Aperture

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I just realized there is no thread here for Aperture, and I vaguely recall someone saying they wished Apple could get it to work right. Am I to take from this that Aperture is to be avoided? I'm getting ready to order my iMac and wondered if I should buy it with Aperture preinstalled.

[picsfor]

You make a good point regarding Aperture. Technically there should be a thread - if any one knows any one who uses it 

Essentially, Aparture is a turbo charged version of iPhoto comes free with any Mac (part of the O/S).

I think the real answer to your question is - what do you want to do with it?
It's not a replacement for PS or PSE - though it has some nice processing tools.
It is more of an Apple version of Lightroom - but for me, they just haven't got it quite right yet. What is also telling is the vast price difference between Aperture and Lightroom.

If A3 had been that good - Adobe would have had to drop its price for LR3, but it hasn't...
Several pros run A3 and LR3 side by side and use the best bits of both.

I'd recommend not paying for it to be pre-installed - i;d recommend waiting until you get your shiny new iMac and giving the trial version of both programs a go, unless you have CS5 - in which case it might just as easy to stick with CS5 - after all you pensioners have a bt more time on your hands 

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Ah, yes, Andrew, it was you I recall making that observation before. Now that you mention it one of my co-workers, oops, former co-workers uses iPhoto and is quite taken by it. 

[picsfor]

Let's make no mistake here - iPhoto is something that M$ still haven't managed to equal.
For you family snaps user up to budding novice - it's an amazing piece of kit.
Apaerture will take you on the path to serious ameteur - but very few people actually use it on its own.

Where iPhoto and Aperture score heavily is in the geotagging of images - just enter a zip or postcode and your pic gets a flag pin on a global map.
Want a mug, prints, calender or photobook from your pictures- iPhoto and Aperture are already there, and the quality of the goods produced is not bad either. Again - targeted at the family snaps to budding novice user...

LR3 just can't match that sort of thing as a seamless product (yet) - and yet it seems a rather pointless reason to get the product over LR3 which does so much more and in a better fashion than Apple can at this moment in time.

MAybe they'll fix it all for A4 and rival LR4 properly - but at this moment in time...

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Oh yes, for sure. My friend used it to make a Photobook for her boyfriend and brought it to work to show me, I was quite impressed.

[happypaddler]

Its a bit more than a turbo charged version of iPhoto these days, though it does have the same UI type feel to it. I have been very busy, ill and away from my camera for far to long a time - I have the latest version of Aperture and I need to learn how to use it properly.

You can now get plugin's for it like you can for Lightroom. I must admit I tried Lightroom as the trial when it first came out and detested it so I have not tried any more recent versions. I was hardly using photoshop when I was taking pics as Aperture did anything I needed. Do a quick search on the web for reviews - there are plenty of non-photography types doing reviews and may not be much use, the most recient I could find on a very quick search is a comparison between LR 3 and A 3 http://www.dpnotes.com/adobe-lightroom-3-vs-apple-aperture-3/.

As said above, before you buy either LR or A that both Apple and Adobe still have free trial versions to download, worth doing to help you decide.

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As said above, before you buy either LR or A that both Apple and Adobe still have free trial versions to download, worth doing to help you decide.

Oh if there's a trial version then I'll give it a whirl. Bit peeved, I have to postpone my plan. I'm told I might not get my final remittance until the end of Oct now.

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Reserecting this thread as, on Christmas Day we were shown a photobook my 14 yr. old niece put together using Aperture. Quite impressed. Going to download the 30 day free trial and give it a go. (plus I was given a couple of Apple Gift cards as presents).