the best way to go through all the photos. I have Photoshop and Adobe Bridge, but I have not used much in years. Does anyone use Bridge or recommend it. What are the difference between the program's? And advice and suggestions would be great. I will post some photos soon as I want some CC. Thanks!

 

[fotomonkey]

I never cared for Bridge. When I was on Windows I used Lightroom and didn't have any complaints. Now that I'm on a Mac I use Aperture but it's going away.

I'll add more when I'm not on the phone.

 

[bbbflash]

I had a quick look during lunch. My cs5 version doesn't have the extension to view raw files. I didn't look into it much, but it appears that I need to update to creative cloud for Lightroom, get aperture, or play around with them in iPhoto. Glad I didn't take a paid gig and find this out. I am curious to know what you guys would suggest for editing software. I do have cs5 and I am not too interested in upgrading to a subscription based service as I do not make enough in graphic design and now photography to justify a monthly expense.

 

[SpikeyJohnson]

I think you might be able to get lightroom as a stand alone but if not the $10 a month photoshop+lightroom deal rocks. That is the CC version and they will receive updates as long as you decide to keep the software (and subscription).

 

[a_auger]

It's been mentioned before, but Lightroom is the way to go if you want to organize large libraries of photos. Judging on what you've said, I get the feeling you want something long-term to organize your library.

This video completely changed the way I saw the LR Library module. It explains just about everything about how to organize your stuff and the various settings and options available to you. It's a little older and features Lightroom 4, but everything there applies to the recent LR5 and its updates...

 

[fotomonkey]

I think you might be able to get lightroom as a stand alone but if not the $10 a month photoshop+lightroom deal rocks. That is the CC version and they will receive updates as long as you decide to keep the software (and subscription).

I'd likely go with Lightroom also and will probably start converting my Aperture library before long. I believe Apple is about a year out from their next iteration of imaging software. fwiw iPhoto is going away at the same time. Both products are being replaced by a single application. Taking this into consideration it doesn't make a lot of sense to head down this path only to face a migration in the future. I just never got a feel for Bridge. It seemed clunky and more of a pain than a pleasure to use. Of course this was several years ago and things may have changed. However, even though I'm on CS6 and have a much nicer machine I still find myself ignoring Bridge and never even think about it as an option.

You can still purchase LR standalone. I haven't used it since v3 so I'll be upgrading to 5 sooner rather than later. I found myself spending more time in LR than I did in PS and I absolutely loved messing around in CS so that was sort of a shock for me. I found LR to be a very capable program. I'd shoot a ton of images each weekend when I was shooting youth soccer leagues and LR made it easy to move through them quickly to cull the herd, make any quick adjustments, and then prepare them for the online galleries. In all honesty the only reason I switched to Aperture is to embrace the Mac life. I actually run both, though. My old stuff is still in the LR library.

I might also suggest picking up a copy of The DAM Book from Peter Krogh which discusses the topic of Digital Assets Management. I have the original version and it's very good. The first edition talks a good bit about the DNG format (not sure if this ever really took off or not) but the concepts apply fairly generically regardless of which format you choose to shoot.

Looks like I have a new video to watch. I have a lot of dust to knock off my LR skills.

 

[CameraClicker]

I like Bridge. I also like Canon's Zoom Browser EX and Photo Mechanic. I tried Lightroom a couple of times and we did not get along. For noise and perspective correction, I like DxO. I don't like proprietary storage systems so the operating system is used for file organization.

 

[The_Traveler]

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom vs. The Adobe Bridge

Side-by-side software comparison: Digital Photography Review

 

[KmH]

My cs5 version doesn't have the extension to view raw files.

CS 5 includes 2 plug-ins -the Raw file converter Camera Raw 6 and Bridge.
Camera Raw can be hosted by both Bridge and Photoshop.

Camera Raw and Lightroom Develop module are the same application - Adobe Camera Raw or ACR.

Both Photoshop and ACR have had many improvements since CS 5 which is also known as Photoshop 12.
The current version is Photoshop CC 2014 (Photoshop 15, ACR 8.6)
Both Photoshop CC 2014 ans LR 5 are included with Adobes Photography Program @ $9.99 a month or $119.88 per year.

 

[Didereaux]

First Dl the Canon Digital Professional Editor (the 3.x version is for crop sensor, and the 4.x is for full frame) That does a really nice job for editing and you can do a rudimentary management job emulating the normal Windows Explorer method. IF you want to go to a full blown cataloger, and editor then go with a copy of LR 5.6 (Why in the world would anyone put their photos on the cloud and have to pay rent FOREVER to get access?...go with LR 5.6 and keep it all at home!). As for Bridge there has never been a non-buggy, efficient version of that bloatware.

I have all Canons 6D & 7D I first off load from the camera using Canon Utility (comes in the Canon software package which is downloadable. Get the 3.x version, and if you need to edit full frame then DL the DPP 4.x editor as stand alone. Then I open that file in LR and sort and catalog, and mark for export(copy) to a work folder where I use the DPP editor, and if necessary then in Photoshop.

 

[bbbflash]

Thanks for all the info. After searching around, it appears that one of the issues with my CS5 not reading my files is the CR2 format that my 70D creates. My cs5 won't read that file type and when I try to update my camera raw from adobe, it is telling me that I am as up to date as possible and if I want to update further, I have to go to CC which I do not want to do. I am searching around to see if anyone knows if I buy lightroom 5 as a stand alone software, will it work with my 70d and the cr2 files? Will it update my my adobe suite so that I can further us PS if I need to? Thanks for all the help.

 

[Derrel]

Thanks for all the info. After searching around, it appears that one of the issues with my CS5 not reading my files is the CR2 format that my 70D creates. My cs5 won't read that file type and when I try to update my camera raw from adobe, it is telling me that I am as up to date as possible and if I want to update further, I have to go to CC which I do not want to do. I am searching around to see if anyone knows if I buy lightroom 5 as a stand alone software, will it work with my 70d and the cr2 files? Will it update my my adobe suite so that I can further us PS if I need to? Thanks for all the help.

CONVERTING your Canon's raw files to Adobe's .DNG format would be the easiest work-around I can think of. It would allow you to stay with CS2, and still edit high bit-depth, raw files. Adobe has a free DNG Converter software for download over the internet. This deliberate cutoff of older cameras is the leverage Adobe has used for years to force users to upgrade from perfectly viable software versions. Part of being the 800 pound gorilla is extorting the users now and again for more and more and ever-more bananas...

 

[KmH]

Because Adobe provides the free .DNG converter, no one is forced to upgrade their version of Photoshop.
So calling Adobe's practice of not making new Raw files backwards compatible - extortion - is ludicrous.

Indeed, limiting or eliminating backwards compatibility is a common software industry practice.

With CC subscription and Adobe's Photography Program we now get every new feature and new camera's new Raw file protocol as soon as it is ready for release.
We used to have to wait 18 to 24 months for a new Photoshop version to be released.

Plus, not making updates/upgrades backwards compatible is common in many industries other than the software industry.

 

[Derrel]

Sorry, but Adobe's very proficient in extortion. Adobe's recent, "Hey, guess what, we want to charge you all fifty dollars a month for life!" was a good example of an extortion plan that failed miserably. And they reduced the price to what???Oh, to under TEN DOLLARS per month.

Adobe doesn't need any more apologists for its bullying business practices. Adobe doesn't need any more people on forums who try and convince everybody that Bridge is,"Just the same as Lighrroom, " either. Please save it.

With the old model of software ownership, Adobe HAD TO offer some real, genuine improvements every couple of years, in order to sell new versions of their bloatware. Now? Not so much...they can suck off that big huge teat for years with no need to make any more actual "sales"...and just hang on by slowly sucking $10, or $15, or $20, or maybe someday, $50 off the credit and debit cards of millions.

And yes, deliberately failing to update a major purchase propgram to support dozens of cameras that are pretty recent is a form of leveraging...a nice way of saying "extortion".

 

[pixmedic]

I gotta say, there was absolutely no way I was going to pay $50 a month for photoshop. I has planned to just stick with CS5 and LR4 until Adobe dropped the CC subscription to $10.

Now with CC at least I can open the D7100 raw files right in PS instead of converting them first. Sure, the converter is free....but Adobe cuts of newer camera raw support to their top tier professional software? Just as they release the CC at $50 a month? Coincidence? I think not. I realize Adobe is not alone in this business practice, but it does not make it any less crappy.

Anyway, for $10 a month I have been pleased with the new PS and LR versions. Especially photoshops healing tool.