Sony E-Mount Lens Guide Here >>
Aperture for AppleSample PhotosSoftware TutorialsTutorials
··2 min read

Developing Nex-6 Raw Files with Aperture for Apple – Requested Tutorial!!

Sony Nex-6 Raw File Developed in Lightroom 4
Home
Tutorials
Software Tutorials
Aperture for Apple

In this Aperture Tutorial for Apple I will go over How To Develop Sony Nex-6 Raw files using an assortment of adjustments and various techniques. Aperture is very powerful photography software that allows for editing and management of your photos.

I am new to Aperture 3 and did the tutorial per a reader request. I have used the program in the past, but with limited use and frustration due to slow performance on my old Mac in comparison to Adobe Lightroom. This was quite some time ago mind you 😉 I currently have a newer MacBook Pro with 8gig of ram and the latest version of Aperture 3 runs excellent!!

I apologize for this tutorial not being up to the normal standard. I honestly don’t have more than 8 hours with the program, and therefore am not the most proficient by any means. I’m much more fluent with Adobe Lightroom 4  though, because I’ve been using it since it’s very first beta version. Both programs are very similar though as you will see if your not familiar with

Aperture Developed Raw Files

Here’s a few sample pics from the edits I did with Aperture 3 and a few others. The video tutorial is below!!

Aperture 3 for Apple Tutorial
Aperture Developed Sony Nex-6 Raw File
Aperture 3 for Apple Tutorial
Aperture Developed Sony Nex-6 Raw File
Aperture 3 for Apple Tutorial
Aperture Developed Sony Nex-6 Raw File
Aperture 3 for Apple Tutorial
Aperture Developed Sony Nex-6 Raw File
Aperture 3 for Apple Tutorial
Aperture Developed Sony Nex-6 Raw File
Aperture 3 for Apple Tutorial
Aperture Developed Sony Nex-6 Raw File

Aperture 3 Video Tutorial

Developing Sony Nex-6 raw files in Apple Aperture!!
Be sure to select the higher quality video option in the player options once the movie starts playing!! It looks like a little gear, and will crisp up the video full screen playback 🙂

Closing Remarks

As you can see Aperture 3 is very powerful and totally capable of developing Sony Nex-6 raw files to my satisfaction. Just as good as Adobe Lightroom 4 most ways, better in a few, and falls short with the lens distortion correction options. Again, I must emphasize I’m new to the program and may have missed some obvious stuff. Please let me know if I missed something, made an obvious blunder or mistake, and of course feel free to ask questions!! I also have a few more photos I need to add, so stay tuned for those!!

Thanks,
Jay

Tags
Jay
Your support is greatly appreciated as we run this site in our spare time and are not paid. We can however, make a small commission if you click a product link that your interested in. That click will then give us credit if you choose to purchase any given item. This has no effect on the cost of the product, and is a simple way to give back to SonyAlphaLab.com for the effort and info we provide. Thanks, Jay
Related

10 Comments

  1. Hi Jay, Great job on the tutorial. From someone that has been using Aperture you really did a great overview for not having used the application for long.
    You are correct in that Aperture is missing a lens correction adjustment. I have found a inexpensive plug-in/stand alone application called PTLens works well with Aperture to fill that gap. They list some profiles for NEX lenses and converters. I don’t have a NEX…yet. I have used it with my current Nikon setup and I have been pleased with it.
    Thanks Jay for this great site! Really helped me out with making a well informed decision on purchasing a NEX 6. Arriving Monday/Tuesday!
    p.s. If you want the inspector on the right similar to the setup in Lightroom go to View/Inspector/Swap Position.

    Reply

    1. Hi Karl,
      Than you so much for the comments and re assurance that I did a decent job at least with the video!! I was hoping it wouldn’t be to bad 😉
      Also, Thank you for the tip about the PTLens plugin app and moving the inspector, as that is really all Aperture 3 needs to be just as good as Lightroom 4 pretty much. Sure a few things are different and you might need to work at the image slightly differently, but you can achive the same results or better in my opinion.
      I also like the way Aperture renders the colors differently than Lightroom’s Adobe profile. Not all the time, but most of the time the images have better color right out of the gate.

      Thanks Jay for this great site! Really helped me out with making a well informed decision on purchasing a NEX 6. Arriving Monday/Tuesday!

      That really means a lot Karl, thank you very much, and congratulations on the Nex-6 purchase!!
      Best,
      Jay

      Reply

  2. Hi Jay,
    Great video – don’t always see much on Aperture which is a shame as I think it is a great product. I was amazed how much my, not very good, photos improved just by crop straighten and quick fix! Just been doing photography for a few months and been on a steep learning curve! Using a NEX 5N and also picked up a Minolta MD lens having read your other article and really enjoying playing with that – helps to think about the basics. Great website!

    Reply

    1. Alick,
      Thanks and sorry for the delayed reply. I installed a new comment system to try and make it easier for people to comment, and it didn’t work out so well 😉
      A simple crop and some contrast makes a huge difference. I also find the white balance critical. If it’s way off, the raw files look not so good.
      The Nex-5n is a fantastic camera will top notch image quality, you made a wise choice and with unlimited lens options. The OLED viewfinder although expensive is very helpful for manual focusing outside in bright light. I’m finding I only use my Nex-6 EVF when the screen is insufficient for viewing whatever the reason. Almost always bright conditions outside is when I can’t see the focus peaking clear enough.
      Thank you very much for the comments!!
      Jay

      Reply

  3. Jay,
    I agree with Karl in that you have done a nice job creating a basic intro to Aperture 3. Like Karl, I am a longtime user and find that Aperture does everything I need and is very flexible as a tool for organizing your library. Karl mentioned the ability to customize the display by moving the inspector to the righthand side. You can also customize the command set. A command that I use frequently is the “Highlight Hot & Cold Areas.” It is in the “view” menu and I changed it’s command to Q so I can toggle it on and off with a single key. You can also remove or reduce vignette with the “devignette” block in the “Add Adjustments” drop down menu. I also use PTLens as way of correcting distortion and perspective. It works very well but does require the export of the file and thus creates a separate version. I use the NIK software as plug-ins. Very easy and a great source for additional manipulations of the image. I changed my RAW files setting to add more sharpening and reduced the boost slider. That way it gives me a little more head room. Great sight.
    Henry

    Reply

    1. Hello Henry,
      Thanks for the comments and tips on the different settings you mentioned. The hot cold sounds really cool in particular 😉 The Nik software is excellent and I also recommend it!!
      I really need to create some custom import settings for both Aperture and Lightroom to compare it that way. Seems they are both basically the same thing with slightly different color and rendering algorithms which is great for finding the best result possible!! I’m currently using both programs now in tandem which is not so good for hard drive space the way I have it currently set-up, but lots of fun 🙂
      Thanks again for the comments and tips,
      Jay

      Reply

  4. Hi Karl,
    Great Tutorial, I’ve been using Aperture for a few years now and absolutely love it.
    I’ve been using the 16-50 on my NEX-5N for a week now and the way to solve the distortion is definitely PT Lens. They use a user collected database so a lot of lenses are auto-corrected. Sadly, the 16-50 is to new so you have to do it yourself, but it works perfectly.
    To solve the vignette, you don’t use the vignette option in Aperture, but the de-vignette… Kinda weird they use 2 options if it could be one, but alas.
    Funny enough I have never used the auto-correct button, because I ‘thought’ it would suck, but definitely going to use it a lot more since I saw these results.
    Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more Aperture tutorials. Especially one about photo management, because I still need a good system :).
    Cheers,
    Rob

    Reply

    1. Hello Rob,
      Thanks for the comments and sharing your experiences with the program 🙂 Are you looking for a workflow start to finish type thing, or How-To set-up your database/ image file structure ect… Organizing 30,000 images or more, can be cumbersome!!
      Thanks again,
      Jay

      Reply

  5. Hey Jay, great video. Wish you would do more for Aperture, my program of choice. Any update on the lens correction for the kit lens? Pretty sure I’m not the only one struggling with this with Aperture and everyone can benefit from some tips/findings from you!

    Reply

    1. Dypp,
      Thanks for the comments. I haven’t heard anything about the kit lens correction, but you can do it manually with the PTLens program!! Supposedly a all new Aperture is coming out soon I did hear 😉
      What kind of tips are you looking for specifically?
      Jay

      Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Zeen is a next generation WordPress theme. It’s powerful, beautifully designed and comes with everything you need to engage your visitors and increase conversions.