C1 Express or A3?

[lJoSquaredl]

Is there a big difference between Capture One Express and Aperture 3? I'm leaning towards Aperture cuz I do enjoy keeping everything under the Apple hat, and it's usually always more than i'll ever need. (I love FCPX as well)
Been using the Capture One Express demo and am enjoying the little extras I get over editing with Preview (especially editing RAWs) but was wondering if it's pretty similar to Aperture as far as features since A3 doesn't have a demo available. Getting Aperture will also make it an easy upgrade to 4 when it drops…may even get a discount on the upgrade if it drops within a few weeks/months i'd assume. Also Adobe is not an option, I hate subs and have disliked other Adobe products in the past.

 

[phrehdd]

Is there a big difference between Capture One Express and Aperture 3? I'm leaning towards Aperture cuz I do enjoy keeping everything under the Apple hat, and it's usually always more than i'll ever need. (I love FCPX as well)
Been using the Capture One Express demo and am enjoying the little extras I get over editing with Preview (especially editing RAWs) but was wondering if it's pretty similar to Aperture as far as features since A3 doesn't have a demo available. Getting Aperture will also make it an easy upgrade to 4 when it drops…may even get a discount on the upgrade if it drops within a few weeks/months i'd assume. Also Adobe is not an option, I hate subs and have disliked other Adobe products in the past.

Just an opinion - C1 Express is a nice limited tool that works great for RAW files. You didn't mention what Camera you are using. Aperture works well with many types of RAW files and allows for plug ins that are extremely useful. C1 Express has no real plug in capability and is rather limited. Where it does shine is handling RAW files that you might later move to Aperture to catalogue and do more work on a given file.

I use Capture One Pro as it, like C1 Express does far better with my Fuji X camera RAW (RAF) files than Aperture. Fuji X camera RAW files are not typical. I also use Photoshop and the Capture 1 Pro is vastly superior to CS6 Photoshop in handling the RAW files of my camera.

In short, I think Aperture has more to offer all around for RAW files that it handles well. I think Capture 1 Pro is better than Express because the latter is missing some really excellent parts of the Pro version related to localized changes.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[swordio777]

Aperture 3 and Capture One 7 are both digital asset managers first, raw converters second, and editing tools third.

If the main things you want are a great way to manage lots of photographs and a fantastic raw conversion tool then you’ll love Aperture.

If editing images is more important to you than either of these things then you may well prefer Capture, as I think it has a lot more editing tools. (If image editing is your goal then you may even prefer Lightroom, even though you said “no adobe”). A lot of users are frustrated that Aperture lacks many of the editing tools featured in its competitors, so you need to decide how important this is to you. There are additional plugins available which will expand your toolkit, but these usually have a cost attached.

Regarding upgrades - You will not get a discount on Aperture 4. Apple doesn’t do upgrade pricing through the mac app store. This is part of the reason all their “pro” apps have dropped in price significantly when moving to a digital download only distribution (Aperture used to be $300, now it’s $80).

Hope that helps.

 

[lJoSquaredl]

Aperture 3 and Capture One 7 are both digital asset managers first, raw converters second, and editing tools third.

If the main things you want are a great way to manage lots of photographs and a fantastic raw conversion tool then you’ll love Aperture.

If editing images is more important to you than either of these things then you may well prefer Capture, as I think it has a lot more editing tools. (If image editing is your goal then you may even prefer Lightroom, even though you said “no adobe”). A lot of users are frustrated that Aperture lacks many of the editing tools featured in its competitors, so you need to decide how important this is to you. There are additional plugins available which will expand your toolkit, but these usually have a cost attached.

Regarding upgrades - You will not get a discount on Aperture 4. Apple doesn’t do upgrade pricing through the mac app store. This is part of the reason all their “pro” apps have dropped in price significantly when moving to a digital download only distribution (Aperture used to be $300, now it’s $80).

Hope that helps.

I'd like something that is very simple and easy in terms of organization. As far as editing, i've seen people do some insane editing with Lightroom but I don't feel I wanna cheat photos to that extreme. Color correction, maybe some vignette, noise reduction, just the normal stuff is all I should really need for what I wanna do. I would assume Aperture 3 even has a lil more than that? I have heard of plug ins being popular to use as well, especially the Google NIK stuff.

You didn't mention what Camera you are using.

I use a 6D, haven't heard of any issues with it working in Aperture thus far.

 

[phrehdd]

I'd like something that is very simple and easy in terms of organization. As far as editing, i've seen people do some insane editing with Lightroom but I don't feel I wanna cheat photos to that extreme. Color correction, maybe some vignette, noise reduction, just the normal stuff is all I should really need for what I wanna do. I would assume Aperture 3 even has a lil more than that? I have heard of plug ins being popular to use as well, especially the Google NIK stuff.



I use a 6D, haven't heard of any issues with it working in Aperture thus far.

Go with Aperture. From what you say, it fits your needs. NIK, OnOne and a few other plug in makers should round out your arsenal of photo edit tools.

 

[swordio777]

i agree - for what you want, aperture is perfect.