Aperture 3

Could this be one of the worst software upgrades in Apple’s history? A strong statement, for sure, but not one that should surprise anyone who has been paying any attention since Aperture 3’s release on 9 February. I’m sure you’ve heard it all. The poor handling of iPhoto library imports, memory leakage, Faces and Places working slowly, instability and poor performance. So I won’t waste any time detailing a now familiar litany of woes. Instead, let’s consider the useful. Is there enough potential in Aperture 3 to rival its most strident (and only direct) competitor, Adobe’s Lightroom 3? Well, yes ... but it’s in desperate need of a mighty big performance tweak on top of the two updates that already have been released. For iPhoto users, jumping into Aperture means embracing an embarrassment of riches in editing capabilities — but let’s not forget Aperture was always intended for pro users. For them, time is money and they should be excited about v3’s promise, combining Aperture’s well-established file- and library-management with a new set of tools that actually address professional needs. The new features in v3 answer almost all the wish list items pros have been hoping for. Here are V3’s five top features speeding my workflow (though I could list as many that have slowed it down): 1) The ability to back up new files as they are being imported. Backup, backup, backup. The photographer’s mantra. 2) The improved fullscreen mode. Users can now see a grid of images in fullscreen. It may not sound like much but it has a measurable streamlining effect. 3) Flagging is one feature brought in from iPhoto that gets a big tick of approval, providing a quick method for marking images for alternate tasking. 4) Image edit presets, and the ability to save your own, both ease and speed the task of stamping your own style. Already, presets are being freely shared on the web — a great resource. I also love the instant previews that appear on mouseover. 5) “Duplicate project structure” is a huge time-saver. If you have a well-established workflow for projects of a type you often repeat, such as weddings, the ability to recreate it for a new set of images is very helpful indeed. And, of course, brushes make a big difference, meaning a few less roundtrip edits via Photoshop. If only Apple had provided a real selection tool. Sigh. There’s plenty in Aperture 3 to keep amateur and pro users satisfied. The short list here only scratches the surface. The problem is that v3, even with a couple of software updates thus far, falls short of the performance potential that Apple needs to offer to match the grunt in its latest hardware. Aperture 3 and a new iMac should really fly. As is, v3 is prone to nosediving its users into a deep well of frustration.