AppleInsider StaffApple Computer as early as this evening is expected to release the first update to its Aperture all-in-one post production tool for photographers.
Aperture 1.0.1 will also deliver improved image export quality and metadata handling.
Owners of Aperture 1.0 will be able to access and install the update via the Mac OS X built-in Software Update mechanism. Alternatively, users should be able to download the software from Apple's Web site via this soon-to-be-updated support page.
Introduced in October, Aperture offers an advanced and incredibly fast RAW workflow that makes working with a camera’s RAW images as easy as JPEG. Built from the ground up for pros, Aperture features powerful compare and select tools, nondestructive image processing, color managed printing and custom web and book publishing.
Aperture retails for $499, but Amazon.com is currently offering a $59 savings on software, bringing the cost down to $439.99.
Update: Apple has now posted the 11.4MB update to its Web site.
In addition to the aforementioned enhancements, Apple said some of other key areas addressed in the update include: white balance adjustment accuracy and performance, book and print ordering reliability, auto-stacking performance, and custom paper size handling.
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Oliver Haslam
William Gallagher
65 Comments
I really hope this solves these problems. It's being battered around on several major sites.
Besides, I want to buy the damn thing already, but I don't want to use it with the problems it has.
creativepro.com had the best, most balanced, and exhaustive review so far.
ars technica's review was fine as far as it went; it just didn't go very far. Very disappointing considering ars' usual excellence.
creativepro.com had the best, most balanced, and exhaustive review so far.
ars technica's review was fine as far as it went; it just didn't go very far. Very disappointing considering ars' usual excellence.
ArsTechnica's review quality has gone waaay downhill in the past year. This is in part because they let anyone review. The author of the AssTechnica review is a Photoshop guru...does image composition for a living. He's not a pro photographer and couldn't care less about workflow. The bulk of his review (which he tried to correct with a second part) revolved around RAW conversion of a handful of samples, tweaking them with effects (his Photoshop instincts) and exporting them.
His excuse for not reviewing the entire app was "the app didn't cut it for *my* workflow"...ok, but he's not in the business of sorting thousands of photos really fast.
ArsTechnica's review quality has gone waaay downhill in the past year. This is in part because they let anyone review. The author of the AssTechnica review is a Photoshop guru...does image composition for a living. He's not a pro photographer and couldn't care less about workflow. The bulk of his review (which he tried to correct with a second part) revolved around RAW conversion of a handful of samples, tweaking them with effects (his Photoshop instincts) and exporting them.
His excuse for not reviewing the entire app was "the app didn't cut it for *my* workflow"...ok, but he's not in the business of sorting thousands of photos really fast.
Interesting! I didn't know that.
Hopefully the screams of protest in the forums (they ended up locking the thread) will give Ars a hint that they need to think this through better next time.
Interesting! I didn't know that.
Hopefully the screams of protest in the forums (they ended up locking the thread) will give Ars a hint that they need to think this through better next time.
I think the consensus was that Beige (Dave) did an decent job showing some of the major problems in Aperture (RAW conversion and problems with metadata not sticking on export) but poor at showing the workflow aspect of the app (which is what that app was all about.) He then compared some aspects of the app to Photoshop (another hint that his heart is in image composition and not photograph sorting and tweaking.)
Yes, there are bugs in Aperture. Some are fairly serious to some people. But it's no excuse for a reviewer to stop his review short. And if it is an excuse to stop a review short, the review rating should be skipped altogether.
If we compare to Version Tracker or MacUpdate reviews, there are two types of people: ones that recognize that they can't review the app if it, say, crashes on launch and those that don't. The ones that do will leave a polite note saying the app crashes on launch and not rate the app. The ones that don't will give it a rating of 1/5 (or whichever is the lowest rating) and whine about it without giving any substantial information.
The Ars review of Aperture almost sounded like the latter.