Ars Technica reviews Apple’s Aperture 3: An essential upgrade

“Aperture 3.0 came out a few months ago, so you’re probably wondering why this review is so late. I had hoped to do a simultaneous review of Lightroom 3 and Aperture 3, but I was thinking that Lightroom 3 would come out at the same time as the CS5 applications, which came out just recently. It now looks like Lightroom 3 is not due out until June or July, judging from the winds (that’s hippy talk for ‘when the beta program expires’). Anyway, it’s better that we waited, since Photoshop CS5 includes Adobe Camera RAW 6 and the noise reduction improvements that are going to be included in Lightroom 3. It also gave Apple a bit of time to clear up some bugs with the release, so we’re reviewing version 3.0.3 here,” Dave Girard reports for Ars Technica.

“If you glanced at the new features in Aperture 3, it would seem easy to pass off the audio/video and Faces and Places features as gimmicky things for hobbyists, but the value of these features will grow on even for hardened studio nuts,” Girard reports. “Seeing the power of the Places features makes me wish I’d GPS-logged our trip through Japan, because it would be satisfying to navigate those squiggly tracks and photos with my girlfriend.”

Girard reports, “For pros who just want to get work done, Aperture 3’s improved interface, flawless curve adjustment, multiple maskable edits, and 64-bit update are more than enough reason to upgrade. Add the metadata improvements and the high-ISO RAW conversion, and you have an essential upgrade.”

Read the full review – extensive, as usual, and recommended – here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]