Aperture trial?

[snoopy1710]

I recently switched from a PC to a rMBP, and am very happy so far.

One niggly issue that I have is that the Picasa client on OS X really sucks (scrambling Album ordering), although the Webalbums are pretty neat.

Question is what to use as an alternative. I looked at iPhoto and that didn't really looked like what I needed, which is an extensive photo organization tool, syncing with Picasa, and (very) light editing capabilities.

Going through the threads here it seems I should consider either Lightroom or Aperture. I'm downloading the LR trial right now, but couldn't find any Aperture trial. Does that exist? If yes, where?

Thank you so much

Snoopy

 

[pdjudd]

Does that exist? If yes, where?

Not anymore no.

 

[Kebabselector]

Sadly the only place to try it is in an Apple store.

 

[Kelmon]

I migrated from iPhoto to Aperture at v1.5 before Lightroom was on the market. After that it was the case the Aperture was very competitive with Lightroom, particularly on price, so I stuck with Aperture for several years. However, I switched to Lightroom last year and I definitely think it is the better software. While I haven't had chance yet to see how they compare in book production, Lightroom seems to do file management and RAW development better than Aperture, which seems to have stagnated over the last couple of years. The integration with Photoshop is also, unsurprisingly, better.

 

[CaptainZero]

IMO Aperture is far better for organizing your photos, but LR is more robust for editing. Aperture does look similar to iPhoto, so if you really don't like that, LR may be for you. I can't stand LR organizing, but maybe that's just me.

 

[compuwar]

I recently switched from a PC to a rMBP, and am very happy so far.

One niggly issue that I have is that the Picasa client on OS X really sucks (scrambling Album ordering), although the Webalbums are pretty neat.

Question is what to use as an alternative. I looked at iPhoto and that didn't really looked like what I needed, which is an extensive photo organization tool, syncing with Picasa, and (very) light editing capabilities.

Going through the threads here it seems I should consider either Lightroom or Aperture. I'm downloading the LR trial right now, but couldn't find any Aperture trial. Does that exist? If yes, where?

Thank you so much

Snoopy

You might be able to snag it from http://support.apple.com/downloads/#aperture

Paul

 

[snoopy1710]

You might be able to snag it from http://support.apple.com/downloads/#aperture

Paul

Hi Paul, thanks for the link. Isn't that just the service packs though? Couldn't find anything regarding trial.

Snoopy

 

[compuwar]

Hi Paul, thanks for the link. Isn't that just the service packs though? Couldn't find anything regarding trial.

Snoopy

I wasn't sure- there were a lot of files to page through and I didn't look at them all, but was the only download site I could find with anything Aperture. Looking at more search results though it's pretty clear Apple has pulled the trial version.

Paul

 

[fa8362]

Adobe Lightroom is better at virtually everything. I'm amazed that Aperture still exists.

 

[newimagephoto]

I use both. If it has to do with my business ... all clients go into the Aperture workflow. When I want to play around and shoot some landscapes or whatever .. I throw those in Lightroom .. sometimes.

 

[Noctilux.95]

Adobe Lightroom is better at virtually everything. I'm amazed that Aperture still exists.

Lightroom is extremely productive but has some of the worst image processing I've ever used. Aperture is superior to Lightroom for my Canon files while Canon's clunky DPP is better than both.

 

[robgendreau]

You can find bazillions of posts on the Aperture/LR debate. I own both and use both (sorta not recommended, BTW).

But for me the single best reason to go with LR is that there's a trial. I can't imagine in this day and age buying something that costs as much as Aperture, that involves a substantial investment in learning, and also commits your work to a structure WITHOUT a way to test it. I didn't buy Aperture until I had a chance to see if it met my needs.

And frankly at this point I trust Adobe more to keep it up to date and useful for photographers. Apple's track record with software that isn't part of the system is suspect, IMHO. And I haven't liked where iPhoto is going. You've got to look at this as a commitment to something you may be using for years; the simple lack of a demo may say something.

If it becomes free, right on. Go for it. But even then, does that mean it's gonna stick around? I may be paranoid (have been stranded by some other Apple decisions) but if there's a perfectly good substitute, why commit to Apple?

 

[Bear]

...
I can't imagine in this day and age buying something that costs as much as Aperture, that involves a substantial investment in learning, and also commits your work to a structure WITHOUT a way to test it.
...

$80 is not that much for software. Remember when most software cost that or more, way more? Lightroom is $149 list (about $105 from Amazon). And I believe that you can test Aperture in an Apple store.

 

[r.harris1]

You can find bazillions of posts on the Aperture/LR debate. I own both and use both (sorta not recommended, BTW).

But for me the single best reason to go with LR is that there's a trial. I can't imagine in this day and age buying something that costs as much as Aperture, that involves a substantial investment in learning, and also commits your work to a structure WITHOUT a way to test it. I didn't buy Aperture until I had a chance to see if it met my needs.

And frankly at this point I trust Adobe more to keep it up to date and useful for photographers. Apple's track record with software that isn't part of the system is suspect, IMHO. And I haven't liked where iPhoto is going. You've got to look at this as a commitment to something you may be using for years; the simple lack of a demo may say something.

If it becomes free, right on. Go for it. But even then, does that mean it's gonna stick around? I may be paranoid (have been stranded by some other Apple decisions) but if there's a perfectly good substitute, why commit to Apple?

Aperture's pretty cheap for a very good DAM+RAW processor. Cheaper than LR or C1. As to whether it meets a person's needs or if people have issues trusting one company over another, there are, as you say, bazillions of posts.

 

[snoopy1710]

Ok, I did the trial shootout between Lightroom and Aperture, and believe it or not, I will stick with Aperture.

The most tricky part was getting my album uploaded into Picasa (coaxing an outdated Google plugin, getting around 2-factor authentication...).

Snoopy

 

[Fthree]

if i purchase aperture on my 13 inch and upgrade to a 15 retina will i have to rebuy or will i get a download from the cloud?

 

[BJMRamage]

if i purchase aperture on my 13 inch and upgrade to a 15 retina will i have to rebuy or will i get a download from the cloud?

Use the same Apple ID and you will be fine.
You can have it on a couple computers.

mine is on a laptop and desktop.

 

[mofunk]

Looking for the trial??? Take a few photos on a jump drive and go to the Apple store or download a couple photos from your online account. Play around with it. Most stores also have Photoshop. You can look around there too.

Both Lightroom and Aperture are great tools to use. LR you can find for the same price as Aperture. I really wouldn't debate cost but just simple look at which one fits your needs and the one that you like navigating around.



http://www.adorama.com/DSW3588932.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/971835-REG/adobe_65215211_adobe_p_s_lightroom_v5.html

 

[MCAsan]

You can get a new Aperture license for $79 at the Apple store....or for much less on ebay. Mine was $49. Just get a full copy, not any upgrade. I am also running LR 5.4

Adobe will likely release Lightroom 6 this summer or fall. Apple will likely release Aperture 4 (or whatever they will call it) this summer. Stay tuned for the Apple product announces at WWDC on June 2. IMHO, if Apple does not announce a new Aperture release.....time to move on. That would leave the market uncontested for Lightroom as a photo digital asset manager.

To have the max freedom in the future to use your files with different post processing program, use Aperture or LR to import your raw files into the file system. Don't have Aperture put them inside its database package. Don't have LR Copy as DNG format. Once LR 6 and Aperture 4 are announced/out, you can decide which to use for the foreseeable future. If LR, they you can decide if do want it to convert the raw files to DNG format. But that decision can be made in the future...no need to decide now.

 

[MCAsan]

Good article on the using DNG vs the native raw files.

http://williambeem.com/the-dng-trap/


I so regret converting my previous 10 years of photos from CR2 to DNG. With my new M43 equipment I will not make that mistake again.


My copy of Aperture 3 should arrive today. Can't wait!

 

[ChrisA]

if i purchase aperture on my 13 inch and upgrade to a 15 retina will i have to rebuy or will i get a download from the cloud?

Apple always allows you to transfer software. They make it easy with a "Migration Assistance app.

Also the Aperture license allows use on two computers, one desktop and one notebook.

 

[flynz4]

Apple always allows you to transfer software. They make it easy with a "Migration Assistance app.

Also the Aperture license allows use on two computers, one desktop and one notebook.

If you buy Aperture from the Mac App Store... you can use it on every Mac that you own.

/Jim

 

[MCAsan]

Adobe Lightroom is better at virtually everything. I'm amazed that Aperture still exists.

I started off on a PC many years ago with Lightroom. Two years ago when I moved from PC to Mac at home, I stayed with LR. But now that I am using more and more of the apps in the Mac ecosystem, like Maps to put GPS on old images, I want a Mac friendly photo management tool.

So yesterday I purchased Aperture from the app store, and imported 56,002 images as referenced files (the originals stay where I put them using LR). The older files from the 90s and early 2000s were jogs that gave no problem. Aperture also imported all my DNG files that had been created from Canon CR2 originals. My Olympus E-M1 raw files that I had converted to DNG were a problem. So the few of them I had were exported as TIF and Aperture could bring them in. The last couple of days I have been importing my E-M1 raw files into LR as native ORF raw files. So Aperture had no problem importing them. Given the quantity of files....a lot less problems that I would have guessed.

My Aperture library is approximate 50GB. Not too bad given it reflects 56,002 photos. I also created an Aperture Vault as library backup. And of course Time Machine backups up everything.

For the time being I will have fun using both LR and Aperture. Either can open/use the commonly referenced originals. And if Apple does deliver a big upgrade to Aperture this year, I just might drop LR completely.

Why drop LR for Aperture? Subjective UI differences..I like Aperture design better. Also the easy of integrating Aperture library contents with other Apple apps like iMovie, Maps, Keynote..etc. But folks will say....but Aperture does not have the editing tools that are available in LR. Correct. But if I am seriously editing a photo, LR does not have the tools I likely want either! If will use LR or Aperture for basic edits. But if I need serious work done, I will have the file in some combination of the Nik Collection, Perfect Photo Suite 8, Pixelmater (rarely), or Helicon (if I need to focus stack).

So let's see what the rest of 2014 brings. Very likely we will see killer new versions of both LR and Aperture. It is always good to have options.

 

[Meister]

My Aperture library is approximate 50GB. Not too bad given it reflects 56,002 photos. I also created an Aperture Vault as library backup. And of course Time Machine backups up everything.

How do you only use 50gb for 50k images?

 

[MCAsan]

The originals are referenced. I used the same referenced files for both LR and Aperture. So the Aperture library only contains the edits and previews.