| Sign in: |
| Members log in here with your user name and password to access the your admin page and other special features. |
|
|
|
|
|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Apple Aperture questions for users
James W. Prichard, Photographer, Photo Editor
 |
Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 12:51 PM on 04.03.06 |
->> Note: Already aware of previous sportsshooter threads on Aperture, have sat through Apple's movies and went to their seminar with Laforet in DC last week.
However, I still have a few questions.
1. Many photographers have images that were not created in RAW format. What functionality is lost within Aperture when working with these files?
2. With a limit of 10K master images per project, what are photographers using to create a searchable master library? iView, Extensis Portfolio, etc.?
3. Is there any reason to keep Photomechanic around?
4. I've heard rumors, but nothing for sure: Is is true that the keywords/file info/META Data applied in Aperture is not stored within the actual RAW file but only in the Aperture database (and then is applied only on export)?
5. Vincent Laforet emphasized the importance of the video card when using Aperture but no one went into any details. The G5 tower comes standard with a NVIDIA Geoforce 6600 but don't know what the cost/benefit is in upgrading to the next two cards up the line costing potentially $1,650 extra.
Any insight would be appreciated.
Cheers - |
|
Michael Hickey, Photographer
|
Kokomo | IN | United States | Posted: 1:45 PM on 04.03.06 |
->> Is there any reason to keep Photo Mechanic around?
For me YES. Aperture in it's current incarnation is not up to the task of being a DEADLINE application. It's great to create an archive and perform small tasks when you're sitting at your desk and not under a crunch, but when time is bearing down, it's simply not ready. Importing literally takes forever. Sizing is clunky and captioning needs to be taken seriously because it seems Apple treats it as an afterthought.
As for file info, since the RAW file is never altered in any way, I'd have to say the IPTC info is no different than a white balance adjustment. The changes and corrections applied to file exist separatly to the RAW (master) and are just applied on export.
I'm not sure I've found a feature that I can't use on jpeg that I use on RAW. I think they all work, not sure how they're doing that but they do.
Apple is going to have to find a way to up the 10K limit on projects or this thing could come to a grinding halt. |
|
Sebastian Szyszka, Photographer
|
Lisle | IL | USA | Posted: 1:53 PM on 04.03.06 |
| ->> No software modifies the actual RAW files, all of them either save sidecars (Photoshop/XMP) or store the info in a database. So as far as that is concerned, Aperture is operating the same way as the competition. |
|
Thomas Boyd, Photographer
|
Eugene | OR | USA | Posted: 4:33 PM on 04.03.06 |
->> I've had most of my questions answered on the apple discussion forums:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=184
1: Nothing as far as I can tell. It fixes white balance on jpegs really well.
2: When it says 10k per project that doesn't mean 10k per library. You can archive hundreds of thousands of images per library and have unlimited libraries. Aperture will handle massive amounts of images.
3: Keep photomechanic for sure. It's the best option for quick captioning, ingesting, and editing on deadline, especially on a pb.
4: There's been much discussion and dissatisfaction with this on the forums. Go there to fully understand the issue. It's complex.
5: This too is complicated with a lot of conflicting information. Go the forums. There are good links on there with detailed performance tests. I don't have the fastest card out there and it runs really well on my machine. There are plenty of other users with better machines/cards than mine that are completely dissatisfied. I would just use it for awhile and then decided if you need an upgrade. |
|
Vincent Laforet, Photographer
|
New York | NY | USA | Posted: 6:15 PM on 04.03.06 |
->> 1. None - as long as they are RAW, PSD, TIFF or JPEG - there is not difference.
2. only 10K per project as stated above... I have several hundred thousand in my 700GB library
3. sure - PM is a great app w/ many uses. I've given three demos to audiences of 200+ people and the consensus was quite unanimous that when editing JPEG files from a Canon 1D Mark II N on a MacBook Pro - the speed was just as fast if not faster than what we're used to seeing w/ Photo Mechanic. The speed is wicked fast on the Intel machines. To be fair Photo Mechanic is also wicked fast in its Universal Binary app. These are two different apps - and have different uses. I honestly rarely use PM any more - but until Aperture it was my number one App for daily use.
4. It's not a rumour it' true. And Thoma's answer is right on. I personally never share RAW files w/ clients as I want to share files that have at a minimum been captioned and toned. You can also export the files w/ all of the keywording, captioning etc info and of course the info is embedded into the output file format you choose (JPEG, TIFF, PSD etc)
5. That's my opinion. It depends: it you're working on JPEG files from a 30D you may not notice - but when you're decoding RAW files from a 1Ds you will likely notice... everyone has a different opinion. (All people define what "fast enough" is in their own way.) The same goes w/ your monitor use - i.e. will you do this w/ two 30 inch displays, one 23, two 20's - all of those will have an effect.
I hope this helps some.
Cheers - Vince |
|
James W. Prichard, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 7:43 PM on 04.03.06 |
| ->> My concern with keeping the info with the RAW files stems from the thought of having to retype all the info again into the next big "Apple Aperture" or "Adobe Lightroom". |
|
Steven Mullensky, Photographer
|
Port Townsend | WA. | USA | Posted: 12:07 AM on 04.04.06 |
->> My two cents it this; I bit the bullet and purchased Aperture after attending the Apple dog and pony show in Seattle last month. I was using 4 different applications to prepare images for sending to the newspaper. Maybe I didn't need to but nevertheless I discoved that I can do it all with just Aperture.
One difference with using Photo Mechanic over Aperture is that with PM I can prepare multiple images for sending via e-mail while with Aperture I have to do each image one at a time, unless, of course, I'm missing something. And if anyone has a different method, I'm up for hearing it. Also, I started shooting raw only and I see no reason to go back to shooting both jpeg and raw. Not only that, but the images look really nice compared with opening raw in PS CS2. I'm still a novice with this application but each day I work with it I learn something new.
I will still keep PM, however. |
|
Michael Hickey, Photographer
|
Kokomo | IN | United States | Posted: 12:51 AM on 04.04.06 |
| ->> Steven you can export multiple images at once at an email size resolution by using the drop down options on the export dialog box, really snazzy! Or you can customize your sizes somewhat to any size, it's a little clunky but hopefully that will be improved on in future updates. |
|
James W. Prichard, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 10:06 AM on 04.04.06 |
->> An email from Photo Mechanic, posted with permission:
_____________
Hello James,
You said "My concern with keeping the
info with the RAW files stems from the
thought of having to retype all the info
again into the next big "Apple Aperture"
or "Adobe Lightroom"."
Photo Mechanic 4.4.x can directly
caption most RAW files, including NEF
and CR2, so wherever your photos go,
your captions go too.
HTH,
-Kirk
Kirk A. Baker
Senior Software Engineer
Camera Bits, Inc.
________________ |
|
Michael Hickey, Photographer
|
Kokomo | IN | United States | Posted: 6:40 PM on 04.04.06 |
->> Anybody try Aperture after the 10.4.6 update, it seems to be importing faster.
Anybody else have similar experience? |
|
Steven Mullensky, Photographer
|
Port Townsend | WA. | USA | Posted: 6:45 PM on 04.04.06 |
->> Thanks for the tip, Michael.
My latest troubles are with the vault. I keep getting errors that the drive is full, etc.
Also, I think Aperture loads faster after installing 10.4.6. |
|
Vincent Laforet, Photographer
|
New York | NY | USA | Posted: 10:35 PM on 04.04.06 |
->> Steven - I had similar problems with the Vault. I'm not sure what caused it but I did let the people at Apple know that I ran into it - I just deleted the vault and created a new one and was back up an running. I haven't had any problems since.
As far as your e-mail options - don't forget that you can use some automator scripts to do a variety of sizing and saving prefs with your files. I have some info on my website (in the resources section) if you want more info and am getting a piece ready for sports shooter on automator - cheers - vince
http://www.laforetvisuals.com/ |
|
Steven Mullensky, Photographer
|
Port Townsend | WA. | USA | Posted: 12:08 PM on 04.05.06 |
->> Thanks for that, Vince.
I tried that just now and didn't have any luck.
Fortunately, I backed up the files to a separate folder because once I trashed the vault, I lost all the files. I'm not sure why that happened because I only trashed the vault on the separate hard drive.
Apple doesn't have any direct route to their support, that I can find, other than the Aperture discussion forums and someone there wants me to creat a link from here to there to everywhere and maybe the vault will recognize it. It shouldn't be so difficult. But I'm not the only one having troubles with the vault, however.
Steve |
|
Return to --> Message Board Main Index
|