Apple cancels Aperture

[haven]

http://www.loopinsight.com/2014/06/27/apple-stops-development-of-aperture

Apple launched Aperture, a photo processing and storage application, in 2005. Now comes word that Apple won't develop Aperture any further. Instead Apple wants customers to switch to the new Photos program (note the plural), due to be released this Fall as part of MacOS 8. iPhoto users will also need to migrate to Photos.

I guess people are willing to use Apple's free programs, but turn to Adobe software like Photoshop and Lightroom when they have to pay extra.

 

[nwoods]

Per this article here, it seems Apple is working with Adobe to ensure the ability to upgrade/transition to Lightroom
http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/27/apple...-iphoto-with-photos-for-os-x-early-next-year/

They also say that their will be one last compatibility update to Aperture so that it runs on Yosemite, but no new features, and no updates beyond that OS update

 

[goodtimes]

I can't say I'm sorry to see Apple let it die. IMO, (and we all know about opinions . . .) they need to focus their resources on innovation rather than putting a shiny new paint job on a beat up old car that wasn't that great to begin with.

 

[Ryanmb21]

That sucks!!! Boo apple!!!

I'm a big fan of aperture, works perfect for our 10yr + 100k photo library.

 

[grogie]

I'm sorry to hear this as I have all of my photos cataloged by keywords, which I've worked hard to setup. I like Aperture! But I had a bad feeling as we've been stuck on version 3 for a long time...

As far as sharing photos with family and friends, I use to use their "dot.Mac" back in the day, which when they closed that down I went to SmugMug. I don't really care to share photos among all of my devices as I too have a lot of photos.

 

[DiploStrat]

Not so Fast

Watch the session "Advances in Core Image." It looks like a lot of what makes a photo manipulation app are simply being moved deeper into the Apple operating system and being made available to multiple applications. https://developer.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2014/ The fun stuff starts after about 33 minutes.

This means a lot of what was Aperture simply becomes part of the OS and available to any application. Think plugins on steroids.

Similar things happening to the cataloging tools as well.

Aperture the application may be dead but the Apple platform for image management seems to be very alive.

Could be interesting to see. Especially as better noise reduction and lens correction were two of the things most wanted by Aperture users. Now both of those will simply be a part of Yosemite and beyond.

 

[grogie]

^That's interesting. Yes, will be interesting to see.

Well I just purchased Lightroom 5 from Amazon, where one is able to buy it (paid $145), not rent it monthly from Adobe. (Personal rant... I hate the idea of renting software. I manage a marketing department and Adobe's new software rental has more then doubled the cost of putting the creative suite on a Mac.) Anyway, after years of using Photoshop (since it's beginning), I consider myself a near expert with it so I'm curious about the tools in Lightroom. I personally do a lot of photo editing at work for magazine publishing. But I'll still wait and see if Apple's "Photos" works better for my personal photo collection?

Another rant, I've never been thrilled with Adobe. I still despise the fact that they bought Freehand and canceled it when in my opinion if was better software then Illustrator. For those old enough to remember, Freehand and PageMaker (which is what InDesign was mirrored on) were both developed by Aldus, which the two programs felt a lot a like. I miss Freehand still to this day as I've had to force myself into using Illustrator. The tools were just more user friendly in Freehand. And why is it, at least in Illustrator CS6 that there still is no command to hide a window?! (As I said, personal rant. )

 

[DiploStrat]

... Anyway, after years of using Photoshop (since it's beginning), I consider myself a near expert with it so I'm curious about the tools in Lightroom.

Being an early adopter of Aperture (2006), and having spent a few years in systems development, I can geek on this stuff for years. :Wow1:

Photoshop and Aperture/Lightroom are aimed at two sides of the problem: Photoshop is a pixel editor (a "destructive" editor) that reads a file and changes it. Aperture (followed by Lightroom) turned the problem upside down and focussed the entire workflow. So it works like this:

-- A database to keep track of all of your images.
-- A "non-destructive" workflow in which none of your edits are actually written back into the original file; they are all kept is separate files that are combined on the fly. (This made Aperture a bit of a performance pig in the beginning until Macs developed enough GPUn horsepower to catch up.)
-- With CoreImage, much of the code that was traditionally written into programs like Photoshop - brightness, contrast, saturation, noise reduction, etc. is now resident in the Apple OS itself. This means that rather than having to write all of this stuff yourself, you merely call on tools that are already there. And all of this can be invoked for either RAW images or conventional JPEG or TIFF.

Suddenly you don't really need a big program like Aperture/Lightroom as simple plugins can do all of the same functions, all you have to write is the user interface - sliders, brushes, etc.

Will be very interesting to see what the new program "Photos" can actually do. The other great hope is that now all of the specialty programs like the Nik collection, etc., can work in the RAW development pipeline. And, of course, you now have total control over all of the RAW development parameters.

So no, I am not rushing out to buy Lightroom yet. My copy of Aperture still works very well and has one more upgrade to go. Then I will will review the bidding.

And don't overlook the new MacPro. Those things are beasts with two GPUs. A cure for which there is no disease or the next big thing?

Finally, the new workflow that Apple is laying out solves the old problem of trying to sync images on your field computer (e.g. laptop or tablet) with your studio computer (e.g. desktop). Now, as long as you have Internet access, you are looking at one, single library of images.

EDITED TO ADD A FINAL COMMENT: While I am as much of a phanboi of Aperture as anyone, I can't really see the problem. Many have chosen to use Lightroom because of "better" tools, cross platform, or whatever. If you like and use Lightroom, then you don't have a problem. Aperture will not suddenly stop working, so the rest of us have plenty of time to see what Photos turns out to be. If it is garbage, or too dependent on iCloud, then we still have the option to switch to Lightroom.

 

[nwoods]

Well said Diplostrat. Glad to hear your calm, reasoned reaction to this. When I first read the news, I immediately thought of you and wondered what your reaction would be.

 

[DiploStrat]

Flattery is always welcome! And wonderful as digital tools are, none of them are worth anything if the picture is no good. (I take lots of bad photos.)

I am actually more angry at Apple for orphaning my 2007 MacPro. I had to resort to a hack to make it run Mavericks (and thus let me run Aperture 3.5 on both my new laptop and my old desktop). But the point is that if it were that easy to hack the OS to keep the old hardware running the latest 64 bit OS, then Apple could have done it. Why not? Well, they want me to buy a new machine, but, at the same time, part of the appeal of Macs is their longevity. With luck, my 2007 box will continue through Yosemite and with that, the last update of Aperture and the launch of Photos. With luck, Photos will preserve my Aperture edits as it will keep reading the same files.

In a fantasy world, the integration of iCloud with an open RAW pipe will mean that there will be a real reason for the photographer, especially one who likes to get out of the studio and do landscapes/tourism/news images, to use the Mac OS as opposed to Windows. From Apple's point of view, this is much, much more important than sales of Aperture.

Bottom line, if you are happy with Lightroom, watch this space, things may change.

If you are happy with Aperture, watch this space, almost everything that people have asked for - perspective correction, lens correction, better noise reduction, better highlights and shadows, more masks, blurs, etc. is being written directly into iOS and OSX. Which means that you no longer need Lightroom, or whatever, to get these features - they will just be there for any program from Preview, to Photos, to plugins, etc. VERY interesting.

But cruise over to DPReview - millions of electrons are already dying terrible deaths between the wailing and the gloating.

 

[haven]

"...angry at Apple for orphaning my 2007 MacPro"
It's worse in the smart phone market, where most manufacturers guarantee OS upgrades only for two years after the phone is introduced. You're not alone in thinking your 7 year old Mac should run forever. Older PCs are fast enough for people to get their work done. That's one reason why the PC hardware business has tanked.

"...between the wailing and the gloating"
I thought the Land Rover forums were bad until I started reading the camera brand forums...

 

[DiploStrat]

The good news is that the hack was easy and my 2007 MacPro runs Mavericks beautifully. And there is every reason to think that the hackers will do a new release for Yosemite. By that time, even I will be ready to buy a new box!

Remember, power trolling requires at least two monitors! Excuse me while I get back to trashing Jeeps.

 

[grogie]

^DiploStrat, thanks for the information. Good thoughts!

Well I've started to play around with transferring a few pictures into LR. But not my entire Aperture library. It doesn't seem that I can get all of my keywords to transfer, which is a bummer as I've spent a lot of time getting my photos tagged with keywords and various albums with Aperture. And yes, Aperture still works great!

Then I went and took nearly 1000 photos at an Ultra4 race last weekend (at the Badlands Off-Road Park) and so I've got to continue to do some sorting and deleting the photos I don't want to keep (I'm down to 630). That's almost the problem with digital is it's too easy to click away and then that's hours of sorting.

Trying not to get hit by Shannon Campbell...

 

[RiverCityDave]

My take on it, having used both pieces of software since they were released, and Lightroom is just the better of the two. It's missing the integration with the OS that aperture has, but otherwise....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Chazz Layne]

"Business" grade servers that are completely unstable, and offer little beyond "apps" for services.
Professional grade workstations that don't... work.
Aperture... because it's a good idea to stick terabytes of photos in a single database?
I'm sure Final Cut is next... and it wouldn't be a big loss.

Apple has been shooting themselves in the foot with their so-called "professional" offerings over the last 4 years, if not longer. I know many photographers and videographers that have seen the writing on the wall and jumped ship already. It only makes sense for them to shift their focus to their far more lucrative (and easier to manage) consumer market. I for one, will not miss them one bit...

Jobs' Apple, however, I do miss.