I ask this question in the context of trying to decide whether I have a need for Aperture at $250-500. Maybe others are in the same quandary.
I shoot some digital capture (processing with ACR and PS-CS2) but mostly I shoot film and scan to TIFF. I have used Extensis Portfolio to catalog images, basing my cataloging on keywording, using sequential date-based filenames that do not themselves describe the images. I make only limited use of descriptive folders to group like subjects, assignments, etc. So keywords are my main means by which to search and find images.
Since Bridge's advent I've mostly abandoned Portfolio, mainly because Bridge's interface is handier to use (even if more limited in function, especially search) than Portfolio; and because Portfolio and Bridge don't play nice when dealing with sidecar .xmp metadata created in one and read by the other. It's not clear whether the impending Portfolio v.8 (due out December) will address this problem--I think it might. It's still a clunky program to use, and that alone makes me consider bagging it. However, an upgrade would be attractively priced, at $100.
Seems like from what I read that Aperture is going to do some of the things done by Camera Raw (or Capture One), and some things done by Bridge, Portfolio, iView Media Pro, PhotoMechanic, and others; and a few things done by PS itself, though no one is positioning it as a PS replacement.
Based on Apple's info, what do you all see as Aperture's niche, its usefulness? In short, what is it going to do for me that my current software can't do?
Thanks all.
Mike
