aperture 3 upgrade

chrisjohnson

I just ordered Aperture 3 as an upgrade and wondering how best to go about making the transition - from googling it seems to be a perilous path.

I expect they will deliver a 3.0 disk - in Holland it seems the only way to get it.

Can anyone help please with some advice? I don't have a lot of photos on the Apple but it seems they need to be converted first.

CatOne

goldenballs wrote:

I just ordered Aperture 3 as an upgrade and wondering how best to go about making the transition - from googling it seems to be a perilous path.

I expect they will deliver a 3.0 disk - in Holland it seems the only way to get it.

Can anyone help please with some advice? I don't have a lot of photos on the Apple but it seems they need to be converted first.

It was not a perilous path in my experience. I don't know of any people first-hand that have had an issue, though in reading Apple's forums there are some. Note: due to the nature of forums, people that have no issues are unlikely to go there, so you're going to get skewed results.

I would say: Once you install 3.0, I'd recommend running Software Update and updating it to 3.0.2 and letting all updates complete, before you import. Have a backup of your Aperture 2.x library first (copy it to an external disk), and then just let 'er rip. It'll take some time.

mercphoto

CatOne wrote:

It was not a perilous path in my experience. I don't know of any people first-hand that have had an issue, though in reading Apple's forums there are some. Note: due to the nature of forums, people that have no issues are unlikely to go there, so you're going to get skewed results.

I would say: Once you install 3.0, I'd recommend running Software Update and updating it to 3.0.2 and letting all updates complete, before you import. Have a backup of your Aperture 2.x library first (copy it to an external disk), and then just let 'er rip. It'll take some time.

Agreed on all counts. For the backup I'd recommend using the Aperture Vault setup rather than a garden variety file copy. And continue using the Vault in the future.

chrisjohnson

After upgrading to Aperture 3
Thanks both. I pulled the trigger this morning and it was a summer breeze. The installer did the conversions in a few minutes, I avoided the places option and was up and running.

Actually think I will use places in future - it looks neat. I DO have to think better how I organize my photos going forward - does anyone know a good tutorial or essay? And I will get into "faces" - looks like Aperture does 99% of the work for you and I'm sure it will be convenient to group all photos of family members and friends easily. Meanwhile, one library or many, a few projects or many - I need some forward thinking.

Then there is the Smugmug upload. Is there a 64 bit version yet? It would be supercool if Smugmug appeared along with Facebook on my clickable options.

The upgrade looks great on a first impression. Basic stuff seems easier to use, it is faster and more accessible, and the presets seem much more powerful. I can't wait to start on "brushes" so I'll keep this short . I did it mostly for the slideshow enhancements and that looks perfect too.

Only tip I would offer to others in my position is to make sure all the software upgrades are downloaded before you start - basically what CatOne advised me. You need to go back to the apple and bite until it tells you that there is nothing left to download and install. Might have been nicer to get a current DVD or that the software recognized that I was doing an upgrade install and fixed everything in one pass but I am not going to spoil this joyous moment with a minor whinge.

Don't know why some bloggers are so negative. It does not seem justified according to my experience so far - looks like the best 100 Euros I spent in my photo life.

Thanks again for your encouragement - it was indeed a cinch.
Chris

PS On the Vault. I tried this but it did not work - my current local hard disks are all Windows related and Aperture 2 told me they were locked. I relied on my Time Machine/Airport thingy to get me out of the hole easily if needed. Probably need to sort this out some time but for now I just dump valuable stuff with my web-site host as non-linked files direct from the flash card. They offer far more space than I need for my sites so why not use it - supposedly they backup every hour in three continents.

wadesworld

I'm a rank amateur, but Aperture 3 absolutely rocks.

I've had no conversion problems either (though I was upgrading from iPhoto, not Aperture 2).

For my organization, I'm using one Library, with a project per session. I organize the projects with folders, and sometimes will have folders within the projects.

I'm sure at some point things will grow large enough that I'll want to take a group of related projects (say, all my sports shots) and put them in a separate library. However, since I'm an amateur, I imagine it will be quite a while before I hit any performance limits.

I love how quick my workflow with Aperture is (of course 8 GB RAM helps). The lift and stamp tools just rock, as do the new brushes.

I was on the fence as to whether I should choose Lightroom or Aperture, but the Aperture 3 improvements put it over the top. It's got far more capability than I'd ever use, and I really enjoy using the program.

Snowgirl

wadesworld wrote:

Aperture 3 absolutely rocks.

Uh huh. I upgrade from 2.0 and couldn't be happier. I did learn, eventually, to keep Faces turned off, however. It really, really slows things down.