I just have to say that C1 just reminds me of Aperture to look at. It’s a great program but even though I’m not personally impressed with Abode for numerous reasons, the catalogue system being right up there in LR5, BUT…
I’m sorry but I sold my soul to Satan and took the $9.99 subscription. I mean PS CC 2015 and now CC LR6 with Bridge thrown in. I’m on a pension, ,C1 is an excellent program but €13 ($18 Australian Dollars) a month or to buy it outright for €229 ($324AUD) is too much. I still wouldn’t pay that if I was still working ether. Adobe has locked down the mass market for now with their photography deal and it is an excellent product now. Actually onOne’s Perfect: Photo Suite 9 is quite good for preset type work, for ideas and flicks very quickly to and fro from both PSCC and LRCC if you don’t like plug-in.
I must commend Pixelmator on the AWESOME job they’ve done. Aside from GIMP (which is free) it would easily have to be the hands down winner for the cheapest most powerful software available to purchase outright. What is cost now, like $30? and performs the majority of PS most basic used photographic functions. Have you seen how good it’s version of content aware is. In the capacity of removing objects from an image now. I think they deserve awards and with their low prices if they made a complimentary Aperture or LR style package, they might really gain some ground in the market.
I’ll never stop using my Topaz Labs or NIK plug-in’s though. I know a lot of people hate Topaz Labs but they seriously have some awesome packages and I still can’t find anything better than DeNoise 5 and it’s been years.
Good luck choosing, I did mine about a year ago now and I still regret one thing, WHY did apple ever ditch Aperture? I’m going to stick around in the back ground to keep an eye on photos but I don’t think they want to scare people away from it and develop it too much further to be honest.
FWIW, the current price in the UK is about the same as Lightroom. I’m a pensioner too, but not so keen to reach death that I want to lose a year adapting to the Adobe Way. COP seems a better transition from Aperture.
Judging by the quality of the technical support even before I downloaded the trial, it seems to be a miracle that with perhaps a tenth of the user base (ie a tenth of the income) they provide such a brilliant product.
Each to his or her own.
d.
Considering the chunks of money we usually sink into gear like lenses, I think the pricing differences between the software packages are practically irrelevant.
Aperture was a bargain though, looking at the whole package.
I think taking that thought a step further COP rendering plus a bottom of the range DSLR will give you better results than Aperture rendering plus a top of the range DSLR
d.