The truth according to Girard
The truth, according to Girard (a commercial image-retoucher and former magazine art director), is rather different.
His review – carried out on a dual-core 2GHz Mac with a meaty 4.5GB RAM - contains many lines like this:
* Aperture produces sub-professional output when compared to most industry-standard converters - there are many threads on the Apple Aperture forum that back up my finding
* The noise it's picking up [in the RAW file] is completely Aperture's own algorithm. It looks like JPEG compression, but it's not.
* If the RAW converter in Aperture is no better than shooting in JPEG format, then it has little appeal over iPhoto as a professional's tool
* Modifying the metadata is surprisingly slow. To add info to 14 images took 45 seconds
* [Aperture] cannot edit the basic embedded EXIF info
* The main problem with the import pane is that it doesn't show file extensions, even if you've checked "Show all file extensions"
* IPTC info tagged in Aperture exports okay but EXIF data is stripped completely
* There is no export of DNG files. The best option is 16-bit TIFF and this doesn't contain the RAW data from the original image.
* There is no curve adjustment in Aperture, only levels, so it's not possible to control the dark shadow areas without subtly affecting the lower midtones.
* It's not much of a professional-grade application if it doesn't have a curves tool
* Thumbnails and main images go out of sync
* It is an expensive and questionable alternative to Camera Raw, a free extension to Photoshop
Girard also rubbishes the idea – largely thought up by the media looking for snappy headlines (ourselves included, it has to be admitted) - that Apple is attempting to produce a Photoshop-killer app. According to Girard, that's not simply because Aperture isn't in the same league when it comes to the quality of its tools and output but mainly because it has far too few tools to be considered a realistic alternative.
As he rounds off, Girard, clearly not one for pulling punches, says,
"At this stage Aperture is a big, expensive misfire and considering the hefty price tag, I can't think of a reason to recommend it."
Back to the drawing-board, then, Steve, or is that still full of iPods?
