Good morning Tim.....

[parisian]

A little quiet in here this week, pretty quiet in the LUF also. I suspect that a lot of breath is being held as the S2 approaches.
Do you know of any progress on the Mayfair store - I certainly don't see it mentioned in the News section on the Leica site (mind you they do lag a little on there)
Now AFAIK you use Apple computers do you use 'Aperture' at all?

[Mark_Norton]

I think anyone holding their breath for the S2 will turn blue by the time it arrives then white when they hear the price. I'm really looking forward to hearing more about it though way out of my price league.

[TimF]

Morning Peter,
I've not seen anything since the BJP bit(s) on the Mayfair store.
Yes, I'm an Apple user, but for the moment at least I haven't used Aperture. Those who have on other forums seem quite happy with it from what I've read; certainly no obvious moaning which says much in itself!

As for what Mark says on the S2; see this on LL. Ivor yesterday was reckoning the body price might be around £18K, with lenses between £5 and £10K each. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[parisian]

Well it certainly seems to have impressed him - and so it should. I hope that the launch is this summer and look forward to the testing and inevitable 'for and against' arguments in the various media.
I must say that a combination of Aperture and Nik seem to be very attractive at the moment. (My PC is 8 years old now and showing it! I am seriously considering moving to a Mac)

[Mark_Norton]

As for what Mark says on the S2; see this on LL. Ivor yesterday was reckoning the body price might be around £18K, with lenses between £5 and £10K each. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

I was there (Red Dot Cameras) picking up my 24mm Summilux on Friday and Ivor gave me the same thoughts. The S2 is going to be one expensive camera...

[parisian]

Well, 18K certainly places the camera in Hasselblad territory. If Leica wanted to hit the ground running and build a fairly quick user base then packaging a lens with the standard body price might help - perhaps for just the first 3 months. Snappers already locked into a system are unlikely to move because of their glass investment rather than the body price but including glass with a new S2 may just persuade them.

[Mark_Norton]

I agree, what's certain is than anyone buying the body has nothing to put on it, so some sort of deal to bundle a lens, say 70mm, would make sense.

[Benchista]

Maybe - but would that necessarily appeal to the target market (which I assume isn't any of us - sadly)?

[TimF]

Why not? Hasselblad, Phase et al all offer bundles with standard lens so far as I'm aware.

[Benchista]

It's the definition of standard that I think might vary a bit more - I would've thought a discount off any lens bought with a body might be a better way to progress, that's all.

[Done_rundleCams]

I must say that a combination of Aperture and Nik seem to be very attractive at the moment. (My PC is 8 years old now and showing it! I am seriously considering moving to a Mac)

Hi Peter,

You, definitely, won't regret the move to a Mac -- desktop or laptop? -- and, although I don't use
Aperture, I have been hearing increasingly good things about it and the fact that they have been
doing upgrades to it and the price has been coming down can only be good

Cheers,

Jack

[parisian]

Thanks for that Jack and good afternoon. I was looking at the new 24" IMac with the 640Gb drive and as you say the more I read about Aperture the more it seems to match my particular needs.
Have you had any comments on Nik Efex software at all? The combination of these two seems pretty good to me.

[Zou]

In case you are interested Peter (and you may have already seen this) the April 2009 (current for a couple more days at least) issue of Black & White Photography has a good feature on Aperture and Lightroom. Well worth a look.

[parisian]

Thanks for that Zou, been out and bought it on your recommendation. Article looks good I will browse it tonight.

[TimF]

I remember recently Digital Phptographer ran a similar comparison. In that case Aperture was declared the winner, by a narrow margin. Really though, there doesn't seem much room to slide the proverbial cigarette paper between the two.

[parisian]

I get that impression Tim, the one main difference seems to be that Aperture is half the price of Lightroom and will take the Nik Efex plug ins which Lightroom won't.
Lightroom simply confuses me, sitting midway it seems between Elements and full blown Photoshop.

[TimF]

From what I understand, Lightroom's biggest advantage appears to be its cataloguing. As said, I don't have any in-depth knowledge of Aperture, but don't think that is included in a meaningful way.

I'm most enamoured of Nik's Silver Efex Pro though. Shame it's so darned expensive. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Done_rundleCams]

Thanks for that Jack and good afternoon. I was looking at the new 24" IMac with the 640Gb drive and as you say the more I read about Aperture the more it seems to match my particular needs.
Have you had any comments on Nik Efex software at all? The combination of these two seems pretty good to me.

Hi Peter,

Sadly, I know nothing about nor have I heard anything about Nik Efex software but, as you see
above, Da Boyz will/have come to your rescue

Cheers,

Jack