hartmanr1

I'm appealing to the Council of the Wise to provide an evaluation of Aperture, the editing software from Apple that is the "next step up" from iPhoto. Thanks for your help !

Festina Lente Loc: Florida & Missouri

Aperture is probably the next best thing to Lightroom.
But I'm a Lightroom fan, so I'm just going on what my professional colleagues tell me.

Quicktee Loc: Finger Lakes

I have Aperture. I also have PSE9. I find that Aperture is more user friendly.

Creakj

I am very happy with Aperture....very user friendly.

richardh76 Loc: VT, Central, Champlain Valley

I have Aperture 3+ and have had it for some time. I absolutely love it. I store all my images in Aperture and PP many shots. I am not a PP techy, so I don't spend a great deal of time manipulating my shots, try and do that in composition, but if I want to spruce up the shot than I will use Aperture for that. I do have Elements, but have found Aperture to be much more friendly.

f8shoot

I have used Aperture for years and love it. You can get lessons on how to use it at the Apple Store for $99 the year if you qualify by having bought a recent computer. It is user friendly. I also have LR but am still having trouble figuring out how to use it. You don't need both.

NMR Loc: Edmonton, Canada

I'm another happy Aperture user. It's well designed and has quite a decent feature set.

HughB Loc: Minneapolis MN

I have used Photoshop for at least 7 years but now use Aperture 3 almost exclusively over the past 3 years since I became an Apple follower with 15" Mac book Pro, iPhone, and iPad!
Aperture will do just about everything you need for 'adjusting' photos.
If you need to, however, replace one head for another from one photo to another, then you export the photo from Aperture to PS.
Another contributor noted that Aperture is very friendly: this is so true versus PS and Lightroom ( which I also had at one time.) I was able to take advantage of the Apple store in person lessons a couple of years ago free with the CD purchase at the time for one year. Then I renewed the lessons for another year for $99, every $ worth it. I'm on mine own now but have retained most of what I learned from the experts.
Also I use Aperture to store all my digital photos in its Library: about 18,000 of them used my own index system.
Being user friendly as most Apple products, it is very easy to make very fine adjustments starting at the top of the Adjustments menu with Exposure and it sub adjustment and on down to Highlights and Shadows.
Of course, now you can download the software for $99 I believe whereas Iaid 3X three years ago but as I said earlier: worth every $.

Steinmetz Loc: Oregon based

With Lightroom 4.0, Adobe has released a raw converter that does a much better job converting files with low noise and accurate color than does the current converter from Aperture.. "a longtime fan announced the likelihood that he would become a high-profile defector. Scott Bourne, who's written and contributed to many Aperture tutorials and books and who said he's taught thousands of people how to use Aperture, threatened to move to Lightroom in a blog post yesterday. That's despite having 480,000 photos in his Aperture catalog.
"I've used Aperture for more than five years for the simple reason that I thought it was the better product. As of the Lightroom 4.0 release, I no longer believe that's accurate," Bourne said. Specifically, he believes Lightroom does a better job processing raw images while preserving colors and cutting noise. And, he adds,
But [with] other improvements in the highlight and shadow recovery, extended video support, the amazing (and I do mean AMAZING) clarity slider, improved develop module, and much faster, speedier processing, Lightroom 4 has left Aperture 3 in the dust.
My history with Aperture is as almost as deep as you can get... If Apple can't hang on to someone like me, what does that say about their prospects for hanging on to the rest of the market?
A big part of the issue for Bourne seems to be that Apple won't reassure him that improvements are in the pipeline. "They won't communicate with their users and there's no loyalty there. It takes loyalty to get loyalty so unless something happens in the next few days to change my mind, you can expect to hear me talking about a permanent change to Adobe Lightroom 4," he said."

Steinmetz Loc: Oregon based

Software, a very big decision. I use a desktop mac pro, running 64 bit programs using Mac OS X intel base 2 quad core. Compatibility of software w/operating system as well as any plug-ins for programs is very important. If you did not know, you can export you original files from iphoto (events) out into folders very easily; and, from there do with them what you want. I prefer other programs over aperture, regardless of the sales pitches made for aperture. I looked at many software programs ( from the eyes of having been a programmer, not just eyes of a photographer ). Went from PC to MAC in 2008 and have not regretted from a photographers viewpoint. When using digital cameras, software is can be vital in improving a photo or correcting it and cataloging it. Aperture was not my choice after looking at the adobe Light Room and the adobe CS suites. Believe LR has much more versatility than aperture -- even a seasoned trainer at an apple store told me that although they can not train "new Apple " users on Adobe products in their classes, she personally uses them; and, as a wedding and photographer I showed her some pictures -- my results in Lightroom and photoshop were much better that those derived from aperture, albeit an okay program. Better support for LR too.

MickeyD Loc: Hawaii

I've used Aperture since the beginning and generally happy with it. Regarding the comparison with LightRoom, my guess is that Apple will upgrade to match everything in LR, in version 4.

My only concern is with the use of Vaults. I'm really not clear in their use. When putting things into Vaults, do all the old images get together with the new is a single new vault or does a new and separate vault form with/for each new download of images? I would appreciate any answer to this dilemma.

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

One more vote for Aperture. Most importantly, It's User Friendly. I'm not a computer guy and I float around Aperture easily. And the Filing system is so easy to use and you can configure it to your style. File you photos where you want and never lose again.

Dun1 Loc: Atlanta, GA

I have tried Aperture when I first switched to a Mac several years ago. I found it clunky and harder to use than Lightroom. When I purchased the laptop my wife also gave me One on One training for my birthday. My first session the instructor showed up and said "What do you want to know", and my reply was "how to use Aperture".
So my first session set the tone for my feelings on Aperture.
It is easy to download a trial version of Lightroom and try it before your take the plunge or decide.
So having used both Aperture and Lightroom my vote is for Lightroom

Wacotim Loc: Phoenix, AZ

One more vote for Aperture3. I love it!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The Council of the Wise doesn't work on weekends (or weeks days), but we're here. :D