I browsed the Apple site and watched a few videos of Aperture features. Although I'm a Mac fan, I opted for Lightroom when it first came out largely because the first version of Aperture was slow and seemed a bit cumbersome in comparison. I have to say I'm so impressed with what I see in version 3 that this might prompt an experiment and possible shift to Aperture. I also observed that the four pros who demonstrate features of Aperture in very well done videos ALL were shooting with Nikon gear. That interests me as well, enough so that I might borrow a friend's D700 and 24-70 to check it out...
Haha, Curtis, that'll turn into one massively expensive switch to Aperture
In the meantime I've read enough positive comments on Aperture that I'll be downloading the trial shortly. I just wish Adobe would release LR3 (not the beta) so I could do a thorough comparison...
I have been using for the last couple of nights here since I downloaded it and I found the following.
I can use the brushes and every single adjustment with masks included and lift the adjustment to all the pictures I want to include in the batch with no problem. That alone makes a huge difference in usability.
Another thing is the speed gain, it just is that fast. I´m using a copy of my library and the speed gain is around 40% in my iMac C2D 2.16 with Nvidia 7600GT and 4GB RAM (not top notch nowadays).
If the time saving I'm getting is consistent I have to say I'm sticking to Aperture.
One thing I do not like is that the plugins I have force me to boot in 32 bits mode to be able to use them and that is a bit annoying.
The skin softener brush is very good and the contrast brush is very helpful.
Thanks for the report Aaron, I was curious how non openCL GPUs would perform - that is great news. I have noticed navigation in the book tool is a little bit slower, and some library loading operations are a little bit slower, but adjustments have received a good boost.
It's sad to note too that having "automatic preview generation" turned on by default is still a "1st impression of bad performance" when importing images and previews are being rendered in the background...
I bought the retail version today at the Apple Store - I'm no pro, but the brushes + gps made me jump the gun.
I've been playing a bit with it (once the 20k pics library was updated - around 3h on my imac c2d 2.66 4Go), and the brushes make a huge difference !
Faces is super long to go through the pics, I guess it will be over tomorrow morning, I'll report on the recognition performance.
Places is pretty sweet, I've always wanted to be able to do that !
A LOT more options everywhere, more than what I can comprehend right now...
Not a single crash so far.
AaronNegro wrote:
I have been using for the last couple of nights here since I downloaded it and I found the following.
I can use the brushes and every single adjustment with masks included and lift the adjustment to all the pictures I want to include in the batch with no problem. That alone makes a huge difference in usability.
Another thing is the speed gain, it just is that fast. I´m using a copy of my library and the speed gain is around 40% in my iMac C2D 2.16 with Nvidia 7600GT and 4GB RAM (not top notch nowadays).
If the time saving I'm getting is consistent I have to say I'm sticking to Aperture.
One thing I do not like is that the plugins I have force me to boot in 32 bits mode to be able to use them and that is a bit annoying.
The skin softener brush is very good and the contrast brush is very helpful.
Thanks Aaron for this brief review...
I am an Aperture user for years now (but no pro), and the localized adjustements were something I was waiting/hoping for. Great to hear that speed performance has improved - can't wait to try it myself here...
I tried to download a trial last night. Won't install because I am still using OS X 10.4.11 (requires a minimum of OS X10.5)
So, downloaded and tried Lightroom, so for, not really sure what to think...I never really got into and understand all this digital work flow mumbo jumbo. It's time for me to finally get a new photo app, so I am actually considering purchasing a copy of OS X10.5 from ebay
If you own an intel mac, buy snow leopard for $29. It really is so much better system wide that it should be $299.
But if you don't own an intel mac, you can't run aperture 3 anyway -
But in order to "legally" upgrade to snow leopard from Tiger you have to purchase the $169 Iwork and Ilife/Snow Leopard bundle.
Ask any of your Mac Friends if they have a stand alone copy of Leopard and install that onto your computer (As long as it is Intel). Then you can purchase the $29 upgrade of Snow Leopard.
I have aperture 2 on my imac. I will download tonight the trial version of Aperture 3.
What about all my work (files) that are in the Aperture 2 library(some master some referenced). I assume after downloading there will be one aperture icon in the desktop. When I open it, which one will open? the old library or the new(empty one)? I guess I will have to import the old library. Am I correct?
I ve read somewhere for a precaution step before you upgrade but I do not even remember what it was.
nilo4fm wrote:
What about all my work (files) that are in the Aperture 2 library(some master some referenced). I assume after downloading there will be one aperture icon in the desktop. When I open it, which one will open? the old library or the new(empty one)? I guess I will have to import the old library. Am I correct?
I ve read somewhere for a precaution step before you upgrade but I do not even remember what it was.
Thanks guys.
Nikos
The trial version won't open your V2 library (because it gets changed permanently to a V3 library). You'll have to import a few loose files to play with the trial and then when you actually buy you can open the V2 library.
Crossczechfoto wrote:
But in order to "legally" upgrade to snow leopard from Tiger you have to purchase the $169 Iwork and Ilife/Snow Leopard bundle.
Ask any of your Mac Friends if they have a stand alone copy of Leopard and install that onto your computer (As long as it is Intel). Then you can purchase the $29 upgrade of Snow Leopard.
Ross
Unfortunately I have an older PPC G5. so no aperture 3 for me. Still trying Lightroom 2 but struggling with the sharpening side of things...
Downloaded Photoshop elements 8 last night and am going to give that a whirl as well.
(requires a minimum of OS X10.5)