Aperture 3 Overview
As the lights dimmed in the Javitz center’s conference theater back in October 2005, my heart began to beat faster and for good reason. When Apple comes to make an invite-only announcement of a new product it’s usually something good and while sitting there in the conference room, I wondered what new product was about to spring forth and change the way I worked with photography forever.
There had been rumors spreading that Apple was working on some sort of “Photoshop killer,” an application that would take the power of the image editing software from Adobe and bring it to the masses. At that point Photoshop was still part of my daily life—in addition to working as an editor at Photo District News I was teaching a photographic seminar that largely centered around the Photoshop ecosystem. At that point photography and Photoshop were pretty synonymous. The multi-day workshops I was teaching spent a lot of time telling people how they could manage their photographic assets using the cumbersome combination of Photo Mechanic, Bridge and Photoshop. I was eager for a new solution.
Obviously the announcement from Apple I was sitting to hear was Aperture, and obviously it did change the lives of many photographers. None of us were really thinking about photo management as being a part of the same tools as photo editing and processing but as soon as the software was released it made immediate sense. Instead of revamping Photoshop, Apple decided to revamp the whole process. Digital photography up until that point had been about filters and layers, the task of managing a collection of images was naturally hard because it had been hard with film. Apple’s idea was to take the most difficult part of the process and make it simple, we were all taken off guard.
Adobe too was taken off guard. Many of us who were on the Alpha team for their product codenamed Shadowlands (later to become Lightroom) had been discussing Apple’s possible entry into the Photoshop editing space. None of us really had thought outside that box. A few weeks later Adobe would announce Lightroom and the two companies would start sparring over features and release dates.
Aperture 3 is (to continue the boxing metaphor) in effect a massive uppercut aimed at Adobe’s Lightroom with a feature set so robust that it places Aperture massively ahead of Adobe’s latest iteration. They say competition is good for the consumer. In this case, it’s great.
There are more than two-hundred new features in Aperture 3, and we’re not just talking features like prettier buttons or changes to the name of a slider. We’re talking things like facial recognition with Faces, adjustments that can be brushed on (and off) images, an astounding updated Slideshow tool, support for video importing and editing, a whole new print dialog and engine, and more.
Just about everything we saw people request in our Aperture 3 Wish list surveys has been added, along with some things you might not have expected.
The Aperture Users Network will naturally bring you information on each and every one of these features. First, though, we’d like to acquaint you with the new features in Aperture 3 and highlight the ones that are a lightyear ahead of Lightroom. So here’s a quick overview to the new features and updates in Aperture 3. (These are listed in order of workflow, not in order of wow-factor.)
Again, keep in mind this is our quick-and-dirty guide to Aperture 3—each of these new features have myriad options and tricks to really expand the functionality of the program in brand new ways.
So with that in mind, here is our combination Aperture 3 Overview and Aperture 3 vs. Lightroom 3 Article for new features. (In other words, we’ll have a full-featured article covering all the Aperture vs. Lightroom features. We’re not talking here about existing things that Aperture can do that Lightroom can’t—integration with iLife and iWork, syncing to the iPhone and so on) as those were added in Aperture 2.
If you’re looking for more in-depth training, check out our many other articles and visit our online tutorial store where you can find Aperture 3 video training videos of all kinds available at shop.maccreate.com.
Support for Videos and Audio [Not in Lightroom]
More and more photographers are working with video these days, and so Aperture now has full support for importing video files. This is a huge change and the support for videos in Aperture 3 is unparalleled in the photographic workspace. Videos can be imported, edited (using trimming features like found on the iPhone) and exported, and they can be used in the newly updated Slideshow tool (which we’ll talk about below). You can grab still images from your video, use them in slideshows and albums, export them in a Library and more.
This is not only one of the biggest things to happen to Aperture, but it’s one of the biggest things to happen to any photographic program and it opens up new avenues of creativity. Digital cameras capture mostly in Quicktime Movie format and more commonly in .AVI so all the standard camera formats are supported.
Library Switching, Syncing and Sharing [Better Than Lightroom]
Aperture 3 has a whole new way of working with Libraries, which will make it incredibly easy for multiple-users or photographers with multiple-computers (among others) to work with their Libraries.
For starters, just about anything can be exported as a Library. Create an Album and drag it to the desktop and you’ve got a Library that you can open in another copy of Aperture. Create a Book and export it as a Library. A Library can have a single photo in it or a million, doesn’t matter.
There are a few things you can do with these Libraries. First, you can export a Library to send to a colleague. They can then import the Library and work on it and when they’re done send it back to you. Here’s where the magic starts.
When you get the Library back from your coworker, you can merge it with your existing Library. Any changes they made will be updated in your Library. You don’t have to export as a Project, import and then delete the original images. Simply merge them.
Or, when working on your laptop in the field you can create a Library on your laptop and when you get back to the studio import it into your desktop machine. All of your images just get sucked right into your desktop Library.
You can now switch between Libraries without restarting Aperture from the File menu as well.
Audio Files [Not in Lightroom]
For photographers that work with audio files captured in camera (for annotation, captioning or other uses) Aperture 3 will now import those files and combine them with the original photo, allowing you to play back the audio files without looking for a separate file. Even better, you can import audio files from sources besides your camera as well. That means that the budding directors out there can use stand-alone audio recorders to capture high-end audio along with the HD video from a camera and import that into Aperture as well. This changes Aperture from being a photographic tool to being a full-fledged reportage and research tool.
Import Speed
One of the things that we often heard was that people wanted Aperture to be as fast on import as the program Photo Mechanic. Of course, the problem with this is that Photo Mechanic isn’t actually creating database records, files, previews and thumbnails when it scans a directory, so it could be much faster because it was doing much less.
In Aperture 3, the images are first added to the database in the same way that Photo Mechanic starts working with a folder full of photos. Next they have (minimal) thumbnail processing (and if they’ve got embedded JPEGs from the camera, Aperture does not need to do any thumbnail generation) and only when that’s done for all of the images are the files themselves copied over.
This change allows you to start working with images long before they’ve been copied over from the card, so it’s now possible to rate, sort and (in some cases) adjust and export versions while the master files are still in the process of being imported. This rivals (or surpasses) the speed of Photo Mechanic for the initial import, so photos are ready for work just about instantly, and the actual copying of the files happens in the background.
In other words, Aperture is now as fast as Photo Mechanic for metadata work, preparing images for work instantly, with the copy process continuing out-of-sight in the background.
Import Features [Some Not In Lightroom/Some Better Than Lightroom]
No matter what the rest of a workflow looks like, photographers start with importing images, video and audio. The Import dialog box has a completely new look and many new features. As with the Adjustment dialog box, the Aperture 3 import box now is broken into “bricks” of settings, and these settings are sticky. Turn off features you don’t need and they’re hidden from view, but accessible with a single click.
The new import dialog has some great features, while keeping those that t were from previous versions of Aperture (File Info, Rename Files, Time Zone and Metadata Preset) with some tweaks. With my personal favorite feature you can now create Metadata Presets on-the-fly while importing. That means that you can now create new presets from within the import dialog box, a huge time savings.
The Adjustment Presets tool in import allows you to apply an adjustment or a batch of adjustments (thanks to the new presets we’ll talk about below) on import. This tool is one of the ones I’ve admired in Lightroom and it’s a welcome addition to Aperture’s bag of tricks. You can now perform any adjustment on import, and since Aperture’s adjustments are all non-destructive they can be removed from an image at any time. We’ve done batch imports of photos where we’ve run a lens correction (thanks to the new Chromatic Aberration tool) and color tweaking preset on import leaving just about nothing needed to be done to the images after import.
In another example of this time-saving approach, we worked on a shoot where we knew the art director liked a certain boosted-contrast look to the images. In the past we’d have run them through Photoshop’ s Curve tool before shooing them to the AD, but with Aperture 3 we simply created a preset for that art director with a simple curve adjustment in place and then imported our shots. We were able to send JPEG previews to the client without needing to touch them at all in post.
File Types A major new tool is the File Types brick, which allows the Aperture user to selectively import types of files. Since Aperture now supports video and audio, you can select if you want to import photos, videos or audio—this can be an incredible time saving if you’ve shot a mix of photos and videos but need to only work with the images on a card, for example.
RAW+JPEG Pairs This is tied into the new RAW+JPEG Pairs brick, a function that I personally wouldn’t have thought of and which changes the way many will think about shooting RAW + JPEG. Thanks to Aperture 1 and Aperture 2 I’d stopped shooting JPEG entirely but with this new version it’s possible to import just the JPEG images from a RAW+JPEG pair and then do selection on the images to eliminate rejects and make picks of the best images. The RAW+JPEG Pairs box then allows for the importing of only images that match the selected images. For example you could make an Album with only five-star picks and then import only the raw files for those five-star images. For news and event shooters this is a huge deal.
Actions Tool The Actions tool is likely to be the most overlooked but most powerful feature in Aperture, because it allows AppleScript to be run on files during import. The possibilities here are endless, because AppleScript is tied into so much of the Mac operating system. It’s essentially possible to create a custom workflow that can trigger any activity just by importing images.
Take a wedding shoot as an example—set up an AppleScript that looks at the serial number of the camera a card was shot in and automatically sort it into albums for the main shooter or the second shooter. Or have Aperture automatically email a copy of any image flagged in camera (Aperture now supports in-camera flagging) and mail a low-res JPEG with a watermark to a client while sending the image to a Keynote presentation.
We will be creating AppleScripts for workflow solutions for our readers. In fact, we’ve already got one created (even though no one here is a good AppleScript programmer) that sends a text message when an import session is complete. It’s a lot of fun to start importing images and walk away and have our iPHone let us know when the import is done.
Finally Backup Location is a feature that appeared in Lightroom first and that many Aperture users have requested. As the name implies, it copies imported images to a second location during the import process for backup.
Labels and Flags
After many requests from users, Aperture now has full-bore labeling (eight colors to choose from, with customizable titles for the colors) and flagging. Files exported from Aperture maintain their labels in the Finder. And files labeled as flagged/locked int he camera come into Aperture flagged. (That finally gives me something to do with my cameras’s flag button.)
XMP In and Out
Attention Lightroom Users! (And, anyone else working with XMP sidecar files).
If you’re working with Lightroom or Bridge and are looking to make a switch, Aperture 3 now supports importing of XMP sidecar files. Let me say that again for emphasis. You can now import files with XMP sidecar files and Aperture will suck in all the metadata from the XMP. That’s huge.
One of the questions we get asked a lot is “how do I move from Lightroom to Aperture” and now the answer is that you point Aperture at your Lightroom Catalog and import your images. The end.
Keep in mind that XMP does not include information about adjustments (every program adjusts images differently) but the bulk of the headache in moving between platforms is the maintenance of metadata, this is a killer feature. It also means, since Aperture will export images with XMP sidecar files that there’s no such thing as being “locked” into Aperture, as many people irrationally fear. I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me “well what if I want to switch” without knowing that Aperture can export images with XMP sidecars.
This means that photographers working in a mixed Aperture and Lightroom/Photoshop environment can now share images with metadata and rating information intact without headaches.
Faces [Not in Lightroom]
Picking up features from its sibling program iPhoto, Aperture 3 has a Faces feature that enables automatic locating and tagging of images based on facial recognition. Faces tagging can be done Library-wide or on a Project-by-Project basis. The algorithms seem update from iPhoto as well, for more accurate tagging. There’s even integration with the Address Book for quick tagging connected to your contacts.
The best part of this is that if you use the File>Import>iPhoto Library command Aperture will import all your Faces data!
Places [Not in Lightroom]
Also from iPhoto comes an incredibly powerful feature for the location, news, event and hobbyist photographer, Places. The ability to add geo-location information to a photograph has huge ramifications for photographic workflows. Being able to locate images based on GPS data is a huge improvement over performing metadata tasks by hand (”let’s see, was I in North Smithtown or South Smithtown when I shot that photo?”) and Aperture adds features not found in iPhoto or any other program.
For cameras with built-in GPS tagging, images are instantly added to the Places database, but for cameras without GPS features you can import a track from a third-party GPS device (anything from a Garmin to a cheap logger like this one) and Places will match photos to the tracks.
The potential uses of this are incredible. Editorial shooters of course will be able to immediately take advantage of this, but so will just about any other type of photographer. Since you can use Places in your Smart Albums you can use these tools to help you make instant albums of your shoots. Want all four-star shots you took in Hawaii? No problem, you can do that without even adding metadata to your images.
Even better you can simply snap a photo with your iPhone and then use the captured image to set a new Place through Aperture 3’s interface. It’s a great use for a tool you’ve already got and a smart way to quickly geotag your photos.
And like with Faces, Places are imported along with an imported iPhoto Library.
Adjustment Brushes [Not in Lightroom]
By far the biggest star of the Aperture 3 update is the new brushing feature set. Every adjustment can be brushed onto or off of an image in Aperture. Let me say that again. You can brush all of the Adjustments onto or off of an image.
Even better, you can have multiple iterations of an adjustment simply by creating new bricks, so you could brush Saturation onto one part of your image, then create a new Saturation brick and brush away saturation in another part of the image. The possibilities that this opens up are unlimited. You can combine these brushable adjustments with Presets (below) to create incredible editing power that’s unleashed with a single click.
The tools allow for bruising, erasing and feathering. Each tool has a “Detect Edges” setting to help make precise adjustments and overlays that show the brush strokes on your image. The tools are all Wacom tablet sensitive so you can brush with absolute precision.
Suddenly Aperture really is a Photoshop killer.
Aperture Presets [Vastly Better Than Lightroom]
When I said that the Adjustment brushes would be the superstar of the update I might have spoken too soon. For many, the Aperture Presets are going to be the feature.
It’s now not only possible to create Presets from any combination of adjustments (including brushed-on adjustments) but Aperture 3 has a beautiful preview system to show the effect of an adjustment before it’s applied.
It’s also now possible to share these presets with other Aperture users (see the Edit Presets… option in the photo above) and we’ve got Presets available to download. They’re free for Mac Create Premium members on our premium.maccreate.com site, or for sale on our shop.maccreate.com store.
This really opens Aperture up to being a community-based photographic tool. Sites like Mac Create will have file exchanges so that Aperture users can give other Aperture users their creative Adjustment presets. (In fact, we’re posting a set of these Presets in one of our Aperture articles on the site.)
This is a huge cry from the closed-system people accused Aperture of being at version 1.0, and the easy method of sharing Presets should open up the collaborative possibilities of working with the program.
Curves and Chromatic Aberration
Some people might not go gaga over a Curves tool in the adjustment bricks but I’m happy as can be, after having lobbied for the tool for so long. The Curves tool has auto sampling points, and can work in normal ranges or extended, which is great for bringing out shadow detail in the tail end of the curve.
While the Levels tools were always able to much of the heavy-lifting of Curves, this full-fledged (incredibly powerful, brushable) adjustment brick will eliminate the comments of scornful Photoshop users while the ability to share presets with Curves will give them an unsurpassed usefulness.
Chromatic Aberration
There is also a new Chromatic Aberration tool that helps correct the distorted and fringing colors often created by lower-cost and wide-angle lenses. A perfect complement to our studio’s 16-35mm lens. This tool is especially useful for shooters who are working with super-wide glass on their cameras.
Quick Brushes
If the new Adjustment brushes and presets weren’t enough to make you swoon, here’s more. Aperture 3 comes with a set of “Quick Brushes” that are designed for making localized adjustments that can’t be done with other tools or can’t be done as easily with other tools. The new Skin Smoothening Quick Brush gets rid of blemishes and marks on a subject while Blur provides a, well a blur, something you can’t do with an Adjustment brick.
The most common photographic tools are here (Dogde! Burn!) as well as some non-common tools (Halo Reduction!?) and best of all, these Quick Brushes can be added to adjustment presets.
Full Screen [Better Than Lightroom]
Aperture’s Full Screen mode has always been a great place to work on images, but some fantastic interface updates makes it the preferred place to work. Full screen now has a Browser mode (previously only the Viewer was available) and the HUD can now lock to the side of the screen, reflowing the image(s) around it so that there’s not any wasted space.
A “breadcrumb” at the top of the Full Screen mode allows users to quickly switch between Projects without leaving Full Screen Mode. It’s a refined, beautiful way to work. Breadcrumb is just the geek programmer term for that thing up at the top of the screen (where the arrow is pointing) that gives you navigation to your hierarchy. It’s the same system used in the iTunes store for things like navigating to TV Shows>Dramas>Depressing and Unrealistic>Grey’s Anatomy. Here’s a great tech page that explains the concept.
Multi-Level Zooming
It might not seem like a huge deal but a new multi-level zoom replaces the one-step zooming in Aperture 2, enabling infinite zooming from 25% to 1000%. This is crucial when working with brushed Adjustments as it provides pixel-level detail when necessary. This is complimented by a a new interactive preview for panning around the image and the ability to scale different images to different resolutions.
Slideshows [Vastly Better than Lightroom]
Aperture 3’s new Slideshow tools are so powerful as to be nearly a complete program to themselves. While some might have called Aperture 2’s slideshow tools anemic, Aperture 3’s tools are on steroids. Mix text, stills, audio and video to create complex slideshows with custom timings. Match tracks to the audio beat or have Aperture auto-match them for you. Create transitions between the images, use any of the eight built-in themes for the Slideshows, change background colors, crop your images, change the aspect ratios of the presentations and much, much more.
The slideshow tools alone are going to be worth the price of admission for some shooters as they reduce or eliminate the need to work with Keynote or other third-party tools and they’re so much more powerful than any other photo editing application out there.
Speaking of Keynote, the exported slideshow videos can be placed into Keynote or synced with the iPhone or upcoming iPad, and can be sent to your Apple TV.
Flickr and Facebook Albums [Better than Lightroom]
While the existing exporting system hasn’t seen many changes, there have been two big additions by way of built-in Flickr and Facebook tools.
Unlike plug-ins, these tools create Albums on Facebook or Flickr that work like any other Aperture album with the added benefit of being synced to online albums. You can create multiple albums for each account, and you can even create multiple albums for multiple accounts. Simply drag image into the Albums and then click the update button and the photos are sent to the social networking sites.
This built-in ability eliminates the need to select images and run a plug-in every time an upload is required and makes it easy to make multiple albums for different purposes, and tying Albums to different user names makes sense. In programs like Lightroom you have to switch between accounts and can only have on active account, but with Aperture you can have multiple active accounts, each one connected to a specific album.
Printing [Better than Lightroom]
Whoa boy. The print dialog box is brand new. Much more streamlined, much more powerful and completely overhauled.
For starters you can now create either very simple or very complex Presets for some amazing photographic output. For example, you can select the plain 4×6 output preset or a complex multi-panel sequence like the one pictured here complete with masking and alignment of images.
The Print dialog box now has its own Adjustment tools so you can adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation and sharpness of your images without having to leave the Print dialog box and adjust your images. Anyone who has repeatedly tweaked an image to try and get the perfect print from a finicky printer knows how important that is.
It’s not also possible to print with metadata displays, add logos and watermarks, create borders, add columns and margins, create N-ups on a page and much more. (Tip: This functionality is unlocked by clicking the More Options button, which I just about always leave open.
Since you can change the number of images on a page and rearrange images you can create some stunning output templates which you can then save and re-use.
Other Changes and Updates
There have been so many updates and tweaks of the Aperture interface it’s almost hard to know where to start. So here are some of the major changes to the Interface. While our continued coverage will hit all of the features, here are some of the key ones.
• Lumix users who have been clamoring for RAW file support, today is your day.
• The same goes for you, Canon sRAW shooters. You’re supported now.
• Projects in any order – You can now drag Projects around in the Library inspector to reorder them, they are no longer forced into an alphabetical order.
• The yellow and blue folder differences have been removed, now there are just folders which can contain different things depending on where they live. This is a much simpler solution.
• Duplicating Project Structure – In Aperture 3 you can now take a Project’s structure (its setup of Smart Albums, Albums, Books, etc.) and duplicate just the structure. This enables you to create a whole system of working with your images (a Smart Album for 3 stars, Videos and things tagged with “Weddings” for example) and copy that structure into a new Project. Then when you import images into that Project your workflow is already set up and auto-processing.
•Smart Album Moving – You can now re-assign a Smart Album to a different Project now, they no longer remain tied permanently to the Project they were created under.
• Multiple Selections – You can now grab multiple Projects or Albums (or anything else) in the Inspector by Command-Clicking instead of having to grab a single Project at a time. This also means you don’t have to use Folders to see the contents of multiple albums any more.
• Events created in iPhoto are imported into Aperture if you import your Library.
• The Crop dialog box now shows the resulting size in megapixels of the image after the crop.
• Aperture can now display the focus points from the camera overlaid on an image.
• The Metadata Presets creation has been totally overhauled.
• You can now write metadata to a master file without having to export.
• A new “LCD” display at the top of the Metadata Inspector shows you your key photo settings camera-style.
and there re still more than 100 new features. And we’ll be bringing you information on every single one of them
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Author: David Schloss
David Schloss is the director of the Mac Create Network and the Aperture Users Network, a professional photographer, writer, editor and photographic educator who specializes adventure sports, travel and lifestyle photography. Schloss is the author of the books Blue Pixel Personal Photo Coach: Digital Photography Tips from the Trenches and Blue Pixel Guide to Travel Photography: Perfect Photos Every Time. Schloss is the former Technical Editor for Photo District News, a position he held for six years.
77 Comments
Nick
February 9th, 2010
Adjustment brushes NOT in Lightroom? I must be imaging things? In fact I`m using it as I write!
David Schloss
February 9th, 2010
Not the same way you use them in Aperture Nick. Not at all.
Stefan Steib (1 comments.)
February 9th, 2010
Thanks for this article – this made my day.
The official pressrelease did not tell most of this.
I´m sure many people will be absolutely enthusiastic about this version 3.
Greetings from Munich
Stefan
Don O'Shea
February 9th, 2010
David,
Would it be possible to save a project to a Dropbox folder, then work on it from two different Macs?
I assume can DL the A3 test and then legalize it when our purchase arrives?
As far as getting rid of Photoshop, unless A3 is doing panoramas, I’ll still need to use it or one of the other applications like Calico.
Thanks for the rundown,
Don
Andrew Jung
February 9th, 2010
sRAW support for my Canon 40D? Really? Am I dreaming? Are you serious? Someone please pinch me!!!
Gregory
February 9th, 2010
hi guys.
typo:
It’s not also possible to print with metadata displays
supposedly, “not” should be “now”?
cheers.
Micah Walter (4 comments.)
February 9th, 2010
I also see Panasonic LX3 support!!! Woot!
Scott (1 comments.)
February 9th, 2010
When you say metadata support is as good as PhotoMechanic, can you elaborate on that? Does it have an IPTC dialog box like PM that lets you apply a global caption (after import)? What about variables and code replacement? Is there a window like PM’s IPTC dialog that lets you change the info image by image with a preview (with a global copy/paste function)? It’d be amazing if they really were on par with PM.
As a staff photographer for a newspaper, captions are obviously important to me. If Apple has updated their metadata support to be as good as PM, then this is a gigantic leap forward. I’d be surprised if that were the case though.
Andre Elias (1 comments.)
February 9th, 2010
No Lens Correction?
I want to correct lens distortion (barrel, etc).
Keith H
February 9th, 2010
Looks like a fantastic update that’ll be well worth the price. Thank you very much for the review.
In a quick read, I haven’t come across my two biggest wants, so I doubt they’re there. Hope I’m wrong.
Can you tell me:
1. Is it no longer necessary to ’round trip’ with plug ins?
2. Can A3 now read Nikon NEFs using the Nikon codec (if that’s how you’d say it, like Photomechanic does), and/or are there Nikon Picture Control presets that can be used on NEFs?
Thanks again for the detailed review.
JMG
February 9th, 2010
So far from my evaluation based on this article and the Apple 200+ features overview, I am thinking that this is a fantastic update. There are a lot of great updates, but there are some little tweaks that actually have a big deal which may actually keep me on aperture for another couple years. For example, renaming master file names is a big thing. Just this alone will eliminate the need to use bridge for doing my original first pass sorts and master rename process just so I can then import into aperture. A2 only allowed you to rename version names once in aperture. This is a major workflow saver. Another example is backup on import. a major time saver. Non destructive brushes….totally awesome. I like the ability of now doing an overlay of brushes and keeping it in the same version vs my brushes exporting and doing a second version to apply the change. Another example is aperture version of “layers”. It appears one can now layer both adjustments as well as brushes all on the same version in a non-destruct manner. If I can get 90% of my image final in aperture and not have to export to PS to do all finishing (except for real PS work using actions etc), then that will save me tons of disk space when duplicating and creating TIFF versions with PS edits that round trip. There are tons more of little things that may mean very little to some of the new users, but when you become proficient with this program as a core element of your workflow, you will begin to appreciate the little things that actually save you tons of time. If I can reduce my time per image processed, then I can edit more projects per week and decrease turn around time to clients and make them happier. Less time processing equals more time shooting and marketing. More time shooting and marketing means more revenue. Therefore, time equals money and the new aperture looks like it will continue to drive my overall processing time lower. Thanks.
JMG
February 9th, 2010
So far, the only “feature request” that I have not seen announced is network capability. Although the merging seems like a good idea, I’ll have to figure out how to effectively incorporate that into the workflow process. None the less, it would be great if someone figured out an optimal networking solution that went beyond sharing aperture library in a shared folder and connecting remotely to the shared folder
MD
February 9th, 2010
?
How is the Apeture way of using adjustment brushes different from the LR way?
Reading trough your description of it, it sound like pretty much the same feature.
Nigel Moore (1 comments.)
February 9th, 2010
“print with metadata displays, add logos and watermarks, create borders”
I currently use Photoshop to create invites/flyers based on a photo, by adding a (semi-transparent) colour block with text overlayed. It’s pretty much the only thing that I use PS for these days (other than some adjustments that the new Aperture 3 will take in its stride).
Can the new print dialogue handle these slightly more complicated (but sub-compositional) manipulations?
DK
February 9th, 2010
Apple’s website says that it can export the names associated with faces to IPTC metadata.
Does anyone know whether it can also export the faces rectangles (i.e. where they appear on the photo) to XMP?
Without that feature, face data will be locked in Aperture.
Stefan A
February 9th, 2010
Yes! Finally! And what an upgrade. LX3 support!!!
I have already ordered one copy.
John.B
February 9th, 2010
I just wish they would add layers and masks to Aperture.
MK
February 9th, 2010
“I just wish they would add layers and masks to Aperture.”
Um, they kind of just did that in Aperture 3. You can have multiple adjustment bricks (e.g., 3 curves bricks) and each adjustment can be brushed in or out. The only thing missing is the term “layer” and “mask”.
Eric (1 comments.)
February 9th, 2010
And what about Watermarks?
Johnny
February 9th, 2010
And what about Tethering.!! No support for Canon 40D and Canon 1Ds Mark lll.?
Liam
February 9th, 2010
Yes! Hopefully they will update it with tether support for 40D !
rnb
February 9th, 2010
@MD – in A3 you can brush ANY adjustment into an image, whereas in L3 it seems like you’re restricted to certain ones, yes?
Nik
February 9th, 2010
@Eric version 2 & 3 have a watermark capability.
Nik
February 9th, 2010
@Keith H
1) round tripping to plug-ins is not going to change in the near future just by the nature of how plug-ins work, this is also true of Lightroom.
2) It looks like it, we now have focus information overlays and the ability to write IPTC data to the NEF.
Sean
February 9th, 2010
heh.. it’s a bad sign when the entire post has to mention the competition.
Either way: A high tide raises all boats.
Francis Mariani
February 9th, 2010
I’m really happy with the number of new features and improvements in Aperture 3. I’m curious about one thing – how do the existing adjustments to images in an Aperture 2 library get imported into the new library? And can you apply the new adjustments to images already edited in Aperture 2?
I really appreciate all the work MacCreate has done – what a showcase for Aperture 3!
Andrew
February 9th, 2010
Now with Aperture 3 being able to create slideshows with photos, videos and sounds, people making short audio & video presentations may not need to use iMovie anymore. =)
Matt
February 9th, 2010
Regarding adjustment brushes:
The article says “Adjustment Brushes [Not in Lightroom]”
Nick questioned that saying “Adjustment brushes NOT in Lightroom? I must be imaging things? In fact I`m using it as I write!”
The author replied “Not the same way you use them in Aperture Nick. Not at all.”
I’m confused. There are adjustment brushes in Lightroom. I’ve used them. So why did the author say that they aren’t in Lightroom at all, then later said that they are just used differently in Lightroom than Aperture.
I was (and still am) looking for an unbiased and accurate comparison of the two. I’m hopeful that the author can explain what the difference actually is and why the difference is so vast that it made him state that Lightroom does not have the same functionality even though it has controls labeled as “Adjustment Brush” (shortcut of “k” on the develop tab.
If it is hyperbole, then I’d appreciate knowing what else in the article has been exaggerated. From the marketing info it sounds like Aperture 3 has greatly improved over Aperture 2 and Lightroom 2 (3 beta). If the changes are so great, then why the need for exaggeration? I’m not looking for more marketing material, I’d really like to find an honest evaluation of the software and comparison to Aperture’s competitors.
Henry Maddocks (1 comments.)
February 10th, 2010
Panasonic GF1 is NOT supported.
Max Pixel
February 10th, 2010
Geez, talk about sour grapes. [Not in Lightroom]
Yea, Aperture 3 is like LR 2.
I too am a long time Mac user but one thing that Aperture still does not have that LR does is 3-4 times the customer base due to fact that LR runs on Macs and Windows.
Additionally, when I do training videos on LR, it is virtually the same on the PC.
Aperture is nothing more than iPhoto Pro.
Remco
February 10th, 2010
“Lumix users who have been clamoring for RAW file support, today is your day.”
Unfortunately, not this day. Lumix GF1 and G1 are NOT supported.
Looks like the micro fourthirds cameras with lens correction in RAW are out of luck.
Very disappointing, it looked so promising.
Remco
February 10th, 2010
Correction: after Apple’s latest RAW update, panasonic G1 DOES work.
GF1 still unsupported though.
Pity… back to Lightroom.
Thanks for the great article!
BenR
February 10th, 2010
Very nicely detailed article but somewhat biased.
Apple has for sure released a nice and polished products with AP3, but if you compare the Beta of LR3 to AP3 the only two noticable differences are “Places” and “Faces”. It has been said that when LR3 will be released it will integrate some new features.
To me the real question is “has Apple achieved to match LR3 algorithms for noise reduction and sharpness adjustements”. I would be very interested into an objective side-to-side comparison.
Again, thank you for your article.
Richard
February 10th, 2010
The majority of new features in Aperture 3 that are truly important to most photographers are features that have been available in Lightroom for a long time. I have no care for gimmicks like faces and geolocation. I have no need for video and audio (isn’t that what imovie, itunes, final cut and/or logic are for?). Most photographers just want better photo editing, adjustment, printing and display tools and improved catalog management tools. This looks like you have bloated the program trying to provide gee whiz gimmicks that are mostly useless to serious photographers.
You constantly refer to Lightroom in your post, but you do very little to show how Aperture’s new localized adjustment and preset features are any better than what has been available in Lightroom for years. Apple is playing catchup, not leapfrog, with this version, and your constant statements in this article that this or that feature is “better than lightroom” without any real proof that it is, just accentuates that.
Personally, I switched from Aperture to Lightroom last year after being completely disappointed with Aperture’s lack of localized adjustments and presets, and also with the general lack of resources available for Aperture users. I see nothing in this update to cause me to regret that decision. I look forward to the release of Lightroom 3, which, judging from the beta version, has improved tools that actually matter to still photographers (you know, things like improved processing speed and quality, and improved sharpening, noise reduction, and output options).
Matt
February 10th, 2010
First off, this is in no way a photoshop killer. I get that you’re all for this product, but get real.
Secondly, please detail EXACTLY how adjustment brushes differ from Lightroom. (If you’ve even used the latest version of Lightroom)
I’ll agree Aperture is certainly the better looking for the 2 programs, not surprising since it’s an Apple program. But speaking as someone who moved from Aperture to Lightroom, it’s going to have to have a lot to get me back. Gimmicky stuff like places and faces has no true use for what I’m doing, and it honestly belongs more in iPhoto than a professional tool. Video and audio has little use for me either.
TXCiclista
February 10th, 2010
@nik
I’m using the trial right now and as far as I can tell, I haven’t been able to right metadata to the NEF (have only tried GPS). I willing to bet this is not a feature we will ever see. The debate over the “wisdom” of writing data to RAW files rages on and I’m willing to bet Adobe and Apple are going to stay away from that decision for some time to come.
That being said, if it’s in there, that’s awesome and I must have somehow missed it. Could you provide some insight on how to came to see this as a feature of A3?
Tim
February 10th, 2010
@Richard
Take your pills and get back to work with your favorite application (beta) LR3!
@Everyone
If you don’t like Aperture(3), there is no need telling us, it’s a wasting of your time trying to convince us that you like LR more….:). Really we don’t care about that!
Max Pixel
February 10th, 2010
Tried it. Meh.
iPhoto Pro 3(aka Aperture 3) still not good enough for this pro.
I crop and straighten 99% of my images.
Crop and straighten are still separate….WHY? In LR I hit the “r” key and get both.
Plus still no hot key for straighten.
How about more LR features like PREVIOUS and sync?
Shooting sports professionally, I ran 50,000 images through Aperture 1 since it was the only game in town. After switching to LR1 beta4 I never looked back. I have since ran over 250,000 images through LR1+2.
Workflow is still much faster in LR, hands down. You will put many more miles on the mouse with Aperture than LR, which means more time in post processing
Export time is SLOOOW compared to LR2.
I tried Aperture 2 when it was released. Aperture 3 is faster than the previous version, but still slower than LR2.
Aperture is still not as fast as LR for a sports photographer who cranks through hundreds of Nikon D3 images per day.
Apple is a the best hardware/OS company hands down.
Adobe is still the best imaging software company hands down.
Nikon, IMO, is the best pro camera/lens company.
Combined, the above three make me the a great photographer.
Per
February 10th, 2010
Can you keyword the video clips?
testingground
February 10th, 2010
Aperture 3 has a nice interface, for me as a Lightroom user on a Mac it fits definitely a little more into what I like about Mac software. Unfortunately your review is a little misleading: We are talking about RAW converters and there is no substantial statement on the quality of the processed images. You talk about differences, but you don’t explain them at all (brushes). Finally, it’s a little unfair to compare a product which is shipped with a beta version.
David Schloss
February 10th, 2010
@testingground – I agree on the interface. I’m not sure what you mean by the “review is a little misleading.” This isn’t a review, it’s a “new features overview.” That’s why it lists the new features. It’s not intended as a comprehensive guide to all the tools. But to briefly talk about raw quality, it’s fantastic, about brushes, they’re great. We’ve got lots of tutorials up and lots coming. Our videos on shop.maccreate.com cover these as well.
David Schloss
February 10th, 2010
@max
See below. (But first, I’d like crop and straighten in one tool also…)
• Plus still no hot key for straighten.– The G key is the shortcut for straighten. You can also assign any feature a keyshortcut. http://aperture.maccreate.com/2010/02/04/customizing-keyboard-shortcuts-part-2/
• How about more LR features like PREVIOUS and sync? — Press the M key to see the master of an image before any adjustments were applied. Click on any adjustment brick’s checkbox to temporarily see the image without that adjustment. Sync isn’t needed. Sync’s used in LR to re-write info to the XMP sidecar files. Aperture doesn’t store data in XMP sidecar files, so that’s not something you have to do. There’s no need to remember to make sure your changes are applied.
• Workflow is still much faster in LR, hands down. You will put many more miles on the mouse with Aperture than LR, which means more time in post processing — personally I disagree, you have to switch Modes to change between image editing, output and metadata modes. Since you missed the keyboard shortcut on straighten, I’ve got the feeling maybe you’re just more familiar with LR’s shortcuts.
• Export time is SLOOOW compared to LR2. — At best you’re talking about Aperture 2, not 3. The import engine has been completely overhauled.
• I tried Aperture 2 when it was released. Aperture 3 is faster than the previous version, but still slower than LR2. — Slower at what?
• Aperture is still not as fast as LR for a sports photographer who cranks through hundreds of Nikon D3 images per day.– You’ve done this since yesterday? We’re using LR 2, LR Beta 3 and Aperture 3 here with the Nikon D3x, D3X Canon 7D and Canon 1Ds Mark III. I can tell you that if you’re talking about import speed, you’re categorically wrong. If you’re talking about workflow speed, I disagree totally.
David Schloss
February 10th, 2010
@Nik
You wrote >>I’m using the trial right now and as far as I can tell, I haven’t been able to right metadata to the NEF (have only tried GPS). I willing to bet this is not a feature we will ever see.<<
That feature is in A3. http://aperture.maccreate.com/2010/02/10/write-iptc-metadata-to-masters/
David Schloss
February 10th, 2010
@ Richard and Matt
>>I have no care for gimmicks like faces and geolocation. I have no need for video and audio (isn’t that what imovie, itunes, final cut and/or logic are for?). Most photographers just want better photo editing, adjustment, printing and display tools and improved catalog management tools.
Geolocation and Faces couldn’t be any less of a gimmick. For news, editorial, location and travel photographers it’s a godsend. Being able to have your images come into the application already knowing where they were shot (in the case of a GPS receiver) or tagged afterwards means not having to meticulously perform metadata work on the files.
Faces, well here’s an example for the news, sport and other photographers from an arena I cover, cycling sports.
Let’s say you’re covering bike racing. The average race there are a few hundred people. No sports photographers I know bother to tag every single one, they do some metadata work for the winners, podium finishers and the ones that generally did very well or poorly.
That’s fine, but this year’s winner was often last year’s “Did Not Finish” racer. Often the stories are of big triumphs from obscurity.
So let’s say you’ve got this new guy named Lance that seems to be winning a lot, and magazines want to know if you’ve got any shots of him from when he placed 50th instead of first. Without Faces, you’re back to your ENTIRE library looking at every single picture you ever shot, trying to find this one guy.
With Faces, you Lance when he’s a superstar and it finds all the other photos you shot of him. Now, take the Face for Lance and drag it to the Library inspector and you’ve got suddenly a Smart Album. Only want to see the photos of Lance from any race that took place in France? No problem, that’s easy with Smart Albums. You just find anything taged as a Face of Lance and Place as the country France. The end.
Put that onto other news stories. A white house staffer named Monica creates a scandal. Do you have any other photos of her from last year? Was she really close to the President in the photo? Maybe smiling at him? Because if you have that photo, you’re going to sell a lot of that photo. No worries, you’ve got them both tagged in Faces, just make a smart album where they both appear.
David Schloss
February 10th, 2010
@ Richard >>Personally, I switched from Aperture to Lightroom last year after being completely disappointed with Aperture’s lack of localized adjustments and presets, and also with the general lack of resources available for Aperture users. I see nothing in this update to cause me to regret that decision. <<
How about localized brushes and presets?
You aren't required to switch from LR, you know. If it's working for you, that's what matters. But the features you want are in there. And so is the ability to connect to the rest of the OS X programs like iLife and iWork and many more tools.
David Schloss
February 10th, 2010
@Max Pixel >>I too am a long time Mac user but one thing that Aperture still does not have that LR does is 3-4 times the customer base due to fact that LR runs on Macs and Windows.<<
Uh. By that reasoning you should be using Windows, as it has 100x the customer base of Mac. I'm not sure what the customer base has to do with selecting the tool that works better for you. You say later that you're a Nikon shooter. Canon has sold more digital cameras than Nikon, hands down. So perhaps you should switch to the camera with a bigger customer base?
Lee Kay
February 10th, 2010
Any improvement on watermarking? I find it quite awkward in 2x w/ no actual live preview capability. Also very limited placement options, 4 corners or center.
Matt
February 10th, 2010
@David Schloss,
Thank you for taking the time to come back and respond to questions. However, questions regarding the adjustment brush and your assertion that Light Room doesn’t have them, were not answered. I’m assuming that is simply on oversight on your part and that you didn’t see my question (or Nik’s or the other Matt’s).
To save you the time of re-reading the comments above to find those that you missed, I repost my original comment below. Thank you again for taking the time to address reader comments.
“Regarding adjustment brushes:
The article says “Adjustment Brushes [Not in Lightroom]”
Nick questioned that saying “Adjustment brushes NOT in Lightroom? I must be imaging things? In fact I`m using it as I write!”
The author replied “Not the same way you use them in Aperture Nick. Not at all.”
I’m confused. There are adjustment brushes in Lightroom. I’ve used them. So why did the author say that they aren’t in Lightroom at all, then later said that they are just used differently in Lightroom than Aperture.
I was (and still am) looking for an unbiased and accurate comparison of the two. I’m hopeful that the author can explain what the difference actually is and why the difference is so vast that it made him state that Lightroom does not have the same functionality even though it has controls labeled as “Adjustment Brush” (shortcut of “k” on the develop tab.
If it is hyperbole, then I’d appreciate knowing what else in the article has been exaggerated. From the marketing info it sounds like Aperture 3 has greatly improved over Aperture 2 and Lightroom 2 (3 beta). If the changes are so great, then why the need for exaggeration? I’m not looking for more marketing material, I’d really like to find an honest evaluation of the software and comparison to Aperture’s competitors.”
DKMiles (1 comments.)
February 10th, 2010
When I bought Aperture 3 it said I would get the software and Sample projects. Well, I downloaded Aperture 3 (and its up and running) but there doesn’t seem to be any sample projects… Unless? Are the sample projects from Aperture 2 the same as the Sample projects in Aperture 3?
Richard
February 10th, 2010
@ David>>How about localized brushes and presets?
Right, so Aperture now has the features that Lightroom has had for years. They are late to the game and lost me as a current and future customer because of it. Why would I switch back now that they have finally caught up to Lightroom 2? Lightroom 3 will soon come out in its final version and set the bar for them again.
It seems clear enough to me that Lightroom’s image processing and raw conversion quality are way ahead of Aperture. Lightroom’s tools are better suited to the serious still photographer. Aperture is just now catching up to Lightroom regarding many of those tools. As I said, nothing in this version causes me to regret switching to Lightroom.
You still haven’t explained how the implementation of localized adjustment brushes and presets in Ap 3 are substantially better than those available in LR 2. First, you mislead your readers by suggesting LR doesn’t even have an adjustment brush. And then you say the presets are “vastly better” in Aperture, but the only difference I can make out is, to use your words, the “beautiful” preview screen. Big on marketing hype, short on honest factual comparisons.
>>I’m not sure what the customer base has to do with selecting the tool that works better for you.
Well, let me explain it to you. First of all, a larger customer base means more resources and more people to help you with issues. How many user forums exist for Aperture? Um, the one on this site and the one at Apple’s corporate site. How many websites are dedicated to Aperture use and training? Same answer. How about for Lightroom? Well over a dozen of each. Tons of information, tutorials, and free downloadable presets all over the internet for Lightroom. Scarcely anything for Aperture. You make a big deal in your article about Aperture’s newfound ability to trade presets. But if there are few users sharing presets, this really doesn’t amount to much, does it. Go to the Presetting Lightroom flickr page (just one of many, many online sources) and there are literally thousands of members sharing presets.
Also, a large and growing user base helps ensure the longterm viability of the product. One of the many reasons I left Aperture for Lightroom was a real concern about the future viability of the product, given what seems to be a very small user base. I still think this is a valid concern.
Rick
February 10th, 2010
David,
With all due respect, your article is highly biased and inaccurate about the capabilities of Lightroom.
Lightroom has Adjustment Brushes, it will playback any audio sidecar file associated with a photo, and can use the embedded GPS metadata to link to either Google Earth or Yahoo maps. For you to say that they’re “Not in Lightroom” is false. Also, you wrote that some Aperture features are “better than” Lightroom, but you provide no analysis or warrant for your claim(s).
I highly recommend you read Martin Evening’s book on Lightroom 2 so you’re actually aware of the features in Lightroom before you say they don’t exist. With all respect intended, it’s obvious that you’re too unfamiliar with Lightroom in order to comment with any credibility.
Matt
February 10th, 2010
@ David Schloss,
Please disregard my previous post. I thought that you were a journalist providing unbiased information; I was unaware that you are actually a Director at both Mac Create Network and Aperture Users Network, as well as the author of the upcoming “Aperture 2 Portable Genius”.
I’m sure this is disclosed somewhere on the site, but I didn’t think to look.
I will look elsewhere for an impartial comparison of the two tools.
Matt
David Schloss
February 10th, 2010
@matt I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that there are NO brushes in LR. The localized adjustments are there, they’re just a mess. Brush the mask, then make an adjustment. There are seven major things you can change locally. If you make more than one local adjustment you have to click on a pin? That’s just not really very workflow centric.
In Aperture 3 you can brush on any adjustment. That’s more than 20 adjustments, plus the more in Quick Brushes.
@ Rick – Showing a single point on a map in Lightroom is NOT by any means the same thing as being able to do complete geocoding of your images. First, Aperture 2 had the same feature of showing a point on a map. Second, that requires that the points be geocoded first, either with a GPS receiver that works with the camera or using a third party tool like HoudahGeo to embed the files.
By contrast Places works the other way around. The images don’t need to start off tagged (but cool if they are) and the program isn’t relying on a web browser to show a point on a map. Displaying the point on Yahoo or Google doesn’t in LR give you the ability to find images based on that data, nor add that data to your images.
In Aperture 3 there are several ways to use Places. The first is with camera with GPS data. That will display the points on a map inside Aperture. It will also automatically look up the place, and it’s not just a drop on a map. If you’re standing outside the Louvre, Aperture is smart enough to know that and allow you to label that place. Not possible with Lightroom.
You can look up addresses through the built-in lookup tools in Places inside Aperture and add that as a place, which you can apply to other images without having to look them up. So if you shoot often at a baseball stadium you can tag the name of the stadium as a Place, then the next time you bring in an image (even without geocoding) you can just tag it as Place. You don’t have to look up the location again and use a third party tool. Not possible in Lightroom.
Also, you can use a GPS logging device like a Garmin or even a cheap GPS tracker (mine was about $60) and when you bring your images in, also import your GPX file. That file will be used as a track and will automatically place any images shot (but without GPS data) into Places without needing to do anything. It matches the time of your camera to the time of the GPS data in the GPX file. Not possible with Lightroom. Not possible in Lightroom.
Finally, you can take a photo with an iPhoto (can be of anything, the scene itself, your foot, your camera bag) and then import the GPS location into Aperture 3’s Places without even having to bring the original photo in. Aperture drops a pin on the map based on that iPhone point and you simply drag your images onto the Place. Not possible in Lightroom.
Keep in mind again this article was a feature overview, not a comprehensive comparison. I’m happy to expound on any of these points, feel free to drop me an email at info@maccreate.com and we’ll turn your questions into tutorials. (I might not check back here in this article’s comments that often as I’m headed to the Olympics in the AM.)
As per above, you’ll see that the features I just outlined that are not in Lightroom are in fact, not in lightroom. That’s why I said that. Show On Map does not equal Places. Period.
Audio – I’m not indicating that audio sidecar files are not imported, and I’m sorry if the text seemed to indicate that. You can import non-sidecar files into Aperture 3. Record with a second audio device and import those into Aperture. Use them in Slideshows, export them, listen to them. Not possible in Lightroom. I’ll change the header of that one to say “some not possible in lightroom” though as that’s what I was trying to indicate.
With regard to Martin’s book, it’s excellent you’re right. But I think that in light of the points above you’ll see I’m plenty familiar with LR. I was an alpha tester on Shadowland, have used 1.0 and 2.0, and have played with 3.0 beta (I’m looking forward to seeing their final product—and have been looking forward to it since the beta dropped last October.)
As a member of Apple’s advisory board for Aperture, I brought my favorite features to the Apple team as my suggestions for updates and enhancements. I’m always happier to hear someone tell me they’re using Lightroom than to hear them using Bridge, say, because I know they’ve at least got a good program on their hands.
But as the Director of the Aperture Users Network, I think I’m entitled to be a bit pro-Aperture.
Thanks, btw, everyone for the great comments.
David Schloss
February 10th, 2010
@Matt, I am actually a journalist, regardless of my position. And as such I don’t feel anything in that piece is a hyperbole. If you’ve got questions about which features are not in Lightroom as Rick did above, let me know. I’m happy to address them.
I don’t want you to get the assumption that I’m badmouthing another program because I write about this one. As I said to Rick, LR now does not have some of the tools Aperture does.
And you know what, LR has some tools Aperture doesn’t. And last week with A2 that was even more true.
But this isn’t an in-depth side-by side comparison. (John Omvik who pens our LR coverage and I are working on that.) It’s an overview.
If you’re looking for the info about my position, btw, it’s in the bio, directly under every article I write.
Matt
February 10th, 2010
David,
I stopped reading (in depth) the article when I got to the statement about LR not having any adjustment brushes (I lost faith in the article’s objectivity) so I skipped over your bio to get to the comments. And you didn’t imply that there were no brushes in LightRoom, you stated “Adjustment Brushes [Not in Lightroom.]” There is nothing implied in that statement. It is either a misstatement of fact or it is a deliberate exaggeration (which is the definition of hyperbole.) In either case, I would assume that a true journalist would not do it, or would own up to it and correct it. However someone authoring an opinion article is not (to me at least) subject to that same standard.
I can’t comment on the rest of the article as I never read beyond the Adjustment Brushes paragraph. But you seem to have written it well and many of the other posters here appear to have enjoyed it. I certainly appreciate the amount of time and effort it took to write it as well as the time you’ve taken to come back and respond to the comments.
Best,
Matt
Rick
February 11th, 2010
David, respectful greetings again.
You wrote:
“I didn’t mean to imply that there are NO brushes in LR”.
David, you straight out wrote that “Adjustment Brushes” are “Not in Lightroom” just as you wrote about audio files, etc. Imply means to express indirectly – you directly wrote things that are not accurate. You wrote that you’re familiar with Lightroom, but yet features that exist in Lightroom, that Aperture is just now getting, you claimed don’t exist. I’m sure that you accidentally forgot that Lightroom had these features first, and had no intention to mislead.
Also, Lightroom has always had presets that could be exchanged between the community, so it’s good to see that Aperture is following suit. What I don’t see in your article is a warrant to your claim that Aperture’s presets are “vastly better than Lightroom”. How?
Lightroom has always shown the preview of a preset before it’s applied. You wrote that presets are going to be “the feature”. Honest question, if Aperture is just doing what Lightroom has done since the beginning then how is this better?
I say this with all due respect, but because your article never provides the warrants to substantiate your claims (sometimes very erroneous claims), this reads like a reworded press release from Apple. I’m sure that that is not your intention.
I appreciate you providing your email as I’d love to follow up with you.
Ken
February 11th, 2010
Guys, you overreact. A subtitle of a paragraph is just a title. It does not imply litterally what you interpret it to be. What the author means is that those features are not in the same way available in Lightroom and by the way I am a lightroom user and I do agree that faces is a nice feature which I would prefer to have in LR. Now I have to tag all the pictures of my girlfriend for instance, to get them, which takes a lot of time. Also if you already have a GPS, I think that importing GPX might be very interesting, then you don’t need to buy someting to connect a GPS to the camera or have a camera that has this ability.
My reason why I switched to lightroom – was just speed. I have an old macbook, and my macbook could not cope with Aperture 1 -as my macbook has a shared graphical card Intel GMA. Anyways, I am able to run Photoshop and I use Photoshop more than lightroom’s edit features. So the brushes feature in Aperture 3 might be useful. I found the one in LR to be not precise enough. I currently have LR 2. I did not test yet LR 3.
What, I am curious of is if I can run Aperture 3 now on my macbook or not. I am thinking that I still won’t be able to browse through my pictures without that the computer hangs for some time. I am considering to buy a new imac 27 inch for getting full photo editting power, as I am moving more and more in the professional photographer direction.
Stewart (1 comments.)
February 11th, 2010
David
I was just about to download the Aperture 3 upgrade when, I thought I had better have a quick check with regards to the the technical specs required for the upgrade – imagine my disappointment whan I found out I could not upgrade as my computer and software are not compatible with the new upgrade – I am using all Apple hardware and software but, again, I will have to upgrade all my computer hardware and software if I want to use Aperture 3.
As a working photographer for over thirty years, the past four in my own business, and, as a past user of three Macs and the current owner of four ( one an intel i-Mac ), I feel that my current work-horse set up of a Dual G5, Photoshop CS2, Aperture 2 and OS 10.4. 11 works very well for what I NEED – what I WANT is obviously intel machines all loaded with the current Photoshop software and Aperture 3. I know everything will be quicker and I will have access to some really cool new features but the question as a business person is – should I be held to ransom again by Apple so that I HAVE to buy a shiny new toy? – or just carry on for now and look at the possibilites of upgrading Photoshop and start using Lightroom.
I am also a Nikon user. and have been for many years too and I admire their loyalty to their customers as lenses made years ago still fit the brand new digital bodies such as the D3 – they may not have auto-focus etc capabilities but they fit the Nikon bodies, and are excellent lenses – some surpassing their more recent upgrades with their sharpness and contrast.
I wish Apple were as loyal to their customers as their customers seem to be to them – because if they are going to change everything every three to four years should they not be issuing a buy back system after say, three years, – and if they already do why was I, a member of the AUPN and other internet communities unaware of it? – I do not want to lease a machine – but do want the freedom to dispense of it how I like and when I like – not being forced to do so by Apple because it will not work!!
Roger
February 11th, 2010
Thanks David for such an in depth preview of Aperture 3’s new features. While I use Aperture 2 and will upgrade shortly I consider my self a fan and definitely Aperture is my preference while I use LR from time to time. Saying that I may suggest that you were perhaps taken out of context in regards to the whole LR “no brushes” thing. I can see you did not mean to put LR down or imply the feature was missing. But I can also see how that could be the interpretation by some. And LR users are certainly passionate as many here have proven with staunch adoration and support. I do think this is a preview and the words above do not negate nor nullify the importance or quality of Lightroom. If You David have written from your point of view that is fine for me and it is also fine for anyone to disagree. I do question the intensity of some of the replies (seriously) including your own as you do not need to defend your position just accept the position of those that disagree and acknowledge that, while perhaps objectively offering another point of view…Hmmm perhaps im just as bad. Anyway I am not offended but I think you may have somehow accidentally shamed Lightroom in some way? So you could go to the shelf pick up the box and say “sorry Lightroom old friend I did not mean to say you dont have brushes. Clearly you do”
As far as I can see those brushes are limited in LR2 to a set of Parameters which may be different in LR3. I am not sure. How they work is similar but the Aperture implementation seems very flexible and perhaps better for the way in which Aperture works. Either way I was hoping for this feature and really could not care less that LR had it first as with Presets
Well in the end It all looks good and leapfrog or no Im glad they did it at long last.
When I finally upgrade my rig I will continue to create and now much more with ease
Cheers
Richard
February 11th, 2010
Thanks that was really helpful. The upgrade looks great. I’ll be spending a lot less time in Photoshop.
Gib (1 comments.)
February 11th, 2010
I read with delight that I could now import my LR files to A3, but found it not so as described in the quote below.
“One of the questions we get asked a lot is “how do I move from Lightroom to Aperture” and now the answer is that you point Aperture at your Lightroom Catalog and import your images. The end.”
I have searched high and low for a way to either absorb my LR data or export those data to Aperture. Now that A3 is on the scene there may be a way to do so but not yet evident to me. Pointers gladly accepted.
I’d love to see an equivalent of LR’s ability to round trip to PS4: to open images as layers in a single image; stitch into panorama, merge, etc.
Ralph
February 12th, 2010
How do you folks plan to use the new color label feature? It is an intriguing feature, but I can’t think of a good use for it.
Stephen Nesbitt (1 comments.)
February 12th, 2010
Well, I don’t know about you guys, but for speed on my MacBook Pro 17″ and my iMac 24″, Aperture 3 makes Lightroom 3Beta and LIghtroom 2 look like they are standing still.
I am happy with the trial, and because of that, I have bought the box. Thanks Apple.
Frank
February 12th, 2010
David: How do you set up the “duplicating project structure: you mention rowards the end of your article? Thank you.
Frank
February 12th, 2010
David: just answered my own question about the “duplicate project structure . Very cool feature. Thanks for pointing it out.
Glenn Images (1 comments.)
February 13th, 2010
I can see faces becoming a big deal also when you do paparrazzi work, or sports like the olympics. Like the poor guy who was killed in the luge accident. the faces would give you a name to go with the face. I could definitely see that as a big feature if you look beyond the snapshot concepts
David Medina (1 comments.)
February 14th, 2010
I guess this is what happens when Aperture rocks the house…. It send Lightroom users to visit every Aperture website to defend Lightroom. Now that is silly. I hope Adobe is paying them something! Shouldn’t you spend your time shooting and correcting images, creating art instead or wasting time here?
I teach both software, and as David stated, LR has things that Ap does not have and vice versa. And while LR does have Adjustment brushes they are not the same as what you find in Aperture 3. So, if LR brushes cannot do what an Aperture adjustment brushes can do, then LR does not have it. That makes David’s statement true.
And Ap 3 is not = to LR 2. Yes, it introduced some tools that were already in LR but it took them into the next level and added some new ones. After using LR 3 since went beta, there isn’t much as far of new tools there. maybe in the final release, but not in the beta.
We have done extensive testing on Ap 3, and recently did some highlight recovery on images using every tool that Capture One, LR 2 & 3 and Aperture 3 has to offer, except brushes (Capture One does not have brushes), and hands down Ap. 3 did a much better job recovering details from blow highlites without making the image flat or muddying the image.
David, thanks for the review.
JCB
February 14th, 2010
Thank you for your comprehensive run-down of the Aperture 3 updates. I found it very helpful and have ordered the update. I dont understand why people who use Lightroom are on an Aperture users network attacking you for comments about Aperture. I mean, get a life!
Derek
February 15th, 2010
Thanks for the overview article David. Great stuff!
Ignore the peanut gallery, they’re just the same as road ragers. They have “I’m right you’re wrong, my thingy is bigger than your thingy (regardless)”, issues.
Mike
February 15th, 2010
Here is a nice comparison of AP3 and LR3Beta, some of the stuff is not even listed her in Davids post:
http://www.vx50.com/latest-news/adobe-lightroom-3-beta-vs-aperture-3-from-apple-compared/
abdul
February 16th, 2010
Great overview. been using it for the past 3-4 days after clearing the ‘memory leak’ hurdle… (was forced to run a repair script on my old AP2 libraries then reimport them after initial import was disastrous).
Only feature missing or that I would like to see is the ability to name the adjustment layers. when adding multiple color bricks or curve layers, i’d like to be able to quickly jump to one or another via knowing it by name as opposed to having to guess. otherwise, AP3 is absolutely amazing. Love all the new features.
Tony R
February 16th, 2010
David, great overview! I find it odd that many of the comments scold you for comparing A3 to LR. They’re obviously close competitors and should be compared as such. I think your overview of features was useful in answering a big question a lot of people have . . . “What do I get from A3 that I don’t get from LR”? Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed article for those of use who want to cut to the chase!
Atkins
February 18th, 2010
Stewart
“should I be held to ransom again by Apple so that I HAVE to buy a shiny new toy”
If it is just a toy why buy it? You said you have everything you need. “Ransom” is a big word here. The G5 are computers from 2003 and were discontinued 4 years ago. At some point you need to change. Also Apple changed the whole structure (to Intel) for us customers to have the best (IBM didn’t stand to the expectations and the processors were like ovens), so I guess there is some bad timing too.
Abou the comparison with Nikon. Completely unfair. You say all the old lenses from Nikon are compatible, but to what extent (sometimes autofocus isn’t for example)? It is same for your software: switching from A2 to A3 gets you only more features.
I understand your frustration, I had a G5 too, but just sell it and buy an Imac with core i7 which is pretty cheap considering the IPS panel inside. And iMacs evolved a lot, personally I am into 3D graphics, which uses much more resources than photography and these machines can handle the workload.
daniel dolpire
February 19th, 2010
why do some images get downloaded and some stay behind when i download from Nikon D3x to aperture 2? never had this problem with Aperture 1. Nikon tell me it is the aperture problem. how do i resolve it.
Vern
February 23rd, 2010
I am neither an expert in Aperture 2 nor Photoshop (CS2) but have found the lasso and mass replacement color feature in Photoshop to be a significant advantage over Aperture. I see Aperture 3 has a new edge capability that look quite useful in not brushing over a sharp edge but does the new aperture have a lasso and mass color replacement feature,(excuse me if I haven’t found it in Aperture2). I also see that Aperture 3 now imports Pentax K20D Raw files. It also sounds like Aperture has improved the file management system something I considered as rather clumsy in 2. Also I recently tried to get a trial version of Photoshop CS4 and had a complete disaster and absolutely no support from Adobe after two rather strong emails. Thanks for the article it far better than the apple news releases.
Sterling Zumbrunn
February 28th, 2010
Hi David,
I appreciate the article, love the Aperture update, but have to agree with other commentators that saying Lightroom doesn’t have adjustment brushes and that presets are “vastly better” in Aperture really harm your credibility. I use both products in different ways, but just have to say that Lightroom was the first one to use the adjustment brushes. Aperture copied this feature! Yes, it is improved. But to say that it’s “Not in Lightroom” is simply incorrect. I think you should update the article accordingly.
The Geotagging, Face Recognition and Multimedia features in Aperture are huge. Personally, I find the LR 3 Beta release quite lackluster and am hoping for a much improved version in final release. But please stick to the facts. There are plenty of things you can point to for Aperture to be better in. There is no need to make things up.
David Prime
March 1st, 2010
David,
Thank you for an excellent overview of A3. I have been using it since it came out as an upgrade to A2. It seems to be quicker and I have no problems on either of my almost vintage macs, both early intel, a Mac Pro and a Macbook Pro. Apple have issued an upgrade already which includes support for micro four thirds cameras (I have used A3 for my Panasonic GF1).
Previously, I used A2 as a front end for CS3, but have found that I have been passing fewer and fewer images to Photoshop. However, the tools that I should like in A3 would be:
lens correction (particularly converging verticals);
stitching to panoramas; and
high dynamic range abilities.
All these I can still do by passing files to CS3 (or by buying extra plug ins) but the process is cumbersome.