Aperture: does it have a future?

gdourado · Feb 8, 2013

Hello,

How are you?

I was wondering if Aperture is a software worth investing on, not just the money it costs, but also the time to import and organise photos, or is it better to go for Lightroom?

I really like the way Aperture is supposed to integrate with OSX and iPhoto, but the lack of news from Apple, makes me wonder if they are slowly moving their focus away from their more PRO apps.

Adobe is currently the industry standard for photographic software. It has been for many years, and the way it supports both platforms, Windows and OSX, makes it the number one software. So, Adobe is sure to continue to develop their software.

How about Apple? Is it safe to star using Aperture? Or is there a big risk of having to start from scratch in some time due to the fact that Aperture died?

Cheers!

JoeFkling · Feb 8, 2013

I have always looked at Aperture as a companion. I like the way that it organizes now so I use it for that and if its never updated, that would be fine with me. I do basic edits but if I have to go beyond the real basics, then I move onto other stuff like LR or PS.

acearchie · Feb 8, 2013

Personally I wouldn't invest in it at the moment. It's been stagnant for a while and either it will be discontinued or updated soon.

You might find that they update it inline with updating the iLife Apps either by introducing an Aperture X or changing it to iPhoto PRO.

Lightroom will continued to be supported and updated for the foreseeable future.

There are a few things that I still rate Aperture over Lightroom but for speed of edits on the move I use Lightroom.

Bending Pixels · Feb 8, 2013

I've used both. Aperture's main advantages are its OS integration, project based organization, better slideshow features, and more book printing options (Aperture has five different book printers where LR has one).

LR's main advantages are its Develop module and better integration with Photoshop. If you work in a mixed environment (i.e. using OS X and that inferior OS), then LR would be the best option.

If you're heavily invested in the Mac ecosystem (i.e. iPhone, iPad), the Aperture might be a better option. If you love Adobe's workflow, then maybe LR.

As to Aperture's future, Apple has provided over a dozen updates/fixes for the current version over the past year. Apple is stealthly quiet as to its software plans. With the exception of OS X, Apple doesn't reveal it's plans until it releases the software.

My guess is that Apple is trying to avoid what happened with FCP X. FCP X's initial release was a disaster. Apple removed a number of key features from FCP X that were in FCP 7, and got lambasted for it. But...Apple listened and put those features, and a number of others into subsequent releases. Point being is that my unqualified guess is that Apple is trying to get the next version of Aperture right, so that it's a kick-butt alternative to LR.

nburwell · Feb 8, 2013

I have not used Aperture extensively, so my opinion is biased. That being said, I don't think that Apple is going to stop producing Aperture. I am 100% ingrained in the LR and PS ecosystem. I have been ever since I made the switch from film to digital a little over ten years ago. I used PS for the exclusively until LR was introduced, and it really streamlined how I develop and process my photos. I view Aperture favorable for what it does. Like I mentioned earlier, I have not used the software extensively, but if it works for you, then stick with it.

r.harris1 · Feb 8, 2013

Because I am a low-volume photographer, I use both LR and Aperture and enjoy them both (and I use multiple RAW processors too). Relatively speaking, they're both cheap enough that you might want to consider taking a look at each, though it would likely depend on whether you want only one workflow. While Aperture hasn't gone from 3.X to 4.x, Apple has delivered fairly significant updates over the last 12 months that leads me to think that it still is part of their roadmap.

flynz4 · Feb 9, 2013

I own both, but have a strong preference for Aperture. Hence... it is the only one that I use. I think A3 is a fantastic program... even if it never advanced. However, I do think it will continue moving forward.

I do not recommend in using two different DAMs (A3 & LR4). Pick one and stick with it. They are not primarily 'editors"... which you chose on a picture by picture basis. They are library tools... to organize and manage all of your pictures. It just doesn't make sense to switch from one to the other. I think you are asking a good question before you get started.

Both are great. If you are going to work cross platform... LR4 is the obvious choice. I've standardized on Macs (iMac + MBA). For me, (after trying both)... I prefer A3.

BTW: Both A3 and LR4 have a great set of plug-ins available which is where life really becomes interesting. I personally love NIK Software plug-ins. My version works with A3, LR4 & PS. For me... this is where photograph gets interesting and creative. I also have PS... but I use it on less than 1% of my photos.

/Jim

Ciclismo · Feb 10, 2013

I'm new to the whole picture processing bit as I'm just a hobbyist. After having read a lot of the threads I have come to the conclusion that Aperture is the best database software for an OS X user like myself, and I think I will get Photo Ninja in order to make up for the processing shortcomings over LR4 (in particular NR).

flynz4 · Feb 10, 2013

Ciclismo said:
I'm new to the whole picture processing bit as I'm just a hobbyist. After having read a lot of the threads I have come to the conclusion that Aperture is the best database software for an OS X user like myself, and I think I will get Photo Ninja in order to make up for the processing shortcomings over LR4 (in particular NR).

I love Aperture. I think it is reason enough to switch to Mac. I recommend that you look at NIK Software Suite... which has plug-ins for Aperture. They have tons of training videos on the site which will give you a good idea of what it can do. I got intrigued when most of the very serious photographers (both pro and hobbyists) recommended it to me.

NIK Software was purchased by Google last year... mostly because of their "toy app" Snapseed. I hope Google doesn't screw up the company. So far, things seem OK.

/Jim

VirtualRain · Feb 11, 2013

flynz4 said:
I love Aperture. I think it is reason enough to switch to Mac. I recommend that you look at NIK Software Suite... which has plug-ins for Aperture. They have tons of training videos on the site which will give you a good idea of what it can do. I got intrigued when most of the very serious photographers (both pro and hobbyists) recommended it to me.

NIK Software was purchased by Google last year... mostly because of their "toy app" Snapseed. I hope Google doesn't screw up the company. So far, things seem OK.

/Jim

+1

Aperture is fantastic... and NIK completes it. Viveza 2's U-Point selective adjustment tool is incredibly useful. NIK also makes a very good noise reduction tool (DFine) but I also recently discovered a control in Apples RAW converter that works similarly... see post #6 in this thread... https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1520545/

twitch31 · Feb 12, 2013

I've just switched from Aperture to Lightroom. I'd used Aperture for 3 years before switching so it was a bit painful to do so. However I'm very glad I did.

Aperture is so far behind Lightroom now I don't think even a major release will close the gap.

The benefits I'm enojoying in Lightroom which were lacking from Aperture for me are:
1) excellent noise reduction - no more round tripping for DeNoise or DFine!!
2) lens corrections
3) perspective correction; this is a huge one, I don't know why it isn't mentioned more, I use to regularly round trip to PTLens for this
4) CA correction is far superior to Apertures
5) clarity slider

6) highlights,whites,shadows,blacks sliders allow better fine tuning than Aperture
7) publish services is great
8) much wider support for presets & add-ons (eg timelapse)
9) I actually like the folder & collections way of organising better than Apertures projects and albumns (most people find the opposite though).
10) sharpening seems better in LR, but haven't done side by side so it's just a gut feel
11) graduated filter

There are 2 things though that I keep Aperture for
1) an awesome repair brush for fixing scratches and dust spots on my film scans. LR spot repair is horrible in comparison. This is my #1 hope for the next version of LR.
2) book building feature is terrific

cocky jeremy · Feb 14, 2013

For me, it'll take a lot to even catch up to LR4, and who knows what LR5 will have. I doubt I ever really use Aperture again.

Bending Pixels · Feb 14, 2013

Although I like the results I get in LR4's Develop module, LR's workflow leaves me with an overwhelming desire to punch something every time I open it. Since I use PS CS6 for the heavy lifting, I'll probably go back to Aperture's better workflow and project-based management.

If there's a LR5, I won't be buying it.

VirtualRain · Feb 14, 2013

twitch31 said:
I've just switched from Aperture to Lightroom. I'd used Aperture for 3 years before switching so it was a bit painful to do so. However I'm very glad I did.

Aperture is so far behind Lightroom now I don't think even a major release will close the gap.

The benefits I'm enojoying in Lightroom which were lacking from Aperture for me are:
1) excellent noise reduction - no more round tripping for DeNoise or DFine!!
2) lens corrections
3) perspective correction; this is a huge one, I don't know why it isn't mentioned more, I use to regularly round trip to PTLens for this
4) CA correction is far superior to Apertures
5) clarity slider
6) highlights,whites,shadows,blacks sliders allow better fine tuning than Aperture
7) publish services is great
8) much wider support for presets & add-ons (eg timelapse)
9) I actually like the folder & collections way of organising better than Apertures projects and albumns (most people find the opposite though).
10) sharpening seems better in LR, but haven't done side by side so it's just a gut feel
11) graduated filter

There are 2 things though that I keep Aperture for
1) an awesome repair brush for fixing scratches and dust spots on my film scans. LR spot repair is horrible in comparison. This is my #1 hope for the next version of LR.
2) book building feature is terrific

I would like to ask your opinion on a few things. As you may or may not know, I'm currently evaluating Aperture, Lightroom and Capture One, and so far, Lightroom is underwhelming me... https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1542274/

In particular, I'm interested in why you think the clarity and shadow/highlights adjustments are better in LR vs Aperture, as so far (in my admittedly limited experience), they seem worse to me?

tgara · Feb 15, 2013

acearchie said:
Personally I wouldn't invest in it at the moment. It's been stagnant for a while and either it will be discontinued or updated soon.

You might find that they update it inline with updating the iLife Apps either by introducing an Aperture X or changing it to iPhoto PRO.

Lightroom will continued to be supported and updated for the foreseeable future.

There are a few things that I still rate Aperture over Lightroom but for speed of edits on the move I use Lightroom.

Gotta respectfully disagree with "stagnant" here. Apple updated Aperture 3 about 4 times in the second half of 2012. The 3.3 update in June was particularly significant because it added a lot of new features, iCloud integration, sharing features, etc. And, all these updates were FREE.

Also, at the iPad Mini show event in October, Aperture was specifically mentioned by Phil Schiller and shown in action. Seems to me that Apple would not be showing off a software product on their newest piece of hardware that was going to be dropped in the near future.

Nobody knows what the future of Aperture will be, but from the evidence I've seen so far, I'm 90% convinced that it will continue in 4.0 this year.

neutrino23 · Feb 15, 2013

gdourado said:
Hello,

... but the lack of news from Apple, makes me wonder if they are slowly moving their focus away from their more PRO apps.
...

Since when has Apple ever leaked advance information about products like Aperture?

fyi, I use Aperture.

twitch31 · Feb 19, 2013

VirtualRain said:
I would like to ask your opinion on a few things. As you may or may not know, I'm currently evaluating Aperture, Lightroom and Capture One, and so far, Lightroom is underwhelming me... https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1542274/

In particular, I'm interested in why you think the clarity and shadow/highlights adjustments are better in LR vs Aperture, as so far (in my admittedly limited experience), they seem worse to me?

Aperture made a massive step forward in the effectiveness of their shadows & recovery sliders in v3.3. Prior to that it was far inferior and suffered from highlights actually going black at the extreme end of recovery.

However I ran a test on a RAW with extreme contrast with LR4 vs AP3.2 vs AP3.3 and was able to more successfully (as in better detail and more realistic colours in recovered areas) recover highlights & shadows using LR vs AP3.3 and AP3.2 (which was horrible), and this was before I knew how to use LR properly as it's blacks and whites sliders allow even finer control vs Aperture.

Carity is very good but I find you need a really subtle amounts (~5) most of the time as it tends to squash shadows. I tend to prefer Nik's "structure" more, esp. fine structure and structure, but clarity is decent and avoids round tripping. Apertures "definition" seems to act more like a sharpening control and I definitely prefer LR sharpening results to "definition". Being able to use LR sharpening in conjunction with noise reduction is the icing on the cake as it goes without saying that AP noise reduction is worse than useless.

nuckinfutz · Feb 19, 2013

At $79 for Aperture it's affordable and easy to run both LR and Aperture if you need to. As you've seen here in this thread sometimes the right tool for the job is utilizing both apps.

MSM Hobbes · Feb 19, 2013

nuckinfutz said:
At $79 for Aperture it's affordable and easy to run both LR and Aperture if you need to. As you've seen here in this thread sometimes the right tool for the job is utilizing both apps.

Oh please… next you are gonna say something silly,,, silly like its ok

to drive a Ford and a Chevy, say while you go to the polling hall to go vote for a Democrat and a Republican,,, and then go home and use both a PC and an Apple, while drinking Coke and Pepsi, while switching between Fox and PBS, and talking on your Galaxy and an iPhone!!!

/ sarcasm & poor humor attempt

nuckinfutz · Feb 19, 2013

MSM Hobbes said:
Oh please next you are gonna say something silly,,, silly like its ok to drive a Ford and a Chevy, say while you go to the polling hall to go vote for a Democrat and a Republican,,, and then go home and use both a PC and an Apple, while drinking Coke and Pepsi, while switching between Fox and PBS, and talking on your Galaxy and an iPhone!!!

/ sarcasm & poor humor attempt

You forgot about me going home to my lovely boyfriend and girlfriend hahahah. :eek

Designer Dale · Feb 20, 2013

MSM Hobbes said:
Oh please next you are gonna say something silly,,, silly like its ok to drive a Ford and a Chevy, say while you go to the polling hall to go vote for a Democrat and a Republican,,, and then go home and use both a PC and an Apple, while drinking Coke and Pepsi, while switching between Fox and PBS, and talking on your Galaxy and an iPhone!!!

/ sarcasm & poor humor attempt

Nothing wrong with driving a Chevy as long as your race car is a Ford. I voted for the Democratic candidate for President and the republican candidate for Governor (he lost). We have a PC, but it hasn't been turned on in a year or so. Fox covers my sports and PBS does my news. I take pictures of the Galaxy with my iPhone. I carry a Sigma in the same bag with a Canon L. I also eat my salad as desert.

Dale

MSM Hobbes · Feb 20, 2013

Designer Dale said:
Nothing wrong with driving a Chevy as long as your race car is a Ford. I voted for the Democratic candidate for President and the republican candidate for Governor (he lost). We have a PC, but it hasn't been turned on in a year or so. Fox covers my sports and PBS does my news. I take pictures of the Galaxy with my iPhone. I carry a Sigma in the same bag with a Canon L. I also eat my salad as desert.

Dale

my point exactly

twitch31 · Feb 20, 2013

The main function of Aperture & Lightroom is as a DAM. Running both apps is fine but I'd recommend only using one as your DAM. I run both but use Aperture only to repair film scans and to output photobooks, Lightroom is my DAM.

VirtualRain · Feb 21, 2013

To get back to the subject of this thread... I noticed that Aperture ranks among the top paid apps and top grossing apps in the Mac App Store. Ahead of even a couple iWork apps in the gross revenue list if I recall correctly. So that would be a strong indicator that it has a future.

strukt · Apr 6, 2013

VirtualRain said:
To get back to the subject of this thread... I noticed that Aperture ranks among the top paid apps and top grossing apps in the Mac App Store. Ahead of even a couple iWork apps in the gross revenue list if I recall correctly. So that would be a strong indicator that it has a future.

Or people are just stupid. No, just kidding

Aperture: does it have a future?

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