Aperture 3 did finally import everything successfully, using 32-bit mode, as PXLated suggested (thanks!). Unfortunately, even after giving it the days of time it needed to build previews and thumbnails, it never performed well enough to be usable.

I went back to Aperture 2, and it worked fine for me. I think the result is that I’m sticking with Aperture 2, and I’ll probably start using it more for things where I would have previously used iPhoto.

The performance differences may be just down to how I had the libraries stored, to be fair, as I had Aperture 2 working from an internal drive, and Aperture 3 working from an external drive – I may experiment again if I find myself bored before the trial runs out, but I may not.

I think another bag may be my next purchase, along with Nikon’s 35mm lens, turning the D90 into a lighter and more portable kit. At the moment, I carry it in a Lowepro Slingshot 200, along with two flashes, a bunch of spare batteries, a reflector, a GorillaPod, an a few other bits. It’s a lot to lug around. I wrote a bit about my first thoughts when I bought the D90.

Nice shots – if your style doesn’t involve much ‘fiddling’, there’s no real need for anything beyond iPhoto. There are a few things I find Aperture does better, though, and they’re things I use. iPhoto’s Vignette tool, for example, is horribly overdone, while Aperture’s can be nicely subtle. All depends if you use that sort of thing.

Some examples:

Hawaii: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveterry/sets/72157622891741094/

China: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveterry/sets/72157605206145618/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveterry/sets/72057594109935606/

Some are HDR and photomatix works great for that. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveterry/2516085860/in/set-72157605206145618/

…dave