Aperture on Sierra

[BobShaw]

That's not how it works. The raw processor in the OS changes, but Aperture is "locked" to a specific version. This is how software works; Aperture is not calling new APIs and it's not getting enhancements made to shadow/highlight detail, etc. Otherwise when you upgrade the OS, all your pictures would change how they look.

I also do not believe that to be the case. If I look at images processed in previous versions of the Mac OS in Aperture there is a notice right at the the top that tells me they were processed in an older version and invites me to reprocess. You can actually Duplicate Version and apply the Reprocess to one copy and see the two versions side by side, so same raw image with two raw processors in a side by side comparison. Very visible differences.

Also to be fair to John, he doesn't just bag out Aperture in the Aperture forum. He is quite happy to go onto the Capture One forum and troll there too.

At the end of the day, I use Aperture because it is the best product for me. That appears to be the case for a lot of others as well.
By far the best DAM I have seen and the only one currently meeting my needs of supporting all cameras on a server based catalog.

If the raw conversion is really, really important I would use Phocus or open it directly in Photoshop anyway.
I am reminded of the first time a PC user excitedly showed me Lightroom. My response - So where have you been? Lousy interface isn't it.
Cheers

[john beardsworth]

Oh dear, Big Bob again thinks he sets the forum rules. Diddums.

[RobSaecker]

Yeah, look at the preferences window. Aperture is using something called "ProKit" which is a bunch of UI elements that were used in Final Cut Pro (prior to version X), etc. And it's pretty obvious when launching Aperture on Sierra these days that it's lost in time.

Well, I don’t see anything “clipped” about that, and I don’t know what that has to do with raw processing.

That's not how it works. The raw processor in the OS changes, but Aperture is "locked" to a specific version.

Yes, that’s exactly how it works. Go look in /System/Library/CoreServices. See that folder called RawCamera.bundle? Every Apple provided app that opens raw images uses that; Preview, Photos, iPhoto, and Aperture. It’s also available to be used by third party developers, so for instance, Acorn, Pixelmator, and Affinity Photo all use it for raw conversion, though Affinity also offers the option of using their own processor. You can open the RawCamera.bundle and look at the version.plist file, and then look at About Aperture, and you’ll see that they’re both the same version. If Aperture were somehow locked to an older version, then there would have to be an older RawCamera.bundle in CoreServices, and Aperture would have to be lying about what version it’s using in the About window.

This is how software works; Aperture is not calling new APIs and it's not getting enhancements made to shadow/highlight detail, etc. Otherwise when you upgrade the OS, all your pictures would change how they look.

As Bob has already pointed out, you can open older files and see the warning about being processed by and older version of the raw processor, and if you reprocess, they do change.

I've tried this with photos from my Leica M9: I had some poor raw conversions on skies with Aperture, and in the past 2 years, those photos render beautifully in Photos.

Which suggests that the default processing settings for Photos and Aperture are different, which is what I would expect from consumer vs. professional focussed apps.

No. All my cameras are fully supported by Aperture.

Where did I say anything about your cameras being unsupported?

[BobShaw]

An update on this as I have just upgraded to Sierra 10.12.3.
There is a problem with raw support. I don't know where it is but cameras such as the Canon M5 raw are not supported in Aperture.

At https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT205272
Apple says Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update  is 6.21
This corresponds to the About Aperture showing 6210 on the machine running 10.11

At https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT207049
It gives cameras supported by Sierra, but right at the bottom says
"Additional formats supported by iOS 10.2 and macOS 10.12.2"
These include the Canon 5Dmark4 and M5.
My About Aperture is now showing as 7010, with no update visible. Others are saying that they have 7020.

These however do not appear to be system wide. Apple has changed something and they are usable in Preview, and Phocus, but not Aperture.
However the same bundle is directed to in the system.

Any ideas on what is happened here? Or is it as simple as going directly to 10.12.3 from 10.11 without going through 10.12.2 I have somehow missed the 7020 update at 10.12.2?

[tonywong]

Hi Bob,

I downloaded a sample EOS M5 RAW from photographyblog and it does not show up properly on my Aperture either (Sierra, fully patched 10.2.3).

I can use RAWPower app to open the image and it shows up fine. Photos works with it too.

Something is broken in Aperture and the Raw support for the EOS M5. This is not good. I am still waiting on EM1 MarkII RAW support and I hope it will not be broken in Aperture too. Someone needs to report it to Apple but who knows if it will get fixed at this point.  :-(

[ButchM]

Something is broken in Aperture and the Raw support for the EOS M5.

Nothing is 'broken' in Aperture ... it is no longer actively supported by Apple. As previously shared in this thread, no updates have been issued relating to updated calls to Core Image to all such support. While the app may recognize a newer version of CI is available, Aperture still relies on the older method (version process if you will) for handling RAW images.

[tonywong]

I'd classify that as broken.

[BobShaw]

Nothing is 'broken' in Aperture ... it is no longer actively supported by Apple. As previously shared in this thread, no updates have been issued relating to updated calls to Core Image to all such support. While the app may recognize a newer version of CI is available, Aperture still relies on the older method (version process if you will) for handling RAW images.

Ok, but the question still remains as to where the raw information is stored. All of the programs point to the same raw bundle, but the new cameras are not there, so where is Preview etc finding the M5 etc raw information?

[ButchM]

Ok, but the question still remains as to where the raw information is stored. All of the programs point to the same raw bundle, but the new cameras are not there, so where is Preview etc finding the M5 etc raw information?

No doubt, the current RAW support is present on your system as Preview, which is supported for the newest current version and can 'call' the updated bundle. Aperture is not currently supported and it's code has not been updated so it can only 'call' the former versions of RAW support. It's akin to a close friend that has changed their phone number. Your phone's directory can easily call his former number, but it can't call his new number if it has not been updated to your friend's contact info. Aperture may even recognize a new version of Core Image is present on your system, that doesn't mean it is capable of invoking it's resources.

It is similar to Lightroom/ACR Process Versions ... older versions of those software options can't call upon newer process versions that were added after Adobe ceased support for those older versions.

[tonywong]

I have been able to use Adobe DNG Converter 9.9 (free) to open the sample EOS M-5 sample and import that into Aperture successfully.

Settings were 7.1 and later compatibility and jpeg preview set at medium, nothing else was selected in the preferences.

The DNG Converter also worked with my Olympus EM-1 Mark II ORF files and Aperture also imported them without complaint. Batch conversions and multiple cpu/core aware so it seemed fast enough on my Mac Pro (didn't hit the the hyperthreading fully though), hopefully it's not too slow on my laptop.

Too lazy to provide the official link but this one redirected fine.
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/16064/adobe-dng-converter

While not exactly a replacement for direct RAW support, this is basically the next best thing.