Well, after I actually got to putter with the program tonight after trying on and off for two weeks (Jan14th I started), it seems that I will be shelling out for a new HD and Aperture 1.5 in the near future. And in typical Apple fashion, things were inviting exploration, and even though the edits were moving along very slowly on the test Sony SRF files I was using. I was starting to see (while I waited for one file to process the changes) that the interface really wasn’t that complicated, especially after looking on p211 of the manual to see the explaination for badges (it seems like it “clicks” for others as well). Then I decided to try some CR2 files that I have, thinking in one of those rare moments of late night lucidity, that I don’t shoot RAW on the Sony anymore (actually it’s now my beater/fall back, I don’t think I’ll ever have 2 DSLR bodies… but then again), I only shoot RAW on the Canon and so I should test those files.
So, into iPhoto I went and I dumped out the last set of RAWs that I shot and tried them out. And even on what is now an ancient Power Mac (Dual 2Ghz G5, 2GB RAM, boat load of disk and a 64MB Video card – why didn’t I spring to get the 9800 out of the gate??), the results came up with reasonable speed for what I’m going to use them for. If I was having to process hundreds of photos an hour, then I might be fretting about some poke but I’m not. And having take a bit of time to “suck in the interface” I was quickly finding how elegantly I could make stacks (versions of images… I seem to remember that the Mac web was buzzing about “Piles” as an Finder feature a while back – this is where that idea landed is my guess – a means of organizing related files) and version files quickly and even the project management side of things started to make sense.
Lightroom in the mean time feels faster on my machine, but doesn’t seem to have near the number of features that Aperture has (not fair because Aperture isn’t in beta anymore). But that isn’t really the case on second thought – they are all there, but in the Photoshop/Bridge paradigm. But the deal breaker for me right now, not the library management (though that is a plus), it’s the non destructive editing and the keyword/tagging (I’m hooked on it now). I love being able to tweak a file and in one click see what I changed and then move on from the original or my last edit. On it’s own, this for me should really give me the control that I want when making prints. According to many online, Lightroom produces better prints, so while it’s free, I might use that to prep images, but as I use LDPhotostation and iPhoto for most of my prints now, there is a final stage tweak before things get printed anyway, so this is a non issue for me.
I don’t know what will happen through the photo shows this year, but if you can wait – you might as well, iPhoto got you along this far, and Feb 20th might bear some fruit with new iApps (maybe new Aperture as well?). After that there is an entire spring worth of shows. I think I’ll try to hold out for at least then, but if I get a big shoot in before then, that may be just the excuse that I need… then I’ll need something to backup my new hd… this could get pricey, at least until I finish editing all the wedding videos that I’ve got to do.
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