Been saying this forever. If Apple had that suite of controls built in as RAW instructions there'd be no contest between it, LR, and C1.
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Aperture 4
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Been saying this forever. If Apple had that suite of controls built in as RAW instructions there'd be no contest between it, LR, and C1.
Well, Apple had years to buy Nik Software and unless there's more to the story than we know, to me it seems like Apple didn't need to buy Nik at all. As in they are already developing something similar internally, and Nik knew that they had better be bought out than suddenly find themselves loosing Aperture's customer base because most if not all of their features wind up in Aperture 4. I might be reading too much into this, but that's how I first understood the Google acquisition...
Apple is actually pretty smart looking at it in a business sense. Adobe Lightroom is being sold in the App Store for $149 of which Apple takes 30% without having to spend anything on research and development.
I think they might be timing it nicely and the demand for Lightroom 4 will continue to decline and then they come up with some major Aperture upgrade.
Wishful thinking but what if they come out with a major "Pro" push in the coming months. Release the new Mac Pro and Aperture 4 at the same time.
I think they might be timing it nicely and the demand for Lightroom 4 will continue to decline and then they come up with some major Aperture upgrade.
Wishful thinking but what if they come out with a major "Pro" push in the coming months. Release the new Mac Pro and Aperture 4 at the same time.
I've been a user of Aperture since version 1 when it sold for $500. I saw it demo'd at an Apple show in London prior to it's release and bought it day 1.
I'm sorry to say that was then persuaded to use Lightroom 4 as part of a professional workflow, but Lightroom is missing several key options, including the vault which I missed big time.
I'm now back to Aperture 3 but there are things from Lightroom I really miss.
Lightroom has much better noise reduction for high ISO shooting, so I'd really like that in Aperture.
It also has lens controls. Now, I see that some people don't want these, but seriously, I absolutely want these!
I also love the ability to air brush on different white balance or exposure settings in LR4, so yes, I'd like these added to Aperture as well.
I don't care if these are added to Aperture 3 for free, or they are part of Aperture 4 as a paid upgrade. They are missing and I really want them.
If these four things (lens correction, better NR and white balance/exposure brush controls) are in Aperture 4 as a paid upgrade, no problem, I'll buy it.
I'm sorry to say that was then persuaded to use Lightroom 4 as part of a professional workflow, but Lightroom is missing several key options, including the vault which I missed big time.
I'm now back to Aperture 3 but there are things from Lightroom I really miss.
Lightroom has much better noise reduction for high ISO shooting, so I'd really like that in Aperture.
It also has lens controls. Now, I see that some people don't want these, but seriously, I absolutely want these!
I also love the ability to air brush on different white balance or exposure settings in LR4, so yes, I'd like these added to Aperture as well.
I don't care if these are added to Aperture 3 for free, or they are part of Aperture 4 as a paid upgrade. They are missing and I really want them.
If these four things (lens correction, better NR and white balance/exposure brush controls) are in Aperture 4 as a paid upgrade, no problem, I'll buy it.
The problem with Aperture 3 is that you have to depend on plugins to do things that should be native, and this requires creating a new master, which goes against the whole principle of non-destructive (ergo non-additive) workflow. Why do we have to export to a plugin to get decent sharpening and noise reduction, or to burn directly to a DVD, or apply lens correction. This stuff is long overdue and are only going to come with a paid major upgrade.
Edit: and that's not to mention some very needed features such as tethered shooting with live presets and masking, ala Capture One. Lightroom is not the only competitor!
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Yes, probably.
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I'd prefer to see support for 500px to give Flickr a kick in the ass. Talk about needing an upgrade. Flickr's UI is an exercise in self restraint.
The frustrating part is that Apple could wipe out LR and C1 if they wanted to, because the things customers want are not mysteries. Buy LR/C1, copy the features, release A4. It's not rocket science. Computer science, maybe, but not rocket science.
I'll help you get started, Apple:
noise reduction
lens correction
make it faster, damnit
layers (C1)
history palette
I'll help you get started, Apple:
noise reduction
lens correction
make it faster, damnit
layers (C1)
history palette
Another Pro thing that Apple have abandoned for way to long.
LR leaves it standing now and one of the main reasons is a lot of the people at Adobe involved in LR are very keen Photographers themselves and are adding things all the time that they need or that their photography friends are badgering them for.
There is such good instruction available for LR as well i can not see myself going back to Aperture, although it still sits in the Dock waiting just in case Apple decide to put some effort into it and a killer version appears.
As another post said the killer feature in LR is the ability to brush white balance changes into any part of an image, brilliant
LR leaves it standing now and one of the main reasons is a lot of the people at Adobe involved in LR are very keen Photographers themselves and are adding things all the time that they need or that their photography friends are badgering them for.
There is such good instruction available for LR as well i can not see myself going back to Aperture, although it still sits in the Dock waiting just in case Apple decide to put some effort into it and a killer version appears.
As another post said the killer feature in LR is the ability to brush white balance changes into any part of an image, brilliant
"Killer feature"? I'm all for local adjustments and brushes but I've never wanted to do this. If the white balance needs adjusting, it's affecting the whole image isn't it?
Ahha, say you have daylight coming through a window but tungsten light inside for example, you may find there is part of your photo that no one white balance will do, some part of it might be a bit blue, step in the colour balance brush or grad and you can correct the problem areas (all in LR,no PS visit required for curves etc or two different white balance Photographs blended Edit; which is what i used to do but took longer and was no where near as variable or precise)
Also if you want to subtlety give a warmer tone to the foreground and a cooler tone to the distance to give perceived extra depth to an image then use the gad filter along with the colour temp sliders to give the tones you want, being RAW you can always come back and rework if you do not like it.
With the way the local adjustments work in LR you can "draw" the grad and then play with the colour as much as you like.
I have found it useful to adjust skin tones as well.
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I see... "Killer feature" is still probably a bit of an exaggeration. If that makes LR useful for you that's great but it's totally unnecessary for my photography.
At any rate, there's no doubt Aperture is wanting in a few areas, but it still works wonderfully on my photos. I don't think Apple has abandoned it. It is one of the top selling apps in the App Store and it has had regular point updates and last but not least, it gets top placement in a lot of the Retina MacBook marketing, so like most people, I look forward to a major update... Hopefully soon.
However, if Apple discontinued Aperture tomorrow, I would likely switch to Capture One instead of LR. It's just so much better out if the box with 5D3 RAW files... It could save me a lot of time.
HOLY CRAP !!!!!
Aperture 4 was just released in the App Store !!!!!
Oh wait .. that's not it. My bad, everybody go about your day ... nothing to see here.
Aperture 4 was just released in the App Store !!!!!
Oh wait .. that's not it. My bad, everybody go about your day ... nothing to see here.
I would suggest to Apple to end both Aperture and iPhoto as they are, offering one photo program that is applicable to both OSX and IOS, and then to whatever OS that eventually replaces both of them.
It would do the following:
1. Import photos and videos easily and reliably.
2. Allow users to organize and keep track of the imports, probably a less confusing version of Aperture's way of doing this.
3. Provide the basic manipulation tools found in any such program these days.
4. Allow easy and integrated use of plug-ins. Apple cannot be expected to own and operate, or compete against, all the hundreds of excellent plug-ins out there. It would be better for us photographers to be able to buy the specialty programs we would use and have them slide right into our program and be integrated with it.
5. Export easily and reliably to other devices, social media, etc.
6. Do something to make printing a far less nerdy and vastly more reliable process than it is now. Printing is now the most difficult and least reliable aspect of computing on any level.
It would do the following:
1. Import photos and videos easily and reliably.
2. Allow users to organize and keep track of the imports, probably a less confusing version of Aperture's way of doing this.
3. Provide the basic manipulation tools found in any such program these days.
4. Allow easy and integrated use of plug-ins. Apple cannot be expected to own and operate, or compete against, all the hundreds of excellent plug-ins out there. It would be better for us photographers to be able to buy the specialty programs we would use and have them slide right into our program and be integrated with it.
5. Export easily and reliably to other devices, social media, etc.
6. Do something to make printing a far less nerdy and vastly more reliable process than it is now. Printing is now the most difficult and least reliable aspect of computing on any level.
HOLY CRAP !!!!!
Aperture 4 was just released in the App Store !!!!!
Oh wait .. that's not it. My bad, everybody go about your day ... nothing to see here.
Haha... you actually had me for a second with this!
I hate you! There are definitely two markets for photo management software, and that's why Apple has both iPhoto and Aperture. iPhoto helps sell Macs by offering a free solution for photo management with each Mac purchased. It meets the needs of the average user with a point and shoot camera. iPhoto users likely work exclusively with JPEG images and just want to import and organize their photos, maybe make a few adjustments (less likely) and share them on Facebook or Flickr. These folks don't want or need plug-ins (they probably don't even know what that means). iPhoto is perfect for these folks and does everything they need.
Aperture serves the enthusiast crowd that shoot RAW images and need a more capable solution. These folks value plug-ins that can extend the functionality to suite their specific needs and workflow. However, these days we're finding that plug-ins are increasingly filling gaps in basic functionality in Aperture. Apple needs to address these gaps. There's really little else wrong with it that I can see. Certainly none of the 6 features you mention are lacking in my opinion.
Bottom line, people with different needs and priorities are best served by different solutions and Apple needs to step up it's game on Aperture or it's not going to have many users left to worry about and it can end-of-life it without consequence.
Haha... you actually had me for a second with this!
LOL Yeah I thought for a second this is kinda bad maybe I shouldnt do it ... but like I said that thought only lasted a second.
Given my work flow that I've more or less honed over the past couple of years. I'd say Aperture 4 would suit me better then LightRoom however Given apple's seemingly desire to move away from the pro market (not seeing any updates to the pro software) I'm hesitant to go back to it. I'd love to AP4 hit the streets soon
VirtualRain makes the case for keeping the two applications better than I could. There is a definite need for both. One of the things I do is tutor people on how to use iPhoto.... and believe me when I say that for the vast majority of people in my community using Macs.... Aperture would be way way too much.
Whether Aperture is appropriate for the "enthusiast" crowd is another matter. I will say that Capture One and Lightroom have been very steadily beefing up the editing features in their products. If Apple is serious about Aperture they will be releasing something new soon.
However, the bit about printing.... oh you are so right here! It is the part that I like the least, mess up the most, and can spend more time on, in the entire workflow. If Apple brought some of their GUI magic to the printing module I would be very thankful. I wouldn't switch to Aperture mind you, but I would be delighted when Adobe stole... I mean "borrowed" their ideas.
HOLY CRAP !!!!!
Aperture 4 was just released in the App Store !!!!!
Oh wait .. that's not it. My bad, everybody go about your day ... nothing to see here.
Haha, my mouse was already on the MAS symbol, but then I saw the "oh wait"
Why do people keep saying this? It isn't true. Aperture 3.3 came out in June 2012, and 3.4.3 came out in November 2012. Many new features were added with these "dot" updates, and the best part was that they were all free. IMHO, I'm perfectly happy to have Apple keep rolling out the .x updates for free.
The fundamental engine of Aperture which drives image processing has not been updated in ages. The only features added with .x updates were additions like iCloud and full screen mode. No real update has been made to the software other than bug fixes and small additions.
You may want to take a look at the updates in each version of Aperture 3. In many updates, the list of additions and upgrades is quite long, and a lot more than iCloud and full screen mode.
I agree, the Raw image processor needs an update, and I'd love to see lens correction settings like in Lightroom, as well as other features, but to flat-out say Aperture has not been updated is simply wrong. It has.
What changes did they introduce in November - photostream? From this wiki from what I can see other then a minor bug fix they really did not introduce any major features in the free .x update.
Aperture 3.0 was released in 2010, since that time Adobe Lighroom version 3 in 2010 and version 4 in 2012. I see adobe being more responsive to the photography sector.
Source?
Personally, I'm happy with Aperture. I don't need crazy editing choices, as I like 'true' colours and bw. If one needs more ambitious editing choices you need PS anyway(even if you have LR). So what's the point?
Adobe does have another competitor - Capture One. Though this application is not for everyone. It has an interface only a mother could love - but it has some very interesting (and powerful) editing tools. My personal opinion from the little I use it is that C1 has a more extensive range of tools. And recently a MR member posted some side-by-side comparisons between Lr/C1/Ap and generally felt that C1 produced a better initial image.
Where C1 falls down is in the organizational department.... though that just took a big bump up with the latest release. And it's expensive. But... while not for everyone.. they are giving Adobe some real competition.
Yeah, I agree... I was the person you're referring to that did some side-by-side comparisons. A lack of time has prevented me from evaluating their local adjustments but so far, out of the box, Capture One produces a great image for my camera's RAW files that requires fewer adjustments. So it can be a huge time saver. Although I haven't committed to a switch, if Apple EOL'd Aperture tomorrow, I would definitely switch to Capture One before Lightroom.