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Corel Aftershot Pro 2: An Aperture alternative #1
SKR Imaging's picture
by SKR Imaging
February 19, 2015 - 2:13am

Just came across this app today.. downloaded the trial and am really liking the interface and feature set.. 

Here is a quick intro video (there are more videos on After Shot’s youtube channel that show in depth features):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb4VSwi29UI&index=1&list=FLbkJezh3zWE_b8…

more details on their website: 

http://www.aftershotpro.com/en/products/aftershot/default.html

I also found this great beginners video guide to the program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW3vUid_epI&spfreload=10

Looks like a great Aperture replacement for me.. and the price is just right (especially while it’s on sale).. I’m going to play around with it a little more and post my findings back in this post so keep watching this space.

download the free trial and see if it fits in to your RAW workflow..

PhotoJoseph's picture
by PhotoJoseph
February 28, 2015 - 12:04am

Have you been using it? I'd love an introduction article to it on the site. If you're interested, let me know.

@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?

SKR Imaging's picture
by SKR Imaging
February 28, 2015 - 11:44pm

Hi Joseph..

I would love to introduce this app to your site once I get sufficient experience with it.

I played around with this app recently but am not yet familiar with all it’s features… Metadata, Keywords, Star ratings, colour labels are all there… Lift and Stamp also seems to be implemented…I have exported all my Aperture originals to another Drive to be able to test out AfterShot Pro 2.

Also, the developer hinted to me on it’s Facebook page that it is currently looking at the potential of an iPad workflow for rating, flagging and browsing Aftershot Library (just like Photosmith app for Lightroom)… I take this with a grain of salt though, but still hopeful.

You should give the trial version a spin when you get a chance.. You just might be swayed by it.

Here is a great in-depth video comparing a standard workflow between Lightroom 5 and AfterShot Pro 2…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX7ek7xJYJ0&spfreload=10

It’s this video that introduced me to this app (many of the key features are demonstrated quite clearly in the video)..

The presenter, at one point, talks about lack of watermarking… rest assured, there is a free plugin available on Corel’s website here (I tried it out and works as advertised)…

 

 

 

Sherwood's picture
by Sherwood
March 5, 2015 - 11:08pm

The page says nothing about importing Aperture libraries.  I chatted online with their support people, and they said that it doesn’t read aperture libraries.  

 

Are you refering only to Aftershot’s image editng, or did the support guy tell me false.

SKR Imaging's picture
by SKR Imaging
March 7, 2015 - 9:32pm

There seems to be a misunderstanding; I have never hinted at Aperture Library import support in any of my posts.. 

Like I wrote in my last post, “I have exported all my Aperture originals to another Drive to be able to test out AfterShot Pro 2.”.. I exported the images not the Library. (all my metadata is intact because when exporting from Aperture, IPTC was carried over).

As for image editing, I believe it has more to offer than Aperture and even Lightroom does.. – Lens Correction, built in Full featured HDR processing application, Brush adjustments, and many more tools are present in Aftershot Pro 2.. 

 

 

Jochen H. Schmidt's picture
by Jochen H. Schmidt
March 9, 2015 - 10:08am

Couldn't you just select all your images and relocate them into the filesystem (making them referenced)? This way you share originals between Aperture and Aftershot Pro.

Marco Roman's picture
by Marco Roman
March 8, 2015 - 11:36pm

I took a quick look at their site, and the software certainly is interesting. Didn’t download the trial, but it seems to be missing one essential feature (for me, anyway): places. It also doesn’t offer a Mac/iPad integration (the thing that lacks the most in aperture - again, for my use). Therefore I don’t see it as an upgrade from aperture. Yes, I know Lightroom offers both things, but to integrate the Mac/iPad workflow you need the CC subscription, and I’m not willing to move into software rental anytime soon.

SKR Imaging's picture
by SKR Imaging
March 24, 2015 - 2:54am

I spoke to Corel concerning iPad integration and how they can make it work like Photosmith for iPad and Lightroom.. here’s what they had to say: “we are currently looking at the potential of something like this”.

Here’s hoping that they can implement this as it would make it amazing.. For now, I sync my pictures using iTunes and tell it to watch a folder on my Mac where I put images to be transferred to iPad. Whenever I add an image to that folder, it adds it to my Photos app automatically the next time I synchronize with iTunes.

Bob Correa's picture
by Bob Correa
March 9, 2015 - 9:01pm

FWIW Stack Social has a $44 bundle now for a few more days that includes Aftershot Pro 2

Edit, forgot to include link:

https://stacksocial.com/sales/ultra-premium-mac-bundle

SKR Imaging's picture
by SKR Imaging
March 24, 2015 - 2:24am

Hi there,

Just completed my first photoshoot using AfterShot Pro 2 exclusively for my photo management and editing.

I have to say that it was a breeze to work with.. Here is a quick review of my experience of cataloging on the site of the shoot:

First, I used Apple’s Image Capture utility to import my Raw Files from the SD card to my external Photos Drive.. 

Once that was complete, I opened AfterShot Pro 2 and in the File System tab, pointed it to the folder containing the images of the shoot. 

Immediately, the photos start appearing on the viewer as thumbnails and starts generating previews.. it just took a few seconds and all previews were generated and I started flagging the keepers using the “period” key to keep and “coma” key to reject.

Once flagged, I filter the view to only show the rejects and delete them from the drive to get them out of the way.

All of this was done on site at the shoot and I can say that the speed and efficiency of the app really helped.. 

A few issues I ran into were more pertaining to the UI reacting to trackpad swipe gestures..

Normally, when swiping with 2 fingers on the film strip, it should fluidly scroll to show the pictures (like in Aperture).. In Aftershot Pro 2, at least the Mac version, it has lag issues when swiping with trackpad. instead I have to use the slider by clicking and dragging. It works but I would love to have it scroll with 2 finger swipe as-well for a more efficient use.

I have sent a video of the issue to Corel support and they are looking into it.

I shall post more of my experiences using Aftershot Pro 2 for key-wording and editing and in the near future.

Cheers!

 

Pete's picture
by Pete
April 1, 2015 - 12:45pm

Unfortunately without any kind of dual monitor support, I have to rule it out as an alternative to Aperture.

Pete

Reynard's picture
by Reynard
May 1, 2015 - 5:48am

I knew about Corel Aftershot because I went to the Corel site to see what they were up to these days as far as a possible Aperture replacement,  but since I had never seen it mentioned here I had assumed that it wasn’t up to snuff for serious photographers or pros. However, I used CorelDraw for many years as my graphic design software and only gave it up when I converted to Apple everything seven years ago. I’ve never found anything to really replace it. So now I will definitely check out Aftershot. Although, after watching a few of Joseph’s Photos tutorial videos, I’m more cautiously optimistic about it than I had been.

Reynard

SKR Imaging's picture
by SKR Imaging
May 5, 2015 - 2:47am

Corel have recently updated Aftershot Pro 2 to version 2.2 with a core rewrite of it’s app to be more fluid. In the process, many plugins are now awaiting updates to be functional on the new version.. I have kept version 2.1 on my Mac aswell to be able to continue editing using all the yet to be updated plugins.. 

A big complaint I have with Corel and its app is the fact that they rely on third party plugin developers too much rather than code plugins themselves to be integrated straight into the app.

Hopefully the plugin devs will be quick to update.

Jertoland's picture
by Jertoland
October 21, 2020 - 1:40pm

Not being an AfterShot user before, here’s what I remember first of all:
1. An excellent program for basic technical and creative processing.
2. Good means of cataloging and searching (keywords, rating, color labels, shooting parameters and other settable search and sorting parameters).
3. Thoughtfully constructed interface, where all the main tools are at hand. It is convenient to use slides that can be moved with the mouse, scrolling, arrows on the keyboard and, which is very convenient, to enter the desired value to the right of the slider from the keyboard.
4. Save settings for loading and applying them later. For example, you can save settings for lens distortion correction and vignetting. Many presets can be downloaded from the Internet for a fee or free of charge.
5. An interesting opportunity to set the white point right on the picture.
6. When saving a file, it does not overwrite the file with the same name, but adds a number in order.
7. Working with layers, which allows you to work with editing tools in individual layers, enable / disable them, change their transparency.
8. Subjectively, the noise reduction algorithm works well.
9. Powerful customizable export tools, saving presets for both exporting files and printing.
10. The right tool “Blemish” for quick correction of small defects.
11. The possibility of turning / setting the horizon is implemented in an interesting and competent manner.
Disadvantages:
1. Many settings changes lead to insufficiently fast processing. There is a feeling that it could work faster and smoother on 6-core AMD Phenom-X6 3.33GHz and 8Gb memory with a frequency of 1.86GHz + SSD. Also, when using the “Blemish” tool, sometimes with several consecutive changes of settings and switching between several editing points, the program “freezes”.
2. The list of loaded images for editing was not saved after restarting the program. After upgrading from version 2 to version 3, this inconvenience went away.
3. Sorting in the folder tree does not coincide with the system one (for example, folders starting with the “_” character in the system follow at the beginning of the list, and in AfterShot - at the end).

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