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This is a little too close for comfort for Adobe... Ah, the smell of a healthy competition...

"Nik Software's Viveza plug-in..." I read that and almost wet my pants. Imagine all this from within Aperture!

Aperture 2.0 really rocks, but with these plug ins... oh, I have to go...

Mar 28, 08 - 08:26 am Comment from: Connor MacBook

Funny how a "hardware company" like Apple can wipe the floor with its software competitors, who actually specialize in the area.

Mar 28, 08 - 08:32 am Comment from: tmsruge

I think i need a tissue....

http://tmsruge.com

Good! But now please work on iMovie and make it also an usable program with free software update.

Bye Bye high-priced, slugware, bloatware, snail updated, prehistoric Photoshop. Adobe dropped the ball and is going to pay the price, if not already.

Mar 28, 08 - 09:15 am Comment from: TowerTone

"Dodge and Burn"? Isn't that the Fox News' name for the Democrat election coverage?....

Mar 28, 08 - 09:25 am Comment from: MrScrith

I'm laying out my plans to purchase a new Digital SLR camera and I would like to get Aperture to work with it, but I can't seem to figure out if it's fully compatible or not, the camera I'm looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I1ZWRC/ref=wl_itt_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IND1TFJXQC5Y2&colid=1SKKJGJA35J2O

Has anyone here used this camera with Aperture? Any advice for using it?

Thanks.

Mar 28, 08 - 09:26 am Comment from: Mr. Reeee

I hope Apple decides to offer upgrade/cross-grade pricing for users of the once iView Media Pro, now Microsoft Expression Media.

It's only a matter of time before MS destroys iView. Tthey've already shaken the ugly stick at it.

How does Aperture run on a MacBook Pro? I've heard a few people complain about it. Mine is a 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM and a 200Gb x 7200 rpm hard drive.

No, the Democrats are taking care of that all by themselves...

Mr. Scrith: The XTi works fine with Aperture. The price that model has recently dropped as Canon is just about to release its successor the XSi on April 15th. I'm getting one of those. You might want to check out the differences. I believe they are well worth the bucks.

Mar 28, 08 - 09:58 am Comment from: Spark

@Mr.Reee
I can't swear to it, but I've got to believe that Aperture would run fine on the MBPro you describe. I think the only drawback is the screen real estate. Aperture is one of those programs that can benefit from really BIG displays.

Mar 28, 08 - 10:05 am Comment from: TowerTone

MrScrith

I'm sure you've seen this, but just to be safe

http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Canon-EOS-Digital-Rebel-XSi-First-Impressions-Review-17501.htm

which helps explain the good price for the XTi

Mar 28, 08 - 10:07 am Comment from: MrScrith

Thanks j.Scott.

I'll probably go with the XTi with the price drop, I want a good camera but don't need the best. I'll just be using it for light amateur photos and such, nothing really big, I'll probably stay with the included lens as long as I can before I need telephoto.

Thanks for your help!

Mar 28, 08 - 10:21 am Comment from: TowerTone

MrScith
Just in case you are buy-curious....

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0801/08012415canoneos450dchanges.asp

Mar 28, 08 - 11:17 am Comment from: NewtonsApple

With the release of Aperture 2, the whole application is how should I say, "snappier" (sorry, couldn't resist). It honestly is a lot faster than v1.5 and from what I've read on Apreture specific forums it runs very well on a MBP and even pretty decent on a MacBook. As already mentioned, the biggest drawback to a laptop with Aperture is screen real estate and the "millions of colors" issue.

I run Aperture on a 24" iMac and at times I wish I had more screen real estate...

This is really great news. This answers my question from the other day about Aperture & the Plug-in software update.

@MrMcrith -- The Canon 400D (Rebel XTi) is an excellent camera, and Aperture reads its RAW. Other people on this board correctly pointed out that Canon is also releasing a successor to the XTi, the XSi in the coming days. If you are planning to shoot in RAW, you may have to wait a few months before Aperture supports it, because the Apple engineers would still have to analyze, decode, etc. to build a RAW reading infrastructure for the new camera in Aperture. Personally, I don't see a huge difference between the XTi and the XSi, and you'll probably find some excellent deals on the XTi in about a month.

A word about lenses. The standard lens that ships with the package is not very good. If you're just learning, it's fine. But if not, it might be worth your while to start doing research and get the body alone and spend directly on the type of glass you really want. Just my two cents.

I have a lot of shots taken with an XTi on my photostream, all processed with Aperture from June 2007 forward. If you're interested, here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyriazos/

Mar 28, 08 - 12:17 pm Comment from: drmacnut

Aperture is great also if you are using dual displays (Lightroom cannot use both displays yet). However, even after purchasing Aperture at the very beginning and going up through 1.5, I just cannot get myself to use it anymore after using Lightroom.

First of all, Aperture was way way slower than Lightroom. Also, I don't know about you guys, but doesn't Aperture's UI bother you at all with all that tiny text on grey-on-grey boring windozian-looking windows bother you? I don't understand why Apple feels that this style of UI looks good. I dislike it in the other apps I have to use too, like Soundtrack Pro for example. Lightroom, on the other hand, looks great on my MBP and is easy to use.

Finally, one other thing is the folder structure of Aperture. I could never get used to how that worked, and what the heck the difference is between blue folders and brown folders and nesting and all that. It just seemed overly complicated vs. Lightroom's easy to understand Finder-like arrangement.

Either way, get the trial versions of both apps, and run a roll of pictures through them to compare and find which you like best. To be fair, I will try Aperture 2.1 just to see what they have done, but at the moment, Lightroom is great for me.

/my 2c

@drmacnut - I don't disagree that Lightroom is also a great product, but frankly, Adobe copied Apple's idea here. Nevertheless, you are correct, Aperture 1.0 and 1.5 were really slow. Aperture 2.0 is another story. Wicked fast, both on the upload and adjustments, and they got rid of the linear processing. That means you can now move on to do other things once you've give it a command (import, export, etc.).

As for the use of gray, it's for color interpretation. Gray is neutral. If you use any other color, it distorts color in one way or another. So while photos may look better surrounded by white or black or something else, that "pop" you see is actually a slight distortion. That's why pros only use gray, and that's why Apple chose it for Aperture's digital darkroom.

Although I normally use Aperture on a 24" iMac, I've used Aperture 2 on a MacBook (CoreDuo, not Core2Duo) with 2GB of RAM and it's very workable, and almost fast. I've got to imagine it's quite a bit faster on a MacBook Pro.

@MrScrith -- as drmacnut suggests, it's a great idea to download the free trial versions and see for yourself.

Mar 28, 08 - 12:55 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

Ohhh...nice plugins. Just wish it worked with my Sigma raw files!

Mar 28, 08 - 01:30 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

Ok, I went and looked at some of the Canon 450 images at dpreview.com, and if you look at the one where the guy is on a bicycle, shot at Iso1600, I have to say the CA and noise are very disappointing. Maybe the CA is due to the kit lens, but I would wait until the camera is reviewed before buying. I'm not sure IQ will be better for a 12MP 450 over the 10MP 400. Having 14bits and Digic3 sounds promising, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so it always comes down to image quality.

Mar 28, 08 - 02:12 pm Comment from: drmacnut

@Steve - Thanks for the great feedback about how Aperture 2.x is much better than 1.x. I will go out and give Aperture 2.1 a fair trial, and it'll be well worth the $99 upgrade I'm sure just to keep current. You may indeed be right that Adobe "copied" Apple's idea, but Apple really kind of stood still there for a while as Adobe came along with their truly amazing Lightroom product.

At least now those people who were bemoaning a lack of plug-in architecture for Aperture can silence themselves (can anyone say "Pro Photo Show" podcast?

Mar 28, 08 - 03:27 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

Actually, wasn't it Macromedia that developed Lightroom, just before Adobe bought them?

Here's a link to a recent photographer's experience using Canon RAW on the recent revisions of Aperture and Lightroom: http://duncandavidson.com/2008/02/aperture-20-vs-lightroom-13-at.html

They both seem like quality results, but I prefer Aperture's rendering of the low light images presented there.

@Anonymous - I'm not sure of the overall timing, and Macromedia's development of Lightroom. I just remember Aperture's release, and then Lightroom's release. It seemed to me like Adobe had a "Doh!" moment and discovered they forgot a major product, and Apple figured it out, going to market first. That was my perception at the time, anyway.

Mar 28, 08 - 05:40 pm Comment from: Connor MacBook

Actually Lightroom followed so closely behind Aperture that Adobe had to already have been working on it. Maybe it was Apple who got wind of Lightroom and rushed out Aperture? After all, Aperture was pretty buggy at the start.

Mar 28, 08 - 05:59 pm Comment from: drmacnut

@Connor MacBook - you may indeed be on to something there!

Mar 28, 08 - 09:40 pm Comment from: TheConfuzed1

@Towertone--

Hey, I think you just sold me a camera. Seriously. My wife had the old 8 megapixel Rebel (I'm not sure about the model number), and it got stollen when our friendly neighborhood asshole broke into her Odyssey minivan. She needs a new one, and I was in the hospital for surgery last week and missed her birthday.

That new one looks pretty nice.