In my opinion, photographers should always shoot raw after all, if you don’t you’re throwing away much of the information your camera captured. Unfortunately, there are literally hundreds of different raw formats and dozens of raw converters on the market. There are also a multitude of products that allow you to edit photographs out of raw. Which should you use? Trying to compare them all be a massive undertaking. Although most major manufacturers have their own raw conversion editing software, and there are a number of small, independent companies with raw conversion and or editing products, three products currently dominate the market: apple aperture 2, Adobe lightroom 2, and Phase One capture one. Even a comparison of onlty these three products is a daunting task. They are extremely sophisticated products with large amounts of tools and functions. It takes time, training, and practice to learn how to use them effectively. One could literally write a couple of books on the subject.

In spite of this, I decided to attempt a comparison based on a set of criteria that I believe will make this article useful. Before launching into the other details about this comparison, however, it is worth nothing a few things. Everything that follow is based on my experience and opinion after working extensively with all three products. I believe that the vast majority of photographers would come to similar conclusion, but there is certainly room for disagreement. Another photographer may dislike a tool I like, or feel more comfortable with the specific product for reasons other than those explored in this article. On the other hand, there are objective criteria, such as the speed to import an image or the quality of raw conversion, where the facts speak for themselves.