Lightroom 3 Alternative

I can't swing $299 on software right now, whats the next best program?

If you are using an Apple computer then Aperture III is $79 from the Apple store. Aperture is as good if not better than Lightroom. (Subject to differences of opinion.) As a photographer Aperture does 95% of all the post processing I need. The other 5% is done with a Photomatix Pro HDR plug-in.

No Apple here. Been looking at Photoshop Elements 9 for $99. Anyone using that?

I guess in a way, I'm surprised Apple hasn't ported aperture to the PC. I've heard a lot of good things about it, but I've never had the ability to try it, because I don't own a Mac.

You can get better deals on Lightroom, but you might be saving $50-75, not a huge difference - unless you or a child are a student at a university with significant student discounts.

You can also try LR3 for a month for free from Adobe if you think you could swing it in a month, just as another option.

I think I remember paying $119 for my lightroom, bought it from some place overseas, and never had any issues with the product key and it is registered with adobe. Another alternative is to get a student/academic version. Check some of the different oem software suppliers. I believe that the software manufacturers sell their products at different prices in different countries to be competitive. Nothing wrong with explore download prices as long as you get a legitimate license.

Are you looking for a photo management program or a post processing program? Two different things. Elements 9 is not a photo management program. That's why Adobe came out with Lightroom. Elements, Photoshop, and Bridge do have basic management functions but they are not that great. I need a photo management program. I shoot 8 to 12 thousand RAW (NEF) photos a year. I currently have over 30 thousand RAW shots to keep track of, and that's after some very judicious deleting. Only a photo management program like Lightroom, in my case Aperture, can handle those numbers.

Until I got my Lightroom, I was using Picasa. You can't beat the price (Free Download) and the newest version will support Raw Data Files from a number of cameras including Nikon.

johnwartjr said:

I guess in a way, I'm surprised Apple hasn't ported aperture to the PC.

Click to expand...

You've just uncovered the major flaw in Apple's business plan.

All I really need is post processing mostly. Maybe my 11 year old can get the student discount on Lightroom!

I have been using Bibble from Bibble Labs. It's fast and works really good. Lots of plugin (lots of free one too).There isn't a brand new version every year like Lightroom, but Bibble brings new features very often. So if you buy their version 5, you will get all the free updates with new features until they switch to version 6 which should be in 2-3 years.

Lightroom is good, too, which I could try. Aperture I heard good things about it.