Apple Aperture 2

[Stock R]

Does anyone use Aperture 2 for their photo importing, editing, and organizing?

I am now in possession of some macs and came across this program on the apple website. It LOOKS very nice but I'm not sure how good it actually works. I'm currently downloading OSX updates so I can run the trial version to see if its worth $199.

I am an Adobe on Windows guy. If I start using Aperture, will I find it enough to be a replacement for Photoshop? What aspects do you find it can/can't replace Photoshop for? What kind of user does it suit best?

Etc. General comments appreciated!

[MikeAK]

Can't help you there although I have a friend who says he'd rather stop shooting altogether then give up his Aperture 1 so take that for what it's worth.

I'm a windows guy myself and have only ever used Adobe. Lately I've been really lazy though, most of the time I am in Elements 7 because it's so quick and easy.

[Sgt_Strider]

Does anyone use Aperture 2 for their photo importing, editing, and organizing?

I am now in possession of some macs and came across this program on the apple website. It LOOKS very nice but I'm not sure how good it actually works. I'm currently downloading OSX updates so I can run the trial version to see if its worth $199.

I am an Adobe on Windows guy. If I start using Aperture, will I find it enough to be a replacement for Photoshop? What aspects do you find it can/can't replace Photoshop for? What kind of user does it suit best?

Etc. General comments appreciated!

I doubt you'll get an objective response here. I heard Aperture is good, but since you said you're an Adobe guy, why don't you just use Lightroom? It's available for both the Mac and Windows.

[Nukey]

Sorry for the brief response here, but I need to run. I use Aperture to manage my photographs. All of the edits you make in the program are non-destructive and can be reversed at any time. The editing tools it includes will be sufficient for most photos and include: White balance, exposure, colour, levels, contrast, saturation, highlights & shadows, sharpening, cropping, straightening, spot healing, de-vignetting, vignetting, etc.

If you need to make extensive edits to the photograph then you will still need Photoshop, but you can easily right click the image, click "Edit with Photoshop" (if you have it) and it will make a copy of the image and open it in Photoshop.

While Photoshop is strictly an editing tool, Aperture is more of a library management tool. You can organize your images, rate them, and edit them.

Overall I think it's a great tool and recommend you get the trial version.

You need a rather speedy computer if you want to get good performance out of it.

[Stock R]

So I started trying out Aperture. Trying to get use to the layout, etc.

Anybody have comments on how they find the RAW converting?

[shrugs*]

Have you tried Lightroom?

I played with Aperture when it was first released, but find LR meets my workflow better (being used to Adobe products made it an easy transition). My PS usage for day-to-day editing has dropped to practically zero.

[Stock R]

Have you tried Lightroom?

I played with Aperture when it was first released, but find LR meets my workflow better (being used to Adobe products made it an easy transition). My PS usage for day-to-day editing has dropped to practically zero.

No. I have actually never used LR. I've been out of photography for 3ish years now and have not been keeping up w/ what's going on. I use to do all my photo work by manually downloading pictures to my own folders and using PS to edit.

I'm about to go on a trip so I'm trying to catch up on the latest photography solutions and ventured across Aperture and LR. I'm testing out LR just because I currently have access to a Mac and the trial is free.

I see that Aperture (and I'm assuming LR) has basic editing tools which would eliminate the need for PS which is PERFECT for my needs. As a former photojunky, I still need to edit/crop/balance all my photos, but don't need the extra gizmos of PS.

I will take a look at LR.

[Stock R]

So I gave LR2 a try yesterday and...

I didn't like it :( I was quite surprised as I've never been a fan of anything Apple.

I found the layout too cluttered w/ too many tabs. It threw me off and really prevented me from wanting to use it.

Oh well.

[DirtyLude]

LR2 is very customizable and you can simplify it quite a bit, if that's what you want. You'd need to run through a tutorial, though.