If you have a Mac or an iPad, then you already have everything you need.
For high-volume batch edits and deep camera integration, Lightroom wins.
But for pretty much everything else, youll find Apples Photos app to be surprisingly capable.
Lifewire / Charlie Sorrel
Organization
Photos and Lightroom are combo editing/organizing apps.
you might search by camera and lens model, but you also can search for picture elements.
You also can view albums of your friends and family, automatically created via machine learning.
Charlie Sorrel / Lifewire
Adobe uses the cloud, along with all the privacy issues it entails.
For high-volume batch edits and deep camera integration, Lightroom wins.
Otherwise, Photos is more than good enough.
Plus, you get iCloud Photo Sharing, and deep, deep integration with your Apple devices.
Lightroom is definitely more powerful when it comes to editing images.
If you need these tools, then you need Lightroom.
But before you jump, try Photos.
It could well be plenty good enough.
Raw
Both Lightroom and Photos will handle raw image files.
That is, they can decode, display, and edit the raw sensor files from pro-level cameras.
They both use their own “demosaicing” engines for this, and each has its quirks.
But once you get over this, both apps are great at editing raws.
Its hard to import your JPG and raw files independently, for example.
One workaround is to use the Macs Image Capture app for imports, but that doesnt work on mobile.
If youre a very heavy raw+JPG user, then, Lightroom is a better bet.
As weve seen, Photos is incredibly capable, within some odd limits.
If you dont bump up against those limits, then youll love it.
For more specialized needs, though, youll need the more specialized features of Lightroom.
Or you may just prefer the way it works.
But dont jump before you try out Photos.
You may be surprised how deep it goes.
