Apertureis a comprehensive all-in-one digital
photo workflow tool that offers various RAW
editing tools and integrates seamlessly with
Apple’s Media Library functionality. The library
is capable of managing all your media assets,
whether you copy them to the Library folder
or simply use links to associate them with the
program. ‘Real’ import makes it easier to back
up your data, but impossible to open and
process your files using other applications.
Our import test revealed a common
weakness in many image database programs.
Apertureonly displays the 119 of our 128
sample RAW files that it recognizes as image
files. Of these, the program imported only 110
and produced error messages for the others.
At the end of the day, Aperture was only able
to correctly display, render and produce a
full-frame preview for 87 of our images.
Lightroom’s RAW recognition results were
much better, although Apertureproved more
capable of recognizing more common image
file formats.Apertureis not designed for managing
images stored in your computer’s native file
system, but does offer a number of options for
managing logical drives and assets. Apple’s
use of the outdated IPTC-IIM metadata
standard brought it a lot of criticism, so
version 3 finally supports XMP sidecar files as
well as IPTC Core data fields. The IPTC
Extension data set is not supported.
Geodata display and tagging is reliable;
Apple uses its own servers to find place names
and Google Maps for its map material. The
face recognition functionality works quite
well, but is not as simple to use as the
equivalent tool in Picasa. Face recognition
slows down most computers, and Apple’s tool
is no exception. The equivalent Lightroom
function was a lot smoother and faster when
run on our 2.3 GHz Core i5 SSD-based Mac
Mini with 8 GB of RAM.
The rather complex handling makes it
more difficult to tag large numbers of files, but
Aperture’s interoperability results were betterthan those produced by Picasa. Name tags are
exportable and can thus be used with
applications that run independently of the
Apple Library.
The search tools built into the interface are,
in fact, simple filters, and the search mask
reached using the Edit > Search command is
actually much more powerful. You can save
the results of complex searches to the Library
in the form of Smart Albums. All in all, the
interface is a bit clunky and appears to have
been cobbled together.
In spite of its shortcomings, Aperture 3
offers the best value for money of all our
test candidates. The package includes a
full-featured RAW editor and a database with
face recognition and geotagging functionality
for just US$79.99. On the negative side, Apple
no longer offers a 30-day trial version, so you
have to commit to spending money if you
want to give Aperturea whirl.Apple Aperture 3
Image Database Software | Test
Aperture‘s face recognition interface is attractive enough, but the
simpler interface provided by Google’s Picasais easier to use