Apple today announced the launch of a revamped version of its widely-criticised RAW-image editing and management program Aperture.
Version 1.1 - a "universal" program that runs natively on Macs with Intel or PowerPC processors - is claimed to offer "dramatically improved RAW image rendering and a new set of advanced RAW adjustment controls".
It will sell for $299 in the USA - $200 less than the original - and start shipping in three to four weeks, though registered users of V1.0 can download a free update now. As yet, there are no clues about UK retail availability or pricing. However, we'd presume the same timescale and hope that the price, currently £349 (inc VAT) for V1.0, will become £199 or less. Update April 13, 23:15 - Apple UK's price will be £219 (inc VAT).
Changes to RAW processing in V1.1 are reckoned to produce significantly better image quality, most notably in noise reduction, sharpening and highlight recovery - areas for which V1.0 has been criticised.
V1.1 offers a new set of RAW-decode fine-tuning controls, including, Boost, for intensifying or reducing contrast; Chroma Blur, for softening chroma noise by blurring colour artifacts produced by camera sensor noise; and Sharpening.
Also new is Auto Noise Compensation, intended to deal with noise from shooting long exposures or at high ISO settings. According to Apple, the Auto Noise Compensation is a significant time-saver since it's able to take account of the unique noise characteristics of each camera to produce high-quality results.
Export options are said to have been improved, too. A new command - Fit Within (Inches) - provides an option to choose the export resolution in dots-per-inch (dpi), making it, Apple claims, easier to output images at the exact desired size. There's a related feature, too, that allows users to specify the default dpi for images they wish to open in external editors, such as Adobe Photoshop.
And, Photoshop users will appreciate, Apple says, the improved handling of layered Photoshop files - which does away with the chore of having to create additional flattened versions.
A new colour meter built into V1.1 lets users sample the pixel values anywhere in an image - whatever they're are doing within the program - and show the results in RGB, CMYK or CIELAB.
Apple reckons that there are "dozens" of other reliability and performance improvements, in areas such as "image export, metadata handling, onscreen proofing, histogram, cropping, printing, web output and Query HUD" - hopefully addressing most of the shortcomings of the MkI version. On the performance side there's claimed to be particularly noticeable improvements in keyword searching and in use of the Lift & Stamp tool.
We include below, for your delight, Apple's US press release about the program and would welcome your comments, as always, in the HEXUS.community.
HEXUS.links
Aperture 1.0 - HEXUS.headline
About Aperture 1.1 - Apple.com
Aperture 1.1 download - Apple.com
Apple Releases Aperture
1.1
Universal version delivers improved RAW quality, incredible speed & new lower price
CUPERTINO, California—April 13, 2006—Apple today released Aperture 1.1, a significant update to the revolutionary all-in-one post production tool for photographers that runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. Aperture 1.1 features dramatically improved RAW image rendering and a new set of advanced RAW adjustment controls. Aperture 1.1 also delivers impressive speed gains on any Mac including desktop performance on a MacBook Pro* with image adjustments and searching up to 4x faster. At a new lower price of $299, Apple is putting Aperture within reach of anyone shooting with a digital SLR camera.
* Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common repetitive workflow tasks such as Lift and Stamp and searching are processed up to 4x faster on a MacBook Pro with 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo than a 15-inch PowerBook G4 with 1.67 GHz Power PC.
“Since Aperture launched just over four months ago, we’ve been incredibly focused on improving image quality and performance, working closely with pro photographers to get it right in 1.1,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Marketing. “With the RAW quality and overall speed of Aperture 1.1 and its new low price, there’s never been a better time for pros and hobbyists alike to take the art and craft of photography to the next level.”
“I love the fact that you can save RAW adjustments in Aperture 1.1 and use those settings on future jobs,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet who recently used Aperture to capture Olympic images from Torino for The New York Times. “In the past, sending a selection of photos to clients for approval could take hours to import, edit down, resize, tone and deliver. With Aperture, I can do all of this in five minutes. Aperture has become the core application for me.”
“The controls for working with black and white film in Aperture 1.1 are staggering—much more powerful than a wet darkroom,” said John Stanmeyer, co-founding member of the VII Photo Agency and a contract photographer with Time Magazine. “There are times when I’m working with Aperture that I’m about to burst through my skin with excitement at its potential. There’s no doubt Aperture will become the key tool for photographers.”
RAW image rendering in Aperture 1.1 is greatly improved in areas such as noise reduction, sharpening, and highlight recovery. New RAW Fine Tuning controls allow photographers to tweak decode settings such as boost, sharpening and chroma blur. A new built-in color meter displays pixel values in RGB, Lab or CMYK in the Adjustments HUD (heads up display) or in Aperture’s Loupe magnifying viewer. Enhanced export controls make it easier to output images at specific resolutions and improve the handling of layered Photoshop files. Aperture 1.1 offers support for the Nikon D200 and Canon 30D, as well as dozens of reliability and performance improvements.
Aperture 1.1 delivers significant performance gains on both PowerPC-based and the new Intel-based Macs providing photographers with desktop level experience on the new MacBook Pro and delivering a powerful entry-level photography workstation on the new Intel-based iMac. Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common repetitive workflow tasks such as Lift and Stamp and searching are processed up to 4x faster on a MacBook Pro than on a PowerBook G4.
Pricing and availability
Aperture 1.1 is available immediately as a free software update to current Aperture 1.0 customers. In addition, early adopters of Aperture 1.0 can claim a $200 (US) coupon redeemable at the Apple Online Store by visiting http://www.apple.com/promo/aperture/ as a thank you for their support. Aperture 1.1 is available to order for new customers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US) through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers.
About Apple
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online music store.
Apple releases Aperture 1.1
Universal version delivers improved RAW quality, incredible speed & new lower price
CUPERTINO, California—April 13, 2006—Apple today released Aperture 1.1, a significant update to the revolutionary all-in-one post production tool for photographers that runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. Aperture 1.1 features dramatically improved RAW image rendering and a new set of advanced RAW adjustment controls. Aperture 1.1 also delivers impressive speed gains on any Mac including desktop performance on a MacBook Pro* with image adjustments and searching up to 4x faster. At a new lower price of $299, Apple is putting Aperture within reach of anyone shooting with a digital SLR camera.
* Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common repetitive workflow tasks such as Lift and Stamp and searching are processed up to 4x faster on a MacBook Pro with 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo than a 15-inch PowerBook G4 with 1.67 GHz Power PC.
“Since Aperture launched just over four months ago, we’ve been incredibly focused on improving image quality and performance, working closely with pro photographers to get it right in 1.1,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Marketing. “With the RAW quality and overall speed of Aperture 1.1 and its new low price, there’s never been a better time for pros and hobbyists alike to take the art and craft of photography to the next level.”
“I love the fact that you can save RAW adjustments in Aperture 1.1 and use those settings on future jobs,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet who recently used Aperture to capture Olympic images from Torino for The New York Times. “In the past, sending a selection of photos to clients for approval could take hours to import, edit down, resize, tone and deliver. With Aperture, I can do all of this in five minutes. Aperture has become the core application for me.”
“The controls for working with black and white film in Aperture 1.1 are staggering—much more powerful than a wet darkroom,” said John Stanmeyer, co-founding member of the VII Photo Agency and a contract photographer with Time Magazine. “There are times when I’m working with Aperture that I’m about to burst through my skin with excitement at its potential. There’s no doubt Aperture will become the key tool for photographers.”
RAW image rendering in Aperture 1.1 is greatly improved in areas such as noise reduction, sharpening, and highlight recovery. New RAW Fine Tuning controls allow photographers to tweak decode settings such as boost, sharpening and chroma blur. A new built-in color meter displays pixel values in RGB, Lab or CMYK in the Adjustments HUD (heads up display) or in Aperture’s Loupe magnifying viewer. Enhanced export controls make it easier to output images at specific resolutions and improve the handling of layered Photoshop files. Aperture 1.1 offers support for the Nikon D200 and Canon 30D, as well as dozens of reliability and performance improvements.
Aperture 1.1 delivers significant performance gains on both PowerPC-based and the new Intel-based Macs providing photographers with desktop level experience on the new MacBook Pro and delivering a powerful entry-level photography workstation on the new Intel-based iMac. Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common repetitive workflow tasks such as Lift and Stamp and searching are processed up to 4x faster on a MacBook Pro than on a PowerBook G4.
Pricing and availability
Aperture 1.1 is available immediately as a free software update to current Aperture 1.0 customers. In addition, early adopters of Aperture 1.0 can claim a $200 (US) coupon redeemable at the Apple Online Store by visiting http://www.apple.com/promo/aperture/ as a thank you for their support. Aperture 1.1 is available to order for new customers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US) through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers. [Bob Crabtree of HEXUS.net adds - the UK Apple Store does not yet have pricing for Aperture 1.1 nor, therefore, any information about upgrades or rewards for early adopters of V1.0. More details of V1.1 are available here]
About Apple
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online music store.
Universal version delivers improved RAW quality, incredible speed & new lower price
CUPERTINO, California—April 13, 2006—Apple today released Aperture 1.1, a significant update to the revolutionary all-in-one post production tool for photographers that runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. Aperture 1.1 features dramatically improved RAW image rendering and a new set of advanced RAW adjustment controls. Aperture 1.1 also delivers impressive speed gains on any Mac including desktop performance on a MacBook Pro* with image adjustments and searching up to 4x faster. At a new lower price of $299, Apple is putting Aperture within reach of anyone shooting with a digital SLR camera.
* Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common repetitive workflow tasks such as Lift and Stamp and searching are processed up to 4x faster on a MacBook Pro with 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo than a 15-inch PowerBook G4 with 1.67 GHz Power PC.
“Since Aperture launched just over four months ago, we’ve been incredibly focused on improving image quality and performance, working closely with pro photographers to get it right in 1.1,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Marketing. “With the RAW quality and overall speed of Aperture 1.1 and its new low price, there’s never been a better time for pros and hobbyists alike to take the art and craft of photography to the next level.”
“I love the fact that you can save RAW adjustments in Aperture 1.1 and use those settings on future jobs,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet who recently used Aperture to capture Olympic images from Torino for The New York Times. “In the past, sending a selection of photos to clients for approval could take hours to import, edit down, resize, tone and deliver. With Aperture, I can do all of this in five minutes. Aperture has become the core application for me.”
“The controls for working with black and white film in Aperture 1.1 are staggering—much more powerful than a wet darkroom,” said John Stanmeyer, co-founding member of the VII Photo Agency and a contract photographer with Time Magazine. “There are times when I’m working with Aperture that I’m about to burst through my skin with excitement at its potential. There’s no doubt Aperture will become the key tool for photographers.”
RAW image rendering in Aperture 1.1 is greatly improved in areas such as noise reduction, sharpening, and highlight recovery. New RAW Fine Tuning controls allow photographers to tweak decode settings such as boost, sharpening and chroma blur. A new built-in color meter displays pixel values in RGB, Lab or CMYK in the Adjustments HUD (heads up display) or in Aperture’s Loupe magnifying viewer. Enhanced export controls make it easier to output images at specific resolutions and improve the handling of layered Photoshop files. Aperture 1.1 offers support for the Nikon D200 and Canon 30D, as well as dozens of reliability and performance improvements.
Aperture 1.1 delivers significant performance gains on both PowerPC-based and the new Intel-based Macs providing photographers with desktop level experience on the new MacBook Pro and delivering a powerful entry-level photography workstation on the new Intel-based iMac. Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common repetitive workflow tasks such as Lift and Stamp and searching are processed up to 4x faster on a MacBook Pro than on a PowerBook G4.
Pricing and availability
Aperture 1.1 is available immediately as a free software update to current Aperture 1.0 customers. In addition, early adopters of Aperture 1.0 can claim a $200 (US) coupon redeemable at the Apple Online Store by visiting http://www.apple.com/promo/aperture/ as a thank you for their support. Aperture 1.1 is available to order for new customers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US) through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers.
About Apple
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online music store.
Apple releases Aperture 1.1
Universal version delivers improved RAW quality, incredible speed & new lower price
CUPERTINO, California—April 13, 2006—Apple today released Aperture 1.1, a significant update to the revolutionary all-in-one post production tool for photographers that runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. Aperture 1.1 features dramatically improved RAW image rendering and a new set of advanced RAW adjustment controls. Aperture 1.1 also delivers impressive speed gains on any Mac including desktop performance on a MacBook Pro* with image adjustments and searching up to 4x faster. At a new lower price of $299, Apple is putting Aperture within reach of anyone shooting with a digital SLR camera.
* Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common repetitive workflow tasks such as Lift and Stamp and searching are processed up to 4x faster on a MacBook Pro with 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo than a 15-inch PowerBook G4 with 1.67 GHz Power PC.
“Since Aperture launched just over four months ago, we’ve been incredibly focused on improving image quality and performance, working closely with pro photographers to get it right in 1.1,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Marketing. “With the RAW quality and overall speed of Aperture 1.1 and its new low price, there’s never been a better time for pros and hobbyists alike to take the art and craft of photography to the next level.”
“I love the fact that you can save RAW adjustments in Aperture 1.1 and use those settings on future jobs,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet who recently used Aperture to capture Olympic images from Torino for The New York Times. “In the past, sending a selection of photos to clients for approval could take hours to import, edit down, resize, tone and deliver. With Aperture, I can do all of this in five minutes. Aperture has become the core application for me.”
“The controls for working with black and white film in Aperture 1.1 are staggering—much more powerful than a wet darkroom,” said John Stanmeyer, co-founding member of the VII Photo Agency and a contract photographer with Time Magazine. “There are times when I’m working with Aperture that I’m about to burst through my skin with excitement at its potential. There’s no doubt Aperture will become the key tool for photographers.”
RAW image rendering in Aperture 1.1 is greatly improved in areas such as noise reduction, sharpening, and highlight recovery. New RAW Fine Tuning controls allow photographers to tweak decode settings such as boost, sharpening and chroma blur. A new built-in color meter displays pixel values in RGB, Lab or CMYK in the Adjustments HUD (heads up display) or in Aperture’s Loupe magnifying viewer. Enhanced export controls make it easier to output images at specific resolutions and improve the handling of layered Photoshop files. Aperture 1.1 offers support for the Nikon D200 and Canon 30D, as well as dozens of reliability and performance improvements.
Aperture 1.1 delivers significant performance gains on both PowerPC-based and the new Intel-based Macs providing photographers with desktop level experience on the new MacBook Pro and delivering a powerful entry-level photography workstation on the new Intel-based iMac. Performance tests on a MacBook Pro have shown that common repetitive workflow tasks such as Lift and Stamp and searching are processed up to 4x faster on a MacBook Pro than on a PowerBook G4.
Pricing and availability
Aperture 1.1 is available immediately as a free software update to current Aperture 1.0 customers. In addition, early adopters of Aperture 1.0 can claim a $200 (US) coupon redeemable at the Apple Online Store by visiting http://www.apple.com/promo/aperture/ as a thank you for their support. Aperture 1.1 is available to order for new customers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US) through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers. [Bob Crabtree of HEXUS.net adds - the UK Apple Store does not yet have pricing for Aperture 1.1 nor, therefore, any information about upgrades or rewards for early adopters of V1.0. More details of V1.1 are available here]
About Apple
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online music store.
