Well … we have been sorrowfully disappointed with the past several WWDC announcements … it’s becoming more and more difficult to raise expectations with each passing year … and no significant indicators as to the future or the direction of  development Apple has in mind for Aperture. Unfortunately, we have tempered ourselves to have low expectations … though I sincerely hope I am wrong.

While Aperture 3 can fulfill my needs for now … I’m growing very weary about what I should do in terms of planning for the future. My use of Aperture is not to feed my hobby … it is how I pay my bills and invest in my retirement. Doubt, in the future capabilities or availability of crucial tools is not a pathway to long term success in business. I do not have blind faith in any software developer … even Apple.

I’m willing to give Apple a little more time to either take the next step … or announce Aperture has met it’s end … but I’m not about to follow a company, with $150B in the bank, blindly into the abyss … Surely, they have more than adequate resources at their disposal to offer up something substantial for their loyal Aperture users …

While I have had my spirits lifted in the hiring of additional staff, over the past year or two, to work specifically in the area of imaging at Apple, with little to no movement for Aperture, It’s disheartening to witness that Apple seems to have so little regard for us.

It is going to be real interesting to see if Apple will make any sort of announcement. I like the rest is hoping something happens. 

In the mean time I found these sites that are fairly recent but not sure I would put much faith in them as they always seem to pop up before WWDC.

http://www.softwarevoucher.com/apple-aperture-4-release-date/

http://www.bookdepository.com/Apple-Aperture-4-John-Lewell/9781133788904

So in about 24 hours from know we should know. Well, maybe!

I just updated my Perfect Suite to version 8.5, so I wouldn’t wonder that Aperture 4 will probably be released next month :-).

Hi Butch

Look at it again as it was updated May 29, 2014. But like I mentioned I do not put much faith in his posting.

I would be fall out of my chair shocked if we saw anything at WWDC.  The glimmer of hope is that Apple has slowly updated its pro apps…first FCP 10.1 and then Logic X…So Aperture would be next.  I am having real issues with my Library as its is growing too large and the current Mavericks/Apple system of photostream/sharing is just not working.  I would also like to see some kind of functionality for the iPad…wishful thinking…

Let’s hope then that Mr Gruber’s musings don’t prove true (http://daringfireball.net/2014/06/wwdc_2014_prelude). Getting rid of Aperture?

“…Apple’s solution is from the Mac-as-digital-hub era: plug your iPhone or iPad to your Mac and import your photos into iPhoto. That feels antediluvian today, in a world where some photographers never move their photos off the iPhones on which they took them…

…here’s what I’d like to see: a ground up rewrite of iPhoto, designed as a client for an iCloud-centric photo library. You can keep all your photos on your Mac, but they can all be on iCloud too, and thus accessible from your iOS devices anywhere with a network connection. …

…Apple might as well get rid of Aperture while they’re at it, and focus on making iPhoto good enough for everyone short of true professional photographers — most of whom, I think, have settled on Adobe Lightroom. The writing has been on the wall for a while. If Apple still sees the need to separate truly expert features from the basic features most people need, they could do something like make the new iPhoto free for all users, and sell “iPhoto Pro” as an in-app purchase…”

Steve

Remember you can watch WWDC Keynote LIVE this morning 10AM  PDT:

http://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2014/

Also you are able to watch via AppleTV via the “Apple Events” channel.

I may be one of the super optimistic ones, but I believe Aperture is getting a big update today. It will be a rebuild in similar ways to what we’ve seen with Final Cut Pro and Logic. This app, may begin exploring UI elements for what Mac OS desktop app interfaces look like going forward.

Features? Theres the usual suspects like lens correction, better noise reduction, ect.. But I am thinking there may be a new tool introduced to the market that will set this version of Aperture apart, Think of how Final Cut X really reworked the editing landscape with its shift. I think we’ll see something similar in that regard. It will force you to rethink your workflow, or your editing process ect.. 

If it doesn’t happen today, I still don’t think we are going to see what Gruber suggests, that notion IMO went away when Apple launched the new line of Mac Pro’s. Is Apple still committed to its Professional Users? I believe yes, It just doesn’t look the same way it used to.

I also think we’ll see some form of a companion app for iPad.

-t 

Aperture just died…

A new photo App was announced coming to the Mac in early 2015. However nothing mentioned about Aperture during the keynote. So now I guess the future of Aperture is up in the air.

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-teases-icloud-centric-photo-app-for-mac-in-2015/

This is sad news. I would be hard to imagine that Apple would make a major revision to Aperture with a “ground up” redesign of handling photos on OS x/iOS is coming next year.

I would imagine we’ll still see camera support updates. But probably no “new” Aperture.

Perhaps the new photo app will be all that we wish for it to be. I wonder if we can wait that long?

Looking at the presentation specifically concerning “Photos” on OSX Yosemite, the only controls I could see were for photo enhancements and sharing and nothing to do with metadata.

Although as was said, you can search for specific locations, Albums and I would guess that there will be improved, automatic face recognition, too.

So important and indeed impressive features but short of what the likes of us AE contributors would like and need.

I have been using Aperture since version 1.5. One of the main reasons I use Aperture is for the file system. I find it easier to keep track of my photos in Aperture than any other system I have tried. At first I did almost all of my editing in Aperture but as it has grown “long in the tooth” I have started using third party apps for the finishing touches. I have tried using Lightroom several times but the layout just seems illogical to me. I also can’t figure out the file structure with collections and such.  I will continue to use Aperture as long as it is functional but I am really disappointed with Apple for the way they have abandoned a fine program. 

Their has been some very interesting postings via this Website since yesterdays keynote at WWDC.  In my opinion the biggest issue is the fact Apple failed to mention anything about the future of Aperture. If they would just come out and make some sort of statement I and many other photographers would feel much better. At least with Adobe you know newer features and updates are in the works. In fact there is a live announcement coming June 18th about Creative Cloud new features. Will be interesting to see what new feature will be announced for Lightroom and Photoshop. Many of my photographer friends have now moved on from Aperture. As for myself I still go back and forth between both of them. The question is how much longer I will be willing to do that. I really do not care to wait another year to see what Apple will do.

Aperture is dead… long live Aperture…

Well, we’re at the same place we’ve been. It’s a choice between using the Aperture we have, switching to Lightroom or Capture One, or waiting for Apple’s “next thing.” But now the choice is harder since we can’t tell, yet, if the new thing will be more of an Aperture replacement or more of an iPhone replacement.

The other issue is if you have an investment in plugins (Nik, Topaz) and Aperure goes away, currently the only other real option is Lightroom. I hope Apple does something, Not being an Adobe fan, I don’t want to feel like I’m being badgered into Lightroom.

Mark

People thought Apple had dumped “pro video” (whatever that means) users with the new FCPX, and yet they redesigned the new Mac Pro (which had a similar wall of silence about its future) to be a monster for FCPX. 

A lot of what Aperture does in terms of metadata based file management (tagging etc) seems to be rolled into Finder these days. With Aperture and iPhoto already sharing library formats, is it that big a stretch to think Aperture could exist, with all of the same capabilities, as an “Advanced” UI option for a common replacement for both iPhoto and Aperture?

I’ve been using Aperture for about a year now, jumping straight in with D800 files on a late 2009 Mac Mini, and I’m genuinely not sure what amazing features are missing from the app that would make people be so desperate to find something new. Today, as it stands, this is a really good piece of software. The file management is great, the output options are great, the book prints are freaking incredible, and significantly cheaper than any of the local digital printers in my area have been able to offer. The fact that it had almost all of these features 2 years ago, it has no effect on how powerful the software is for me today.

All in all, I think the keynote showed a really interesting UI possibility that might just cut down on a lot of drudge work by letting me look for results at a glance on the slider.

*edit* and to get into Kremlinology about Apple’s future, given what they announced was bringing Photos - the built in low end Photo management app from iOS to Mac OS, it’s just as realistic to speculate that iPhoto is the one that’s due to be axed as a result of overlap (with its branding going out to pasture with iCal & iMessage), and Aperture re-emphasised as the raw editing solution from Apple.

It’s a great pity that there no real clearance about the future of Aperture. Hopefully we will see a new version in 2015 together with Photos.
If not, you still have very good DAM. It’s way better then that of the competition. It also covers most of editing options needed. For the extras you could use Nik, Perfect Suite, Topaz or any other plugin. As long as Apple keeps updating its RAW compatability I think that’s a great way of working keeping you away from Adobe.

I’ve posted a light-hearted view of the situation on my blog - here.

Thom Hogan had an interesting point of conjecture, in that maybe we’ll see a new version of Aperture living on top of the new iOS/Mac photo app. It may well be that iPhoto is what will take the hit.

“Photos for the desktop—which will arrive early next year—seems to be a new take that sits somewhere between iPhoto and Aperture. It has iPhoto’s simplicity, a bit of Final Cut Pro’s scrub and find technologies, and some new higher end editing capabilities that probably drifted down from Aperture. The demonstration I’ve seen is highly intriguing and suggests that there is much more going to be built on this new UI. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a new Aperture that sits on top of Photos when it appears.”

http://www.dslrbodies.com/accessories/software-for-nikon-dslrs/software-news/icloud-photos.html

Brilliant blog Russell. All I can say in response is “Where’s the DAM doctor?”

I think the keynote showed promise.   I viewed it as a new “photography core”… that has attributes that are otherwise not available today… and can support a range of products, from devices… up through professional.    I think the two new fundamental attributes of this new core may be:

1. Based on a sharing architecture
2. Supporting non-destructive round trip 3rd party applications/plug-in

If I am correct, then I think we should be able to get a new Aperture X which has capabilities not really attainable today with the more limited existing core.

The first was pretty obvious… and I believe the second was discussed during the DEV portion of the keynote.

/Jim

Man Jim I hope you are right, I really do.  I remain unconvinced.  The photography core is aimed at consumers, not pros.  

I watched the entire keynote live and the dev portion.  No mention of pro level tools for photography.  What I feel they are doing is making the new Photos app do more of the things they originally built into Aperture, but making them more consumer friendly.  I see nothing helping the real photographers at this point.  

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

APERTURE

It would seem that WWDC has done nothing to alleviate the doubts over the future of Aperture. It has merely introduced a whole new set of if’s and but’s.

Personally I currently have an Aperture managed Library and a Lightroom catalogue which duplicate each other. There is little to separate the images processed in either software from each other, though there are images which I find impossible to process satisfactorily in Aperture. One advantage of LR5 is that I can use it on my iMac and my Windows laptop.

The situation as I see it is that Apple want to rents us storage space while Adobe wants to rent us the software. 

Both are intent on getting our wallets into the Cloud.

As for me, I don’t have an iPhone or any other mobile phone, nor do I have an iPad or any other tablet, so cloud synchronisation is of no interest to me.
It does not have to be capable of handling hundreds of images a second or to be super-streamlined.
I do not need (or desire) maps, books, web or slideshow modules.
I do not need a button called “Auto-perfect-picture”.

I do want a reliable piece of software that enables me to get the best image I can and to print it to a printer or a file which I can have printed elsewhere.

A piece of software designed for photographers not one designed to tie me into an endless monthly outlay. 

A piece of software that at least has the expectation of remaining available for some years to come so that the time and effort invested in it does not feel a waste.

A piece of software that keeps up with the new advances in processing and the new cameras being marketed.

A piece of software that gives me the freedom to continue enjoying taking photos and processing them myself to the best of my ability.

At this point in time the only software which fulfils these desires seems to be Capture One Pro7.
It seems to include the functionality which has long been lacking in Aperture, (lens & perspective distortion correction, gradient masks, masks which can be applied to multiple adjustments, better noise removal…..)
with the functionality missing from LR5 (a decent UI, customisability on a par with Aperture…)
and most important of all no association with the “Cloud” or any foreseeable requirement to pay a monthly fine.

I knew some cameras had lens correction data embedded and that Aperture could use some of that. But which ones? How about the Olympus OM-D E-M1?

I knew some cameras had lens correction data embedded and that Aperture could use some of that. But which ones? How about the Olympus OM-D E-M1?

I knew some cameras had lens correction data embedded and that Aperture could use some of that. But which ones? How about the Olympus OM-D E-M1?

“At this point in time the only software which fulfils these desires seems to be Capture One Pro7”

I agree, and I think I just made the same choice. They have a 1/2 price sale on for June.

I blame Russell. I read his blog and realised I hadn’t bought Capture One Pro yet, and felt the immediate need to rectify that. I do *really* miss the M key though (Show Original) and can’t really find a temporary equivalent.

Still hoping for an upgraded Aperture though.