Aperture 3

[tbob]

I am debating using Aperture 3 for processing my images rather than Elements 9. My Mac's hard drive failed so I had to scrub the entire computer memory when I got the new hard drive. Since I need a new image processing program I am wondering if anyone has any experience or opinions on Aperture versus Elements 9.

[Frankie]

Trevor,
I've been using Aperture 3 for a few months. What kind of Mac do you have? There are some issues with performance with some of the Mac machines. It can be really slow on the MacBook Pros, but it seems to be hit or miss. If you have an opportunity to go to an Apple store and play with the application some and talk to someone at the Apple store about some of the known issues - it may be helpful. Overall, I like the application. I'm running it on a MacBookPro and have some issues, but plan on upgrading my machine soon :-)
Hope this helps!
frankie

[tbob]

Thanks Frankie
It will be running on an iMac with 2.66GHz Intel duo processors and 3GB RAM running 10.6.8. I suspect the program may need 4GB RAM so this may present a problem. Unfortunately the nearest Apple store is 600km away (6 hours by road) so playing is not an option. May have to buy and see. providing the RAM will not be too much of an issue

[Frankie]

Thanks Frankie
It will be running on an iMac with 2.66GHz Intel duo processors and 3GB RAM running 10.6.8. I suspect the program may need 4GB RAM so this may present a problem. Unfortunately the nearest Apple store is 600km away (6 hours by road) so playing is not an option. May have to buy and see. providing the RAM will not be too much of an issue

RAM is fairly cheap these days, so you may want to upgrade to the limit... just to be safe. :-)

[tbob]

Downloaded the program yesterday. I have only played with it on four photos to this point, some slowness in processing but I am somewhat old fashioned and a one or two second delay in getting the result after a manipulation is no big deal to me. Seems pretty nice so far.

[kaneohebud]

Trevor:
I've been using Aperture 3 on my 27" iMac for about 15 months. It has Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.06 GHz Processor Speed, one Processor, Two Cores, 3 MB L2 Cache , 4 GB Memory, Bus Speed 1.07 GHz, one TB hard drive. It's running Snow Leopard 10.6.8. I offer this for comparison to your computer.

I only shoot raw and my typical downloads are 450-600 images. That takes about three minutes. I have virtually no delays in processing, not enough anyway to be annoying. I am also running Photoshop Elements 9 trial version.

I like Aperture 3 very much for ease of use. Much more intuitive than Photoshop. I once was very conversant with early editions of the full Photoshop program, even took a couple college courses in it. I have forgotten much of what I learned due to lack of use. Once you get comfortable with the metadata and adjustments tabs in Aperture 3, there is little you cannot do.

[Frankie]

Trevor:
I've been using Aperture 3 on my 27" iMac for about 15 months. It has Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.06 GHz Processor Speed, one Processor, Two Cores, 3 MB L2 Cache , 4 GB Memory, Bus Speed 1.07 GHz, one TB hard drive. It's running Snow Leopard 10.6.8. I offer this for comparison to your computer.

I only shoot raw and my typical downloads are 450-600 images. That takes about three minutes. I have virtually no delays in processing, not enough anyway to be annoying. I am also running Photoshop Elements 9 trial version.

I like Aperture 3 very much for ease of use. Much more intuitive than Photoshop. I once was very conversant with early editions of the full Photoshop program, even took a couple college courses in it. I have forgotten much of what I learned due to lack of use. Once you get comfortable with the metadata and adjustments tabs in Aperture 3, there is little you cannot do.

Bud, do you use any of the Aperture plug-ins? I just started looking into them and wondering what is good and what isn't worth the time.
Thanks!
frankie

[tbob]

I am still at the foot of the learning curve for Aperture; hopefully the mountain will not be too steep. My only query so far is ; if there is some type of gradient tool as in RAW processing in Bridge. I kind of like it to tone down skies or grass, I could use a brush but I like the gradual transition of the gradient tool rather than the abrupt change of a brush.

[kaneohebud]

Hi Frankie:
I have been considering Nik Software Complete Collection for Aperture and Lightroom. The reviews on it are very good. I'm wrestling with myself over spending the $220 (Amazon price). I am heading off to Yellowstone/Tetons for a couple weeks shooting in September. I'll make the decision when I get back. Other than that, no.

[kaneohebud]

I am still at the foot of the learning curve for Aperture; hopefully the mountain will not be too steep. My only query so far is ; if there is some type of gradient tool as in RAW processing in Bridge. I kind of like it to tone down skies or grass, I could use a brush but I like the gradual transition of the gradient tool rather than the abrupt change of a brush.

I'm not sure what "bridge" is, but have you tried the Curves tool? It's pretty easy and should do exactly what you want.

[tbob]

May have the terminology wrong here;

I open RAW images by double clicking on the thumbnail in Adobe Bridge and it comes up in what might be Adobe Camera RAW not Adobe Bridge. At any rate the Gradient Tool is on the upper tool bar in the new screen. It allows you to apply an effect much like a graduated filter (I assume since I have never owned or used a graduated filter) to the image. The effect is to darken/lighten selectively (using sliders) and progressively from the top or bottom of the selected area depending on whether you start at the top or bottom and pull up or down. Quite handy really

[Harpo]

Bud- you're able to run Aperture 3 with 4 gigs of memory on your iMac? I have the 24" iMac with 4 gigs and what I read on another photo site- several people said it was not fast enough and you really need 8GB of memory to allow it to run at the speed its supposed to... Even Frankie touched on that in the post above so Im not the only one who heard that. Because of that I did not go ahead and download Aperture thinking I need to upgrade my computer because this particular model can only be upgraded to 6GB. The newer ones can go to 8 or 16. If its true it runs fine with 4 gigs then Im a happy camper!

[kaneohebud]

I can't say what other people are experiencing but it works fine for me on my system. I handle some pretty large photos files (25mb +) with no problems.

[Harpo]

Bud, thats great to know... going to have to give it a shot and see.

Trevor- how old is your mac? if its the iMac, upgrading the memory is not hard at all. Call the apple store and see if your particular Mac can have a memory upgrade to at least 4. I did that with my first iMac. As for Aperture, someone said if you are "computer stupid" like me... Aperture is easier to follow than Photoshop. Both are basically the same except PS is more streamlined if using other Adobe programs with it like Lightroom.

[SpiderBob]

I recently bought an 27 iMac with 8gb ram. nothing really slow about it. However, I'm having one heck of a time with the file system. So far I don't care for the lack of ease when trying to file assorted pictures but then I didn't care for Organizer in Elements either. I miss not putting things where I want with a simple click. Perhaps that will get better with my learning curve. I am also using Aperture 3.

[Colin Southern]

I can't say what other people are experiencing but it works fine for me on my system. I handle some pretty large photos files (25mb +) with no problems.

25MB isn't big - some of mine are well over 1GB by the time I'm finished!

[FrankMi]

25MB isn't big - some of mine are well over 1GB by the time I'm finished!

Hi Colin, I'm assuming that you are retaining all the layers and masks to get the file that large?

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin, I'm assuming that you are retaining all the layers and masks to get the file that large?

Hi Frank,

Yes, but the fact that they're multi-shot panoramas is what really does it.

[tbob]

Trevor- how old is your mac?
Mike; it's a 2007 iMac, I plan to upgrade the memory to 4mb asap. At 3mb the program is rather slow, if the upgrade is soon I will post back and let you know if it improves with the extra 1mb I will add

[mranch]

Wow, I'm really liking this forum. Good place to learn. Anyway, I use Aperture 3 and about 3 weeks ago I purchased the Complete Nik software collection for Aperture. I'm still learning it, and will be for while. I must say, this software is amazing! The control points technology is very impressive to say the least. You can go to Nik's web site http://www.niksoftware.com/index/usa/entry.php and download a full version of some of their software and use it free for 15 days. Also on their web site are On Demand Video's that you can watch and also, I believe almost daily webinars you can subscribe too and watch. If you do sign up for and watch one of these, they generally give you a 15% discount on any of their software!! I'll say it again, This software is awesome, very impressive!! I'm so glad I bought it. There is also and Nik users forum http://www.nikforums.com/forum.php where a lot of pro photographers are there to help out as well! I've learned so much from that site! And I'm sure I'll be learning a bunch from here as well.

Bob