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Apple upgrades Aperture ambitions to 2.0

CUPERTINO, Calif.--Apple, why hast thou forsaken me?

That, loosely paraphrased, is what some Aperture customers had been asking after Apple went too long without updating its higher-end photo editing and cataloging software. It got to the point where some were plotting strategies on Apple forums about how to flee to Adobe Systems' rival Photoshop Lightroom software with their photo metadata intact.

On Tuesday, though, Apple came back with the new Aperture 2.0, a version that addressed many common gripes, caught up with Lightroom in several important respects, and signaled that the company hasn't lost interest in the … Read more

PhotoScape makes editing easy and free

If you're looking to put together a Valentine's Day collage for your sweetie, it's mighty late to be worrying about creative gifts from the heart. So get a jump on that photo mashup (or is that car crash?) you've been planning for next year's Valentine's Day with PhotoScape, a freeware image editor that's surprisingly feature-rich.

Underexposed blog: Links of the day

Aperture exit strategies - Apple discussion forum - A post just days before Aperture 2.0 was released. "As there seem to be some issues concerning the long-term viability of Aperture, I am looking at how to salvage my work and move to a supported professional-level application." Some Apple commentary on raw support with Aperture 2.0 - Not a huge advance in the discussion here, but some scraps of detail from Apple execs. Tech Tips from Chuck Westfall - No, shooting a Canon PowerShot G9 set to 6 megapixels doesn't produce better image quality than set … Read more

Apple fights back with Aperture 2

Update 11:35 a.m.: I added information about Aperture 2.0's plug-in architecture, which could provide an advantage over Adobe Lightroom.

After pioneering a high-end photography software niche, then losing ground to Adobe Systems' Photoshop Lightroom, Apple on Tuesday counterattacked with Aperture 2.0.

The software, like Adobe's Lightroom, is aimed at enthusiasts and professionals who need to edit and catalog "raw" images, the unprocessed data from higher-end cameras' image sensors; raw files preserve more detail than JPEGs but require time and specialized software that can deal with the profusion of different proprietary raw formats. … Read more

Apple camera support catches partway up to Adobe

With Apple's Mac OS X 10.5.2 update on Monday, Leopard now can handle the unprocessed "raw" images produced by several new higher-end digital cameras.

Among high-profile newer cameras that Leopard now supports are Canon's top-end EOS-1Ds Mark III and its top-end compact camera, the PowerShot G9. Nikon's new SLRs, the D3 and D300, also are on the list, as is Sony's Alpha A700.

Raw images provide more flexibility and detail than JPEGs, but to use them, people must convert the unprocessed camera data. Apple's Mac OS X handles this conversion on … Read more

Sigma's vaunted DP1 camera due soon--for $999

LAS VEGAS--Sigma announced its delayed DP1 camera Thursday, a high-end compact model whose unusually large image sensor is matched by an unusually large price tag.

The 14-megapixel camera likely will ship this spring for a retail price of $999, said a Sigma representative, Desiree Gaige, at the Photo Marketing Association trade show here.

The camera uses the same Foveon X3 sensor as Sigma's SD14 SLR camera. In comparison, compact cameras almost invariably have sensors that are much smaller and cheaper, but that are at least theoretically responsive for a given megapixel count.

The camera uses a 16.6mm f/… Read more

Public beta set for DxO's raw converter for Mac

LAS VEGAS--In a departure from how it handled its Windows release, DxO Labs plans to begin a public beta testing for the Mac OS X version of its DxO Optics Pro software used to convert raw files from higher-end cameras.

DxO Labs released DxO Optics Pro version 5 for Windows last year, saying it hoped to release the Mac OS X version in November. However, the Mac version of the software now is scheduled for release on Feb. 22, said Luc Marin, DxO's director of marketing for photography, at the Photo Marketing Association trade show here.

The company hopes … Read more

Poll: What's the best bang for my photo PC buck?

I'm going to buy a new desktop computer to feed my digital photography appetites, and it's time to let the wisdom of the crowds steer me in the right direction.

There are innumerable options, but there's one particular choice I'm wrestling with: is my money better spent on a PC with a dual-core processor or a quad-core chip with a lower clock frequency?

For the benefit of anybody else in my situation, I thought I'd seek expert guidance from Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices, and Intel and publish the results, but I got conflicting … Read more

On Adobe's Lightroom radar: panoramas, HDR

Good news for photo enthusiasts who wish they could they could use Photoshop Lightroom for high dynamic range photography and panorama stitching: support is on Adobe Systems' radar screen, if not necessarily its roadmap.

That's the word from Kevin Connor, Adobe's senior director of professional digital imaging product management and the executive who oversees Lightroom, Photoshop, and the Digital Negative (DNG) format. I spoke with him Wednesday during the Macworld trade show here in San Francisco.

Connor is intimately familiar with these two fast-changing domains in digital photography. High dynamic range (HDR) photography combines multiple exposures of a … Read more

GPS gadget aims to ease geotagging

ATP Electronics has announced a device called the GPS Photo Finder that's designed to take some of the trouble out of geotagging your photos.

The device, like many GPS receivers, keeps track of its location based on signals from satellites. What's different is that instead of marrying that location data with your photos on a computer using special software, the Photo Finder has an SD card slot and handles the tagging by itself, the company said. When you copy photos to your computer, the location data is embedded in the JPEG files.

The device should go on sale … Read more