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Aperture 2

Way ahead of the competition

Written by CC from Ottawa

20/10/2008

There are several amazing features about this product that makes it the best in its class (for quick photo edititng and organization). First of all, its interface is extremely clean and well organized so that it makes it very easy for the user to find everything that he needs. Also, this product has great features for organizing your phtots and finding them very quickly, viewing your photots in full screen mode and making quick but important adjustments to your photos. Overall, their is nothing tht compares to this product. Plus, it is virtually bug free and works the way you would expect an apple product to work. Keep up the good work apple!!!!

567 of 642 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Worth and useful for photographers

Written by VC from Brooklyn

3/10/2008

I am an amateur photographer, and this has proven to be more useful to me personally than iphoto w/more functions in terms of its software specializes in filing, comparing, editing, exporting your work. In a metaphor it's a cabinet that holds all your pictures in an orderly manner; it allows you to lay it out on a light table digitally, photoshop is there to polish the specifics of individual pictures. It's worth an investment.

569 of 660 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Outstanding Aperture 2

Written by DP

4/10/2008

As an artist, and photographer (Canon G9) with thousands of slides, prints, and negatives to digitise and back up, I had thought of going down the Photoshop Elements route (which came with the scanner), but did the one-month Aperture trial; and bought Ap2 after only two weeks' trial. It does precisely what I want (and, I daresay, far, far more than I need).
I would, though, seriously recommend the book "Aperture 2" in the Apple Pro Training Series, which comes with a DVD and takes you in 12 lessons, through what is, to a fairly un-technical mind, an amazingly powerful piece of kit. I'm old enough to find it easier having a colour manual open next to the screen, telling you exactly what to do when. Bit like instructions for a complex recipe for a dinner party. Well done Mac.

348 of 356 people found this useful

Aperture 2

A must have

Written by NB from MACCLESFIELD

18/09/2008

For anyone who takes photographs, be it just holiday snaps or professionally this software is just a must have product..
The power of this software together with its ease of use really sets it apart from anything else on the market..
I use it to store many thousands of photos and it really makes the management of that silky smooth plus when used in conjunction with iWeb its fantastic... everyone thinks I am a pro thanks to Apple!!

277 of 299 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Your Snow Leopard Ate My Aperture!!

Written by BW from Chicago

5/10/2009

What a bummer! After successfully upgrading my MacBook to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, I was horrified to learn that my perfectly good version of Aperture will not work with the new ops system. It would have been nice to have been warned about this before the fact or have been provided the opportunity to purchase a compatibility enhancement. This really stinks Apple:-(

278 of 308 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Excellent program for any serious hobbyist

Written by MP from COLORADO SPRINGS

12/10/2008

iPhoto on steroids! The seamless integration with iPhoto and intuitive design are ingenious! I've been using this for a few months now and have been amazed at how well the non-destructive photo editing features work. The exposure correction options, for example, work much better than iPhoto alone. Some features I even prefer to use over the equivalent in Photoshop CS3. The only disappointment is the gee-whiz stuff like making greeting cards, but then you can use iPhoto (which has a few more built in designs) for that type of thing anyway.

182 of 193 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Why I didn't I look at Aperture sooner?

Written by AD from Highlands Ranch

13/04/2009

I never took much of a look at Aperture until the number of photos I had started approaching the 10's of thousands. I needed a better way to get a grasp on managing them. A number of pro photographer buddies kept insisting I should take a look at Aperture. They kept telling me how wonderful it was for managing photos, but I wouldn't listen.

Finally a couple of weeks ago I became frustrated with my current management system. I downloaded the demo and became enthusiastic about it. Needless to say I purchased Aperture 2 and signed up for Apples One to One. I have been working with the trainers to learn it better and the more I learn the more I like Aperture.

Now I just keep kicking myself for having not taken a look at it sooner.

190 of 212 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Excellent Value

Written by TF from tempe

9/11/2008

I upgraded from an iBook PPC based laptop to the late 2008 macbook pro and wanted a pro application for it. I'm an amateur photographer so Aperture was a no-brainer. I've heard about this Aperture for quite awhile and wondered how it differed from iPhoto. I downloaded the trial and bought a key less than a week later. Basically, iPhoto is a consumer product, Aperture being pro. What I love about Aperture is that it integrates seamlessly with iPhoto, which I still love to fall back on for the 'fun' stuff. You can share libraries with just a few mouse clicks. All of iPhoto's elements(i.e., albums, events) can be imported into Aperture. However, Aperture is so much richer and robust than iPhoto even as it's features make it's way into iPhoto. For example, Aperture is much more configurable than iPhoto. The controls are more finely tuned (especially for RAW). Searches are amazing with almost any metadata capable of being searched. This is useful for large libraries of images. Projects can be saved and backed up elsewhere. Whole libraries can be saved in special files called vaults which can also be backed up. The interface is clean and uncluttered. Dual monitor support is available which is nice when I can afford that new LCD Cinema Display(on my wish list.) Best of all is the value. The features built into this software are worth so much more than $199.99USD. I recommend buying the book 'Aperture2' from Peach Pit Press to guide you through this feature rich application. It is part of the Apple Pro Training Series and is Apple Certified. The only reason I didn't give this product 5 stars was because I think it still has room to grow.

141 of 150 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Great software, if you have the grunt!

Written by MW from Liverpool

1/01/2009

Aperture is a really elegant, powerful and wonderfully easy to use photo app, perfect for creating your own storage structure plus the benefit of having a good UI and raw file handling system, editing is a sinch. However, beware if you have a 'lower' spec mac. I run a 2.16 intel macbook pro 17" with max ram (older model so its 2gb) and im afraid aperture can eventually bring the system to a crunching halt when tasked. Considering apple spec my machine as being more than adequate, it is far from the ripping fluid app it could be. Ive switched to lightroom for a bit and it does work twice as quick, but just is nowhere near as neat as aperture. Also, apple are much slower at updating the software to work with new cameras, my new little Panasonic G1 just is not supported. Im going to hang on in there as I will upgrade my 2 year old mac soon, but feel a little disapointed that im having to spend over £1500.00 to use what could be the best app apple have ever made.

MW

140 of 152 people found this useful

Aperture 2

A happy Windows-based photographer has seen the light...

Written by RT from Harleysville

9/12/2008

I was a happy Windows-based photographer that spent a considerable amount of time perfecting my work flow on a Vista machine. I had all five of the applications I used in my work flow "streamlined" and was getting good results.

In September I won a contest to shoot with pro photographers in Grand Teton National Park and learn Aperture. I had recently purchases an iMac to do some iPhone development so I could "play" with the software.

Fast forward three months. All of my photography (actually all of my computing) is now on the Mac and managed through Aperture. My work flow went from five apps to one, my time to turn-around images has fallen by 70% and the quality of my work is vastly improved. Best of all, I'm making considerably MORE MONEY using this setup.

Nothing, since the switch to digital, has changed the way I shoot, process and output images more than my switch to Aperture. It's simply THAT GOOD.

140 of 153 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Reduce the time in post production by days!

Written by SF

3/07/2009

As a new convert to Mac from PC I found the transition quite challenging, as well as looking into Aperture. As a pro photographer dealing in weddings the main obsticle that I wanted to avoid is the time spent on post production. It took me 2 days to edit a wedding on a PC importing everything into Photoshop. A workflow tool was needed, enter Aperture. What a powerful piece of software, after going to One to one training at the Apple store with a photographer, after 10 lessons I am now editing a wedding in under 2hrs! Its non-destuctive meaning that any adjustments that are made can be altered without having to make copies and increasing the files on your HD. You really don't need Photoshop as all the adjustments are already within software. The RAW element is something else, easy to convert and can be used with most DSLR. The price for the sofware has been paid for 20 times over already. If you are looking to reduce post production with hundreds of images this is the only tool you need!

125 of 127 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Aperture 2 is awesome.

Written by SN from Myrtle Beach

7/04/2009

If you have ever had to struggle with photoshop or any other photo editing program you will immediately fall in love with Aperture. All of the tools are right there at your fingertips literally one or two clicks away, and its all contained within the simple clean layout with the trademark apple style. Editing photos has never been smoother.

130 of 138 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Best pro photo workflow

Written by HP from Reading

3/04/2009

As a pro photographer processing thousands of images a month, small differences in workflow efficiency really add up. Aperture has a very slick interface design which means every common operation is just one keypress away.

Rating the shots and selecting them for work is a breeze and very quick on my MacPro. Its retouch brush is good enough not to enter photoshop for 95% of my work- saving me many hours per month waiting for photos to import.

Its handling of Hasselblad FFF files could be better (the colour management isn't as good as Phocus) and it badly needs to implement curves, but it is streets ahead of Lightroom or Bibble or Bridge workflows and vastly quicker than Photoshop when all you want to do is colour correct, crop, retouch and export. Image quality is top notch, too.

I love it- it was worth the switch to Mac just to use it.

118 of 122 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Snow Leopard messed up my Aperture

Written by GF from Needham

11/09/2009

My Aperture program was wonderful until I upgraded to Snow Leopard. Now it has problem's including sending out photo's in the mail program that don't change size and blink on the screen 3 times before it stops the moment.

129 of 151 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Excellent

Written by RV from Louisville

18/06/2009

I find Aperture to be a fantastic photo editing software program. Please don't think it's Photoshop because it not. I find it does great job with RAW conversion. I also use the B&W conversion with added plugins for great results.
Much easier to use than PS.

110 of 118 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Not Photoshop

Written by KD from Albuquerque

14/06/2009

I really like this software but I thought it would do more photoshop type editing. You cannot add text or put borders around pictures. I should have researched Aperture a further but I expected more. It does a lot of cool advance editing and features but I also thought it did photoshop type editing too. I am sure I will enjoy this product more the longer I use it.

146 of 195 people found this useful

Aperture 2

Impressed

Written by DM from Brandon

9/08/2009

I have been using LightRoom for almost 2 years, and tried Aperture about 6 months ago, I didn't give it enough time. LightRoom has been getting slower and slower the more I use it, I really like the additional tools like gradient shading, but I wanted to give Aperture another shot. I bought Aperture a week ago, and I am very impressed as I really gave the software a work out, I love it. I really do get better results faster in Aperture, and I can make edits at any point in my workflow, something that cannot be done in the LightRoom modules. Truly every aspect of Aperture is excellent, from RAW 2.0, all the way to printing (I love the full screen editing), I even like the Web and book creation, more editable than iPhoto for book layout. I uninstalled LightRoom, all I need is Aperture and Photoshop for all my photography editing and output. Great producr, really brilliant. (Now if Apple will just get camera RAW updates out a little quicker).

95 of 100 people found this useful

Aperture 2

P3 - Picture Perfect Photo's

Written by DL from San Diego

26/12/2008

I just got Aperture 2.0, (I have not used Aperture 1.0 before) and believe that after viewing all the tutorials that I can now use it to "tweak" my photo's and share them in a whole new way!

This is a "Serious" powerful application (the box is heavy with multiple disc's) and even though the tutorials make it look simple; i know, (for me) that it will take some "quality time" to absorb all the "power of it's Force" as I strive to become one with Aperture 2.0 to better correct/share my photo's..
+
Apple is wise to provide an ever increasing number of these tutorials; the better Apple help us "learn" Aperture 2.0, the more folks will seek it's Power to make their photo's look professional!

Look out Adobe/CS/Photo Shop; Aperture is HOT & MUCH EASIER TO USE!

98 of 114 people found this useful