Aperture 2.1 vs. CaptureOne

[leftist]

I'm a very happy Aperture user (Mac people, if you haven't tried it... you're missing out!) and reading through some of the posts on here people talk about CaptureOne 4 as being a vital component of getting the best possible shots from an M8.

I was slightly horrified to read this; have I been missing out on something, or is this an over-statement?

I'm under the impression that Aperture's RAW processing is top-notch, but I'd value your opinions and experiences.

 

[spikey]

this is the problem with the internet

this is the problem with the internet

we would be happy, but someone posts a comment, and we NEED to change the way we do things.
I am actually too quite happy with Aperture, but now am playing with Photoshop (CS2), Lightroom (beta), Capture one ...
and still the only things I need is a good white balance adjustment, a way to organise / grade my pictures, and a way to turn them into black and white sometimes ...
well, each to their own .. I think I stop playing with the computer, ant take more pictures ... well, that's for me ...

 

[cam]

CaptureOne came out with support before Aperture did, hence more people have used it.

 

[user237428934]

I don't think it's just about the support of a camera. It's about the presets that ship with a raw converter. I really like the presets in Capture One for the M8. Nice colours and nice skin tones out of the box. I invested some time in lightroom to develop the right camera import calibration but I did not get the same result regarding the colours.
Try it with aperture. Probably you are quite happy with the results?

 

[urban_alchemist]

How is Aperture 2.1 compared to 1.x? I was very disappointed with the last version - although the interface was excellent (I much preferred the 'unworkflow' method to Lightroom's 'Channels'), but found it was such a resource hog that I couldn't bare to deal with it any more.

Especially now as my travel computer is a MacBook Air (wonderful for its purpose, but a total weakling power-wise), Lightroom's 'lightness' - sorry, no punn intended - is really turning out to be a boon on-the-go.

 

[leftist]

I am happy to report that Aperture 2.1 is a completely different beast than 1.x and if you gave up on it but haven't tried the new version, you owe it to yourself to give it another try.

The entire app feels a lot faster. RAW processing, preview generation isn't snappy, but it's 2-3x faster. There's a preview mode which is pretty much instant.

The user interface has been improved, with excellent RAW processing options, better distribution of controls across tabs, and pretty intuitive stamping of alterations across multiple photos. There's also a new import/export plugin architecture in 2.1 that lets you do in-line editing using DFX or other packages, including Photoshop. I find this massively streamlines your workflow, and saves a lot of time and silly mistakes.

Anyhow, it's fine to say get off the computer and take more photos, but it's a little off-topic because heck, I enjoy playing with my shots and that's perfectly okay. What I think I am getting is that C1 predates Aperture, but A2.1 probably has perfectly excellent processing.

This is a relief, because I tried C1 yesterday and it seemed incredibly limited. However, I suspect that my bias makes me see it that way.