Any Aperture users here?

2blue4u

2blue4u

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John
Edit My Images
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I'm now doing what I should have done a couple years ago - buying Canon!

And I'm taking the opportunity to have a good clearout of rubbish and try to better organise what's left. In future, I only want to do photo work on the mac. Part of my disorganisation is due to using both XP and OS-X. But only a small part - most of it is down to me.

I've been looking at Aperture which seems to fit my needs. I do like what I'm reading - http://www.apple.com/aperture/overview/ - and I think I'll make use of their 30 day trial.

Any Aperture users here care to share their experience?
 
I think Pete is an aperture user, as is SDK? I'll give them a nudge in this threadly direction.
 
I do have it, but am currently using Lightroom. One thing I do like about Aperture though is the fact you can get loads of add-ons or plug-ins for it from the Apple site. If you look in the downloads section, you'll see Aperture listed there and you should see plenty of these for it.

Can't really comment much as I haven't used it in depth, but I am tempted to use it for a trial.
 
I am currently trying to decide between Aperture and Lightroom - am not really sure whether either of them have any major features that are missing in the other. I prefer the look of lightroom in general but there are a few things I think I prefer in aperture (it looks like the organisation of keywords is better and it has built in backup software).

Its a bugger of a choice really, and neither of them are particularly cheap for a hobby photographer like me.
 
I've not used lightroom, Pete Carr now uses lightroom as he said aperture started to slow down.
I've come from Pc to mac using Capture one RAW converter and iView media pro for catalogueing. I got Aperture with the Mac and so far I'm really happy with. I've got presets to email to my pic agency. I've been coming back about 12:00 from assignments, with 200-400 shots, which I have to get down to 30-50. Normally by 2:30 they are captioned sorted and emailed to the agent. With caputure one alone I'd have still been converting the raw files at that time, only to email them in the morning rather than that night. I must also note that the mac (not top of the range though) is far more specified than the ageing pc was. My only grip is that I cannot see how to stop the sharping easily, I have to do it for each picture, or lift and stamp. Capture one I just switched of sharping in the preferences box.
 
I did switch from Aperture to Lightroom because LR was really quite sluggish. I've now got my workflow nicely set in LR and my black and white preset is lovely. They both do the same thing, after a fashion. I would suggest you try both and see which you prefer. The beauty of LR is the library is PC compatible too whereas Aperture you're locked to a Mac. Its just that extract bit of security. If your Mac broke anyone with a computer could help you access your library.
 
Thought I did :D Aperture's library is only accessible via Aperture which only comes for OSX. Lightroom's library is accessible from both a PC and a Mac since it ships for both platforms. I had a time when my Mac broke and I sent it in for repairs. I have a PC lying round here but at the time I was using Aperture. If I was using LR I could have continued working with 0 downtime. I prefer to have my images and metadata as accessible as possible. Lightroom's library is also based on your filesystem so you can have that as a backup too. Things are still organised. Aperture's isn't. I love LR but I need to know that if it broke I could still work.
 
Thanks for the replies so far. Very informative and food for thought.

The 'just a mac' issue isn't really an issue for me as I also have a macbook on which all key progs and data is duplicated for when I'm on hols. (I'm sad - and carry on working when on hols)
 
I also have another spare Mac, but I like to play it safe :) The speed and metadata issues were my main problem though. Lightroom was noticebly faster and exported metadata automatically. At the time, may have changed now, Aperture didn't save metadata to files so it was all locked inside. I like the ability to browse my library with Bridge and still see files rated and keyworded. May be different now.
 
Cheers Pete. I see what your saying now.
That is one thing that kinda bothers me from iView where I could still access the file from anyother program, and find it on the hard drive. where with Aperture you can't. And It also means your stuck with Aperture and can't move your library elsewhere, unless you use referenced files , i suppose.
Whay I thought you comment meant, if your Mac broke people could steal your files. But what you mean is, anyone with pc or mac can access your files with the LR filing systems, With Aperture, they must have Aperture, and the vault is only usful with aperture.
Is that correct?
 
Aperture is a godsend. Simple as. I hav thousands of images from dozens of weddings in the library, all keyworded, ranked, sorted and edited. By simply clicking a few boxes I can bring up any type of image I want in less than 10 seconds.

Brilliant.

You will need at least 2GB of RAM and a dedicated video card to run it smoothly though. My Macbook struggles at times. But nothing drastic.

I also use Lightroom for my Aviation photographs as its workflow suits it better.
 
natjag said:
Cheers Pete. I see what your saying now.
That is one thing that kinda bothers me from iView where I could still access the file from anyother program, and find it on the hard drive. where with Aperture you can't. And It also means your stuck with Aperture and can't move your library elsewhere, unless you use referenced files , i suppose.
Whay I thought you comment meant, if your Mac broke people could steal your files. But what you mean is, anyone with pc or mac can access your files with the LR filing systems, With Aperture, they must have Aperture, and the vault is only usful with aperture.
Is that correct?
Click to expand...

Yes thats it. My image library is organised at a file system level which LR picks up. I have Archives / Category / Event Name / Images. I can browse that with Finder or Explorer and read the metadata for the images. I can also browse that with Bridge or Photoshop or LR or if something new came out with that. I like the ability to jump ship without any loss of metadata.
 
King_Boru - using both of them, what would you say the main differences were?

Cheers
 
Foggy said:
King_Boru - using both of them, what would you say the main differences were?

Cheers
Click to expand...

The main difference is the workflow. Lightroom is mroe fluid as it just seems to flow better. I dont know if you have used film but it very much like that. Where you would have a roll of 36 with loupe scanning them all cutting off the ones you dont like and picking the ones you do. Then you 'filter' the picks only and apply the same process.

Aperture is little different in the sense that it doesnt have these filters. you can reject shots which then go straight to the reject pile (still in your library) and will sit there until you manually delete them. A bit tedious and less fluid than Lightroom.

Editing is very similar, but then again this applies to all programs across the board.

The archiving, keywording and metadata management is better in Aperture. Lightroom doesnt have the same sophistication as Aperture in the sense that it doesnt seem to create a database of keywords in a search friendly system. Aperture works on tick boxes which when ticked scan the entire library for images with that keyword. Lightroom stacks all the the keywords in a tab and leaves it at that. Simply not as good as Aperture.

Using both on my Macbook the performance difference is quite big. Lightroom is faster (but then it doesnt have the mass amount code to work with). Overall though, working with both systems is great.

Adding to what petemc said, you can archive your files in Aperture the same way you can in Lightroom. So dont know what he actually means,...

Hope this helps.

King.
 
King_Boru said:
Adding to what petemc said, you can archive your files in Aperture the same way you can in Lightroom. So dont know what he actually means,...
Click to expand...

Lightroom shows a filesystem folder view. Aperture doesn't, at least didn't.
 
Whats interesting is that my main complaint about iPhoto vs Adobe Elements was the way the keywording works (using the tags in Elements), yet it seems that Apple have adapted a system closer to that one in Aperture and Lightroom has gone more the way of iPhoto. Have been playing with the trial of lightroom and it certainly seems good, I like the ease of picking and filtering (especially the coloured flags, I can flag them according to the PP work I need to do on them which is really nice). I guess I need to download the Aperture demo as well and have a look.

One of the main things I want it for is the cataloging of my images. My wife uses the point and shoot and imports into iPhoto and she doesnt want me clogging that up with 'pictures of bloody door knobs and stuff' so I want to be able to catalogue and do a bit of PP in an application then export the nice family shots I do into iPhoto.

Running this all on a C2D 2.4 MBP so hopefully speed wont be too much of an issue.
 
The book is Aperture 1.5 (Apple Pro Training) written by Orlando Luna & Ben Long. Would definitely agree with xynamic. If you're going to use Aperture you NEED this book.

I've used both and have decided to stick with Aperture, the workflow just "feels better". Not a hue fan of all the different modules in LR. I like everything within easy reach, which it is in Aperture.

There are some issues with speed on Aperture, but nothing that has ever stopped me from working.

True Aperture doesn't show a true filesystem view, but using folders, projects and albums (and managed reference files, so all images are available to all other apps) I believe you get a more succinct way of working with Aperture.

Just my opinion of course :-D
 
In Aperture, is there a quick way of filtering by keyword, like the keyword browser in the sidebar in lightroom? I am sure I saw a screen shot of Aperture with a keyword browser between the project browser and the vault.

I know there is the Find HUD thing but I would rather not have a floating window.
 
ffej1405 said:
The book is Aperture 1.5 (Apple Pro Training) written by Orlando Luna & Ben Long.
Click to expand...

$33 in the US or £34 in the UK.

I wouldn't expect anything less in rip-off Britain :(

Thanks for the replies. I guess I can trial both Aperture and LR - if only I had the time. Can we move to a ten day week :shrug:
 
Foggy,

Bottom right of the main viewer window, there is a text entry field. That can be used for keyword searches.

It is dependent on where you are in the Library structure. Best to be on All Images just be be sure you are searching everything
 
I'll buy it when I'm in the US in a couple of weeks. Even if only to stick 2 fingers up!!

George
 
Another feature of Aperture which I really do like over Lightroom is its intergrated dual screen ability. I have projects, thumbnails, keywording, metadata and adjustments on my left hand screen and just a Full screen live version on the right hand side, i find Lightrooms layout unable to be flexible enough to set it out just how I want it.
 
I must admit, having used the trial version of both I seem to keep going back to lightroom - it just feels a slightly more polished application. The only thing stopping me going for lightroom at the moment is the fact that I am waiting to get a dual screen mac pro at which point I think the dual screen ability of aperture will beckon to me.
 
Been trying Aperture again today - is it me or is the 'Straighten' tool infuriating to use in comparison to the one in Lightroom?

Trying to straighten an image and it keeps jumping about all over the show, really I just want to be able to draw a line across the horizon but I can't work out how to do that. Any suggestions?
 
Erm... for me I do all my sorting, keywording, colour, shadow and exposure processing in Aperture and then export to PSCS3 for final straightening, cropping and cloning.

I have used the Straightening tool in Aperture and I find it works ok, but, it isnt as easy or accurate are CS3.

You dont have to drag the screen about to rotate, once you have the Staightening dialog up you can then drag the slider instead, which makes it easier to see if your horizontals match with the yellow overall grid.
 
petemc said:
An Aperture user looks at Lightroom. Pretty good read.
Click to expand...

Cheers for the link Pete. Makes an interesting read. I am down to my last 9 days of the trial versions of both and really struggling to decide between the two. I have a feeling I am going to end up using Lightroom and hoping that a future release comes with proper dual monitor support where I can have the grid view and the sidebars in one view and the image view in another as that and the fact you don't have to go into 'Develop' to edit the image are the only 2 things I prefer about Aperture at the moment.
 
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