OK, because I personally have to work with something a fair bit before deciding if I like it or not, I got a copy of Aperture. (I'm always enrolled in some evening photo class/workshops, so I got an edu discount.) I came across a major "a ha", in trying to bring it to actual production.
Presently, I essentially follow Peter's workflow. Since, I don't of course do any editing in iView, I will do all my pre-work in my working files via Bridge/ACR/PSCS2, move them to my RAW/DRV archive and then catalog. There really is no need for me to update/watch folders in iView because only the archive (and largely untouched) files are cataloged and they don't change much if at all.
Now with Lightroom and Aperture, and these new breed of Imager/DAM, it would make sense to bring your files in at the Working stage, do your organization, editing and then move them to the archive. (Assuming of course, you want it to be your all-in-one solution.)
Well, with Aperture you can import your folders by reference and these folders become Projects -- cool. However, that's where it ends. That is, there is no true linked access to your OS folder structure. There are no update folders (or watch folders) because there is no real link to begin with. Moreover, you cannot move or change OS folders from within Aperture. So, if I bring in my images as Working Projects, I will eventually have to go the OS, move them to the archive, then go back to Aperture, delete the Working Projects and create new archive Projects then have Aperture re-link to the new location of the files (which it can do). In fairness, it's early goings and I believe Aperture has a move location of the master images function...which I will explore. But...it would really be much more intuitive if they just gave us access to our OS folder structure.
That said, I like iView's implementation much better. You import files and the exact OS folder tree is represented in the app. You can of course set up auto updates/watch etc. It also give you the warm and fuzzies, seeing the actual location of your files, in spite of all the virtual organization. (Bridge additionally, while not a catalog, allows you to work on the OS level folder structure.) Too bad because for me at least, watch folders would only be useful for the Working folders which there is no need to import into iView. So this feature is largely unused by me.
Alas, but there is some hope, in this thread, it seems all but confirmed that Shoots are out and Folders (OS level that is) are in. Hopefully, you can manage the OS structure from Lightroom.
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm?forumid=72&catid=589&threadid=1212171&enterthread=yQuestion for the experts, how hard is it to have the app manage your OS folders, etc? I would think for Apple it'd in fact be much easier because they own the end-to-end. (By the way, their RAW engine and options actually aren't too shabby. In fact, they have some interesting implentations and features IMHO.)
Also for Peter, now that Lightroom is closer to the end game, do you have a draft Lightroom/iView workflow that you can possibly share? Of if not can you at least talk through how you will handle download RAWs from card, import to Lightroom (of maybe the working files). I'm trying to find a way to make this work in Aperture/Lightroom but haven't really gotten too close to an easy flow.
Thanks!
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