I need opinions please

Hi.

I just got the latest version of Aperture and it has been working great. I have a Nikon D1X, D2X and just tried the D2Xs with positive results on all the formats. Unfortunately, Aperture doesn't work with my Leaf camera (.mos) files so I can only use it in conjunction with me editorial assignments.

That said, on location with a Pbook... It's kinda slow. Aperture is kind of a processor hog and takes quite a while to load image previews especially on the larger RAW files. Haven't tried it with the new MacBook or the MacBook Pro but think the processor boost should help considerably. On my office G5 Aperture runs quite well with few problems.

Aperture is superior to iPhoto (more organization options) and there is a function to import you iPhoto library without any issues.

I use Pshop CS2 and Bridge quite a bit but for organization I think Aperture is really superior to Bridge. For the time being I will be using Pshop for most of my major image manipulation but for quick tweaks on jpegs Aperture will do quite nicely.

Personally, I think you would be quite pleased with Aperture but would highly recommend a faster processor machine before you make the switch. Additionally, I think you might want to look into getting some external hard drives off the firewire vein to supplement your setup.

Hope I've helped. Let me know if you have any other questions.

C

To many machines to count. Mac OS X (10.4.5)

I'm having a tough time really seeing what advantages Aperture is going to give you over iPhoto, if you are using JPEGs all the time.

Coupled with the fact that your machine is on the low-end for specs for Aperture... I'm just not sure.

Aperture can tweak JPEGs, and replace iPhoto, and you can order prints but I just don't see what it would really give you in this case. How many shots/week are you taking?

there's a good thread here...

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=527533&tstart=0

Like I said, the biggest concern would be the speed; It's gonna run slow on your Pbook.

If you live in NYC then you could always try it out at one of the two Apple stores and even take in Pro Workshop, they're pretty good.

I have a Nikon D50. I shoot in Nikon NEF RAW and
JPEG.

I have Photoshop CS. Don't use much.

I have Adobe Elements 4. Which I like very much over
Photoshop.

I bought the Nikon Capture 4 software which I just
find totally worthless. A waste of money.

I do make adjustments to my photos and then import
into iPhoto, (6.0.4 as of last night). I don't use
Adobe Bridge. It looks good, but I like iPhoto. I
also like to use as much Apple software as possible.

I'm considering Aperature. It looks great from the
Quicktime clips I've watched.

1-Has anyone used it with Nikon D50?

2-I have a PowerBook 1.67ghz AL with 1gig of ram.
Will Aperature work fine with this setup?

Yes but slow on bigger RAW files. Depending upon your tolerance for pain, you may find it too slow. If you have an Apple store nearby, take a CD down there and get them to run it on the slowest possible Mac (if they have a PB G4 in the back, that would be stunning).
I use on a PB for location work, selecting and basic image adjustments. Poolside with a cocktail makes the performance acceptable. Heavy lifting back at the ranch on the Quad.

3- Does Aperature also allow tweaking of JPEGS?

Yes. Everything except the RAW conversion appears the same to me.

4-If I don't use RAM NEF can Aperature modify the
JPEG's I shoot?

Yes.

5-Can I then emilinate the use of iPhoto as my main
stroage and display of photos? ANd just use
Aperature?

From your early comments, saying you like Apple SW, probably not. Aperture does not integrate to iMove, iDVD, iWeb outside of file exports (some Automator routines are available). Additionally, if you have a Photo iPod, and use it for holding photos, you need those photos in iPhoto, There is an Automator Aperture2iLife script (Lightbox Software) for COPYING (as in duplicating) your chosen photos from AP into iPhoto.

6-Does Aperature have the same ability as iPhoto to
order prints directly in the app?

Yes. Books and prints. Plus Web Gallery publishing (making the need for iWeb integration less of an issue). Books are at least as good as iPhoto for quality and some contributors suggest slightly better. Book themes are definitely improved.

7-Is Aperature an all around easier and better
(subjective I know) application that Photoshop
Elements 4?

It depends. It really depends. How much do you use Elements? Minor tweaks or all-out image manipulation?
Image library and image management is AP's strength. Culling duds and selecting winners is outstanding, using Stacks is extraordinarily powerful.
Learning curve is probably easier to get going with the basics. The DVD is a useful prep./familiarization vehicle, but not a training tool. The online Help is good, but static and function specific with little content being workflow related.
RAW support is now at par - some say better, some say poorer depending on shadow/contrast or needed color saturation) with Photoshop ACR (and I assume same code is used in Elements).
Adjustments are arguably at par, though I personally miss curves. The levels adjuster provides quarter tones, so a kludgy curves can be approximated. BTW, adjustments work in real-time, so this is where graphics GPU speed and CPU performance will bite you ... esp. if you have a version on a version with lots of different adjustments and crops.
Shadow/highlight works well, as does Exposure.
Red eye. Tick. Patch/spot. Somewhat tick, though I prefer PS. No Healing Brush.
No "photo filters" adjustment, but can mimic with color adjustments and white balancing. No "filters" as such, except sharpen and noise.
No selections and layers. (Some argue I'm wrong here as all adjustments in AP are non-destructive to the original image, thus comparable to adjustment layers. That ignores all the other layers capabilities from lighting graduations to color blending etc.)
Straightening/crops are superb vs. PS Elements
Masking is missing, so if you wanted to apply different adjustments to different areas of the image, forget it.
And of course every time you save an image version in PS Elements, you have another 20+Mb for a PSD. With AP, only the adjustment instructions (hence need for processor and gpu speed when applying all these instructions to the underlying image) plus the untouched master are held. Trade off between HDD and processor. Processor speed being equal, AP is valuable in this regard as laptops are HDD poor. However your G4 is down at the low end of the processor spectrum for AP .... for v1. There is clearly room for improvement in performance in future releases which would help you.

Thanks

I have a 1.67GHz PowerBook, like yours, also with the ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 card and 128MB VRAM.

Adding a second GB of system RAM helped, but either way it's a lot quicker for me to sift through RAW images from my D70 with Aperture, making tweaks for exposure, shadow, highlights, etc., than it was to do the same with Bridge, Adobe Camera Raw, and occasionally PhotoShop CS 2. (With Elements, you don't even have Bridge as a quick place to review and tag all your RAW images.)

I think what makes Aperture quicker to work with for me is that I can very quickly select a set of images, or change that set, or switch from image to image, without having to go through the clunky Camera Raw step.

(I did briefly try the first two Lightroom betas, but it wasn't immediately intuitive for me.)

ith Elements, you don't even have Bridge as a quick place to review and tag all your RAW images.)

Yes, actually, you do.

What jrg_uk said. Aperture runs adequately on our configuration, but you should add another GB of RAM.

Regarding RAW:

You are missing a lot in DSLR photography if you are not shooting RAW. Buy Aperture, buy a 2 GB CF card, shoot RAW, and don't look back.

Regarding downloading software: it is possible to order software CDs online from Apple, Amazon or whomever and get CD versions delivered in 24-48 hours. Downloading major apps is undesirable anyway.

P.S. Note that I said "runs adequately" - about like Photoshop runs on a PB. Adequately. IMO it will require MacBook Pros (and PSCS3 in the case of Photoshop) before heavy graphics apps run really well on laptops.

-Allen Wicks

mea culpa, I stand corrected. It seems they snuck out Elements 4 when I wasn't looking!

No problem. Actually, I thought your previous post was kind of amusing, since I usually have to listen to complaints about how much better the File Browser was than Bridge, and can't I tell Adobe to bring it back (like they'd listen to me). 🙂

Are you using RAW NEF file format? I just bought the D2Xs and Aperture will not recognize the NEF files. it says that they are in an unsupported format.
How did you get it to work?
Thanks,
Nick