Apple Aperture users: your secrets?

[MrCheeto]

I know it's long-retired but that doesn't mean I can't rely on it still.

Yeah, I used Lightroom for the past several years but....yuck. I can't stand Adobe apps. They wreak of Micros***t in their style, execution, and penny wringing.

I've finally realized a decade-long dream and am running Aperture on dual monitors on a Mac Pro (4,1).

As I'm learning, I'm beginning to see just what I've been missing and Aperture does not disappoint. I'm so much happier in this environment. Things really are more intuitive and work the way Apple did back in the day. The fact that it doesn't have 50-million features and adjustments to bloat my system doesn't bother me. I use developing software very minimally. I adjust exposure, white balance, crop, and remove dust. That's about the limits of my developing process since I believe the picture should be made in-camera. Aperture fits right in with my motto.

If you relied on Aperture during it's reign, what secrets do you have for a newbie? What are the hidden features and functions? Any settings to tweak to make things "flow" better? Peripherals like LoupeDecks and tablets? How do I get the most out of my ancient system? I'm currently running 10.5.8 on the Pro.

How about scans of negatives? Is there any sort of "filter" add-on or function that will automatically apply a color-profile and flip a negative to a positive? The scanner that I'm looking at was designed around 2012-2014 and has software support for Leopard.

I really do love the fact that my whole post process can be handled in Leopard so I look forward to whatever guidance I can get from your experience.

 

[PhilBoogie]

Still LOVING Aperture! For scanning I use OSX / macOS Preview: it can even create multiple separated tiffs if you place more than one photo on your flatbed.

 

[MrCheeto]

Ah I should clarify that I’m looking at a film roll scanner. No bed. It’s the Plustek 8200i.

You mean still using it? On what setup?

 

[PhilBoogie]

I used a Nikon something 4000. Which was so expensive that was glad to be able to loan it from a friend. A friend who worked at Nikon at the time.

I’m done scanning, but still use Aperture, on occasion.

 

[mtbdudex]

sorry, I kinda forgot some of what I did ... I used Aperture so much back in it's heyday ... at least for me 2009 thru 2016 ... then not really much since I have it on a old system boot up for legacy processing "stuff" my T1i/70D images there.

What I liked:
-ability to take multiple "same" photos, adjust 1, and apply all adjustments to all images
-batch changes
-it's file organization scheme inside Aperture library
-having multiple libraries (I have separate based on calendar year )

Sadly nothing for me has approached apertures workfow and ease edit ability.

Now, with my R5 I just use Apple Photos .. it suffices

 

[PhilBoogie]

Yeah Aperture sure was the best DAM out there, for me. Some prefer LR, but I guess that's also because those folks were already familiar with Adobe sw. I really miss the keyboard shortcuts from Aperture, ability to compare 2 photos, ha lots of fun with the fightable and then creating a pdf for large prints for friends, multiple libs, gosh, so much stuff macOS Photos is lacking.

 

[sam_dean]

Wish Apple would restart Apple Aperture again...

 

[PhilBoogie]

Wish Apple would restart Apple Aperture again...

X1000

 

[MrCheeto]

I used a Nikon something 4000

Thanks for this nugget. I've been going down the rabbit hole of Nikon Coolscans now. They're versatile, advanced, and depending on which I find they can support all the way back to OS 9 since they are compatible with Vuescan and other apps.

What I liked:
-ability to take multiple "same" photos, adjust 1, and apply all adjustments to all images
-batch changes

These are in Lightroom. Why I use Apple? The same functions are a monumental headache in Lightroom

Sadly nothing for me has approached apertures workfow and ease edit ability.

and that's the thread.

Only a few things are missing from Aperture 3. I've really been diving in lately and absolutely falling in love. It is everything I hoped it would be. I can't find some way to detect and highlight dust nor can I dropper-select aberration. I don't like the way Aperture handles aberration. This is one thing Lightroom does quite excellently.

Other than that, I am satisfied with my c.2009 work station. I can perform selects extremely quickly. My edits on each picture can be complete in less than two-minutes (minus dust touch-up) which is my benchmark for a performant photographer. If I spend more than two-minutes editing a photo, I didn't do my job behind the camera.

Another shortcoming is that I use more modern cameras. There is no RAW support for these in either Leopard or Aperture. I have to use RPP to convert to TIFF's. There's a lot I'd give to have total RAW support for my new cameras in this app.

 

[PhilBoogie]

Why I use Apple? The same functions are a monumental headache in Lightroom

This should be a bumper sticker.

 

[mackmgg]

Now, with my R5 I just use Apple Photos .. it suffices

I tried using Apple Photos to edit RAW files for a while, and it just... can't. I don't know why, but its RAW processing is just awful. Not from a UI perspective (I can live with that part), but the end result. It seems to have way less dynamic range, clipping highlights that aren't clipped in the RAW file (when edited in Lightroom) and more noise in the shadows. Pixelmator Photo helps since you can use Photos for DAM but not the actual editing.

Also for the batch changes/changing a bunch at once, I haven't really used Aperture much but I thought that was pretty straightforward in Lightroom. You can either "copy" the changes you made to one photo and "paste" them to others, or you can just select a ton of photos and click the little "Sync" button in the corner which will synchronize the changes from one photo to the rest.

I'm not much of a preset person, and the only time I do batch edits is for astrophotography stacking, but the new preset options are pretty sweet too. Lightroom now lets you have a preset and batch edit photos with masking! You can tell it "apply these settings to the sky and these other settings to the foreground" and it will automatically find where the sky is on each photo and apply them properly.

I would say my only complaint with Lightroom right now is that it's expensive. But if you buy it on sale (I always buy an annual license from B&H on Black Friday) you never have to give Adobe credit card info and don't have to deal with all the auto-renew hard to cancel parts. All of my other complaints (it being slow, clunky, etc.) have largely been fixed over the past few years!

 

[sam_dean]

X1000

Although I really want Apple Aperture on Apple Silicon I doubt it as the worldwide shipment for digital still cameras have dropped down to pre year 2000 levels.

I think one of the software developers of Apple Aperture made his own photo app in the spirit of Apple Aperture.

I just cannot recall the name of it.

 

[MrCheeto]

I think one of the software developers of Apple Aperture made his own photo app in the spirit of Apple Aperture.

At least one of them went on to develop RawPhotoProcessor (RPP). I love just how great this utility is. It really captures a huge range of exposure from the RAW which is preserved in the TIFF. It recovers things that Adobe crushes or washes out in their conversion. It doesn't really add processing to the images like Adobe either. In comparisons of Adobe converted RAW's and RPP RAW's, I was blown away with how truly "raw" the images look. I love it and want to donate to the developer so I can unlock multi-core function on the 8-core Pro. Currently it's only using one-core with the free version.

 

[PhilBoogie]

Although I really want Apple Aperture on Apple Silicon I doubt it as the worldwide shipment for digital still cameras have dropped down to pre year 2000 levels.

I think one of the software developers of Apple Aperture made his own photo app in the spirit of Apple Aperture.

I just cannot recall the name of it.

That would be Joseph Linaschke, aka PhotoJoseph, who created ApertureExpert.com. He worked at Apple from 2001 to 2009.

Now over here:

Welcome to PhotoJoseph.com

Welcome to PhotoJoseph.com (formerly PhotoApps.Expert… formerly ApertureExpert.com)

photojoseph.com

 

[sam_dean]

That would be Joseph Linaschke, aka PhotoJoseph, who created ApertureExpert.com. He worked at Apple from 2001 to 2009.

Now over here:

Welcome to PhotoJoseph.com

Welcome to PhotoJoseph.com (formerly PhotoApps.Expert… formerly ApertureExpert.com)

photojoseph.com

This is the app made by a former Apple Aperture developer

RAW Power for macOS

www.gentlemencoders.com

 

[PhilBoogie]

This is the app made by a former Apple Aperture developer

RAW Power for macOS

www.gentlemencoders.com

Funny; I bought that app when RAW came to the iPhone. Just didn't know he was also on the team.

Thanks for posting!

 

[robgendreau]

Funny; I bought that app when RAW came to the iPhone. Just didn't know he was also on the team.

Thanks for posting!

He was CTO there IIRC.

Anyone who liked Aperture for reasons besides just being anti Adobe, ie because they actually could produce better results with it, really should use Raw Power. It's what Aperture would be in 2022 if still developed by Apple...and in this case, still developed by the person who did much of Aperture's development. It's quite nice, and steadily evolving. But it won't last if not supported. And it has so much more given that Aperture is stuck in a time warp.

 

[sam_dean]

He was CTO there IIRC.

Anyone who liked Aperture for reasons besides just being anti Adobe, ie because they actually could produce better results with it, really should use Raw Power. It's what Aperture would be in 2022 if still developed by Apple...and in this case, still developed by the person who did much of Aperture's development. It's quite nice, and steadily evolving. But it won't last if not supported. And it has so much more given that Aperture is stuck in a time warp.

It's one reason why I haven't replaced my 2015 EF body with a 2020 R5.

 

[MrCheeto]

This is the app made by a former Apple Aperture developer

This is an excellent find. At $40, it's one of the greatest values today.

Still, I have to unlock the most from Aperture as the goal of my build is to rely solely on Leopard. I am really loving the Leopard experience. It helps me focus on work and the apps rather than notifications, update warnings, snitching registered software, and something breaking with every update (becuase development is frozen in 2009). It's nice.

 

[GooseInTheCaboose]

Wish Apple would restart Apple Aperture again...

Yeah, or at least just include all the major features in Photos

I really like the iCloud Photos and AI/object recognition in Photos, but I wish it had more flexibility for keeping part of the library external, or for downloading originals for only part of the library, or for backing up an iCloud Photos Library to an external SSD

 

[MrCheeto]

Feels good to live in 2009. You can list all the things you just listed but if it doesn't work it is worth nothing to me. Apple made things that worked in those days. Using my 2009 Mac Pro with Aperture and no iCloud or whatever cloud storage, no Adobe Creative Cloud (🤮🤮🤢🤮🤢🤢), no Russian Roulette updates gives me such peace of mind I can't possibly settle for less. It is stress-free, straight-forward, no surprises and no disappointments.

Until Apple makes a genuinely good product and service, I will not be updating no matter what. Looking at how the tech industry is, it is clear that things will NOT be getting better. What Elon has exposed at Twitter is what I've known all along. Anybody that would deny these findings has been blind for the past ten or twelve-years. What we see at Twitter is only worse in other companies. Imagine how much of a daycare commune Apple is. It will NEVER recover.