The rumors around Apple software updates have been flying, including a much anticipated (some would say overdue) update to the Aperture photo software. Of course, there was a rumor that Apple were going to release a huge 10.5.2 update last Friday. That update didn’t materialize as planned.
My guess is that we will see both in the coming week as PMA provides the perfect forum for the announcement (and served as the forum for announcing Aperture 1.5). The 10.5.2 update will likely be released at the same time or in advance of Aperture. The key thing about the OS update is that that is how Apple supports new cameras and file formats. This tying of the camera support to the OS release cycle has been a point of bitter grumbling for photographers who like to jump on new cameras as they are first released.
I am hoping for support of the Olympus E-3 in the 10.5.2 update, as well as an announcement from Olympus of a price drop or at least a rebate on the E-3 as I would very much like to upgrade from my existing E-500 before my next trip.
If PMA truly is the backdrop for these announcements, all will be revealed this week.
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aperture, apple, cameras, photography, software, olympus, e3
Color Galore !
We will most likely witness a progression similar to early Final Cut software. How it matured and gained it’s ground (Adobe).
Based on a hardware historical syntax, I think Apple will be the first to launch a true 10-bit color environment, done with no LUT (look-up-table) sampling.
On the Apple hardware side we’ll see new Cinema Displays with some very high color gamut + DisplayPort. With the use of new DisplayPort supported GPU’s (in next MacBook Pro?) they will be now be able to handle the massive 10-bit data throughput.
At the moment companies like NEC and Eizo uses typically a 8-12-8 bit LUT path in their very high-end pro monitors to aim to better control the high gamut colors. This is not at all ideal compared to a straight 10-10-10 path with no complicated, hardware assisted GUI to master.
And here comes MY prediction: Apple acquired Silicon Color some time back and will now give us truely amazing color correction capabilities in 10-bit, as we have seen them implement it in the last iteration of Final Cut.
I believe that it will pale the competition for some time, since they will be the only company able to offer the whole package!