Aperture 2 Coming, Maybe Next Week?

[MacRumors]

Speculation regarding Apple's photo applications hit an all-time high this past week when Sr. Product Line Manager for Photo Applications Joe Schorr posted in Apple's Discussion forums the following:

As I'm sure many of you know, it's not Apple's policy to provide a public "ETA" on future releases, so I can't post anything like a timetable for when support for the newest RAW camera formats will become available.

But I can tell you this. We at Apple are ACUTELY aware of the pressing need to get support for the newest round of camera into your hands as soon as possible. This is a top priority. We have members of our own team using these cameras, so you can imagine how interested we are in seeing this support integrated into the Mac OS and our photo applications!

We fully intent to give our customers what they need in this regard.

While we hesitate to draw too many conclusions solely from that post alone, independent reports from some tipsters are indicating that Aperture 2 may indeed be drawing near. Indeed, one uncorroborated tip has gone so far as to indicate that the update may come next week. However, our confidence currently is thin on the matter, and we post the above "intel" to page 2 for interest only.

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[Nermal]

I don't use Aperture or even own a camera, but doesn't the camera support come from the OS rather than Aperture itself? I suspect that this is confirmation of 10.5.2 rather than an Aperture update.

[ducky]

Originally Posted by Nermal

I don't use Aperture or even own a camera, but doesn't the camera support come from the OS rather than Aperture itself? I suspect that this is confirmation of 10.5.2 rather than an Aperture update.

Agreed. PMA 2008 is finishing up today, and it'd be madness for Apple to release an Aperture update right after the biggest photography trade show of the year.

[joseph2166]

Originally Posted by ducky

Agreed. PMA 2008 is finishing up today, and it'd be madness for Apple to release an Aperture update right after the biggest photography trade show of the year.

Yeh - although it's poss that a small aperture update could come out anytime. Also it might make sense to release the MacBook Pros alongside a pro-app update - although again releasing Aperture 2 AFTER a large tradeshow would seem mad.

[tadunne]

Originally Posted by joseph2166

Yeh - although it's poss that a small aperture update could come out anytime. Also it might make sense to release the MacBook Pros alongside a pro-app update - although again releasing Aperture 2 AFTER a large tradeshow would seem mad.

Yep the RAW support is an operating system thing, so this means 10.5.2 which should have come by now

[Brian Hickman]

Originally Posted by joseph2166

...although again releasing Aperture 2 AFTER a large tradeshow would seem mad.

I sincerely hope that you are correct. The fact that Aperture wasn't updated at PMA is one of the reasons I finally ordered the software. It'll be arriving at my doorstep on Tuesday.

Hickman

[joseph2166]

Originally Posted by Brian Hickman

I sincerely hope that you are correct. The fact that Aperture wasn't updated at PMA is one of the reasons I finally ordered the software. It'll be arriving at my doorstep on Tuesday.

Hickman

Either that or hope that it gets updated REALLY soon so you can still send it back! Anyway the current software is still very good imho - i'd be interested in how they'd improve it enough for a 2.0 release - although they'll find a way i'm sure!

[RoDe]

Didn't they introduce the MBP 17" at the PMA in 2006/7? Alongside the Aperture 1.5 update?

I might be mistaken here.

If this were the case maybe Apple is trying to get them to be introduced at the same time. But probably one of the two isn't ready!?

Just a thought.

[RoDe]

I'm really looking forward to the Aperture 2 update, can't wait to see what Apple has done to make it a better program, compared to the current version and to Adobe's lightroom

[Brian Hickman]

Originally Posted by joseph2166

Either that or hope that it gets updated REALLY soon so you can still send it back! Anyway the current software is still very good imho - i'd be interested in how they'd improve it enough for a 2.0 release - although they'll find a way i'm sure!

My working assumption though is that the 2.0 update will arrive around Photokina in September. My new MP is not arriving until late february, so if there is an update in the near-term, let it be before then. Then I could still return the unopened package.

Hickman

[juanm]

How much can we expect the upgrade to cost on a $300 software? Will the teacher discount work on such an upgrade?

[melchior]

Originally Posted by Nermal

I don't use Aperture or even own a camera, but doesn't the camera support come from the OS rather than Aperture itself? I suspect that this is confirmation of 10.5.2 rather than an Aperture update.

Originally Posted by tadunne

Yep the RAW support is an operating system thing, so this means 10.5.2 which should have come by now

First of all, there is not RAW support for these cameras in 10.5.2, seems strange doesn't it? Moving beyond that idle speculation and following actual logic we have this...

There was some hope that having RAW updates with the OS had been identified as a stumbling block to PRO piece of software and that 2.0 would be released which eliminated this dependence on software updates. At this point, with PMA over, this is definitely not the case. There could be a minor point update to Aperture, but definitely not the major revision we in the photographic community were hankering for.

Both Aperture 1.0 in 2005 and 1.5 in 2006 have been laid out at photographic trade shows, but photokina isn't until september and I don't know of anything else going on between now and then.

An update is obviously inevitable, but I doubt it would be a major one, otherwise they would announce it at PMA and ship it in a month or so if necessary. Very disappointing indeed, along with the MBP situation...

[joseph2166]

Originally Posted by melchior

An update is obviously inevitable, but I doubt it would be a major one, otherwise they would announce it at PMA and ship it in a month or so if necessary. Very disappointing indeed, along with the MBP situation...

Yeh agree - would have made sense (even if they were not coming for another month or so) for them (both an aperture and/or RAW update, plus the mbpros) to have announced them this/last week.

[longofest]

If the update doesn't come soon, then I agree that its most likely coming at Photokina.

Yes, the RAW updates are posted to the OS itself, but 10.5.2 does not contain any updates for RAW.

[bmat]

It's so very odd what Apple's doing here. The Apple chatter on their discussions creates the expectation that there will be a real update to aperture, but it wouldn't make sense to do it after PMA. On the other hand, waiting until September to update RAW support for the new Nikons would be beyond the suicide that Apple has already engaged in with this product. I think no matter what they do, current aperture users are going to be dissatisfied with whatever update there is.

[guzhogi]

Originally Posted by longofest

Yes, the RAW updates are posted to the OS itself, but 10.5.2 does not contain any updates for RAW.

Maybe RAW updates are in the 10.5.2 update, but no one said anything. I don't know. I haven't seen a pre-release version so I wouldn't know.

I'll admit, I'm not a photographer so I don't know much (read: anything) about these trade shows, but when is CES? Maybe Apple will release it then?

[Kaptajn Haddock]

I really hope thats true. Aperture 1.5 is really great, but still lacks a lot of features found in latest iPhoto (books etc.) and is still to heavy on the system. Bring it on!!!

[Roy Hobbs]

Originally Posted by guzhogi

Maybe RAW updates are in the 10.5.2 update, but no one said anything. I don't know. I haven't seen a pre-release version so I wouldn't know.

I'll admit, I'm not a photographer so I don't know much (read: anything) about these trade shows, but when is CES? Maybe Apple will release it then?

CES, was in early January so if Aperture 2.0 is coming "soon" it won't be at next years CES. I don't even think Apple attends CES. Macworld as CES are usually very close if not over laping each other

[juanm]

Now, let's dream:
Maybe they're about to do something I've always wanted: a dedicated ExpressCard 34 with hardware support of RAW, which would make working with RAW a breeze.

Originally Posted by bmat

It's so very odd what Apple's doing here. The Apple chatter on their discussions creates the expectation that there will be a real update to aperture, but it wouldn't make sense to do it after PMA. On the other hand, waiting until September to update RAW support for the new Nikons would be beyond the suicide that Apple has already engaged in with this product. I think no matter what they do, current aperture users are going to be dissatisfied with whatever update there is.

There could still be hope. Aperture is very well known as a hardware (Mac Pro and MacBook Pro) seller.
The Mac Pro was just updated. Both the MacBook Pro AND Aperture are craving an update. If Aperture 2.0 didn't come with the Mac Pro, it should be announced in the next few weeks with a new MacBook Pro.

[juanm]

Originally Posted by Kaptajn Haddock

I really hope thats true. Aperture 1.5 is really great, but still lacks a lot of features found in latest iPhoto (books etc.) and is still to heavy on the system. Bring it on!!!

It does have books! Although I agree it's too heavy on the system, but I doubt this is going to change in a positive way.

[pyramid6]

According to some on the internet, 10.5.2 does have support for D3/D300. If it does not have D3/D300 support, they might as well scrap Aperture. No one will uses it for new cameras anymore. It's great software, but the lack of camera support is a problem. The lack of communication is a bigger problem.

P6

[twoodcc]

well hopefully it will be here soon, along with 10.5.2

[Kaptajn Haddock]

Originally Posted by Juan Moro

It does have books! Although I agree it's too heavy on the system, but I doubt this is going to change in a positive way.

I meant the new books that came with iLife 08, only available to iPhoto users.

[CalfCanuck]

Originally Posted by melchior

Both Aperture 1.0 in 2005 and 1.5 in 2006 have been laid out at photographic trade shows, but photokina isn't until september and I don't know of anything else going on between now and then.

An update is obviously inevitable, but I doubt it would be a major one, otherwise they would announce it at PMA and ship it in a month or so if necessary. Very disappointing indeed, along with the MBP situation...

Yes, you are right that not announcing at PMA (so far!) is a real problem. As a pro user who bought into Aperture 1.0 back in 2005, I've watched (and participated) in the ongoing discussions of AP and it's development. But what is different now is the huge frustration level (seen on the Aperture Discussion threads at Apple Support.)

Though they are deleting the threads as fast as they can, they have a real crisis (hence the unusual post by Joe, the manager in charge of the application) with long time users leaving, and leaving full of ill-will towards Apple. Myself, I have been hard pressed to recommend the application to anyone else for a while now. Some great things, but some poor implementations as well. I just got the new MP Pro with 10 GB RAM and 2.3 TB of HD's and it runs better, but to expect every users to have to have that kind of setup for decent performance is just crazy. And the keyword searches are just a joke!

The biggest issue for Aperture, even unlike other pro applications like FCP or Photoshop, is that you are not only manipulating digital files for current use - a large amount of your time is spent keywording and sorting for FUTURE use, maybe 2-3 years down the road. So users invest 100's of hours of current time in the hope that this will make you more productive down the road. But once you start doubting the future of the software (due to limited upgrades, non-supported RAW formats, etc) the house of cards falls quickly. Since you can't easily export that metadata (and all those hours you've invested) to other programs, you start getting nervous about "wasting" the hours. I find myself doing MUCH less keywording than I should, as a hedge against moving to another application.

I do have some theories about what Apple is waiting for.

- there may be something in the 10.5.2 update that the new Aperture team needs to really run Aperture 2.0.

- Apple may wait until "Update Tuesday", the last day of PMA and after the press has finished covering the new Nikons, Canons, etc to steal the headlines and announce something (Aperture 2 with a 10.5.2 upgrade).

- Maybe Apple wanted to release something, but the software is still too buggy. So better to skip all the photo shows, get something stable to show, and then roll it out later (at a non-photo even). If nothing comes at PMA, APple can't wait until Sept without losing a lot of early adopters.

[kabunaru]

So, is this a sign that Apple might release Mac OS 10.5.2 this coming week?