Does Aperture support RAW 3F (*.fff) file format?

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Level 1

8 points

Does Aperture support RAW 3F (*.fff) file format?

I am scanning all of my film with a Hasselblad FlexTight F1 scanner. I saved the files in their RAW format called 3F (*.fff). I am completely schocked that Aperture doesn't recognize the file format. After all, isn't Apple selling Aperture as "Professional Applications"? Hmm, what is more professional than scanning film with a $15,000 FlextTight scanner?

What are they thinking, or what am I missing? I just don't get it.

Aperture 3, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Apr 14, 2014 4:57 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

194,813 points

Apr 14, 2014 5:09 AM in response to tgb412

Well, if you look closely at the technical specifications (http://www.apple.com/aperture/specs/raw.html), you'll see that Aperture is meant for digital images taken with a digital camera and not for scans, sorry.

Wide Support for RAW Formats from Leading Cameras

Aperture 3 supports the RAW formats from more than 150 digital cameras and camera backs. Aperture also lets you work with most DNG files.1 Shoot JPEG? Using Aperture, you can import JPEG images from virtually all digital cameras.

As a work-around, try another lossless format for your scans. Are your scans very large? Then you may possibly run into another problem because of the file size. I am having frequently problems with Aperture being unresponsive, if the image file size of my scans is close to 1 GB.

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Answer 2

Apr 14, 2014 9:23 AM in response to tgb412

A scan isn't a raw file. I'd suggest scanning to TIFF.

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Answer 3

Apr 14, 2014 9:25 AM in response to tgb412

Save your scans as 16-bit TIFFs. That'll give you full quality, and they'll work in Aperture.

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Answer 4

tgb412 Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 14, 2014 9:47 AM in response to tgb412

Hmm. I understand that you all are trying to make a distinction between camera and scan files. My point is Apple making a claim for Aperture to be a "Professional Application." An image file should be an image file.

I fully understand the workaround; however, one of Aperture's great features is all about workflow, and having a library database. Now I have to add the dreaded step of adding another software app, saving it to disk, then importing it into Aperture. I can't automate all of that. When you have thousands of these scanned image files it at least doubles the amount of time to get them into Aperture, I might as well just use Photoshop or FlexColor and eliminate Aperture.

Thanks fort all of your responses, but a claim as "Professional Application," should mean that it works at the professional level, which a 3F file is fully qualified.

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Answer 5

Apr 14, 2014 9:59 AM in response to tgb412

It's not that simple. Aperture isn't "the image manager to end all image managers." It's a digital photography workflow application.

Aperture does support 3F files from many Hasselblad cameras, but it doesn't support the scanners. Given workflow with scanning, Photoshop is probably a more approriate tool for that.

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Answer 6

Apr 14, 2014 10:02 AM in response to tgb412

As users all we can do is explain the situation and suggest ways to work with the software as is.

If you want Apple to add enhancements see Apple - Aperture - Feedback

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Answer 7

Apr 14, 2014 10:09 AM in response to tgb412

A professional would be pragmatic about this. Use what works, or use a workaround.

Do any of Aperture's competitors such as Lightroom or CaptureOne support scanner .fff files? Can your scanner software output 16-bit TIFFs or PSDs?

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