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Level 3

794 points

Aperture 2.0 Tether & Canon

From Apple's PDF titled "Aperture 2 Product Overview" which you can view [here|http://images.apple.com/aperture/docs/Aperture 2_ProductOverview.pdf]:

"The new Tether command in Aperture lets users of popular Nikon and Canon digital
SLRs tether their cameras to their Mac and capture images directly into Aperture,
without relying on third-party software or scripting."

Visiting Canon's [site|http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcate goryid=111] you'll note they currently offer 8 models of digital SLRs. Among their most popular are the 1D & 1Ds Mark III, 30D, and 40D. I see a huge number of 1D models at shoots and the 30D is everywhere. So far, in my own testing and in reviewing the posts on the forums, at least 4 of the 8 SLRs Canon sells don't work with tethering in Aperture 2. In fact, the only Canon SLR confirmed to work is the 20D. Given this, I wonder...

1. How can Apple say with a straight face that it supports the popular Canon SLRs.
2. Is everyone doing something wrong?
3. Why the heck hasn't Apple posted a supported camera list for a very sought after feature?

PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5 4/500, MacBook Pro 2.4 4/250, Mac OS X (10.5), iPhone 8 GB, iPod Nano 8 GB, AppleTV 160 GB

Posted on Feb 13, 2008 4:11 PM

104 replies

Eric"

Level 1

0 points

Feb 24, 2008 8:11 PM in response to KBeat

As Apple has mentioned Canon EOS 30D is not supported in Aperture's tether mode ( http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1085), is it possible to use Automator to automatically import images from EOS utility into the Aperture library, so that the image just captured would be shown fullscreen?

EOS utility tether > Automator import to Aperture library > Latest image shown fullscreen

mpdajo

Level 1

30 points

Mar 27, 2008 2:30 PM in response to max-pol

Max, for me the setting was correct (as I used to use the camera with EOS Camera on a different Macbook last year (under tiger).
Unfortunately Aperture 2 trial does not allow me to use the camera in tethered mode. I can import images from the card but all three options under the Tether menu are greyed out.

Looking to purchase the license upgrade to 2.0 today if this works as tethered. This machine does not have 1.5 installed and was a clean install of Aperture Trial on a Macbook running 10.5.2

mpdajo

Level 1

30 points

Mar 27, 2008 4:05 PM in response to mpdajo

Looks like I may have had a corrupted project or damaged USB cable. Replaced both and now works a treat.

mwizard

Level 1

30 points

Mar 27, 2008 5:57 PM in response to GregNicholson

I talked to Joe at the SF Aperture intro yesterday and he said each camera needs to be reverse engineered for tethering because Canon is not willing to let go of the coding. In answer to my next Q, he said, sure, it might help to contact Canon.
Here is the Canon support address.CareCenter@cits.canon.com, and here is the Canon Imaging address canonmarketing@cits.canon.com
Goose them!
Mark

Apr 1, 2008 11:34 AM in response to GregNicholson

Hello greg,

i hope you can help. I see you have no problems with the 5D and aperture. I get it to work but it does not store in on my CF Card, only to my hard drive.

Apr 1, 2008 11:42 AM in response to KBeat

COuld you help Me. I have the 5D and trying to figure out why the images are not being saved onto my card. They are only saved onto my computer. Thank you !

mike

ifarlow

Level 1

95 points

Apr 1, 2008 7:00 PM in response to KBeat

I'm confused. Can someone explain how this is a Canon issue that my camera doesn't work with Aperture if Bibble Pro can tether with it? See here for supported cameras in Bibble Pro: http://bibblelabs.com/products/bibble/specs.html

Apr 1, 2008 7:04 PM in response to ifarlow

Aperture is using a standard protocol for tethering. The standard is supported by some Canon cameras, but not others.

Aperture could explicitly develop support for additional Canon cameras by reverse engineering (or by other means) the tethering functionality, but it's a lot more work, and who knows if/when this would be on the official schedule.

It sure would be nice if the camera vendors supported the tethering standard themselves instead of working to have "better" support via proprietary means.

ifarlow

Level 1

95 points

Apr 1, 2008 7:54 PM in response to William Lloyd

William Lloyd wrote:
Aperture is using a standard protocol for tethering. The standard is supported by some Canon cameras, but not others.

Aperture could explicitly develop support for additional Canon cameras by reverse engineering (or by other means) the tethering functionality, but it's a lot more work, and who knows if/when this would be on the official schedule.

It sure would be nice if the camera vendors supported the tethering standard themselves instead of working to have "better" support via proprietary means.

Who's standard? It seems awfully dense to stick to a standard that apparently isn't the standard any longer (at least with Canon cameras). Besides, I ask again, why can Bibble Pro do this and Aperture can't, especially when Apple highlighted tethering as a feature? Even if the developers of Bibble Pro "reverse engineered" their tethering, they did it, and Apple hasn't.

One way or another, there sure doesn't seem to be a good excuse for this to not work in Aperture. Funny thing is I might not ever really use this, but it seems to me that if Apple is going to highlight a feature in Aperture, they might want to make sure it works with current cameras.

Apr 1, 2008 8:12 PM in response to ifarlow

The standard is the Picture Transport Protocol (PTP).

It's mentioned in this MacWorld article:

http://www.macworld.com/article/132068/2008/02/aperture2.html?t=233

The fact that new Canon cameras don't support PTP doesn't mean PTP is no longer a standard.

How can it be that Bibble supports it and Aperture doesn't? I can't say; I wasn't there when the decision was made. But perhaps something like "If we supported PTP we could make tethering available to 95% of cameras used by Aperture with 3 engineering months of work... to get 100% would take 15 engineering months...?" Because while the Mark III cameras are now the current shipping versions, there are still way more Mark II's and other Canon cameras in use. In time, that equation will certainly will change. But for now, what Aperture offers is certainly far ahead of its main competitor in the space. Bibble may be a decent RAW conversion, but its organizational and editing abilities are really nonexistent compared to Aperture.

ifarlow

Level 1

95 points

Apr 1, 2008 8:21 PM in response to William Lloyd

Fair enough. I had not seen that article. However, I would still argue that if Bibble Pro can do it, Aperture should be able to do it. The 1D Mark III was announced in February of 2007, and has been on the street for roughly one year. Plenty of time to work on this, considering that development of Aperture 2 was going on at this time.

But, as I said, I likely wouldn't use this anyway, so this is just a debate/discussion/argument on principle. Thanks for the article link, though.

Apr 1, 2008 8:28 PM in response to ifarlow

These things usually come down to priorities and timing. Would you rather have the plug-in functionality or additional camera support with a tether? Deciding what features to put in, when, to please the most people based on the team size you have... is why guys like Joe Schorr get paid the big bucks 😉

ifarlow

Level 1

95 points

Apr 2, 2008 8:08 AM in response to William Lloyd

William Lloyd wrote:
These things usually come down to priorities and timing. Would you rather have the plug-in functionality or additional camera support with a tether? Deciding what features to put in, when, to please the most people based on the team size you have... is why guys like Joe Schorr get paid the big bucks 😉

I'll take both, please... 🙂

Apr 2, 2008 9:06 AM in response to KBeat

Thanks for posting this.. I use a Canon 1D Mk111 and was thinking about upgrading to Aperture2 but as it does not support my camera.......I might as well await happenings from the appropriate gods......

Apr 2, 2008 10:03 AM in response to ifarlow

And it all needs to be available yesterday 😉

Aperture 2.0 Tether & Canon