Anyone else annoyed with Apertures lack of folder tree?

[codeblue2k]

So I have used Lightroom for a little while now and recently picked up a Macbook. So I decided to give Aperture a try and see how it works. The UI and layout seem really nice, as is the similar features it shares with iPhoto. But man since you cant see and maintain a folder structure like you can in Lightroom seems like a huge gaping feature that is missing.

When I do an import of a folder, say year 2009 and its subfolders (Specific events) it keep the folder structure. But then when I go to add a new event I have to manually add the folders (Which are not real folders), they just seem like organizational tools with in Aperture that you need to manually. For me I dont like the fact that I have to build the folder structure twice, once when importing and then again in Aperture. In Lightroom when importing it sees the new folders and creates the hierarchy. I can even move the photos around within Lightroom and they will be moved within my folder structure.

Is there something about Aperture that im missing? Is there a plugin or setting that I am not taking advantage of?

[benjamieson]

Aperture is abstracting your file management from the desktop.

To me this is a good thing - I will have the same image in many different folders spread over multiple projects in Aperture (it may be in portraits, 2010, people, location X, website, etc, etc), and I wouldn't *ever* want it to duplicate the file on my desktop to mirror the behavior.

I'm not sure how Lightroom handles situations like that, but from what you're saying it seems the flexibility you have is either very limited, or the software actually duplicates files to ensure your desktop folders match what's in Lightroom - doesn't seem to be a good thing!

All my Raw files are stored on my drives in /Year/Month/Day/filename.cr2. As the only time I need access to my RAWs is from within Aperture, this is fine, and allows me to arrange things however I need to in Aperture without affecting that.

If I ever did need to access the RAW outside Aperture, if I know the date of the shoot, its easy, and if I don't, I can use Spotlight to search on any of the keywords I would have assigned the image, so trivial either way.

To me it seems like the most sensible way to doing things.

Just my opinion, of course,

Ben

P.S. I import directly from my cardreader into Aperture - no duplication of effort required. Seems you're importing twice - once from card to desktop, then again from desktop to Aperture.