iPhoto '06
January 15th, 2006
I finally got around to installing iLife 06' today and having a play with some of the new features. I have to admit though, I'm really just an iPhoto junkie at heart as I frequently collect all manner of pictures from the net and from my camera. On that note something I would love to see Apple do is make the individual iLife apps available for download (for a cost of course) so that if I don't do anything with Garageband EVER I don't have to pay for it. I think it would be a great idea since I know for most people iPhoto is their main application although now I can see a broader user-base for Garageband now that it features what is essentially a podcast "starters kit" . But I guess £55 isn't that much for a suite of applications which essentially cover the basics of your media needs. Anyway enough...
iPhoto
Firstly I think it's important to note that the new iPhoto boasts these new features which I'll address in turn:
- Enjoy blazing performance and support for up to 250,000 photos.
- Use Photocasting to share albums with other iPhoto users through .Mac.
- Edit and compare images in full-screen mode.
- Create pro-quality greeting cards, calendars and books with your favorite photos.
- Enhance your photos or give them a unique look with one click.
- Easily build photo blogs and photo pages to share your pictures with iWeb.
Admittedly the list isn't very long but some of the new features are just what the doctor ordered.
Performance
My iMac 17' G5 1.9Ghz with 1.5Gb of RAM used to run iPhoto 05' pretty well anyway and performance on my iBook G4 was respectable too so I doubted that I would really see that much of a difference. Needless to say I was wrong! Now my library only has around 6000 pictures in it at the moment so bear that in mind if you're comparing it to your own. Most noticeably the startup time for iPhoto has greatly improved to the point where it takes a mere 2 seconds to load and be ready for use. As Steve mentioned in his keynote the scrolling really is "like a hot knife through butter", it's smooth, quick and now you get a little display in the screen so you know which roll your in which is fantastically useful if you have a lot of pictures.
Full Screen Editing and "Once Click" Effects
Full screen editing has been something I've wanted for quite some time since it always seemed a waste of screen estate not to have pictures editable in full screen. Finally it's been added and it's been implemented very well. Menu's stay out of the way while you're viewing your image and when you need to access tools or change the image your viewing you just hover your pointer over the top or bottom of the screen. There's a full array of image adjustments available and I have to say that you really don't have to leave iPhoto for most of your picture editing needs. Undoubtedly there will still be cases where it's necessary to break out photoshop for some really advanced work but for the basics iPhoto has you covered. The one click effects are quite handy and for people who aren't as experienced with editing pictures or creating effects such as my Mum it's an extremely simple way to add an effect to a picture. Simply click the effect you want (multiple times if needed) and mix it with any others and see the effect right away. If you go to far or don't like it clicking the centre image reverts everything back to normal. Doesn't get much easier than that!
Photo Casting
This struck me as quite a cool feature but unfortunately it only works with .Mac which I personally think is atrocious since I can imagine a lot of people wanting to make use of this. As such I can't really offer any experience in creating a photo cast but I have subscribed to one and it was seamless and very easy.
Roundup
I'm not going to go into the new cards and calendars or any of the iWeb publishing because, quite simply, I haven't used those features yet! Overall though iPhoto 06 is quite a marked improvement over it's predecessor, the speed and the performance is quite remarkable, (in particular the startup time) and the new full screen editing and one click effect capabilities certainly add a lot to the apps appeal and ease of use.
