Today Apple released an update for Mac OS X's RAW compatibility. iPhoto '08 and Aperture will now be able to work with RAW formats from the following cameras:

• Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/Kiss Digital F/1000D
• Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n
• Nikon D700
• Olympus EVOLT E-420
• Olympus EVOLT E-520
• Olympus SP-570
• Samsung GX-10
• Samsung GX-20
• Sony DSLR-A300
• Sony DSC-R1

I'm sure this isn't a fix for everyone, but will probably make most photographers happy to see their camera on the list. You can download this update by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or by visiting Apple's downloads website and downloading the installer package.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Picking just three favorite Mac applications was harder than I thought it would be. I decided to forgo anything that was either built-in or part of a major productivity or creative suite and just focus on applications that make my Mac computing experience unique and complete.

Coda

Even before this week's 1.5 update, Coda had a permanent spot on my "favorite app" list. For me, when it comes to developing or maintaining a web project, Coda is just the best. Sure, TextMate (which I'm using to type this post) might be superior if you're looking for just a source-code editor. CSSEdit might be a better CSS editor, Panic's own Transmit is a more robust FTP client. Coda is still the best all-around web development app for my workflow. It lets me access all the files for a project, locally or on a server, make the changes or additions I want to make, preview how it will look in Safari (or with one click, open it in Firefox, Opera, Camino or OmniWeb) and immediately execute any changes. And now I can use it as a Subversion client too. Even better, it is a distinctly "Mac" application. Every UI detail reminds me why I love the Mac and why OS X is the best platform for software around.

Aperture 2

While Lightroom 2 is really, really nice (and I prefer it for some types of retouches), Aperture 2 is simply my favorite photo editing and photo management tool. I'm not a professional photographer, I don't even have a high-end DSLR -- just a tiny 8 megapixel Nikon that fits in my purse or the back-pocket of my jeans -- but I still want my photographs to look their best. iPhoto is great, but I need more precision. Aperture 2 lets me fine-tune my images, whether from my digital camera or scanned in from some of my older SLRs, crop them, adjust noise levels and color and just generally make everything prettier. The Photo Book I made for my mom for Mother's Day this year, using Aperture 2, was amazing and brought tears and smiles to both of my parents' faces. Their reaction was worth far more than the price of the software.

MarsEdit

Although I can't really use it for most of my WIN blogging, MarsEdit is the tool I use to publish to any of my other sites. My personal site runs on WordPress, and while I love the software, I detest its write interface. I know plenty of people like it, I just don't like composing everything in a web form. MarsEdit's Preview mode is a great way to see how something will look before it's published, whether I use HTML or Markdown or Textile. If I need to edit an old entry, I don't have to worry about sifting through the "visual" or "code" view, inadvertently breaking something if I change a URL. Integrating media from Flickr or uploading new images is seamless. MarsEdit just makes my life easier.

Maperture is a nifty little plugin for Aperture that lets you geotag photos in your library. We've covered quite a few different geotagging apps for the Mac, but this is the first one that works so well with Aperture as a plugin.

Basically, Maperture integrates an interface to Google Maps which allows you to easily place your pictures on a map, saving the location information as metadata in the photos. Since it's a front end for Google Maps, you get its built-in features like the satellite and hybrid views, etc. In addition, Maperture will automatically place images already containing location information on the map for you. Now the only problem is remembering exactly where you were when you took the picture!

Maperture is a free download from Übermind and requires Aperture 2.

[via Macworld]

Italian developers DataMind Srl have announced the release of Jade 1.2, the latest in a series of image processing apps from the company. DataMind also has a version of Jade for iPhone and iPod touch (link to iTunes App Store) for enhancing photos on the run.

Jade provides one-click enhancement of digital images (see example at top of post) using a set of algorithms invented by the company founders. These algorithms enhance colors, contrast, and dynamics, and you can fine-tune intensity, contrast, and color correction to acheive perfection. I tried Jade on a few iPhoto pictures and found that the enhancements were less harsh than those provided by iPhoto.

The application is available in both Home (€19.99) and Pro (€49.99) versions for Mac and Windows. There's also an Aperture plugin, and the app works well with iPhoto. The 1.2 upgrade doesn't appear to add any major new functionality other than the ability to upload to Flickr directly from the application. It does, however, have a number of ease-of-use and preferences changes that streamline the image enhancement process.

Not sure if Jade is what you need? There's a 30-day free trial download available for the desktop version.

Apple has just released Aperture 2.1.1, the latest update to their photo workflow application aimed at pro photographers. The description, as usual, is terse. It would seem this update 'supports general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues.' Sounds like it fixes some bugs and adds MobileMe support.

The update is available via Software Update, though Apple hasn't posted it to their website as of yet.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Apple just released an update for RAW camera support for Mac OS X Leopard, Aperture 2, and iPhoto '08. With this new update, the following list of RAW-format cameras are supported:

• Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/Kiss Digital x2/450D
• Epson R-D1
• Leaf AFi 7
• Leaf AFi 6
• Leaf AFi 5
• Pentax K200D
• Pentax K20D

You can download this update by opening up Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or by downloading the installer package from the Apple Support downloads site.


Thanks to everyone who sent this tip in!

Back in January, the folks from Creaceed released version 1.0 of Hydra -- a Leopard-only, GPU-powered photo application for creating High Dynamic Range photos that competes with the much-renowned Photomatix Pro. Just in time for the Apple Design Awards version 1.5 of Hydra is available. With more tone-mapping options, an image-navigation HUD, RAW importing (should you wish not to convert to 16-bit TIFF before importing), a plethora of Aperture options (more on those in a moment), and many more new features it's certainly a compelling release.

As mentioned before, there's plenty of Aperture integration with this release. As well as being able to import photos from (and export photos to) Aperture, Hydra is now available as an Aperture plugin (beta) - based on the all-new Aperture 2.1 Plugin SDK - that allows you to create HDR photos from within Aperture.

Unlike the cross-platform Photomatix Pro, Hydra's UI is the epitome of OS X slickness -- replicating much of the look and feel of both Aperture and other iLife applications. We'll be taking a look at both Hydra and Photomatix Pro in the near future to see whether Hydra's charms are merely skin deep.

Hydra 1.5 costs $59.95, and is a free update for those we already have a license.

Apple released two Pro App updates bright and early this Monday morning:

ProKit Update 4.5: "This update improves reliability for Apple's professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, Aperture, Logic Studio and Logic Express."

Plugin Manager 1.7.3: "This update improves reliability for Apple's professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, Aperture, Logic Studio and related SDKs."

According the release notes for the Plugin Manager update, it addresses a backwards compatibility issue with Apple and third-party filters in the applications listed above. Users of any of these apps and Motion should fire up Software Update and install the recommended updates. No reboot is required (and there was much rejoicing!).

Update: These updates were new to me! Sorry for the false alarm all, I just installed FCP and jumped the gun. That being said, be sure to check out Apple's list of available updates. You never know what you'll find on there.

Thanks to everyone in the comments for setting me straight.

When Aperture 2.1 was released last month it added a plug-in architecture allowing third-party developers to add editing tools. While some of the bigger names have already been working on such plugins, Apple has now released the SDK so you can too (provided, that is, you can write sophisticated image editing code). The architecture basically allows the plugin to request an editable version of a picture from Aperture and then send back the result as well as adding metadata and manipulating image data, all within a custom interface.

The Aperture 2.1 SDK is available for download from Apple, through you do have to have an ADC account.

[via Infinite Loop]

If you've been looking to get the perfect Mother's Day gift, Apple says to look no further than iPhoto or Aperture. It's that special time of year when we celebrate our mothers (of course, if you ask Mom every day is Mother's Day), and Apple is cutting us a break! You can now get 20% off of iPhoto books when you use the promo code LoveMom at checkout.

This promo code is valid for iPhoto or Aperture users in the US and Canada and is good until May 11, 2008. Apple recommends that you order by April 30 for standard delivery and May 4 for express delivery so that you get your book in time for Mother's Day.

You can read more about this promotion on Apple's website.

If you love Aperture (or iPhoto) like we do, then you know that there are some nice plug-ins that allow you to export pictures to differing photo sites (i.e. Flickr, etc.). However, if you use Gmail's web based e-mail service, then you are out of luck ... until now!

Aperture2Gmail (or iPhoto2Gmail) allows you to export your photos in a new e-mail directly to Gmail. You can also resize on-the-fly, just like you can in Mail.app.

So, no more exporting from Aperture or iPhoto and uploading to Gmail one by one. Aperture2Gmail and iPhoto2Gmail is available from the developer's website as donationware.

When Apple released Aperture 2.1 last week the big news was that the editing API will allow selection based editing in Apple's flagship image management application. But what good is an API without developers? So it's heartening to see how many are jumping on board. Rob Galbraith has a good post on what the editing API plugin means and also reveals that a number of well-known image plugin developers are hard at work on Aperture. Perhaps most exciting, to me at least, PictureCode is working on Noise Ninja, but Galbraith lists many more including Nik Software, dvGarage, Digital Film Tools and others.

One interesting thing about these developments is that most of these third-party developers offer these tools as Photoshop plugins. It's possible that getting some of these more advanced tools into Aperture will allow some users to get free of Photoshop. Given the recent developments with the next version of Photoshop CS4 being 32-bit only, this may mean that Apple will be more willing to step on Adobe's toes (or allow others to do so).

[via Daring Fireball]

Today Apple has released an update to their photo workflow app, Aperture. Aperture 2.1, a free update for all Aperture 2.0 users, adds a new, and open, plugin architecture to Aperture. This means it will now be much easier for developers to extend Aperture's builtin capabilities by writing little bits of codes that plug into the Aperture frameworks (hence the name).

Apple is already working with some developers, and is including a dodge and burn plugin of their own with Aperture 2.1. Aperture 2.1 is available now, and if you don't already have Aperture it will cost you $199 (or $99 to upgrade from Aperture 1.0).

Today, Apple released Plugin Manager version 1.7.3 for Apple's Pro applications. In regular Apple wordiness, here's what the update says:

This update improves reliability for Apple's professional applications and is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, Aperture, Logic Studio and related SDKs.

You can download this update by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or by downloading the installer from the Apple Support website.

If you happen to be a photographer who likes to take digital photos using the RAW format, then Apple has just released an update you might want to take a look at and, perhaps, even apply. Appearing today in Software Update is what Apple calls the "Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 2.0."

According to the notes in Software Update, this new update "extends RAW file compatibility for Aperture 2 and iPhoto '08 for the following cameras:

Hasselblad CFV-16
Hasselblad H3D-31
Hasselblad H3D-31II
Leaf Aptus 54S
Leaf Aptus 65S
Nikon D60
Olympus E-3
Pentax *ist DL2
Pentax *ist DS2
Pentax K100D Super
Sony DSLR-A200
Sony DSLR-A350

If you're curious, you can also find more info on this update, which according to this page seems to be a bit of a security update as well, by going to the Apple support site. Of course, as always, if you decide to apply this update and your Mac explodes or something, be sure to let us know.