Aperture- compared to Photoshop PS5

[eric black]

I am getting a new computer- 27" iMac, quad processor, lots of RAM etc... and am planning on getting Photoshop CS5. Aperture is offered during the purchase for something along the lines of $200 or so. I dont do a huge amount of photoshop manipulations when I process an image- more or less just dodging, burning and getting rid of dust images that come along with drum scans- my files like most of yours are large and usually I end up with 2-3 layers per image- question is if Aperture buys me anything that I can use in my workflow or if I should just stick with Photoshop of which I currently have CS. IM interested in feedback on if the $200 is worth spending or not and if so, what did you get out of this program.

[Mark Stahlke]

There is no need to buy Aperture when you buy your computer. You can download a 30 day trial. If you decide you like it, Aperture is only $79.99 in Apple's App Store.

[sultanofcognac]

You will definitely enjoy working with Aperture. I tested it alongside Lightroom a few years ago and Aperture won hands down. I use it religiously as it will do many things that PS won't. Aperture works well with PS.

Have a good time with it :cool:

[Kirk Gittings]

Funny, I tested Aperture against LR3 last year and I thought LR won hands down. Even though I had a free copy of Aperture (from my school), I ended up paying for Lightroom and using it. You should try both. BUT for large layered images I don't think there is any option but PS CS5.

[Peter Mounier]

I have an older mac ppc G5 quad core machine with Aperture and CS4. For dust spotting CS4 is way faster, and Aperture 2 doesn't have dodge and burn capabilities, although I think there are better ways to get that done, such as Aperture's highlights and shadows sliders. I have found that I can make the same corrections to an image in Aperture that I would've made with layers in PS. That being said, I love Aperture and recommend it for what it can do. Aperture is more of an image repository with editing capabilities. It has a great raw image processor if you have a digital camera.
Have you checked to see if PS CS can work in the Intel machines?

Peter

[Ken Lee]

At what file-size does Aperture become unusable ?

I like to observe (and I may finally be wrong) that LightRoom and Aperture are designed to work with a large number of small files - whereas Large Format photographers work with a small number of large files.

We need to edit large images, and also traverse thumbnails of TIF and PSD files - not just small JPGs.

[Leigh]

...whereas Large Format photographers work with a small number of large files.
That's not limited to LF photographers.

The images from my Hasselblad digital back are each 117MB. :eek:

- Leigh

[Leigh]

Another option to consider is the Phocus program, free from Hasselblad. Excellent program.

It has all of the standard photo manipulation functions, and works quite well. It's designed to handle large files.

Free download (requires registration which is no big deal) from www.hasselbladusa.com

- Leigh

[photobymike]

I use an older Quad PPC MAC with Lightroom 2 and PS CS4. I am going to upgrade the software but need to look at the hardware first. I would be interested in performance differences in Aperture and LRoom3. I am thinking of using a Mini Mac. Any experiences with an Intel Macs and the software discussed. I also use files of 50 to 100 meg size.

[Leigh]

Any experiences with an Intel Macs and the software discussed. I also use files of 50 to 100 meg size.
I'm running Phocus and CS5 on an Intel-based 13" MacBook Pro with a 24" LED Cinema display, 8 GB of RAM, and a whole bunch of disk space.

I never use CS5, although I paid good money for it. I just got it for compatibility with other folks.

- Leigh

[Ray Fenio]

I upgraded to Aperture 3 which is an improvement over earlier versions which had difficulty handling large files. I have no problem working on files 100mb+. But if I were you, I would try it for 30 days then decide. I live near an Apple Store which offers 'one-to-one' tutoring and workshops on their products and software; this does cost $99 per yr. but well worth it to me.

[Kirk Gittings]

I own Phocus and use it for working up files from Imacons. Focus has just basic tools if I am not mistaken. It can't do layers for example right?

[Leigh]

[Ph]ocus has just basic tools if I am not mistaken. It can't do layers for example right?
You're correct... Phocus cannot do layers. Since I never use layers I don't find that a problem.

Phocus does have a broad array of tools for manipulating and adjusting photo characteristics.

Phocus is a program for editing photographs. It's not a graphic arts program like Photoshop..

- Leigh

[Kirk Gittings]

PS does have allot of graphic arts tools, but on the other hand, I don't know a serious digital printer anywhere (and I know quite a few) who can get by without PS. To me it would be like trying to rebuild the engine in my car with nothing more than a screwdriver and a crescent wrench. FWIW Lightroom with all its tools is not enough for me either and I end up opening every image in PS.

[Darin Boville]

Photoshop haters (such as myself) might wish to have a look at Pixelmator ($29.99) or LightZone.

--Darin

[Kirk Gittings]

You're correct... Phocus cannot do layers. Since I never use layers I don't find that a problem.

Phocus does have a broad array of tools for manipulating and adjusting photo characteristics.

Phocus is a program for editing photographs. It's not a graphic arts program like Photoshop..

- Leigh

Sorry my mistake, I am using the Flexcolor software for processing the Imacon files.

[paulr]

I'd be lost without photoshop. Everything I do to an image is based on layers and non-destructive editing. CS5 has proven a critical upgrade; it's the first version with 64 bit capability, so it can address any amount of RAM. Older versions could only address 3gb. Some operations on large files that used take nearly half a minute now happen in a blink.

[D. Bryant]

Photoshop haters (such as myself) might wish to have a look at Pixelmator ($29.99) or LightZone.

--Darin

You are pulling our legs right?

Don Bryant

[Darin Boville]

You are pulling our legs right?

Don Bryant

Not hating Photoshop automatically raises questions about one's aesthetic judgement. :)

--Darin

[Leigh]

You are pulling our legs right?
Not at all.

Photoshop is a curse upon the photographic world.

- Leigh

[D. Bryant]

Not at all.

Photoshop is a curse upon the photographic world.

- Leigh

Why is PS a curse on the photographic world?

Don Bryant

[D. Bryant]

Not hating Photoshop automatically raises questions about one's aesthetic judgement. :)

--Darin

Why do you hate PS?

Don Bryant

[Leigh]

Why is PS a curse on the photographic world?
Because it makes photographers lazy and careless, as has become the norm in our modern computer society.

Rather than taking the time and effort to make a proper image in the first place, they happily click the shutter release with the expectation that they can "correct" their failings using a computer.

Sloppy, slovenly work.

- Leigh

[D. Bryant]

Because it makes photographers lazy and careless, as has become the norm in our modern computer society.

Rather than taking the time and effort to make a proper image in the first place, they happily click the shutter release with the expectation that they can "correct" their failings using a computer.

Sloppy, slovenly work.

- Leigh

I'm sorry but I just totally disagree with that premise. Anyway let's stop this discussion here since any further jousting won't be productive.

Don

[Leigh]

Anyway let's stop this discussion here since any further jousting won't be productive.
I agree.

Everyone has an opinion, and rightfully so. They're all equally worth what you pay for them. :p ;)

- Leigh

[photobymike]

I live and breath to take pictures. I love the smell of fixer in the morning, it makes me feel like a photographer. I have been taking pictures since i was 13 years old. Anything, a computer program, computer, printer, camera that will make my pictures better i want to use. Photoshop, Lightroom, Macintosh... i dont hate anything except a bad print. I will use any tools at my disposal to make the execution of a great performance (the print)

I do not understand the passion for for or against software, computer ect... if it works in your work flow great ... if it does not big deal.... i want performance, speed, and efficacy.

[paulr]

Blaming a tool for the worst work people do with it when they're lazy ... that's just lazy thinking.

Might as well blame the word processor for lazy writing.
(I wouldn't put this past some people ...)

[Darin Boville]

Why do you hate PS?

Don Bryant

When I was a teenager I taught myself to program in Pascal. In my early twenties I had this cool program called "Think Pascal" that had this really elegant system of formatting the text for you--boldfacing certain key terms, indenting automatically, and so forth. That, combined with a nice debugger and Pascal's nature gave the code a certain elegance. As I become a better programmer I began to see a deeper elegance in the code itself, the logic and beauty of the thought as embodied in that text. I greatly admired the Macintosh operating system because it too seemed to hold to those values. Both the language and the computer were both beautiful tools--maybe not Art itself but certainly a physical manifestation of humanity and its values.

I admire such tools and feel I do better work with them. It is not simply aesthetics. The more the tool makes it easier to do what you want to do the more it gets out of the way, the more easily you can work. The more the tool is a partner the better. The more easily you can reach the highest highs.

To me Photoshop gets the job done. That's about it. I'm happy enough when it doesn't get in the way. When I use it I don't feel anything special about the tool, which is a shame considering how central that tool is to our creative process.

--Darin

[Marko]

Blaming a tool for the worst work people do with it when they're lazy ... that's just lazy thinking.

Might as well blame the word processor for lazy writing.
(I wouldn't put this past some people ...)

True.

And if all that fails, they can always blame the computer. :D

Most of the tool haters essentially hate the tools they cannot control, for some reason or the other. I've yet to see anyone hate the tool they have truly mastered.

[eric black]

thanks to all who contributed- Im the first to admit that Im rather computer illiterate which is most likely the reason I only upgrade every 8 years or so as is the case here. Im sure CS to CS5 is a jump that wont happen easily but Im switching platforms and my license wont transfer or upgrade (actually Im working off upgrades to a PS6 original license). I think my lack of knowlege will lead to using the trial and seeing if there is anything in it for me- thanks again to all who replied.

[David de Gruyl]

II am thinking of using a Mini Mac. Any experiences with an Intel Macs and the software discussed. I also use files of 50 to 100 meg size.

I think you will find that the mini is "somewhat" restrictive, but I got by on one for a couple of years running Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4. Max out the memory, though...

I cursed that machine every time I opened a large format scan, by the way. (Open photoshop -> get coffee. Add sharpening -> get dinner. Save a layered tiff -> wait an hour.) Intel mini, 2 GB ram, 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor. It could really have used at least twice the ram, four times if it were available at the time.

[Kirk Gittings]

thanks to all who contributed- Im the first to admit that Im rather computer illiterate which is most likely the reason I only upgrade every 8 years or so as is the case here. Im sure CS to CS5 is a jump that wont happen easily but Im switching platforms and my license wont transfer or upgrade (actually Im working off upgrades to a PS6 original license). I think my lack of knowlege will lead to using the trial and seeing if there is anything in it for me- thanks again to all who replied.

Make sure you go through the online tutorials (for CS2, CS3, CS4 and CS5) that are still available or you won't begin to discover all that is in CS5 (from CS!) in the short space of the trial period.

[David de Gruyl]

I've never used Aperture, but I can say that Lightroom is a wonderful tool for organizing and minor edits. I can't even begin to imagine working without it at this point. I assume that aperture is the same.

Photoshop, however, is indispensable for complex editing. (layers, masks, etc).