Macintouch has some good early reports on Aperture. Regrettably it doesn't sound like I'll be switching just yet.
Aperture's system demands are staggering. The paranoid might suspect it was designed to suck cycles, irregardless of cost/benefit measures. Images are stored in a database, they cannot be accessed separately. I'd put the probability of significant database corruption in early versions of Aperture at 99%. Metadata is locked into Aperture, there are few if any facilities for export. UI elements are odd and sound half-baked.
I'll definitely wait for version 1.1. I want to see how dedicated Apple will be to the "lock in" philosophy. (Lock-in is perennial Apple vice. One bite and you're their's for eternity ...)
Update: one of the oddest defects of Aperture is that you can't change image dates in some file formats. Very annoying!
Update 12/2: while waiting for 1.1, I'll read the manual.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Google Toolbar for Firefox update for Firefox 1.5
Google Toolbar for Firefox is again available for Firefox 1.5. I've been running FF 1.5 beta and it's a terrific upgrade, but I missed the Google Toolbar!
FlickrExport updated
FlickrExport has been updated. I had bugs with the prior version so I'll test. The author is hoping to do something very similar for Aperture!
RAW to DNG converters and the problems with RAW
Adobe has a free RAW to DNG image conversion utility (via Macintouch):
Adobe: Adobe DNG Converter for Macintosh - Downloads
Ben Long's Automator tool: http://www.completedigitalphotography.com/index.php?p=394
Which brings up an issue. I'm confident JPEG images will be readable 1000 years from now -- assuming there's anything to read them and any kind of technologic continuity. I'm pretty sure there will be nothing to read most RAW images 25 years from now.
We don't have an optimal situation for archiving digital images. Each of the choices: JPEG, PNG, JPEG 2000 and DNG has issues. JPEG is probably the safest, but it is a technically inferior format (poor color management). PNG seems ideal, but also seems little used. TIFF isn't on the list because it's a wrapper with a weak spec. JPEG 2000 should be ideal, but hasn't caught on for reasons I don't understand. DNG has limited compression and is very new.
Given that RAW (should be "Raw", it's not an acronym) is not an option for archival use, there are issues now with the workflow of manipulating images in RAW format while having a different archival format. Unfortunately that's the Apple Aperture model.
Sigh. I'd like to know what the Smithsonian is doing with all of this.
PS. I think Automator may show some life once Aperture is out. Image management seems well suited to Automator.
Adobe: Adobe DNG Converter for Macintosh - Downloads
Ben Long's Automator tool: http://www.completedigitalphotography.com/index.php?p=394
Which brings up an issue. I'm confident JPEG images will be readable 1000 years from now -- assuming there's anything to read them and any kind of technologic continuity. I'm pretty sure there will be nothing to read most RAW images 25 years from now.
We don't have an optimal situation for archiving digital images. Each of the choices: JPEG, PNG, JPEG 2000 and DNG has issues. JPEG is probably the safest, but it is a technically inferior format (poor color management). PNG seems ideal, but also seems little used. TIFF isn't on the list because it's a wrapper with a weak spec. JPEG 2000 should be ideal, but hasn't caught on for reasons I don't understand. DNG has limited compression and is very new.
Given that RAW (should be "Raw", it's not an acronym) is not an option for archival use, there are issues now with the workflow of manipulating images in RAW format while having a different archival format. Unfortunately that's the Apple Aperture model.
Sigh. I'd like to know what the Smithsonian is doing with all of this.
PS. I think Automator may show some life once Aperture is out. Image management seems well suited to Automator.
Monday, November 28, 2005
EasyFind
DEVONtechnologies : Freeware : Applications
Very useful for searching network shares and non-spotlighted external drives. Freeware, great developer.
Very useful for searching network shares and non-spotlighted external drives. Freeware, great developer.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
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