Aperture 3 and Capture NX 2

I'm evaluating both trial versions of Aperture 3 and Nikon's Capture NX 2. I shoot with a Nikon D90, and I'm trying to develop a consistent workflow which might use the best features of both Aperture 3 and Capture NX 2. I also tend to shoot a lot of RAW pictures which are stored as NEF files. While my trial version of Capture NX 2 can display pictures in my iPhoto library, in it's browser, the program doesn't see the Aperture Library and therefore doesn't display any of the pictures in the Aperture Library. Has anyone else seen this? I'm still trying to decide the best workflow and would be interested if others have successfully integrated Aperture 3 and Capture NX 2 into their workflows.
Thanks!

That's exactly what you would expect to see when you try open the Aperture Library with Capture EX 2.
(BTW you know this is the iPhoto 08 forum, right?)
Aperture is a database. If you want to process Raws with NX then you'll need to either process them before importing to Aperture or use an app like Catapult ( http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/31765/catapult/) to use it in association with Aperture.
Regards
TD

Similar Messages

Using Aperture and Capture NX 2

I'm using Aperture 3 and have just downloaded the trial version of Capture NX 2. Upon opening CNX2 and opening pictures in the browser, the Aperture library is grayed out. My question really is what should I expect to see upon opening CNX2?

That's exactly what you would expect to see when you try open the Aperture Library with Capture EX 2.
(BTW you know this is the iPhoto 08 forum, right?)
Aperture is a database. If you want to process Raws with NX then you'll need to either process them before importing to Aperture or use an app like Catapult ( http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/31765/catapult/) to use it in association with Aperture.
Regards
TD

Aperture 3, Catapult Plug In and Capture NX2

Does anyone use Aperture and the plug-in Catapult for exporting files to an external editor like Nikon's Capture NX2? I've been using the trial version of Catapult and it seemed to be working fine, and then today, it will not re-import files edited in Capture NX 2 back into Aperture. I don't think my trial time has expired. I only get an error message in Aperture saying that the file was not imported. Anyone else experience this? It might be I need to purchase Catapult, which I was planning to do anyway, but before I spend any money, I want to make sure it works.
Thanks

I can't comment on Catapult, but as a long time Nikon shooter who has read with great interest all of the threads/posts on "Why isn't Aperture[or Lightroom] as good as Capture NX, I would encourage you to visit Rob Boyer's web site and peruse these posts: http://photo.rwboyer.com/series/aperture-3-nikon-presets/
As far as I am concerned he has pretty much proven that Nikon's "Secret Sauce" isn't that secret and has less to do with "extracting the last ounce of juicy goodness from a NEF" and more to do with ladling on saturation and contrast. (Rob still isn't happy with his blues, but I think he is being too hard on himself.)
Bottom line - Catapult may do nothing that you can't do for yourself in Aperture; except clog your system with TIFF files.
Offered with best wishes, YMMV, etc.

Can I change image date and capture year in Aperture?

Is there a way to manually change the image date and capture year (and other metadata for that matter) upon import? I have some pictures given to me by friends that they took on their own cameras and I want to import them into my Aperture Library, only it seems as though they didn't pay attention to/care about setting the date/time on their cameras. This causes me to lose sequence with my own photos that were taken with my camera on the same day.
I tried to append and replace the IPTC Metadata, but that didn't seem to work. What can be done about this, or am I just stuck with some out of sequence photos when I sort by image date?
<subject edited by host>

RB,
That worked perfectly, and was just what I was looking to do. Thanks.
MK

Can an iPhoto library be shared with Lightroom and capture one?

Since Aperture is being replaced by … nothing, how can I access the same library with multiple editors?

Neither iPhoto, Lightroom nor Capture One are editors. They are all database driven Photo Managers with non-destructive processing. There is no rational workflow that would use more than one of these apps, any more than it would make sense to write a novel in three different word processors at the same time.
Pick the one that suits your needs - if you're coming from Aperture then forget iPhoto, it's much less capable and also being end-of-lifed. Pick between Lightroom and Capture One. Then google the options for migration from Aperture to the one you choose.

Aperture and colorchecker passport from X-rite

the colorchecker passport is a tool to make color corrections by camera profiles.
(http://www.xritephoto.com/phproductoverview.aspx?id=1257&tab=videos)
nice program to get my color workflow better accept i use aperture and.. that just doesn't work some how. even adobe's lightroom got a plugin for this beautiful thing but aperture doesn't give any options to use a camera profile. Unbelievable because this is so important if you're doing commercial photography.
I hope some one can help me with my issue because i dont want to leave aperture and work with lightroom...

Just one other comment about this kind of workflow in general.
While absolutely accurate color rendition and absolutely neutral WB can have their uses they are few and far between. Virtually every single commercial image ever viewed has nowhere near "accurate" color or WB. In fact the whole demo video itself is shot so freaking warm it's actually funny. Not only is the video shot warm but just about everything done, from the time of day it was shot to the use of gold reflectors is done to achieve warmth of color while the guy talks on and on and on about how the product helps you achieve accurate color - that's hilarious. Why would you ever go through the trouble to get the light and color so warm just to neutralize it out. His video shooter/processor/editor didn't think it was such a good idea to neutralize it - in fact the video guys actually cranked it up. Really funny stuff. Hmmm what happens when you shoot when the sun is really really warm and you use a gold reflector and a neutral WB target to adjust your WB? Answer = gold/warmth goes away - freaking brilliant. Hmmm maybe he should talk about how the video guys just set the WB to 5500 or even higher temp and captured all the wrong but warm color.
RB
Message was edited by: rwboyer
Message was edited by: rwboyer

Aperture and other Pro Applications ( Final Cut, Motion, DVD Studio Pro )

Hi folks,
I have bought Final Cut Studio a while back, and have been working with all the tools for a while now ( FCP, Motion and DVD Studio Pro ). Recently I also switched to Aperture to manage / capture / organise my digital photographs ( previously I used iPhoto ).
Now I was wondering how I could use the pictures from my Aperture library in Motion or DVD Studio Pro. When I look at the file Browser, I can easily use some iPhoto pictures, but apparently I can't seem to find anything for Aperture.
What I would like to do is use some pictures from Aperture in a Motion project and also include an Aperture album in DVD Studio as a SlideShow.
What would be the best way to do this ? Do I have to export the pictures I want to use ? Or am I missing something ?
Regards,
Stefaan

Stefaan,
Unfortunately, that type of integration between the Pro Apps is not there (yet). It would definitely be a nice feature to have. We should all send feedback to Apple asking for this feature. For now, you will need to export photos for use in these other apps.
Along the same lines, I would also like to see integration with Aperture and the "iLife" programs. Since Aperture will likely replace iPhoto for at least some of us, it would be nice to be able to use Aperture photos in these apps as well.
--Joe

Printer Setup for Aperture and Epson R1800

After installing the upgrade to 1.5, something went wrong with my printer setup for both my R1800 and my PictureMate Deluxe.
I've done the following:
Reset the printer system.
Reinstalled the Drivers
Attempted to Print from Aperture using about 30 + combinations of settings.
I'm still getting colors that are off and overall dark photos.
Best Setting appears to be
Printer Settings
Print Settings
Media Type: Premium Glossy Photo Paper
Color: Color
Mode: Advanced (Photo, High Speed, Finest Detail, Off)
Color Management
Off (No Color Adjustment)
ColorSync Profile: SPR1800 PrmGlsy Photo.icc
Black Point Compensation = Checked
Gamma 1.10
The resulting pictures appear to be about 1 f-stop or so underexposed and the colors are off (I'm color blind, so I can't say exactly how). I know that it is the setup of the printer settings. If I print the same pictures from Nikon Capture on my Windows computer, the print is perfect. I prefer to use Aperture for my photo work.
Epson doesn't have Aperture and doesn't understand all of the settings. The Apple Care support tech stated that he is not qualified to answer and said to call back when the Aperture team is working. I've got a ton of Christmas gifts to print out!
Assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-William

william:
you don't state in your original posting whether or not you've calibrated your monitors, especially to a 2.2 Gamma. in order to get the most accurate screen->print matching you have to hardware calibrate your monitors. this is by far the single most significant improvement i've made in my workflow. prior to calibration my monitors were set to a gamma of 1.8 which is much brighter than 2.2 and this causes you to NOT correct your images with the additional exposure required for proper printing. my prints were always too dark prior to calibration.
the spyder 2 from color vision is an excellent choice.
scott
PowerMac G5 2.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8) MacBook Pro 2.0GHz

I have images in aperture and in my picture folder that I want to burn to DVD. I need them to be viewable on pc and possibly via a DVD player. My first attempt proved to work only mac. Can anyone help?

Can anyone help me with burning DVD with images in Aperture and picture folder. I need the to be viewable on pc and DVD player if possible.
My first attempt only works on mac.

Eh la Pastenague! Je savais que tu était léthale pour l'homme mais ce sont pluôt les machines à pommes qui devraient te craindre. Merci! Solved.
For future reference.
My TC is a 3rd gen.
I actually had to reset to standard defaults not only once but twice. The first time I simply returned to my old profile but that only led to the same message error on the network settings (i.e. IP by default, cannot connect to the internet). Therefore the second time around I kept my profile as backup and re-created a new one plus a guest one.
The airport utility then signaled to issues remaining:
1) Internet access was cut - this I solved by simply reseting the cable modem
2) There were no DNS Servers - I simply copied the ones I had from the previous setup and it worked
I did have AppleCare....
I'm online again and I hope for good.
Thanks a lot
PS. a small tip - I made captures of all my settings in Network settings, Airport Utility and Network utility using Grab in case of ... if anything it is just handy to get back settings that your are missing when setting up a new configuration

Aperture to Capture One Pro via Catpult - working

FYI I figured out how to make the Aperture to Capture One Pro connection work with the Catapult plugin in both directions, preserving repeated image edits in Capture One Pro. We can now use Capture One Pro as a (slightly awkward) plugin for Aperture, many people like their RAW conversion.
I think more could be done to make it simpler, but it is working.
My write up is on the Capture One Forum, here:
http://forum.phaseone.com/En/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=16675&sid=46e9c25c5f1d3770cc66 be99bda3441d

Hi,
Aperture is a versatile application, which lets you perform all or at least the most tasks to handle your digital camera image files. It helps a lot to edit files, which means you can select winners and losers very quickly and in a very sophisticated way. It renames files and adds IPTC meta data.
One thing is really cool: It imports your master RAW files und does not touch them any more. When you alter an image (cropping, brightness, white balance etc) this is only written in a data base and Aperture shows you the altered master file in a new preview called Version. This version does not exist physically. It is only a little descriptive text file. When you export your image for delivery Aperture creates real images.
It is possible to automate workflows with Apples´s Automator. Aperture organizes files in a single library but you can export master raw files or tif, psd or jpg copies. Aperture creates niece Websites, and offers book templates for PDF-output or printing via a print service. There is many more. But one thing I should point out: the raw conversion of Capture One Pro is in my opinion much better. More details, better color control. This will get better, I hope with future version of Aperture. We got a version 1.1 now and the developers of Aperture seem to know about our problems. So for me, Aperture is a very cool Workflow tool. RAW conversion is not state of the Art but equal to ACR. And having master file and derivatives alltogether without cluttering the harddisk is very clever. But I will keep my version of Capture One Pro for quality reasons.
I hope this helps a bit.
(Sorry for weak my english)
Regards,
Eberhard

Aperture and it's Histogram

Hi. Sorry if must of you already know this information but I've done extensive testing with my images and the Aperture Histogram. I've been posting on another thread where it really does not belong so I thought I would just repeat here. I hope you don't mind but I've found that a few people really have a rough time getting their heads around the Histogram and to me, a) Aperture's is the very best and most acurate when it comes to capturing the Midtones and b) It's ALL ABOUT THE MIDTONES in your images.
So......
There is a very small difference between RAW and jPEG IF you know how to expose correctly. I mean very small difference. If your shooting in RAW with the hopes of adding Photoshop sludge to "compensate" for the lace of proper exposure you will never be happy with your photography. Never.
Here is my suggestion:
Learn, in great detail, about your histogram. EVERYTHING in the digital world is about MIDTONES, meaning between 1 and 254. I can promise you once you really learn about the histogram and Midtones you may never go back to RAW again. Really invest the time you I'll bet anything your photography will go up at least a huge level.
It drives me nutz when someone says, "oh, your histogram should be like a camel hump" or even better, for RAW photographers, "Just move the right or left slider over to where the beginning of the "Hump" begins" AGH!!
Learn about that Histogram, shoot a gray card and play with your exposure until you see that shot of the graycard have a spike right at the 128 mark (middle) and then use that same exposure for your shot.
I promise, the time it takes you to do this, will be much less time it take you to process a single RAW image, and the output of your work will be tens of folds better.
There are lot's of resources out there, understand digital exposure and how it relates to the histogram and you'll fall in love with your images.
How I check out a gram before I make a purchase, and I did this with both trail versions of Aperture and LR, is take a picture of my son wearing his black shirt.
Now, I'm sure all of you, or most, know that the Histogram represents black to white, or, 0 to 255.
1 thru 254 is your midtone. So taking a picture of my son, close up in his black shirt should have a huge spike at 0, correct? NO. 0 is complete black or the deep fold under his arm in a shadow etc.... His shirt has wrinkles, creases, shades from lighting etc... this is what makes my image 3D. These are also called the midtones, even if they appear black to you or me on our eyes, they are midtones. That's what I'm looking for when I look at the histogram and that's why I chose Aperture and made the purchase. It's that darn great to me.
White, or 255, of course is not white. 255 will be things like a chrome bumper in the sun, etc.... the polarbear in the snow is not white, it's all shades of grey but will of course be on the right side, or at least more information will be on the right side, of your histogram.
Working with Aperture for awhile now, I've found the best way to capture my midtones is going into my camera's menu and taking down both the contrast and Saturation one level. The difference to me when I first learned this was mind blowing. My midtones where gaining by a huge margin in Aperture's Histogram but not as much in LR. I was capturing more midtones or making my image more 3D and as we live in a 3D world, much more lifelike.
My outside shots jumped a great deal in the midtone area when I really learned how to use fill flash. Here's a simple test. Take a picture of your subject without fill flash in manual, then add fill flash with a difusser but take the same exposure down just one stop. Look at both in your histogram.
Bottom line is Aperture's reading or representation of my captured image regarding the Mid-Tone range is really wonderful.
When you take images as suggested before, open up your histogram in Aperture, then go into your Mac ~ Apps/Util folder and open up the Digital Color Meter. Run this meter over your image and watch how the sync or compare to the Aperture Histogram. Fun to do but a great learning tool to learn about your Aperture Histogram.
I'm sorry if most or any of you know this but I simply find the Aperture histogram one of the best I've ever seen and would like to help anyone that could use a better understanding of it.
(in my old light I was a fiber optic engineer, but I'm much better now.)

Hi David, and I'm sorry, I should have taken it to the next step.
So do this.....
Open you color meter and the image you are working on in Photoshop.
Run your color meter over the image until you get a value around 128 for each, not perfect but get close.
Make a new Curves layer, now when the curves window opens up, take the middle eyedropper and go back to the area whereas your color meter read 128. Click on that spot with your color meter.
You've just told your image where the MidTone is for that specific image. This should also remove any color cast in your image as well.
Now, back to aperture, i meant it's simply fun and a great learning tool to go over your image with the digital color meter and relate it to the Aperture Histogram. You can actually learn about midtones and values this way. For example, if I'm running my + over a underarm shadow and can relate the numbers to the histogram and then move it and watch the values in relation between the image and the Aperture histogram.
This is frankly how I found Aperture to have the most acurate histogram between products.
It really is a good way to learn.
A bit tedious now, but when you learn this it truly is a giant leap into making better images.
Best,
Tom

Aperture and File Vault

I am using Aperture and File Vault on the same Lion OS X system. I cannot open Aperture and get an Aperture window and see if my precious and valuable photos did, actually, get captured by Aperture before I deleted the photos from my SD Card.
The spinning beach ball has run for days upon days. I have restarted. I have nothing else running in the background. I just let Aperture run overnight. I get the spinning beach ball forever. I do not ever see the Aperture window or view the recently uploaded precious and valuable photos.
What can I do? It will not be easy to withdraw File Vault because my hard drive is well-over half full.
I am re-rating this app as "hate it" on 3/12/2012. A year earlier I had rated it "don't like it." So, I have dropped the rating from two stars--seriously bad--to one star--cannot be worse.
I have encrypted the hard drive File Vault in system preferences. Apparently, this creates an over-whelming problem with Aperture because File Vault must encrypt and unencrypt the Aperture library which is presumably huge. The Aperture library is presumably well over 1 GB because the collection of all the photos and videos in your whole life add up. Apple combines them all-together into one ginormous file. In my case, the Aperture library is over 30 GB.
So, the problem is, at least, recently: I took a lot of photos in a recent travel adventure. I uploaded them to Aperture. Then I deleted the photos off the SD card. Now, Aperture will not load. It's been several days of trying, and I still don't know if I have lost my precious photos of the adventure with my son.
I am beyond angry.
I have stuck by Apple with Aperture since 1.1. I didn't like 1.1. I didn't like 2.0. I have absolutely hated 3.0. Even if you did come out with an amazing product, I would likely not purchase it again. I am so thoroughly disappointed and now enraged.

Your anger is understandable (and not something anyone here can help you with).
Your problem seems much more likely to come from File Vault than from Aperture. Lots of users use Aperture all the time (with large Libraries) with few problems (most of which are pretty easily resolved). For File Vault problems, you might get a more useful response in the Lion forum.
Once you do get things resolved, I strongly suggest finding a program other than Aperture. V. 1.1 came out in 2006. Six years is a _long_ time to use software that you don't like.

Aperture vs Capture NX

Hi all,
Capture NX has got a feature called "U Point Technology"
http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/software/capturenx/pdf/CaptureNX_catalog .pdf
I'm wondering whether Aperture has something similar or not,
Thanks,
Peloche
MacPro 2.66, 6GB, 1TB; Mini G4, 1.45, 1GB; iPod 60 GB; 30" & 20" ACD; Apple IIC Mac OS X (10.4.7)

"Name just ONE camera that comes with software that is as good as NX for free? "
Why? I didn't say anything about any other cameras. Second, if the software won't run at a decent speed on a computer that robust enough to run Aperture briskly, then it is of little value to me regardless of the feature set. Third, an NEF file is a proprietary file type designed by Nikon for a specific camera body and they don't give you software that can manage their own file type. I'm a huge Nikon fan (a moderator at Nikonians.org, in fact) but that's just plain cheap when you're talking about cameras that cost over a grand. Canon's software is not as comprehensive (so I'm told) but I understand (could be wrong) that they at least provide you with software that can convert their RAW files for free.
Finally, I'd heard a lot of people say that NX was such a superior RAW converter over Aperture, and I agree that NX does a great job. It is Nikon's converter for Nikon's proprietary file format, so I wouldn't expect anything less. So, I made the comparsion myself between Aperture and NX. Side by side, same image, same computer, no in-camera processing, RAW fine tuning set to make no changes in Aperture. Not only is NX not miles ahead, it is such a close call that I hesitate to say NX is better at all. There are very subtle differences but not necessarily good vs bad differences. Just different. The only area that NX is even remotely superior is in noise control in underexposed shadow areas. And even there it is not dramatic and easily controlled (if you are so inclined since this would not be noticeable at any but the largest of print sizes) by selectively adding noise reduction to these areas which, by definition, contain no detail anyway.
I think one of the main reasons people think NX does a better conversion job is because they don't understand how either NX or Aperture handle camera and import presets.
Regardless, even if I thought NX did a better job at RAW conversion, I still wouldn't purchase it because it is simply too slow for handling any significant number of files. That is the beauty of Aperture, it makes the whole process fast and efficient and from my tests handles conversion just as well.

Aperture and Lumix GF1

Hi all
While I know that Aperture does not yet fully support four thirds formats and has limited support for Panasonics, has anyone done any tethering with a Lumix TZ7 or GH1? The camera links to Aperture to import JPEGs and just shows the ACCESS icon on the LCD. I received my GF1 today and am trying to understand the limitations between Aperture and the camera
Thanks
Rob

any luck with this? with the gh1 connected (usb or ptp) aperture recognizes the camera but the capture button is greyed out...

Aperture 3 and Capture NX 2

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for